PPF - My First Oil Painting

Yay, I can finally participate in PPF again!  Although I have cheated a little.  Due to the packing, moving, unpacking and two weeks of my mother being here I have had no time for artwork.  So, I decided to use the very first (and only so far) oil painting I did ala Bob Ross.  I love watching Bob, he's so soothing and makes everything look so easy.  I know there are multiple problems with this one but I don't think it turned out half bad for my first try.  I am dying to do more oil paintings but need to save up some money for supplies first.  Hope you are having a wonderful day.  It is absolutely beautiful here today, not a bad way to start off the weekend!

To see more great artists and what they've been up to, hop on over to the Paint Party Friday blog.

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Sunday Sketches - Daisy

'Daisy'

I'm back!!! It has been a very long few weeks but we are finally moved in and believe it or not, everything is unpacked!  We found some very good families for the dogs.  We couldn't keep them together but they did get taken in by two wonderful families and both have kept in touch to let us know how they're doing. 

We moved in a week ago Friday and I have been busy unpacking as my mother flew in from Arizona on Thursday and will be here until the 19th.  This is the first day I've had a little free time to do some artwork so I decided to go with something quick and easy and did another addition to my flower series.  I went with a simple daisy and think it turned out pretty good seeing as I worked all day and get distracted by my mother every now and then.


Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and I hope to be back more often although it won't be easy until my mother leaves.  Not as much free time.  Hop on over to Blue Chair Diary to see more Sunday Sketches.

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Pics of Our New Apartment

Tyler's Room

My Room

My Closet

View From My Bedroom/Living Room Also

Bathroom

Living Room

Kitchen

Breakfast Bar and Tyler

Eating Area and Tyler

My Balcony (The Middle Right With Nothing On It

Close Up of Our View

We dropped off the deposit today and I snuck in some photos.  The master bedroom is smaller than what I have now and the closet is smaller but workable.  The bathroom believe it or not is larger than where I am now and so is the kitchen.  I love that we will have a full size dishwasher, have what I call a 'Barbie' dishwasher now and there is a space for the table in the kitchen area that is not carpeted.  :)

Nothing positive on the dogs yet.  Everyone wants Peanut because she is so cute but honestly, Lucy is the perfect dog.  She is very laid back, extremely friendly, does not bark unless someone is too close to our door and does not chew/whine/have accidents in the house.  I'm thinking we're going to have to separate them which really makes me sad but one of my coworkers said there is a Beagle rescue close to us that would have no problem placing Lucy if I can not find a home for her. 

Thank you for all of the well wishes with the puppies.  I don't know what I would do without all of my bloggy friends.  You have all been so wonderful with the loss of Jeff and now the dogs.  So again, thank you so much!

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We Are Moving!!

It's funny how things work out sometimes.  I called on an ad on Craig's List Sunday evening, went to see the apartment yesterday morning and found one that we really like, is affordable and in the same area where we live now.  We are officially moving on the 29th but will have access before that so I can start moving some of our smaller items over before hand.

There is a bit of sad news though, we are unable to bring our dogs.  Every apartment we looked at had a no pet policy.  Our apartment complex is one of the only ones in our area that allows dogs.  Unfortunately due to the high rent and some events that have occurred over the past year, we need to move.  So I am in the process of trying to find Peanut and Lucy a good home where they can go together.  They are too attached to one another to separate them.  

It's a huge relief to have found a place but now I have the stress of losing my dogs.  There's always some bad with the good I guess.

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Sunday Sketches - Practice Pieces

 Happy Sunday!  I've spent most of the weekend doing practice trees so I decided to try to do a quick landscape.  Nothing spectacular just trying to apply some of the things I learned from watching videos on YouTube last night.


Not to be upstaged by a silly little practice piece Peanut just had to get in on the action and have her photo take also.

We're going to look at another apartment this afternoon.  Much cheaper than the last one, hopefully just as nice.  Need to decide soon as we only have a couple weeks before moving day.  It sure would be nice to have somewhere to move to. lol

To see more Sunday sketches hop on over to Blue Chair Diary hosted by Sophia.

