learning

Sprinkled with a Dash of Melancholoy

/ Jodi / 59 Comments

Morning Ride Home Fog 1

It’s that time of year…
that bittersweet time.

You can just feel it…
There’s a  nip in the air.

You can hear it…
The crickets croon.

You can smell it…
Drying leaves and withering grass.

There’s that knot in the stomach…
not sure if it’s nervous or excited.

It’s an ending…
but it is also a beginning.

Carefree days are left behind…
Structured schedules begin.

It’s brand new shoes…
and choosing just the right first day outfit.

It’s shiny new binders…
and backpacks with lots of compartments.

It’s one-subject and three-subject and five-subject
multi-colored spiral notebooks.

It’s freshly sharpened pencils…
and pens in red, and blue and black.

It’s fresh new crayons and assorted colored pencils…
and highlighters in neon shades of yellow and pink and green.

It’s the anticipation of seeing old friends
and the hope of meeting new ones.

It’s new teachers, new subjects, new classrooms…
It’s squeaky clean blackboards with fresh sticks of chalk.

It’s time to secretly pass notes
with important messages

like “Do you like me? Yes or No
Circle One”

It’s waiting with the neighbors at the bus stop
and sharing seats times three.

And then growing old enough
to be too cool for the bus.

It’s apples for teachers
and pictures with bus drivers.

It’s back to school time –
Can you feel it in the air?

And even though it’s been
quite a few years

since I sent my boys off
with ambivalent feelings of sadness and pride

and even more since it was me as that little girl
with butterflies of anticipation, fear, and excitement

I still get that feeling
this time of year.

Sweet joyful memories…
sprinkled with a dash of melancholy.

I can’t be the only one
that feels this way.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

Daily Prompt:  Learning

My Watercolor Journey

/ Jodi / 63 Comments

Capture

 

I really enjoyed watching a watercolor blending and shadowing tutorial recently on ArtistNetwork.TV by Sterling Edwards.  For someone who never studied art or even took a high school art class, what a great way to learn this is!

After experimenting and playing with watercolor for a about a year so far now, I still have so much to learn, and I learn something new every time I watch a video, read a blog or book, or chat with other artists.  (Charlie O – did you catch that?  I said “other” artists 🙂 )

At the recommendation of my artist blogging buddy, Laura @ CreateArtEveryday, I checked out ArtistNetwork.TV mainly with the goal of watching some great abstract pastel videos by Debora Stewart (and wowza – did she ever blow me away!).  I was then compelled to check out some watercolor videos when I came across a great exercise in color blending and shadowing called Color Techniques for Expressive Watercolors by Sterling Edwards.

In the above exercise, I did a quick sketch of the two old barn-type buildings on a 10″ x 12″ sheet of Arches 140 lb Cold Press Paper.  Then, in about 20 minutes using only four colors of watercolor paint, (Raw Sienna, Windsor Violet, Azo Yellow, and Cobalt Blue), I  blended these colors to create many shades of colors (a yellow and purple to make brown, various combos of yellows and blue to make greens, dropping in purple onto the newly created brown to create depth!) and shadowy neutrals for this simple scene.

I feel like you can really see the light and life in this painting.  It’s certainly not perfect and was only meant to be a practice, but I rather like how it turned out and really learned a lot about blending, creating neutrals, working with a flat brush, and the all important white space.

If you are looking for a way to self-learn, I surely recommend ArtistNetwork.TV.  I watched the tutorial one evening and did the painting the next.  I can’t wait to find time to watch and learn more!  Does anyone else wish there were more hours in the day to do all the fun things we want to do?

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Discovering the FUN in Art

/ Jodi / 59 Comments

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