Normal is an illusion...

Hi everyone!

I'm getting my inspiration from 2 places today to create an art journal page just for fun.

First off is the Fall in Love with Art Journaling, with 2 challenges a week with lots of inspiration and a FB page so we can talk about art journaling. Sign up to get the journal prompts delivered to your e-mail! Prompt number 3 is resist.

And next is the Mixed Media monthly challenge to make any project using a word from word search. I found the word black.

 The resist part is the spider web which was drawn in white crayon with a wash of black Ranger Ink over it. Morticia was drawn with a black Sharpie and cut out and pasted on. 

Lettering done with a combination of Neon Jelly pens, white and black pens.

artcation - day 7

Well, as you read this Anna and I will be driving home. Hopefully mine has not washed away during all the rains we had while I was visiting the semi-sunny state of Florida. We did some filming for an upcoming blog post yesterday down by the beach but I can't share anything yet. I will however leave you with this fun page I did in my journal. 

artcation - day 6

We had the best ( and only ) great day by the pool. It started off cool and breezy but it warmed up nicely. Anna and I took advantage and headed down to the pool area with our sketch books and supplies. As you can see, we were one of the first people down there.

The empty pool chairs and the closed umbrellas just symbolized that we were there during the off season and how empty the resort was in October! 

On the bright side, we didn't have to fight crowds and it was very nice and quiet too. If we just had better weather, but, I won't complain since we didn't have the rain event that is happening elsewhere...like my poor North Carolina. I'm wondering if my Fairy Lodge by the creek will still be there or if it got washed away.

Later, the sun came out and I actually crawled out from under the umbrella and laid out in the sun and Anna and I actually got into the pool for awhile, although the hot tub was still better, and that's where we ended up lol The resort did have a cookout with some live music to make for a perfect afternoon!

Then we went out to dinner at Pineapple Willeys, which is a cool pier restaurant right out on the beach. This was our view to the right...when we first arrived.

Usually, weather permitting you can have dinner along with a beautiful sunset, but because of the weather, this was all we got...yep, this was the high point of the sun, lol

And by the time we finished, this was the view from the left...

Artcation - day 5

 Thursday morning was cool and breezy with hardly any humidity so we took advantage of the weather to stroll down to the sand bar. The tide was in and it was a beautiful day! 

 

Walking out on the boardwalk is always fun as the waterbirds seem to pose for our entertainment.

Great Blue Heron

White Egret

And last, but not least were the Sand Pipers, Gulls and Royal Terns that were sunbathing on the sand bar.

Anna sat at one of the picnic table watching the boats cruise by.

While I took off for a little beach walk adventure. I found a zillion Fiddler crabs and Hermit Crabs all making their way along the beach, scurrying to get out of my way as I strolled along.

A close up, well, as close as they would let me get anyway of the Fiddler Crabs.

Hope everyone has a great day, I am thinking of all my rain sodden friends back home, hoping they don't float away!!

a little fall color

Anna brought down some napkins and I just had to use this fall one! I cut and glued the front to an ATC and then outlined and created more shadows along the designs.

Then I used my ColourArte Twinking H20's to color in the pumpkins and Indian corn to give them some shimmer and shine. I used Sunburst,Copper Penny,Ginger Peach and Orange Peel.

 I wish the shine showed up a little better in my picture but you can see how the colors makes it glow!

Sending this ATC off to Grumbacher for their swap challenge #40.

and 

ColourArte's Orange is the New Black challenge.

Artcation - day 4

What did we do?

It seems like I don't even remember yesterday at all...

I know we continued drawing, but it doesn't seem like we accomplished much, lol

I'm still working in my Children of the Sea" journal, and I find drawing children to be highly frustrating, so different than drawing adults....sigh

We did get out of the room for a bit and walked down to the Marina to catch the sun set.

Found this young Green Heron walking around too. ( This is the same bird that I found in my creek up in the mountains, it was nice being able to get a better picture of him now.)

This is my favorite picture from the photo shoot.

Artcation - day 3

Today we went down to the Pier Park to have lunch and do some shopping. 

You must play the tourist at some point, right?

 But first on the agenda was lunch! We went to Jimmy Buffets's Margaritaville!And of course, you can't eat there without seeing the big salt shaker come down out the airplane!

We began with an ASIAGO CRAB DIP, its A sharp asiago cream with crabmeat and artichoke served with crostini bread. And it was YUMMY!

Anna had the signature Cheeseburger in Paradise....which is a must for first time visitors!~ 

My Fish Sandwich was so big I had to cut off the ends of the fish to be able to eat it...can we say leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

By the end of the shopping trip, we were pooped!