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Inspiration Avenue - Mother and Sweet Saturdays

"Mother"

I'm using this image for both Inspiration Avenue's prompt and Sweet Saturdays as I think it fits for both.  I had a lot of fun with this one.  My distant trees aren't exactly the greatest but I still love this one.  I think it's my new fave!  BTW, it is the first painting I've put my signature on.  EEEHH!  I was so tempted not to but I know I should get used to adding it.  I think next time I will make it more subtle though.  Don't want it to distract from the painting itself so much.

To view all of the Inspiration Avenue submissions click here.

To view all of the Sweet Saturdays hosted by the lovely and extremely talented Diana Evans click here.

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Paint Party Friday - Sea Turtle

I have been so excited about this week's PPF since last Friday!  I actually painted this last Friday afternoon and it has taken every bit of will power I have not to post it before today. lol.  I sketched the sea turtle out a few weeks ago but was too afraid to try painting it right away because I didn't want to mess it up.  I love him!  I used liquid frisket to mask off the light areas on his body after putting down a wash of the blue/green color then layered on some browns.  After I removed the frisket I went around the brown edges again and darkened the blue/green slightly.  I had so much fun doing this one I couldn't decide if I should post him for Sunday Sketches last week or my moon, which if you missed that post, the image is below and the post is here.

To see more wonderful PPF submissions or to join in on the fun hop on over to the Paint Party Friday blog.

PS...Looked at a very cute apartment today, has all hardwood floors,  new windows, a basement with storage space and a washer and dryer!  Little smaller than the apt we're in right now but it does have a large fenced back yard and central air.  Still going to look at another unit on Sunday.  I think we're getting closer.

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Playing with Watercolors and Apartment Hunting

Well, the hunt for an apartment is still on.  The guy with the condo did email me on Sunday saying he had been called in to work last weekend and would be able to show us any time this week.  I emailed him back, twice, and have not heard back from him.  I have given up on that one.  Even if for some reason he did finally email me, it makes me a little leery.  What if we moved in and there was an emergency and I can't get a hold of him.  No thanks.  So we're scheduled to look at a different apartment on Sunday and I have a few more prospects to call still.  I have not given up hope...yet.

I bought some new watercolors yesterday.  Not the best idea I've had since money is so tight but every now and then you just have to treat yourself.  I picked up the Koi Water Colors Pocket Field Sketch Box from Hobby Lobby, with the 40% off coupon so I don't feel quite as guilty. lol.  The little scene above is what I came up with.  Not a masterpiece by any means but it was sure fun to play with new watercolors.  I love the little box they come in and it came with the water brush (where you fill the reservoir with water if you are out in the field).  I haven't tried the brush itself yet but I may give it a whirl later today.  Can't wait for PPF tomorrow.  I have a watercolor I painted last Friday that I'm super proud of.  :)

Hope you are having a good week so far.  Thanks for stopping by!

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Sunday Sketches - Midnight Velvet

'Midnight Velvet'

I've been practicing with my watercolors and was looking at photos online for some inspiration and found this gorgeous glowing moon with black background and treeline and couldn't resist.  Now, my treeline isn't as nearly as cool as the real thing and I kinda cut off the moon a little too much on the right but I think it turned out really good.  The colors in real life really pop and it looks as if it's glowing so I'm super psyched about this one and can't wait to frame it and hang it!

I use watercolors for the moon and gouache for the black to make sure it was more opaque and not too transparent.  I've had some small tubes of the gouache for about three years and haven't touched them until now.  It's much thicker than regular watercolor so I only had to give it two coats to get a nice rich black.

The hunt for a new apartment is still on.  We're supposed to look at a condo for rent today but I haven't heard back from the owner so I'm not sure if he found someone else to rent it or he's just been really busy.  I'm hoping it's because he's busy because it sounds really nice.  It has two bedrooms and a loft area, 1.5 bathrooms, a washer and dryer right in the unit and central air!  Knowing my luck he already rented it out and is just avoiding me now. lol.  

Anyway, to see more great Sunday Sketches hop on over to Blue Chair Diary hosted by the lovely Sophia!

