Sweet Life.....................

This is my most recent 8 x 8 page. I tried my hand at watercolors for the background and used Prang brand. They are very inexpensive but I found them to be extremely intense! Love 'em! I used watercolor washes along with some sea salt for texture effects. The woman is collaged and over painted. The quote is one of many favorites of Emily Dickinson.

Are you having a good weekend? I am hoping you are!

Peace and love to all..........................Marilyn xxoo

"I Get Misty" :)

Here's another 8 x 8 creation for my journal. I felt like keeping with the color mode.

I am SO loving Misty Mawn's online class. I just can't say enough about it. I'm learning so much, working at my own pace, although feeling a bit behind :) But; Misty is really jam-packing the lessons with written assignments as well as cool art techniques.

I worked on some background pages, ahead, and am now going back and adding collage, drawings and painting, stencils, transfers - you name it, it's in there.

My thoughts are with all those effected by this latest coastal storm. I hope everyone is safe. New York City and Boston area are getting socked! What an active winter we are having. Here, today, is going to reach 32 degrees and it already feels like 70 compared to a few days ago. :)

Another weekend is facing us and wish you all a safe, warm, and happy one!

Love much - Marilyn xxoo

"Rosetta"

Here's another 8 x 8 page for my journal. I decided to get back to a little more color :)

I am going to add some journaling to this page and, also, some color to the background.

I named her Rosetta. I have no idea where that came from but as I was sketching her and started painting her; that is what was calling to me.

Today I plan on catching up with visiting Blogs. I've just come off of two gloriously, joyous days with Sophia. She is talking up a storm, now, and the past couple of weeks, I've really sensed the two of us are developing a wonderful bond. I have introduced her to coloring with an over-sized coloring book. We get down on the floor and I just love watching her with the big crayons. She's pretty coordinated, too, and even knows when she's using the crayon, when she gets the flat side, she immediately turns the crayon to the pointed side! So much fun!

I hope everyone is doing fine and having a good week. We were supposed to get another storm today but looks like we're dodging it! Whew!

Be safe and know you are all in my thoughts.....................Love much-Marilyn xxoo

"Rescue"

Here is another 8 x 8 page. The paper is 140 lb. cotton; hot press and I'm loving how it takes any medium and lots of erasing and scrubbing :).

I did not use Payne's Gray for this one; decided to go with mixture of Carbon Black, Titanium White and small accents of Quin. Azo Gold, and Quin. Red.

I entitled this piece "Rescue" and I think it reflects our very cold temps. that we are experiencing here. Today will be 14 and Sunday a whopping 7 degrees!

But; what I notice about these temps. is the quiet of it ya know?

Enjoy your weekend and if you like football playoffs, tomorrow is going to offer two very exciting games. There will be no art for me tomorrow - it will be noshing and watching the games. :)

I will be keeping warm thoughts of all of you!

Love much - Marilyn

Payne's Gray :)

I recently signed up for Misty Mawn's
online class and having much fun with it. I had taken her first class offering and decided to pick up on this current one for review purposes as well as some new things.

I'm creating all my class work on 8 x 8 hot press watercolor pages and once I'm done with the class, I will bind them together for a journal. It will be a great keepsake as well as technique reminders for me.

This work, here, is of a monochromatic-type (kinda sorta) done with Payne's Gray. I adore Payne's Gray as, alone, it is such a beautiful bluish/gray and mixed with the right colors, you can really arrive at a wonderful shade. I left this figure a little "faceless" as I ended up liking it; has a bit of mystery to it.

A lot of what I will be sharing on my Blog, for awhile, will be these 8 x 8 pages with my exercises from Misty's class.

Our weather has really been active for this month of January. We're over our limit in terms of snow fall, for the month, we just cleaned out from a snow/ice mix and now are getting more snow tomorrow. However; it is allowing me to make time, for myself, to work on my class projects :)

I hope you are all safe, staying well and your week is being good to you.

Love much - Marilyn xxoo

When Mother Nature strikes......paint! :)

Today is normally my day to be with Sophia. Our weather, today, has closed schools which means Sophia's Dad and Mom have a snow day. But; I did see Sophia, yesterday and over the weekend, so I got my fix :)

I decided to take, today, to work on some portrait work between sketching and painting. This picture is of my original sketch (below) but painted.

It's very challenging, for me, to paint a face especially with layers. And; it's time consuming so what better day, than today, to give it a try.

Has anyone seen the movie "The King's Speech"? My husband and I saw it, yesterday, and WOW! I'm still thinking of it in between working on my art. My mind keeps slipping back to it. It's a very powerful movie and the acting is just incredible. Colin Firth got an award for best actor for his part of King George the VI. Fantastic! I highly recommend the movie.

All have a safe day and thanks, again, for your supportive feedback you leave me here. I love your comments!

Love much! Marilyn xxoo

Portrait sketching...................

This is a portrait sketch I recently worked on. It's odd that I am looser, with my sketching, if I don't actually use a model. I'm finding if I just sit down at my art table and start drawing, before I know it, I have met someone new :) There might be similarities with my faces, but I find I tighten up when I'm trying to look at a model of an image. Does this happen to anyone else? I might be drawn to an image and then feel like I'm trying to copy but try to get the expression at same time. It's kind of stressful.

I guess I have to stick to whatever I feel works for me.

I now call these drawings "my girls" as there is an element of surprise each time I start drawing to see what the end result will be. Maybe I should starting naming them; that might be fun!

I still have so far to go but am just enjoying the process. I want to begin working on side and 3/4 views which I know are very difficult.

I am in LOVE with the blending stump! It's such a relaxing tool and I can lose myself in the sound of it, the feel of it while shading.

Life's little pleasures; aren't we lucky to have art in our lives?

Have a safe weekend, ahead, everyone! Enjoy your pleasures!

Love much........................Marilyn xxoo

AND................THE WINNER IS!

Congratulations to..........................

Sharon of Moon Rae!

You are the winner of my Blog giveaway!

My husband is my random selector and he chose your name from a basket this morning! Thank you for joining in and thanks to all who participated.

Sharon; please contact me so I can get your mailing address to send you your winnings.

Hope everyone is doing fine. I've been a little quiet the past week - sorry about that. But; it's been a busy week and today we are having another snow event so I hope to take some time to catch up with your fabulous Blogs and art projects.

Stay safe and know you are all in my thoughts.

Love, Marilyn