100 Days of Stitch Meditation Challenge 2025 #1/100 and #2/100

 I haven't done any stitch meditations in quite a while, but I've been wanting to, so I've joined Liz Kettle's (the teacher I learned from) FB group "100 days of stitch meditations", which started Sunday, Feb 23. 

So, these are my first two on my journey to 100, along with a few thousand other stitchers in the group! 

The background is from an old blouse of mine, with a strip of dyed and stamped cotton fabric from somewhere. The hearts are from an old shirt that I ordered from Richard Simmons in the nineties when I was doing his Oldies exercise videos. Black pearl cotton thread. 

The background on this one is from a pair of old cotton pajamas that my dad and my husband both wore during hospital stays. The blue/purple is from a fat quarter scrap that I bought on our month long road trip in 2019, the small scrap is from a newspaper print cotton fabric, and the cat trio is stamped on a cotton scrap. I got the stamp in a supply swap in a group I was in years ago. Love the cats! Black pearl cotton thread.

Most of my meditations are/will be 4" x 4" square, and most of my scraps will have a history behind them, with very few new ones. I tend to cut a handkerchief sized scrap, and all buttons, lace, etc. off of old clothes before I discard them. Great memories!

If you are interested in joining in Liz has a video on Youtube that explains and teaches the idea. It's very relaxing and meditative, and you never know what will emerge!

Between this and my daily sketches and my exercises for my hip, it's keeping me on my toes! Just hoping my eyes hold out to do 100. 

Try something new creatively! It'll restart your mojo! 😊

8 Miscellaneous Sketches/Doodles from this Week

 A few sketches in my small sketchbooks from this week using an Ebony pencil, a mechanical pencil, and a gel pen. Two of them are in my new small book with 140 lb hard pressed paper, the flowers and the cat, and the rest are in my last Arteza book with smooth and textured mixed media paper. They are not posted in the order that I actually did them. I did the last one first and did the sheep this morning. Unperfectly fun!

I attempted to sketch a sheep head using a Pinterest photo for reference and a mechanical pencil. Not bad for a second try. It ain't pretty, but you can tell it's a sheep!

An attempt at sketching myself as a child from an old photo with an Ebony pencil on textured paper. I, for sure, need more practice!

A imaginary vase of flowers on hard pressed paper with a mechanical pencil. I plan on adding some watercolor after I  adjust the flowers a bit to make them a bit more irregular shaped.

Re-adjusted flowers: 

An imaginary woman on textured paper with an Ebony pencil just doodling...

A quirky cat emerged from the pencil marks with an Ebony pencil and a gel pen!

Large feathers emerged from the Ebony pencil marks on smooth paper, which I referenced Pinterest photos to turn them into Magpie feathers for my Magpie's Nest Journal pages, if I can ever get it together. See sidebar for the Magpie's Nest Class link on Jeanne Oliver's site.

I love these two little beings that came forth from my quirky marks with an Ebony pencil on mixed media paper. I plan to add watercolor to them at some point too.

And last, although this sketch was actually first this week, another simple figure appeared from my doodle marks with an ebony pencil and a gel pen. I meant to fix the smudge on her hand before I scanned her. Another one I want to add watercolor to!

These last two fit right in with the three I shared in a previous post and were actually done within a couple of days of each other. I don't know where the images are coming from, but I like them, and I now have five sketches that I plan to add watercolor to for a set/series. 

Anyway, that's it for now, aside from writing for my memory book, which I haven't decided to share yet. The rest of my many projects are in limbo at the moment. I'm proud of myself for keeping up my sketching/doodling practice though. I don't know if I'll ever be a good artist, but I won't give up. It feeds my soul and makes me happy!

Girl and Cats Sketches

 This week's charcoal pencil sketches in my sketchbook on textured paper, again inspired by Pinterest photos. I'm going to have to dig out mine and my mom's old photos and start sketching them. When I get on Pinterest to find a photo that inspires me I wind up doing more looking than sketching! It's very addictive, and I LOVE looking at old vintage photos!

I've been sketching women with huge bows in their hair, which I love, but I came across this photo of a cat with two bows on its head. So cute! I had to try sketching her/him! I kind of mess up the face this time, but I decided to leave it instead of trying to erase it and do it over. Charcoal pencil is not easy to erase and I usually make a bigger mess by trying it. I'm just going to try sketching it again and see if I can do better. Next time I'll do the face first instead of the whole cat!

I haven't tried to draw that many cats, and I definitely need a lot more practice, but she/he taught me a lot and I'm happy that I did as well as I did. Not going for perfect here!

