Take a Word Art Challenge - Time

Time is the word we used this week when putting together our pieces for Take a Word's Challenge.
 

I found this Grand Central Station wall clock graphic and decided to use it with this train/crowd element. I added a bunch of colorful elements to the black and white scene, and I liked it!  I hope you do, too.  😊

See you next time...

The Three Muses Challenge - Umbrella

Our theme this week at The Three Muses is Umbrella.

What can I say about this one, except I love these two women.  And old houses and old buildings and lightning and storms.  Waterbirds and owls.  And they're all here!

Notice the bird nest in the lady's white hairdo.  What a do, huh?  There was a hole in it large enough for a bird's nest, so there it is.  😉


See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - Fruit and/or Vegetables

The challenge theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Fruit and/or Vegetables.

After going through lots of graphics and different elements and ideas, nothing really stuck.  Then I came across some beautiful strawberry cupcake elements and ended up settling on just one fruit - the strawberry.  Specifically on and in cakes and cupcakes.  Beautiful strawberry pastries.

"Cupcakes are LOVE with icing on top and a Strawberry."  🍓

So... this is an area of the Cake Works Bakery.  Surprisingly it's dog friendly, as you can see by the three pups in the piece.   Gotta love a dog friendly business.

Until next time...

Take a Word Art Challenge - An Old Fashioned Girl

Our challenge this week at Take a Word is An Old Fashioned Girl.  I've added an old fashioned car, bike and narrow downtown street.

I'm learning how to use brushes in Photoshop Elements, and finally put some on an art piece - this one has green and yellow watercolor splotches, but I've made them pretty transparent, just a touch.  I like it!  I'll try more brushes in the next challenges. These art challenge web sites are a great way to slowly learn a new program like PSE. 

A little at a time works for me.  😉


See you next time...

The Three Muses Art Challenge - Turquose and Red

Our theme challenge this week at The Three Muses is Turquoise and Red.  I know being a working photographer isn't as romantic as this scene, but I had fun layering my pieces to get this romantic result. 

And I agree with Ansel Adams, "There are always two people in every picture:  the photographer and the viewer."   I hope you enjoy it!

Until next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - Secret Garden

The challenge theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is Secret Garden.  I loved putting this one together.  Doesn't everyone want a secret garden?  Trees, bushes, garden furniture, a cool stucco building with ivy draping down the walls, a beautiful water feature with fish, ducks and frogs, lots of birds, including a beautiful peacock.  Muted sunshine so the computer screen isn't hard to read.
  
Oh yeah, I would really enjoy this little garden!  😉

See you next time...

The Three Muses Challenge - Window

Our challenge this week at The Three Muses is "WINDOW  Put a window in your world next week ... any kind of window ... anywhere." 

I've been sick with the flu for weeks now, and I missed a bunch of challenges that sounded like FUN!  I've had zero motivation to start anything new, but now things are starting to look up and this is my first piece this year. I think I wanted something calm and easy  - simple tent camping - and I added my "window" to the sidewall of the tent.  

This one was fun to do - my favorite part is the little baby monkey hanging on the rope tied to the tree.  Why is a baby monkey camping in the backyard?  Who knows?  This one doesn't necessarily make sense, I just used the elements I liked and had fun putting them together.   

There are some other challenges in the pipeline that look like fun topics, so hopefully I'll be motivated to do more soon.  :)

See you next time...

The Three Muses Challenge - Travel

The theme this week at The Three Muses is "Choose a word for January to inspire you."

My birthday is in January, so I put myself into this piece.  My word for January is TRAVEL.

Waiting for the train with all my luggage.  Do you think I have enough?  It's going to be a long trip!   I had so much fun with this one - tons of graphics and overlays.  😊

See you next time...

Take a Word Art Challenge - Childhood

Our theme this week at Take a Word is Childhood; I think any child would love to live in this house or walk down the path to visit her grandparents.   In fact, I'd love to live in this house!  Looks like heaven to me!

Happy 2018 to everybody! 

See you next time...

Take a Word Art Challenge - Celebrate

Celebrate is the theme this week at Take a Word. Wouldn't you love to celebrate New Year's Eve in Paris?  A taste of Champagne, then out to dinner and dancing the night away. 

Happy New Year, everyone!

See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art Challenge - Anything Goes

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.  --Emily Bronte

  To see a young couple loving each other is no wonder; 

but to see an old couple loving each other is the best sight of all.

--William Makepeace Thackeray

This challenge theme is Anything Goes - from Sunday Postcard Art.  We had the option of making our Art Challenge pieces on any subject we chose.

I loved making this one.  It went through many iterations, I don't know exactly how I ended up with "That was then...This is now..."  Maybe it was talking to my 95 year old Dad on Christmas day.  He and my mom met in high school and were married until she died on August 21, 2016.  Such a wonderful gift to love someone that long.  

