Mellow Yellow & Puppy Love

yellow flower watercolor card

Here’s a little yellow flower watercolor I recently did with no particular flower in mind – just goofing around really.  Feeling kind of “mellow” when I did it (which I’ve come to think is a good way to feel when water color painting). I think I like how it turned out.

I am using it as a thank you card for a very sweet lady (Hubby’s boss’s wife), who sent home the loveliest gift basket yesterday to welcome our new little guy, Charlie, who you may recall briefly “meeting” in yesterday’s post.

As those of you that know me or have been following for a while know, we lost our dear sweet Mikey almost three months ago…  Not a day has gone by that I haven’t missed him or thought about him.  Mikey was such a special little guy, and our hearts and our house has had a big empty hole in it since he left us.

Hubby has been following posts from petfinder, and animal friends, and all the local shelters for the past month or so in pursuit of a new furry friend to rescue and fill the void in our home.

This past weekend, he showed me a picture of a little guy, who we have come to name Charlie (or Chuck for short), who we drove close to two hours to meet, and who we feel in love with almost instantly.

Charlie got his name from the fact that his nervous tummy had him “up-chucking” three times on the ride home from the animal shelter to Mars.   He is a bit of a nervous Norman – quite likely he was not treated well by his previous owner.

Word is he was dropped off at the shelter with his buddy – another dog – about three weeks ago.  His best bud was adopted a couple days before him, and Charlie (Kota as he was named by the shelter) was deeply depressed.   When we signed the papers and got ready to head home, one of the volunteers told us we rescued him just in time as he was getting so sad.

We have no idea what his history is or what “breed” he is.  The best guess from the “experts” at the shelter is that he is approximately a year old (they determine this by looking at his teeth), and that he is part beagle and part Australian Sheep Dog…  We are guessing he has some retriever or lab in him – probably that and about 52 other varieties!

Charlie is growing more and more content and settled, and he is stealing our hearts quickly.

His first night, he slept in between hubby and me in bed.  Second night, he found his place on the couch in our room and slept peacefully all night.

He loves to chew on some old bones we had in a bucket from Mikey and is an avid fetch and retriever of a knotted rope Mikey didn’t want anything to do with.

I have been spending my hours scratching ears, rubbing tummy, walking the perimeter of our yard (and quickly accumulating steps on my FitBit!), and enjoying lots of doggie kisses in between everything else.

Our first BIG success came when Charlie “rang the bell” that we have hanging on the front door to let us know he “needed” to go outside on his third day at home.  What a fast learner!  I’m such a proud Momma!  🙂

How fortunate I am to be able to work from home and allow our little guy to acclimate to his new surroundings with the comfort of knowing I am here for him and he is safe and at home.

Here is Charlie “posing” in his Camo Bandana that came in his awesome gift basket.  He is 45 pounds of exuberance, nervousness, intelligence, and love.

Charlie in Camo

I guess that’s why they call it “puppy love!”

Cheers & Hugs & Puppy Kisses from Mars,
Jodi

A Watercolor Stargazer Lily

stargazer lily 4

A sweet friend told me one of her favorite flowers is the Stargazer Lily and “challenged” me to paint one.

First thing I had to do was “google” what a Stargazer Lily is!

Then I tried to paint one.

stargazer lily 3

I struggled with this flower, and ended up doing several versions thinking each time I would be happy with the result.

stargazer lily 1

But, alas, I am still not sure I am completely happy with any of these, and I’m not sure my friend will be either, but I decided to share them and see what you think.

stargazer lily 2

Do you have a favorite?  Do you like any of them?

After drawing and trying the first one (#3) with a background and then the second one (#4) in a little different style and without the background a couple of days ago, Sunday morning I drew this darn flower again and came up with my third rendition (#2).

Still not happy, I decided to just slap some water and paint on the paper without drawing it first, and I created my fourth version (#1) in about 10 minutes, and I think it’s my favorite.  But when showing my hubby and youngest son all four, they each chose a different one!  LOL!

