In the meadow we can build a snowman…
and pretend that he’s a circus clown.
Or if there is no snow in the meadow,
we can paint on paper
as a playful caper
and be just as happy all around.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
(Are you singing with me?)
Painting
A”pear”antly Pears!
I am having so much fun loosening up and watercolor painting while learning online with Art Tutor. What a great way to learn and grow at your own pace with lots of great tutorials!
These pears are a practice in negative painting in watercolor that I did last weekend.
I lightly sketched two pears in pencil, loosely dropped some yellow and red in them, let dry, and then negatively painted in blue and red.
Trying to get my creative groove back – loosening up and having fun!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Autumn Bucket List
- Enjoy long walks kicking crunchy leaves and smashing acorns
- Deeply inhale the crisp Fall air
- Snuggle under blankets by a warm crackling fire
- Sip warm spiked apple cider
- Gobble up honey-sweetened candy corn
- Buy Halloween candy for Trick or Treaters (that never come) – and eat it all
- Bake apple cakes and apple crisps and apple pies
- Wear hoodies and flannel shirts and yoga pants
- Break out the fuzzy slippers
- Watch football games and eat salsa and guacamole
- Cook chili and stew all day long in a crockpot
- Bake pumpkin EVERYthing
- Roast salted pumpkin seeds
- Burn cinnamon-scented candles
- Sip dark, dry red wine
- Jump in a pile of leaves
- Learn a new soup recipe
- Curl up with a good book
- Write a long letter to a friend
- Paint with red and yellow and orange
- Hug the people you love
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Happy Birday
Once a month, a group of us bloggers celebrate Bird Day – draw a bird, paint a bird, photograph a bird….. on the 8th of the month. So Happy Bird Day!
I was having fun with it this month and wanted to send our special hostess, Laura, at CreateArtEveryday a belated birthday card. Since I missed it last week, this one is belated for her birthday, but just in time for “birday!” This one was inspired by the amazing whimsical artistry of stressiecat.
Then I saw a cute little drawing of some simple birds on Pinterest that inspired the little card below that I sent to my BFF Jill in honor of some big news in our families that she is going to be a first-time grandma. We are SO excited!
This last one was a struggle, and I need to try again. I saw a tutorial of a watercolor robin done by Welsh artist Alison Fennell. I’ll have to keep working on the robin!
So Happy #BirdDay! Enjoy the birds that are around you – whether real, drawn, painted, or photographed – and chirp, tweet and sing, because tomorrow is Friday!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
#DrawaBirdDay
Follow the Path of Love
Follow the path of joy.
Follow the path of happiness.
Follow the paths of justice and righteousness and goodness, loyalty, equality, and freedom.
But mostly….
Follow the path of love.
A simple card
with a simple message.
Why do we complicate things
so much?
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Snail Mail
Who remembers the nursery rhyme about what little boys are made of?
Snips and snails and puppy dog tails. (What is a snip anyway???)
Well – not sure about a snip, but I thought a snail would be fun to paint in watercolor, and I had a little boy I needed to send a birthday “snail mail” card to.
It was fun to make a colorful snail for a very colorful little boy.
Don’t underestimate the power of snail mail….
Doesn’t it make your day when you receive a card or note in the mailbox? It is so rare anymore, but oh the joy – oh the appreciation we feel when we receive a handwritten – or better yet a handmade note or card. Right?
Want to do something EXTRAordinary? Send someone a handwritten “snail mail” note or card today? I guarantee you will make their day! 🙂
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Watercolor from the Beach
It was fun to do a little dabbling in watercolor painting while at the beach last week. And it was hard to think of anything besides the beach to paint while there!
One of the highlights of our little trip, however, was seeing a nest of endangered sea turtles hatch and make their way to the ocean. 72 hatched from the nest of over 100 eggs, and only about 1 percent will make it to maturation. There was a group of volunteers that guarded the nest and helped them make it to the ocean safely without being scooped up by the birds waiting nearby. Chances are many will not make it in the sea as so many predators await, but those that do make it to maturity can live up to 80 years. It is quite fascinating actually, and you can learn more about sea turtles here and here.
So one of my paintings is of a sea turtle making its way into the ocean.
Another is a very abstract sand, sea, air painting with a sea gull silhouette flying.
And the other is just a simple seascape and sky with a sailboat.
I made these three little paintings into note cards to send to my three chicas to thank them for a great GFC week.
Hope you have a great day wherever you are and whatever you are doing.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Don’t play with your vegetables
Remember being told to not play with your vegetables as a child at the dinner table?
I’m still playing with my veggies – watercolor painting these days – just for kicks.
Aren’t the radishes radishing?!
Certainly not some of my finest art work, but fun nonetheless.
I had some scraps of paper and the urge to continue after recently painting my Lazuli Bunting, but was obviously getting a bit tired and punchy by the time I got to the green onions and carrots.
Maybe I should stick to cooking and eating my veggies.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Watercolor Lazuli Bunting
I am a bit obsessed with watercolor lately…
My youngest son told my oldest son last week when he was over – “Paint, paint, paint – not so many cookies being baked around here – Mom’s too busy painting!”
Of course they were teasing – like they constantly do to me… (I’ve come to realize it is their way of expressing their love – at least that is what I’ve convinced myself of to maintain sanity!)
But – I do become a bit obsessed with things… (and I am on vacation this week, so scheduled a few posts ahead)
So – when I recently posted my Papa Cardinal watercolor, a sweet blogger friend, Deborah @ CircadianReflections commented how lovely it was and how she wished cardinals were in her area of the world.
I asked Deborah what her favorite was.
When she commented it was a Lazuli Bunting….
I had no idea.
So I Googled,
and I feel in love with this precious little blue bird.
So here is my interpretation of this beautiful little bird that graces the West Coast of the United States…
but not Mars.
Hope it does a teensy bit of justice to this glorious creature.
Thanks for sharing with me Deborah!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
A Pork Chop in Every Bottle of Beer
So we have a friend…
We’ll call him “Rodney,” because – hey – his name IS Rodney.
Rodney’s 60th birthday was this past week, and he is one of our buddies at our local “Cheers” here in Mars called “John’s Bar.”
John’s Bar is hubby’s and my Thursday night date most weeks, and we have a gang of regular buddies we hang out with.
Rodney is one of them.
Rodney has a secret to maintaining his “girlish” figure – – – and I daresay he is quite a good looking boy for his ripe ole’ age of 60.
Rodney’s drink of choice is beer. Lite Beer. Coors Light Beer.
Sometimes beer is his dinner.
Because you see Rodney’s philosophy is “there is a pork chop in every bottle.”
So I made this silly little fun watercolor card for Rodney’s birthday.
Of course this is all in jest. Rodney usually has a nourishing meal to go with his pork chop.
Happy Birthday Dear Rodney! Love ya Buddy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
the creative life in between 