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!

Artcation - day 2

Wow, yesterday we spent almost all day playing with watercolors, watching movies, eating chocolate and took a break to go down to the pool area and sit in the hot Jacuzzi while they played music. We finally had a break in the rain and it was nice to get out of the room for awhile!

I love checking out other people art supplies and Anna loves her watercolor brushes. I love how she keeps them rolled up in this bamboo mat with her little watercolor swatches! She is this neat!

She is also very methodical and takes her time making very controlled art. I am very impressed with her patience!

 I, on the other hand am very spread out and messy!

My drawing was more along the lines of fast and furious. 

Yesterday was very rough for us, after hours of drawing and painting all day, we crashed early last night. We also decided this morning that we needed to move from the couches to the dining room table for better back and light support, so we shifted all the supplies over to the table. Hopefully that will help us out...

Artcation DaY 1

So my image of sitting on the beach watching the Lunar Eclipse didn't turn out like I had pictured it.

Rain, rain, go away

Sandee wants to paint the moon today.

Well, the universe didn't listen to me, so I turned to the internet and watched the eclipse live and painted it that way. Now the computer screen looks blue in the picture but in reality it was black...

Anna and I are having fun, looking through each others journals, eating pizza and chocolate, watching TV and painting. She has showered me with gifts, one of her handmade journals, a set of Neocolors, Doves Chocolate, a sheet of her handmade paper and 2 cookie molds that I can paper cast from! Christmas has come early!!

No designer paper you say?

Well, that is super easy for me since I rarely use pre-made paper and prefer to make my own. It's not hard to do and actually quite fun! Currently I am making some fall paper using dried leaves as inclusions and it is so pretty, but for this challenge I am using some paper that I made previously.

On this paper I used the Metallic Dust sets ( gold in this paper ) that you can purchase from the Arnold Grummer Paper Making store. I then hand-stitched a geometric design with my floss and used a Happy Birthday stamp along the bottom edge. I think the gold metallic kinda goes with the birthday celebration them of the card.

I am entering my card in the Simon Says - No Designer paper challenge

Life Drawing - Amalia

Well, today is the first time I got to draw the same model. And that is OK, not sure I like drawing someone again or if I prefer random new models. I overheard the model asking if the studio owner needed any more male models and was quite surprised to hear that no, she had more male models than females. Just an interesting little fact.

Another interesting fact is that there are a couple of artists that have DRAWN ME during our sessions ...wth? I find this a little weird....

So today I took my Faber Castell Water Crayons with me, and I can say, I still don't love them. They just seem to leave too many marks even after I have used my water brush to smooth the lines out.

3 minute poses

I always am amazed at how a new medium feels in my hands when I begin, the crayons felt large and clumsy, especially after several weeks of slick pens and pencils.

10 minute poses

I knew when I had planned on using the crayons that I was not going to be able to get small details, like her face.

But it was the lack of fingers and toes details that I missed the most.

This young woman is rather limber as you can see and we all groaned a little because this pose is all about foreshortening. And let me point out that she is striking this pose on top of a stool!

20 minute poses

I really prefer her hair up, but she usually takes it down on the last pose or so. I am sure there are people who really prefer it this way.

Then I got another surprise. The owner was off talking to one of the artists about a book, and she actually held the book up and called to me across the studio, saying something along the lines of "Look Sandee, this is your style!" What? I have a style? I mean, other than I use colors and different mediums while the remaining artists all use charcoal and pencils, what would my style be?

 I thought maybe it's my line drawing and use of color that defines my style, but evidently the fact that I use my mediums as watercolors also comes into play?

So I opened up the book after I got home to see what defines Expressive Figure Drawing...

"Others see the visible world as just the starting point for creating art that expresses a meaning beyond what is visible. This group places the goal of self-expression paramount in their works.They tease, trick, tickle,and torture their themes and motifs to bring out the maximum meaning,"

So there, I am feeling quite posh about myself. UNTIL I read more about this style....sigh...
And you don't have to be especially "gifted" to get started. Expressive drawing takes you "back to the spontaneity, the worry-free expressive nature you had as a child,"

So yeah, my art is considered childlike to her....lol..oh well...the inner child in me rules, what can I say?

"Usually people who are older are no longer as fearful about looking silly,"

Die Crazy....hmmmm

Sounds like the next sequel to the Die Hard movies...or maybe it's what my future holds in store for me? lol Not sure, but I do love my dies, and especially my newest ones I purchased from the Simon Says store.

Tim Holtz Bird Crazy

Simon Says - Die Crazy

Of course I had to use my handmade paper for this little card, and I love that the dies cut handmade paper so well too! Seriously, I cannot get enough of Arnold Grummer paper making, it's addicting!

Busy, busy,busy!!

After this week-end I'll finally get a little bit of a breather. Tonight is the preview party for the Open Studio Tour in conjunction with the Rhythm and Brews event, so 4 hours of music, and partying! lol  I have to work the closing take down shift so yuck, but you have to pay your dues! 

As for today, I am in a DecoArt Designer contest, which means it's more or less a popularity contest, sooooooo
if you want to cast a vote for me or another designer of your choice then please go HERE to this link and do so. I love this picture I got while taking pictures for the contest photo 'cause a little female hummingbird flew up to investigate my box. I guess she liked it too :)

And last but certainly not least, the Youtube hashtag event #LoveFallArt kicked off today and here is the link to my video I created.  It's a 3 day lollapalooza of videos that get uploaded, but don't worry, you don't have to watch them all at one time, they will be there forever! Hopefully I will have the next one tomorrow too so please check back. If you subscribe to my channel then you will get notified automatically (I think) by e-mail when I upload.