Caught Up In the Practice

SO,..........I am obsessed now with my art journal(s).  It proved to be a great way to get me through the final days of October and celebrate the beginning of November.  Some of my work is quite awful, I totally butcher any attempt at making a drawing look realistic.  But, I enjoy the process and who knows, after some time, maybe things will look more real.  Or maybe not.  Reality has never been my strong suit period.

Since I have become very un-fond of Halloween, I now celebrate the two days after Halloween, Dia de Los Muertos.  I find it to be a beautiful way for me to honor and celebrate my mom and dad and then move on into the season with a little peace.  It clearly isn't from my heritage, but I am adopting it as a new Holiday to replace another.

Some of these are from classes I have taken on Creativebug, from artists like Pam Garrison and Lisa Congdon and then my sketches are inspired again by Mary Ann Moss and her wonderful style and then others are just me on my own.

Watercolors

An entry using a beautiful letter from my dear friend Harrigan to encourage and support me on a difficult day.

New day, New Month

A walk outside collecting "things" to sketch and paint.

A day spent celebrating Mom and Dad.

Oh this one is so scary!!!!!  I have really just done such an injustice to my dad and mom with these sketches.  My dad's mouth is NOT that big and his eyes were not crossed.  My mom's face was much rounder and not so pointy.  But the idea is to not over think and use a pen so that you can't fuss and erase every time a wrong line is made.  Sorry Mom and Dad.  I will try to do better next time, hahaha.

Words of encouragement from a class I did with Sarah Ahearn Bellemare.

I try to do this every day now.

Then it was time to move on to some happy, colorful doodling and painting.

My beautiful view when I look out of a window in my studio.

My wonderful space to just be Me!!!!

I hope that everyone has a space or a place to go to that brings them as much happiness as this room does for me.  For my husband, it's in the woods in a tree stand and while he is there, I can be found in here.  We all need something that is just for us where we can let loose and let down all of our guards and freely be ourselves.  I hope over time, I will let down more and more guards in this room and watch as my style emerges more and more.