Tangle blues

Tiles with some color:

Colored pencil in oriental blue.

Perhaps a snowflake-y theme would have been more apropos as cold snowy weather blew in last night after a string of days that felt like spring.

And peacock blue.

Snow light makes me happy. It pours in the windows as I work away in my studio :-)

Quick...draw!

Remy has a new injury to his paw - X-rays didn't tell us much other than he injured (or worse, but I'm not going there) a toe ligament. In the meantime, his paw is wrapped and we are in a wait-and-see mode.

Therefore, only short walks for us; but he makes up the shortfall of distance with constant and intense sniffing...of everything. Well, so it seems to me :-)

Today, post-walkies I caught him laying in his favorite place at the top of the stairs. And as I just began to sketch him...geez, he was up and looking for a toy.

So this is what I captured in a few fleeting moments:

What are you thinking about, my sweet boy?

Never did this before...

created a paper doll, that is. There was a period in my childhood when I played with paper dolls all the time. I loved it. I am taking a year-long class (yes, from Carla!) called "2014: Year of the Fairy Tale"; creating a paper doll was one of the first 'assignments'.

And she looks like this:

My paper doll on a layered paper background.

Fairy tales disappeared from my life a long, long time ago. Capturing, regaining some "essence" about them is why I decided to make a year-long commitment to this class. And it will be challenging but then some of the best changes I've incorporated into my life have come out of challenging situations, choices and the like. I'm up for it :-)

From detailed to not :-)

My first art journal page was detailed and it's very easy for me to slide into that mode - something to do with "control". But enough of that!

My next art journal entry, "my horizon", includes imaginary creatures from blobs - "blobimals" (thank you Carla Sonheim*).  I never know what I will see in a random blob so I just take a chance:

And it really did..."change" that is.

So far I am enjoying my Art Journaling, yay!

*(see www.carlasonheim.com for her online classes "Draw!" and "Blobimals Artists Books" - two classes I highly recommend).

First page of my first Art Journal

I have never created an art journal. I usually work in sketchbooks which for me is a very different process. So I thought, "why not?"

New project, new journal...oy, blank page "freeze" - making the first mark.  Ideas were coming and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I finally got tired of myself and said, "O, just...begin".

The idea to show the process occurred to me at this point.

I kept my camera within reach as a reminder :-)

I turned my journal 90 degrees so the page size is 7-7/8"H x 11-3/8" W.

 

"Just Begin" is disappearing into the busy background.

I was so involved that I nearly forgot to take a photo...

Working with a lot more "real estate" compared to a regular tile.

Journal page done!

This was fun :-)

No walkies

at least not for awhile:

What a trouper; when Remy looks this sad it breaks my heart...

Remy injured his paw yesterday. I think he may have stepped on a small branch from a shrub that was hidden in the mounds of snow in the back yard. Whatever it was, it pierced his skin between his toes. Oy.

Today he appears to be in less pain but he continues to limp. I am doing my best to keep him off his feet to reduce the pressure on his wound.

If I can keep him from unnecessary walking around he ought to be feeling much better fairly soon -  and then he can go back to romping and running and (yay) we can go "walkies"!