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Paint Party Friday - The River

"The River"

I missed PPF last week so this week I made sure I took some time out to paint!  I didn't want anything structured where I had to sketch first so I watched a few videos on Youtube and just started slapping paint on. lol  I think it turned out pretty good.  I've been on days for the past two weeks and for some reason it seems like I don't have as much time to play.  But I go to afternoons for the next two weeks so I should have more time to practice painting.  We're still searching for a new apartment also.  We're going to look at a two bedroom condo on Sunday.  I'm super excited about this one so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's not a total dump and that it works out.  :)  I'm off to work soon but will be back later to look at all the pretty paintings!

To see all of the Paint Party Friday submissions click here.

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Sunday Sketches

This has been an incredibly busy week.  I have not had time for any artwork until yesterday afternoon.  This was the first week of being on days which is always rough in the beginning.  By the time you get used to getting up early, you go back to afternoons.  We've also been searching for a new apartment.  It's one of those situations where we really can't afford to stay where we are but really can't afford to move right now either.  I've been feeling pretty much like the girl in my sketch.  It seems as though it is getting harder rather than easier as more time goes by since Jeff's passing.  I think once the stress of knowing where we will end up living is over, things will get better.  Thank you to all of my blogging friends for all of your kind words.  I'm usually a very easy going person and I hate dumping all of this on my unsuspecting readers but sometimes it helps to get things out.

For more wonderful Sunday Sketches hop over to Blue Chair Diary hosted by the lovely Sophia.

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Sunday Sketches

Lucy

Very rough sketch of Lucy.  Having a bit of a rough patch and just don't have the energy to do a full blown drawing.  For more Sunday Sketches visit the lovely Sophia's blog here.

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Paint Party Friday - Sailor's Delight

"Sailor's Delight"

Here's my week two Paint Party Friday Submission.  I'm actually quite happy with this one.  The colors are a little off from the original painting, the purple is more of a lavender color in real life.  I realize that my boat is a little skewed and the line for the sail is bowed out instead of a straight angle but overall I like this one a whole lot more than my first one.

I got the idea from Paint Works Magazine August 2010 edition.  If you've never seen this magazine and you love painting, I highly recommend checking it out.  They have ideas for acrylic, oil and watercolors in every issue.  I own several issues but this is the first time I've actually taken the plunge and have tried one.  I have the newest edition that has a beautiful watercolor tulip design that I'm really wanting to try but want to wait until I have more practice first.

If you would like to see more PPF submissions hop over to the Paint Part Friday blog here.  Happy Friday!

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Inspiration Avenue - Hello Spring

"Hello Spring"

Watercolor on Strathmore Coldpress 140lb 300gsm watercolor paper

With a little help from Photoshop I actually like this one. lol.  I tried the salt for the background effect and as you may see on the right hand side, the salt spilled out so fast it covered the entire section so I had to go kind of heavy on the rest of it.  The original is lighter in color but I really like the Photoshopped version better.

Check out more Inspiration Avenue submissions for this week's challenge here. 

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Daffodil

"Daffodil" Pencil and Sharpie Pen

I did another flower at work yesterday.  These are kind of fun and I'm thinking of doing a little series on different flowers to hang in my studio/bedroom.  They're quick and easy and quite pretty.  Still having tummy issues, although I looked for herbal remedies online and tried some chamomile tea and ginger root and had a reprieve for a few hours and was even able to eat a little.  Yay!  Gotta love the internet!

Thank you for the kind words and well wishes yesterday.  :)

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Columbine Flower

Columbine Flower

I sketched this at work last night and while I don't hate it, I know it's not my best work.  I haven't been feeling well since Saturday afternoon.  Extremely nauseous and haven't been able to eat much because most of it comes right back up.  It was so bad at work last night I was sketching just to try to keep my mind off of it.  Not sure if I have a bug or if it's my GERD, change of seasons is typically bad for my tummy but I haven't been this sick because of it since I was first diagnosed.

Ok, enough whining.  I tried my new Prismacolor turquoise pencils and while the graphite is definitely softer, I did notice some scratching just like with my cheaper set.  It's much easier to get the dark colors with the new pencils though, which leads me to wonder why anyone would need a 9B and why they didn't include and H or an F?  I'm happy with the color I get from them  though.  I added the black lines with my new Sharpie pen, which again, I absolutely love.  