I still don’t think I have even come close to capturing/mastering this beautiful flower, but here it is Tonya.  If you like one of them, let me know, and it will be on it’s way.

Any artists out there mastered the Stargazer Lily?  The challenge of this one for me was the lighter colored outer edges of the flower I think.  I would love to hear any tips!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Sunny Sunflower Birthday Wishes

Liz Birthday Card Yellow Sunflower 2015

Is it a sunflower or a black-eyed susan?  Not sure… but that’s the beauty of art – and especially watercolor painting.  The freedom to create something new, something different, expand OUTSIDE the lines.

Whatever it is, it is bright and cheery and for a special young lady’s birthday!

Happy Birthday Week Liz!  🙂

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

Enveloped in the Beauty and the Gesture

purple patch of wildflowers

One of the many benefits
of living in the country

and such a
sweet surprise

is when
hubby mows the lawn

but drives around
a patch of wildflowers

leaving them intact
to add a patch of purple
amidst the green

to take my breath away –
enveloped
not only in the beauty…
but also in the gesture.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Bleeding Heart

bleeding heart 2015

My favorite, dear Bleeding Heart,
are you happy or do you mourn?

Your bright color smiles,
but your tears look so forlorn.

You show us the beauty we oft overlook,
and elicit a pause when our own hearts are shook.

(My bleeding heart plant is my favorite of all in my yard.  It has moved with me a couple times as it was a plant given to me by my Grandma.  It is a symbol to me of her very special heart every year when it blooms.  It reminds me of the joy and the sorrow of love.  It demonstrates the intense and powerful artistry of Mother Nature.  I could never create or imagine anything more beautiful.)

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

PS:  I love the intricacy of this flower, and this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is Intricate.

Watercoloring Week 4

watercolor cat tails

I’m trying to work at getting “looser” with my watercoloring.

I surely have a long way to go, but I am having so much fun in the process.

watercolor 6 hibuscus

This hibiscus flower and the cat tails were more tutorials by Lindsay @ The Frugal Crafter.  If this is something you’ve thought about trying, Lindsay really breaks it down into manageable projects.  Hers are so gorgeous and effortless.  I cannot wait to get to that point.  For now, I try – and I enjoy.  Learning to loosen up while drawing and painting.

I’ve watched a few other YouTube tutorials, but so far Lindsay’s have been my favorites.  If you know of others, please do share and let me know.

It is so amazing to allow myself to put pencil to paper again. To brush water on it, and then add paint and watch it spread.  I wish I could describe how glorious it feels.  This last one was just kind of a random time time filler while I was waiting for another to dry.  I was just using the colors and trying to be loose.  It is supposed to be the view I could see from my deck while I was painting (LOL!).

watercolor random trees

Yesterday was so gorgeous…  I started out the day with a long walk in the morning (with my camera and a friend) followed by a bit of gardening, then some relaxing and painting on the deck.  The sun was shining, a breeze was blowing – temps were in the high 70s.  It was simply divine!

Oh – and I was notified that my “Oh Happy Day” card was chosen as a winner in both challenges I entered Friday  The Paper Players and Can You Case It!  Woohoo! How awesome is that?!?  🙂

And then… a sweet friend let me know she was cooking and baking some of my recipes, and she and her family loved them.  YAY!  Lori made the Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chicken Caprese Lasagne, and Poppy Seed Cake.  What a way to make a great day even greater – eh?!

I hope you are finding time to do things you love this weekend.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

Discovering the FUN in Art

watercolor 2 tulip 040415

Can you tell what it is?

This is Watercolor #2 on my journey to learn watercolor painting.

So I have to admit……   I found myself struggling to post this….  Not feeling it is good enough…..  Starting to take this “art” business much much much too serious!  And then one of my sweet bloggie friends, Laura at CreateArtEveryDay, inquired about how my painting was coming.  I told her I was struggling with whether to post or not… what everyone would think…. not wanting people to feel obligated to “Like” or comment….  Wondering if it was “better” than my first  (hubby said yes – son said he liked first better…) Oiy Vay!  Then I worried – Does anyone care about my “art?”  Will they stop visiting my blog if I share less than lovely art work?  Sheesh!