See you next time...

The Three Muses Challenge - Books

This week's theme at The Three Muses is Books.

I've enjoyed reading all my life and remember how exciting it was to receive a new book.  I still have a couple from my childhood.  When I didn't have a book to read I'd pull down volumes from The Book of Knowledge or the Encyclopedia that were in the bookshelf next to the fireplace, and also a large book of short stories by Rudyard Kipling (which I didn't actually like very much, but they were there.)  And the Dictionary if there wasn't anything else to read.  Snuggle up on the couch with the sun streaming in the windows and be taken away...

They do fill you up and expand your life.

See you next time...

Take a Word Challenge - Christmas Greetings

The theme this week at Take A Word is Christmas Greetings.

Five cousins together at Christmas - that's what makes Christmas a little bit more than coming from a store!

I put this together using photos of my grandchildren when they were younger (the center photo was Christmas Day in 2010), Grinch graphics from graphicsbuzz.com and Pinterest, and the background paper from my paper stash.  I ran it through Painnt to get more texture.

See you next time...

The Three Muses Challenge - Mail Art

Mail Art is the theme at The Three Muses this week. This is my granddaughter, Lauren; I've always loved this photo of her.  It was taken during a Christmas visit at my house in San Diego, December of 2010.  The look of excitement on her face - doesn't it just say,

"Santa's bringing me EVERYTHING!"

😊

The background and all the graphics are from my stash, and I wrote Lauren's Wish List and Santa's reply.  I made a little "Lauren's Place," where she can go and dream and read and write and practice gymnastics.

See you next time...

The Three Muses Challenge - STARS

The Challenge Theme this week at The Three Muses is STARS - "use stars in your artwork - anything goes."

I wanted to use a raft, like in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.  Floating along on a warm evening, daydreaming while looking up at the sky filled with stars.

For the background I chose a photo I snapped at Lone Rock Beach, which is on the border of Arizona and Utah. I camped there on the beach for a week in May.  It would have been nice to have a raft then!

See you next time...

Take a Word Challenge - Red and Green

Red and Green is this week's theme at Take a Word Challenge.

The background is my own photo which was reworked in a couple of photo apps, and the graphics are from my stash.

This is the original photo taken at Armitage Park in Eugene, OR, August 2011. 

See you next time...

Sunday Postcard Art - Challenge: ELVES

Elves was this week's theme at Sunday Postcard Art.

The background is one of my own photos - I used a free app, Painnt, to get the rough brush strokes and a more artistic look then adjusted the transparency to fade it a bit.  The rest of the digital graphics I chose from my files, tinkered with them a bit, and layered.

I've posted three Art Challenge websites at the top of the right sidebar so I can easily click over (and you can, too).  This is my first challenge effort - I'm very curious how my style and abilities will change and grow as I go forward.  And learn Photoshop Elements!  I put this piece together on CraftArtist2, an old program that is no longer available.  I have different photo/art apps that I use for various effects and I'm sure Elements has them all in one program. 

See you next time...

On-Line Art Classes

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Udemy offered some classes at a deep discount - only $10 for tons of selected classes.  A Photoshop class that's normally $200 was $10, and I purchased an Adobe Photoshop Elements class for $10.  It is usually $150.  Quite a savings.  (There are still some classes on sale.)  In fact, I purchased eight classes:

 

I'm downloading all the classes and making copies on a thumb drive so I will always have them available.  To learn more about this website and their classes, click here:   What is Udemy?

I saved a ton of money - of course the savings will only be realized if I USE these classes.   I've always wanted to be artistic but don't have much skill in that area.  When I say in my blurb under the blog header that I'm very much a beginner in the art world, I'm not kidding.  But I've had an RV blog that won an award and I had my own word processing business for just under 15 years where I did all kinds of computer things with words, graphics, designed some logos, etc.  I've also designed and created jewelry that was consigned through a couple of stores.  I've done a lot of different things and been successful at them.  And totally ENJOYED them.  The kind of enjoyment that gets me starting the day early and working until afternoon, wondering where the time went and fixing lunch at 3:00.  I'm sure a lot of you have done the same thing.  It's exhilarating!

So, I have some experience in artistic-type endeavors, but I want to be a drawing and painting artist, and not put my work in the bottom drawer.   I want to hang it on my walls, give them as gifts, post photos of them HERE.  That's totally different from what I've done in the past.

