Snow business...

for one day only - Thursday - and then a return to the beautiful weather we've been enjoying.  To note this little weather blip, here's a bit of word art OPI that came to mind:

Mixed media - from my art journal.

Until then I am keeping the windows open and luxuriating in the perfect autumn weather.

Creating abstract patterns is relaxing; it feels like my brain is coasting along while also being completely absorbed in... something :-)
Here is one for today:

More mixed media - from my art journal.

I might as well go completely "art journal" and include this little quick little lion face doodle:

Graphite.

RONA

which was and remarkably remains my acronym for Return of Normal Activity :-)

Some word-art words which just popped into my brain in all their bleakness:

Bleak, huh...

Hmm...?

But as ever, a dog to the rescue:

From my art journal

MAY Chicken and Some "Catz"

From my art journal, a chicken sketch from May:

Exploring how to draw chickens.

Also I am continuing to learn about CATz -

Drawn...

In ink...

Very quickly :-)

A sketch and some word art

Remy is also known as "Reporter Dog".  He alerts me with one or two barks if he hears something - a delivery at the front door or some interesting or alarming activity he spies from the window.

But usually he looks like this :-)

"Remy, keep me company."

Doodling in my art journal -  positive and negative word art:

From my art journal today

While working in my art journal this morning, my suddenly empty mug inspired this MOOdle:

I have to admit that I only captured the idea before I was compelled to brew a fresh mug of coffee - the refining and coloring came after :-)

I have a part of each journal page set off for images.  I like doing quick sketches of animals, imaginary things, and lately emotional faces.  This face sketch prompted me to hand letter a funny quote by Yogi Berra:

Time to head back into the studio for some mixed media i.e. messy creativity :-)

My art journal: "Words, words, words" (and dogs)

Purloining Shakespeare, I know, I know... boo.  My excuse?   In attempting to describe my fascination with words, this is the phrase (completely out of context) that came to mind.

No surprise then that MOOs and word art make regular appearances in my art journal :-)

New MOOs:

New word art:

When is comes to word art, I also have favorite words such as solitary, peculiar, singular, absinthe, twirl, woof - I could go on... but goodness, I won't.  Why some words are more appealing than others?  Possibly it's simply the look of the letter combinations, the sound of the spoken word, the denotation or connotation of the word itself.  Well, I love a mystery :-)

And dogs:

Dogs are a constant journal entry, too, because I love them.  Perhaps I ought to challenge myself to posting "a dog a day" sketch.  O, on second thought, not now.  No need to get carried away!

Doodled from my imagination :-)

As I write this my sweet dog, Remy, is snoozing by my chair.  This autumn afternoon the weather is sunny and beautiful and soon we will be heading out for walkies, yay!

Art journal, dog nose, MOO, and a quote

Amazingly, I began my fourth art journal on October 13th.  This is the title page -

Pretty much to the point :-)

Although I have been an artist for as long as I can remember, the practice of serious daily art journaling began a year ago.  I took Cat Bennett's class, Sketchbooks: Making Art a Practice, and during the course of the class I made a commitment to journal every day.  And now, twelve months later I have three completed journals and more importantly, a daily art journaling habit, yay!

About a dog's nose?  My golden, Remy, loves to go walkies and spends the majority of the time sniffing... everything.  I have learned to take it easy, not rush, give him the time to investigate the world in his own way.  Oy, even if it involves standing about for 45 or 50 seconds while Remy is sniffing an unremarkable bit of grass or a single (!) leaf.

This activity, which is of paramount importance to my boy, deserves a drawing:

A different world...

Today's MOO is a word combination that materialized in my thoughts.  I am not entirely certain what it means, but it does have to do with thinking that is not jaded by negativity:

The quote is from Shakespeare -

For me, reining in Expectation in its many guises has been only positive :-)

Sketchy bunnies, word art, a MOO

From my art journal, four little bunnies exploring their terrain -

Graphite

Today's word art came about because I wanted to substitute a really red heart for an "O" -

Ink and Sharpie pens

And the MOO -

Platinum Carbon ink, Inktense pencils

Little fox and MOOs

This little fox is from my art journal:

Ink and Copic markers

And what would my post be without a few MOOs?

:-)

I ask myself this at the end of the day.

Mostly pictures

I haven't been in a "talkative" frame of mind of late.  It happens.  To celebrate how I feel presently and, also, to not get on my own case about it, I'll post some recent work and let that just be it for now :-)

MOO from my art journal

"Elk in Field"

Two JRTs

A man, a mouse, and A MOO

These three "M"'s are from my current art journal.  I have one more page to complete and then this second journal will be full and done- more about that in the future.

A man:

A mouse:

Drawn with a brush pen.

A MOO:

Art journal doodling - MOO and word art

I have a MOO and a couple of word art words from my art journal :-)

First, the MOO:

Word art number 1:

Kind of a funny one.

Word art number 2:

Hm-m-m...

Doodling... so much fun :-)

Bird Monday

Despite the chilly, rainy weather we've been experiencing,  birds have been singing and chirping to bring joy to my day.  I really enjoy the birds that perch at the very tippy top of our neighbor's pine tree and just broadcast their news :-)

It's therefore no surprise that birds make their appearance in my art journal.

Flying -

Graphite sketch

And imaginary -

Mixed media

Word play and an out of control pattern :-)

I love to write words and phrases.  Sometimes the words have special meaning to me; or the way the letters come together of the sound of the words themselves are appealing.  These words and phrases often comprise my doodles.

I thought I would share some recent ones:

Not a terrific character trait, but pretty perky visually :-)

I like the simplicity of this one.

I sometimes think memory isn't such a great thing.

Might be the cover of an art journal...

This last one is a pattern from my art journal that overtook the entire "Draw" section (!):

Oy.

Art journal entries - a sketch, and a MOO, and some word art :-)

This sketch of a bear's head and the following MOO are from an art journal page from a few days ago:

Graphite

I like to capture expression in a quick sketch :-)


This is how a MOO (My Own Opinion) begins - a thought roughly written out, usually with some color:

Ink, Copic markers

And some just-for-fun word art, this:

Ink, Sharpie markers

I think it's funny given how wary I am of most flying insects :-)

Making the first mark... easily :-)

I've been making a daily entry in my art journal since early November 2015.  I love having a lot of random thoughts and images gathered in one place.

Every day when I open up my art journal I begin a ritual to make the first marks on the page easily.  I use a black 02 Pigma Micron pen to create the four corner marks (a random shape) and then draw horizontal and vertical lines to connect them.  From there I divide the page into specific sections of "Draw", "Misc", "Ideas/To Dos", and an area for journaling some thoughts.  Boom, I am on my way :-)

These are straight out of my daily journal:

word art -

Copic markers, ink

Acrylic line art -

"Buddies"

MOO -

Copic markers, ink