Mixed Media Dogs

Process:  For the background, I began with a selection of favorite colors which I randomly applied to Arches 140 lb (300 gsm) watercolor paper that had been gessoed on both sides.  When the paper was completely dry, I gathered up ink, charcoal, soft lead pencils, fat graphite sticks, and pastels and let my imagination take over.

I <3 dogs.

Word art - possibly inspired by the cool, rainy weather of a few days ago:

Green, inky goodness :-)

And a quote from Agnes Repplier:

Cheer up

Recently I've had a need to lift my spirits.  I turned to my art - seeking a way to cheer myself up.

The result:

This made me smile!

Drawing dogs wearing hats... all good :-)

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

Buds

I like to watch dogs.  I especially like it when they are good buds and all the ranking has been settled and consequently they relax and play.  Their antics crack me up.

I suppose I was thinking about this when I randomly sketched this:

"Buds" (ink and colored pencil)

Clearly this came out of my imagination as there is no green grass visible anywhere in my neighborhood as very little snow has melted.  The sun is shining and the days are clear; however, the temperature hasn't warmed up to freezing (!) in days and days.  Br-r-r.

On a positive note, the snow is quite beautiful :-)

A MOO can be a MOOdle :-)

A MOO that is somehow different from a regular MOO is a MOOdle.  I don't know, it just came to me :-)

And today's MOOdle...

Beginnings -

This is the page from my art journal where I first sketched the idea:

A quick little sketch.

Giving it some more thought, I'm pretty sure this little dog drawing -

I blogged about this swirly little guy here.

must have been floating around in my head while I was doodling (he's from the sketchbook I always carry with me):

Fun stuff!

From my art journal today...

an ink and watercolor crayon sketch:

Two buddies at play :-)

With dogs, it's all about having FUN <3

Why he is called Skygazer

Remy and I were on the deck this morning - it is a beautiful, warm, and sunny day - which is a treat because it's the first week of November!  Shorts weather :-)

Remy's birthday is this month.  I've been looking at his puppy photos and videos - he has grown so much but he still has the same puppy face and many of the same "mannerisms". 

This photo is from this morning and it reminded me why I chose his "official" name to be Skygazer:

<3

As a puppy I noticed this proclivity, something I had not seen in any of my other sweet dogs.

The Golden Retriever and the Australian Labradoodle

Remy and his pal, Briggs, have a terrific time rumbling at the park and playground.  Brigg's mom, Pam, took this gorgeous photo of Remy last month.  I love it and I asked Pam if I could publish it to which she kindly said "yes".

Photo by Pam H.

And speaking of Briggs, here is the boy himself:

Such a sweetie <3

These boys play well together and their antics have Pam and me (as well as other people passing by) laughing out loud.

From the sketchbook

Before I put away the carving tools, a few more rubber stamps:

Doodle-inspired line up

These critters - and the coffee mug - were inspired by some of my sketchbook doodles. 

And another word...

Could not do just one... the pens and markers were still calling.
Hence this:

Hi there :-)

Assignments done, yay!

The base paintings from a few days ago now look like this:
Yellow red base:

Funny birds, huh.

Blue red base:

This would have to be Romy and Remy with me!

Altered box

I've never done an altered box before and although I used to do a lot of journaling, it no longer appeals to me. So I thought taking Carla Sonheim's Box Journaling online class would be a nice challenge...and it was. I thought of and then discarded so many ideas that it took me three days to actually start the thing!
My eventual choice was "change"; I've been studying the inevitability of change and how I respond to it.
Part of the box journaling assignment it to fill it with elements that in my case, are ones that have influenced personal change.

Top

Unconditional love of my dogs has played a huge part, hence dogs images are prominent:

A side view.

I will be doing more :-)

Collage, sticky but true

I can't help it; when I "collage" I become a collage. I have paper bits stuck to my fingers, elbows (really, elbows!), clothing, scissors, brush pens, whatever I have close by. It's fortunate that Remy isn't under my work table or he'd have sticky bits all over his fur!
I'm  in my fourth day of Diane Culhane's online class (a lot of collaging) and I am enjoying it very, very much and also coming to terms with being in the "state of glue" :-)
This is my random placement collage painting class assignment:

I see dogs (a lot) in random elements...