When I was choosing which classes I wanted, I went into the free videos that are included with each class before purchase to check them out.  See if I liked the instructor's voice, way of speaking, etc., and get a little insight into how the classes were taught.  I passed on some of the classes because I didn't like the way the instructor spoke.  In one of the videos (I purchased his class) the instructor was talking about how people become artists.  One thing he said resonated with me.  Something about there are a lot of sketchers and painters who didn't start out with the skill, they learned it and then maybe mastered it.  Like most other things, if you have an interest and learn and practice you'll become a skilled artist.

I remember learning to type in high school - I was so "fumble fingered," it didn't feel natural at all.  When I no longer had my own busines, I was tested at one point while joining a temp agency after moving to a new area.  I didn't have a job yet, and wanted to earn some money before starting to work full time.  I tested at over 100 words per minute while typing and scored 100% on the WordPerfect knowledge test.  That was because I had used that program in my business (and Microsoft Word) for YEARS and was now an expert at it.  From fumble-fingered to expert - it just took practice and DOING IT.

That's where I am now with my artistic endeavors with sketching, drawing and painting.  Fumble fingered.  I have to admit, I hate doing things I'm not good at.  But I'm determined to practice and we'll see how it goes.

I've also ordered the Adobe Photoshop Elements bundle through their website - they had a Black Friday Sale also.  (Less $$$ than on Amazon.com.)

Then I ordered a book that Kim at The Empty Attic suggested I use with Elements.  It's working it's way to me through various post offices and I can't wait to get it and start using it. I'll post about it when it arrives and I start learning from it. Then I'm going to enter some of the Art Challenges she told me about.  Is there a "Beginner Category?"    😁

If you are interested in seeing what the new Elements for 2018 has, click here:  Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements.

And for a free trial click on the links below to be taken to that spot on their website.

Still deciding? Start with the free trial.

 Download Photoshop Elements 2018    💻     Download Premiere Elements 2018
Caution:  As far as I know the old 30-day trial is gone;
now you have only 7 days to try it out.

I guess I should say that I'm not affiliated with any of these products, they are just what I've purchased.  I wish I had posted this info earlier, but just thought about it today.   I'll bet these great prices will be available again before Christmas, so if you are interested in anything on this post, check the links from time to time and see when the Christmas sales will be going on.

Maybe in the next post, I'll actually have something I've created?

See you next time...

Zentangles, Zendangles and Zendoodles

Here are some books I've found on line - I think my favorites are dangles - I'll have to pull out the book I bought a couple of years ago so it'll be close by when I'm inspired!

Zenspirations - Dangle Designs:

Shirley and Company - found on Pinterest

Found on Pinterest

This is a book on Zen Doodles - I like looking at these; they are always interesting to me but I'm not a good enough artist to do this very well - yet...

Zen Doodle Designs:

I like this idea too, simple flowers, birds, and probably other simply drawn animals, etc.  It would be fun making fancy lettering to go with the artwork.

Zenspirations - Letters & Patterning

This is digital art - so you can download the file and put the digital graphics in your artwork.  I like doing this and have files and files of digital graphics.  If you are interested in these, I've recently found lots of digital graphics on Etsy.com and some if them are pretty inexpensive.  The link below takes you to Carrie Stevens' Etsy page with four different options of heart doodles - each of the four groups are $5 each.  I haven't bought any of her products, but I liked this one...

FishScraps - Heart Doodles

Pinterest

This link, Doodle Flowers, will take you to a Pinterest site that has a lot of really nice examples - you can see the different types and try your hand at making some of them if you wanted to try it.  This one, Zen Tangles Tutorial Step by Step, will give you precise directions to get started or get some new ideas.   Google those three words in this blog's title and you'll find myriad sites and ideas.

This is the book I have:

So there you go.  For people like me who haven't had an art class and no real artistic ability, this is a great way to get started.

See you next time...  

 

Let's get into some Artsy Stuff!

This might take a little time - I wanted an art blog, a place to collect information and ideas, to list all the artist's blogs that I want to check on from time to time, and to post some of the things I'll sketch or paint. Luckily I didn't have to recreate the wheel; I found an old blog I had already set up for Zentangling and Sketching a couple of years ago.  I'm going to use it as My Art Bag and put anything here that catches my fancy.

I know I don't have any artistic knowledge, I can't draw and haven't really done any painting, but I'm going to take some lessons and see what I can do.  I'll post some of the early works here - they will probably be terrible, but that's okay, it's a way to watch my progress and hopefully I'll see improvement as I take lessons and practice and try different things.

I'm working on creating the header and getting the layout the way I want it - I worked on it today and I think I like the way it looks, so I'll go with the art bag graphic and some of my digital graphics that I put together.  I hope I get good enough to need a real Art Bag like the one in the header.

I did a few little dangles a couple of years ago - I bought some Zentangling books and started copying shapes and squiggles.  I didn't get very far, but these are the three I found in one of my laptop art files:

More to come...