I loved this photo of the half faces, and I did better on the cat's face in this one, I think. I did, however, mess up the woman's hand and got it way too small. I lost my focus, I guess. 

No problem! I just cropped it off in the picture below, and I like it much better without the hand anyway.

I love the cropped version and would love to paint it on a small square canvas at some point, or print it off and use it in a journal or mixed media piece. I might do one of me and my little Pekingese dog in a similar pose.

Both of these were so much fun to practice on, and I look forward to doing more, but I really need to finish up my paper clay class, two to finish sculpting, and a few to paint, and I need to work on the memory book I was gifted. One question a week doesn't seem like much to write about, but some of the questions require longer answers than others, plus when I start writing I don't know when to quit, and that requires much revision. I'm not a big talker verbally, but writing unleashes a whole other side of me!

I don't have enough piled up to do! I'm needing to make some pot holders, which I could buy, but they, like everything else have gotten so high priced it's ridiculous. I have the loom, but I can't decide whether to order cotton loops or use up some of my cotton yarn. We'll see, I guess.

But it's all good! It keeps my mind, if not my body, exercised and working, and trust me, at seventy-three my mind needs all the exercise it can get!

Take care, stay well, and keep doing what you love! Thanks for visiting! 💓

First Art/Sketch of 2023

 My first sketch of the new year! Charcoal pencil on textured paper in my sketchbook and inspired by a vintage Pinterest photo. I had trouble focusing, but I got in the practice! Yay!!!

I love doing these sketches even if I'm not that great at it! I had a little trouble focusing because I'm finishing up year end tasks, trying to end my blog posts for the last year so I can get it printed into a book, my little bunny sculpture needs hands and his butt rounded off, several sculptures are dry and need painting, a few art courses and more than a few projects waiting, the house desperately needs a thorough cleaning and decluttering, and I was gifted a one year subscription to Storyworth, where they email me a prompt once a week to write a memory/story for and they will publish it into a book at the end of the year for me. I haven't written in a long time anything like that, but it will be fun if I can find the quiet time to focus.

Throw in a few health and aging problems and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, but I am blessed to even still be above ground. Besides it doesn't all have to be done at once! One minute, one day, one project at a time!

Now I'm off to finish the laundry and try to get my blog posts assembled for last year and get the book printed and ordered from Blog2Print. Thank goodness hubby is cooking supper!

Thanks for visiting! Take care of yourselves and have fun with your creative muse in 2023!

Sketches From Last Week

 I've been working on the paper clay sculpture for the Come Clay with Me class #4, as well as some not part of the course, but I got in several sketches in various media and styles last week too. So happy to have my scanner working again! White backgrounds are so much better than the dark gray they come out with my camera and Microsoft photo editing. Still haven't figured out the problem there.

These are all in my Arteza mixed media sketchbook, which has both smooth and textured pages in it.

From my imagination and a sanguine Pitt Pen-Started out trying to shade her face, overdid it and she wound up a clown, of sorts, but I like her-The black on the bottom is an ink bleed through from one of the sketches below.

Imagination and a black Uniball Signa gel pen-I love to sketch with these pens!

Imagination and a black Tombow marker spritzed with water a couple of times, drying between, then touched up with marker and white gel pen. Letting the water run brought out the reds and blues in the black ink. This is the one that bled onto a few other pages. I like it!

The Fingerprint Girls! I had some paynes gray paint on my pointer finger, so I dotted it off on the page and left it. Later I took my gel pen and turned my prints into girls. Fun!

This one was inspired by a photo on Pinterest and sketched with a black gel pen. I wasn't trying for a likeness, but the angle of the face and body. I like her.

I think a Pinterest image inspired this one and a sanguine Pitt pen

Imagination and a mechanical pencil

Imagination and a charcoal pencil spritzed with water, dried, then retouched-I LOVE big buttons!

Imagination and a sanguine Pitt pen plus some notes 

Trying something different! Inspired by a Pinterest photo and a black gel pen

Notes and sketches about the paper clay pieces I worked on those days

Imagination and a sanguine Pitt pen-She looks so sassy to me!

I haven't gotten any creating/sketches done this week yet. It's too close to Christmas with fixing up Christmas cards and calendars to mail and presents to get and wrap, plus trips to the bank, post office, and grocery store. I'm old and slow and time moves way too fast anymore! Plus, I have had a stress/sinus headache for two days now. Hoping it goes away soon!

Hoping to get the arms on this little guy sometime today! I have a few more things to do first, so we'll see! The bell shape with ears behind him is a mask/hat for another figure. Both from the fourth class in Come Clay with Me.