Then wise, sweet Laura encouraged me.  She said (and she gave me permission to share):

If I let those feelings stop me, my blog would be private. I think the point here is encouragement and support and FUN, not perfection. I’ve done all of that second-guessing, but part of making something every day is really forcing me to not worry about what anyone thinks and just post it. Your first flower was really good, I thought. You definitely have talent. It just takes lots of practice to be happy with watercolor paintings (in my experience) and I’m still not there yet. I’ve come to the point that it’s about fun. FUN. And Relaxation. And DE-stressing. Forget everything else. If you painted it and you enjoyed it, that’s all that counts. Your followers love you and they want to share in your experiences and experimentation. At least, that’s how I see it. Otherwise, I’d post nothing, ever.

It’s all about fun. I just want to see you have fun with whatever you do. No one would expect to sit down at the piano and play Beethoven, but people put such high standards on their artwork. (I’m preaching to myself too, believe me.) But for me, this is about growth and happiness and relaxation and healing, more than anything else. So I just can’t take it seriously. I won’t. And I really hope you don’t either. If it’s not fun, it’s not worth it. I really hope you fly and just set yourself free, Jodi! 🙂

How lovely is that?!

Thank you, Laura!

And then I remembered WHY I started this blog…. not for “likes” (though I certainly LOVE your LIKES!)….

Not to “prove” anything….

It is a hobby…. It is my space to share the stuff I love to do at life in between!

So I’m posting it – and you know what?  It was FUN to do!  Fun to watch water and paint create something on paper.

Gallery worthy?  No!

Fun?  Yes 🙂

So last week for my first watercolor, I drew the flower with a pencil first.  For this one, I just “drew” the basic shape with water and paintbrush.  This was another tutorial by Lindsay at The Frugal Crafter.  Lindsay makes it look so simple!  She just whips these up in about 5 or 10 minutes while chatting away and being funny and relaxed and silly.

Wonder if I’ll ever be able to get so free and loose and relaxed while doing this?   I’m a bit “heavy handed” with the paint.   I want to just touch the paper with the brush and watch it “move.”   This watercolor stuff is HARDER than it looks!  (FUN Jodi – FUN!)     I have a new appreciation for some of the talented artists I know that do this now!

Thanks for sharing the journey with me my friends!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

P.S.  Hope you’ll visit Laura’s blog too – she shares a fun new creative experiment every day @ CreateArtEveryday

My First Watercolor

My first watercolor 040115

I’m being extremely brave and sharing my very first drawn-from-scratch watercolor project with all of you.

Oh Dear…. Please be gentle!  You don’t know how many times I wanted to redo this and and pretend a retry was my first….

I know this is so very far from being anything worth sharing, but I wanted to post it to hopefully look back on a year from now and see that I have grown and developed.

This blog project has been a way for me to express the things I am discovering and enjoying at “life in between.”  As I started with stamping and card-making, my desire to express my creativity a bit more led to watercolor on cards with stamps (which I still love to do), but I was itching to try a watercolor from scratch – and I have NEVER been good at free-hand drawing!

So, of course I did what we all do now to learn a new skill, I searched for a tutorial on YouTube.

I came across a phenomenal “teacher” via tutorial at TheFrugalCrafter where Lindsay demonstrated how to paint a sweet pea bud.

I know – I know…. you were all thinking this was an eggplant or maybe a wilted purple rose – right?!  🙂

So it didn’t turn out to be a sweet pea bud per se, but hey – it’s a start.

And….

It was FUN!

Thanks for sharing this journey with me!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Trying to hang on a little longer… wwMc6

Trying to hang on a little longer daisy wwMc

A daisy among the colorful Fall leaves – trying to hang on for just a little bit longer to Summer – the season it loves.

Dazzling Dahlia

dahlia

Is there any more beautiful art than that created in nature?

(Thank you Gary for the beautiful bouquet!  Your dahlias are stunning!)