Nature Walk

Pansies that are still blooming in this heatwave...

For this weeks nature walk and sketching I picked a few flowers from the patio garden and my mon and I also went walking in a nearby college town they have a really pretty school campus and it's fun to go walk there in the summer. There are a lot of tree's so it stays a little cooler there.

My mixed media sketchbook page this week. I used watercolor, colored pencils, and some oil pastels for the background.

 This is a picture of a front walkway with roses and snapdragons and a brick path.

This is an area of the college grounds, a cute little nook with benches and a chalkboard surrounded by trees and hedges. So I took some chalk and did a few doodles which was really fun.

A really lovely afternoon before the big heatwave this weekend.

Elisa Loves-Nature Walk

Remember

On Wish Studios Blog Read for this week she chose the word REMEMBER and at first I wasn't sure what I would write about and than I decided to look back at some of my older art journals. It's funny how you can spend so much time working on something, finish it , put it on a shelf and than end up forgetting about for awhile and than be happy when you stumble upon that project again and see where you were at during that time in your life. So this was just a perfect reason to look back through some of those journals. This first journal page was a quote by Someguy I titled it Why Journal and he said "perhaps it would be better to ask 'why jump rope?' or why 'sing in the shower?' Some things in life intuitively bring us joy, and we're drawn to them, often without understanding why. It would be easy to say we journal because it makes us happy or because it's therepeutic, but it's something so much more primal than that. Deep down, at our very core, we're all creative people. And in a world that values profit margins over all else, journaling has become the voice of the individual....a sanctuary of creative expression."
I thought that sums it up very well, and is always a nice thing to REMEMBER.
   
               

Discovering Delight - the senses

This is a journal page I did inspired by Jamie Ridler's blog post on discovering delight in the senses.I added doodles to the page , some alphabet stamps  and color using colored pencils. I drew roses, a cupcake, bluberries, birds, and a cottage garden.

My list is written out below.   What are your favorites?

I love the taste of:

1. wild maine blueberry icecream
2. Harney and sons (hot cinnamon spice tea)
3.  fresh peaches
4. any pasta dish
5. homemade desserts
6. Krispy Kreme individual lemon pies

I love the sight of:

1. the ocean in Maine
2. cottage gardens
3. peoples art journals and sketchbooks
4. puppies and kittens
5. people being nice to strangers
6. pretty shops and boutiques 

I love the feel of:

1. being relaxed
2. scarves around my neck when its cold
3. warm baths
4. cool breezes during the summer
5. old books

I love the smell of:

1. garden roses
2. the process of cooking
3. nature
4. fresh laundry
5. craft stores and art supplies

I love the sound of:

1. the oceans waves
2. music of  Coldpay  and Ryan Adams
3. birds in the early morning
4. the piano
5. christmas music

Nature Walk on Thursdays

I found a fun thing to do on Elisa Loves blog called Nature Walk on Thursdays so I started yesterday, but here in North Carolina is was just too hot to be outside for very long so I picked a few flowers and did a watercolor sketch inside where it was cooler. Hopefully next week the weather is better and I can go on a walk...Here is the sketch that I did last night.

Art Journal- inspiration collage

This is a collage spread that I did in my daily journal, I printed some pictures from the internet that I really like a lot, like other people's sketchbooks , art journals by Pam Garrison and Besottement, a pretty outdoor scene under trees and also a pink rose. Then I spent some time making my own little labels that I can glue onto journal pages. I just drew them with a ballpoint pen added color with colored pencils and then cut them out of the paper {a thinner paper not watercolor paper so that they glue easily onto other pages}. It was fun and relaxing just doodling and coloring them in.

Up close shot of the labels also some pink roses that I drew and cut out to add in to journals as well. And then I keep them all in a little pottery dish on my desk ready when I need them.



Dreamboard

I'm starting a dreamboard journal inspired by Jamie Ridler's Full Moon Dreamboards. The focus for my first one is the wish to sell my handpainted home accessories at craft festivals and galleries and to turn it into a business. So I have pictures of craft booth set ups , the name of a gallery, other artwork that inspires me, and words like 'an opportunity to bloom, creativity,  renewal and 'inspiring you to be true to yourself' , so I hope that somehow I can bring these things into my life.

Some of My Latest Sketchbook Pages

 

Summer Manifesto

This is my Summer Manifesto list from Ali Edwards inspirational post on coming up with goals and ideas for the summer. So I wrote mine in my art journal, the list includes:

• Nature Sketching
• Read Novels
• Taking an online Art Journaling Class with Kelly Kilmer
• Picnics and barbeques at the park
• Wish Studios Summer Blog Reading
• Take a lot of Pictures
• The Postcard Project/Love Notes
• Eat a lot of Fresh Fruit Salads
• Take walks when it's not too hot
• and most of all to RELAX

                                       

Fun things to do this summer

This is a photo of my afternoon doing watercolor sketching on the patio. The weather has been so nice for it, but I don't think it will last so I'm glad I took advantage of the good weather.

                                                        FUN SUMMER IDEAS
I found some great ideas for this summer on different blogs like Wish Studio's The Great Summer Blog Read '12 which I think is a really great idea because when I'm looking at blogs I rush through and only look at the photos always wishing that I would just slow down and take the time to read what people are taking the time to write about on their blogs.
Another fun thing is The Postcard Project-love notes from the blog giggling in the rain.
On ihanna's blog she had a post about creating a Summer Manifesto in her art journal of the things she wants to do this summer which I think sounds like a fun idea.

I'm also going to do a lot of reading so I signed up for the summer reading program at my local library.
So I have definitely found some fun things to keep me busy this summer and I hope these links have given some inspiration to you to.






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