Thank you for visiting! Stay well, be happy, and keep being creative!

Playing With Walnut Ink and a Stick

 I have signed up for a class called The Magpie's Nest at www.jeanneoliver.com , which I have not actually started yet, except for watching the videos and gathering up some stuff to work with. One of the first classes is learning to make brushes for mark making in journals out of various things like crooked sticks, dowel rods, feathers, grass, raffia, etc. They make different marks than regular brushes, which adds interest to pages.

I haven't actually made a brush yet, but one of the sticks I picked up from the yard was laying handy, and having just got a new bottle of walnut ink, I decided to give it a try in my sketchbook. These poor books see all of my good, bad, and downright ugly! Ha!

First off I love the color of the ink! Second I was surprised by how much I enjoyed using the double ended crooked stick! I tried both ends and holding it in different places at different angles and this wonky girl emerged. I love what looks like a little pin on her dress made by rolling the end of the stick with two tiny buds on it. For some reason they remind me of two little scotty dogs playing.

This one really got wonky when I spritzed her with water over the ink! She is okay in her own way though!

Just random marks I made with the stick and ink before I played with the girls. I'm still amazed at what a stick can do! The bottom two stripes are a swatch from a new acrylic paint I bought.

Don't be afraid to experiment! It's fun and builds confidence! It's what sketchbooks and scrap paper are for! 

I love it the most when I just let loose and play, without worrying about doing it "right". I can't do it "perfect" anyway. Never could. Even as a child I couldn't stay inside the lines when coloring, but I loved it, until I was taught in school how to color "correctly". I didn't fool with art again until after I married when I started dabbling and  painting plaster objects that I bought from another lady. Then I took a short tole painting class, which taught me to paint with thin paint and to paint precisely inside the lines. I still couldn't paint inside the lines and I still have some of the paintings to prove it! 

I went from that to taking correspondence art courses of all kinds by mail in the seventies,, where one of the main criticisms was that I made my lines to hard on everything, which made the subjects look like they had been cut out and pasted on. I'm still trying to learn to loosen up, use thicker paint, and softer lines, and I am continually taking classes and learning new things online. I may never paint like I really wanted to, but it doesn't matter. I love the process and the learning and experimenting in all types of art, whatever the outcome of the finished piece. 

Plus, I have a greater appreciation for everything, because doing art taught me to really see what I look at, and I see miracles in everything. And for that, I am truly grateful! I love creating art, whether it's "right" to anyone else, or not, and I plan to keep at it as long as I possibly can. It feeds my brain and my soul, and I'm grateful that it found me again. Gets me through lots of life's trials! :)

Until next time, stay well and create something just for fun, like when you were a child!

Pencil Sketches and Doodles

 More sketchbook pencil ramblings in different pencils and one marker page done over the last few days. Most are from my imagination, but a couple are from a photo, not trying for a likeness. The last one is just how I was feeling that day.

 I hate that the white paper backgrounds show up as gray. I can't figure out how to change it. :(

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! First Post of 2022!

Wishing you all a HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR! Prayers that it's a better year for all of us, although there has been much to be thankful for, despite all of the scary stuff!

We saw the new year in, but only because midnight is our usual bedtime. We woke up around six a.m., got up, had coffee, hubby checked the weather and I sketched a bit and checked FB. We both got sleepy, so we went back to bed about 8:00 a.m. and slept until a little after ten, and had another cup of coffee while I worked on my blog book and hubby fixed breakfast for me and his cats. I'm almost ready for another nap! 😴

I just finished putting together a book of last year's blog posts and got it ordered, so I got that done before the Blog to Print promotional discount goes off! At least, I got that much accomplished today...

Oh, and I put brown kraft paper over my new desk top for scribbling!

So this is my first sketch, first art, and first post of the new year, as it's pouring rain outside and we are under a tornado watch until tonight.

Last night I did a quick sketch in my square sketchbook of a girl from my imagination with a General water soluble pencil, added water, and left her to dry. This morning I re-sketched her eyes and added some darks and details with a Stablio pencil. I like her! 

I also did some more watercolor "rock" practice, letting colors flow into one another, in a small square Handbook Journal that I've had for a while, but hadn't started. I thought it was watercolor paper, but it wasn't, so the paper still buckled in the too wet places. Fun, nevertheless!

They say that whatever you do on New Year's Day is what you'll do the rest of the year, so I've done a bit of art, hoping I'll get to do a lot of it this year. Now I need to clean a bit, because, Lord knows, the house needs it!

Have an amazing day and do something you love! It's good for your soul!