I was trying to keep this short and sweet and I've rambled on again.  Happy Tuesday!

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New Season - New Look

You may have noticed the totally new look to my blog.  I was so tired of all the white.  I know it looked nice and clean but it reminded me of all the snow we've had and I was ready to look at something else.  My blog header came from the image below that I created on Saturday morning using my new soft pastels.  It is the first piece of artwork that I have been really proud of and absolutely love.  So much so, that I have actually framed it!  That's the first piece of my artwork that I have framed and will be hanging in my home.  Yay!  So exciting.  :)

 "Autumn Sunset"

Soft Pastel on Strathmore Pastel Paper 80lb 118g/m 9"x12"

And here it is framed.  It's just a cheap black frame with white mat that I got in a huge set.  For now it will be staying in that frame.  I have so many of them I plan to just use those to frame my artwork and will be hanging them in my bedroom/studio, once I find the nails that is.

I couldn't get the scanned image to show the bright, vivid colors correctly.  If I lighten it too much the colors get faded and if I darken it too much the colors look dull.  The original is very vivid and the sky looks like it's on fire. So pretty!  Of course it is cloudy today so I couldn't get good light for the actual photo either.  I was going to save this for PPF but I couldn't wait that long!  I also was so bored at work last night I decided to start changing my blog and figured I might as well post about it since it's my new blog header.  I know I should be doing Spring colors but for now, this will have to do.  I'm thinking I may change it with the seasons provided I come up with images I like enough to use as my header.

Hope you all had a good weekend.  I go back to full time at work this week which has it's good and bad points.  The good is the income, the bad is actually having to work (lol) as well as switching from mornings to afternoons every two weeks.  Totally throws off my sleeping.  At least I'm still on afternoons for one more week!

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Sunday Sketches

Good morning!  Happy Sunday to you all!  Here's my submission for Sunday Sketches this week.  I drew this at work the other day so I still haven't gotten to use my new pencils. Hopefully I'll get to try them out tonight.  I'm very curious to see if there is a big difference between those and the ones I have used for the past two years.  To see more wonderful Sunday Sketches hop on over to Sophia's blog here.

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Inspiration Avenue - St. Patty's Day

I thought it was fitting that since I grew up in Chicago that I draw the Chicago River dyed green for St. Patty's Day.  I sketched it up in pencil first then went over it with my new Sharpie pen (which I love by the way!) and for the thicker black lines my Staedtler Lumocolor pen.  I colored in the green river with several different shades of green with my Prismacolor colored pencils.

I stopped at Hobby Lobby again today to get the Prismacolor Turquoise pencils (I've heard they're pretty good for sketching) but I haven't used them yet.  I was only going for those, but you know how it is. lol.  I ended up with some new watercolor brushes (on sale for 50% off!) and another pastel paper pad in a larger size.  So I have tons of new supplies to play with and a whole day off of work! 

Check out all of the great submissions for this week's challenge here.

Happy Saturday!

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Paint Party Friday - No A Five Year Old Did Not Paint This

Ugh, not loving this first watercolor attempt. Was almost too embarrassed to post it. Well, technically it's my second one but I have been getting books from the library to try to learn some techniques.  I just jumped right in the with very first one so I don't really count that one.  =p  My pink practice palm trees came out so much better than the ones in this painting.  I was also having problems with the reflection and the sky itself.  My buildings are all leaning to the right.  But I know everything takes practice.  If you could see the first few drawings I did a few years ago you would never believe it was the same person that drew them.  Practice makes perfect and with the help of PPF and more books coming from the library, I should be a pro in no time!

Visit all of the Paint Party Friday bloggers here.  Hope you all have a great weekend and I promise some interesting sketches coming up for Inspiration Avenue and Sunday Sketches!

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Happy St. Patty's Day!

I'm not really doing anything special for St Patty's Day, in fact our electricity is supposed to be shut off between 10a - 3p so they can inspect our meters.  I guess it's a good thing that we're going to work early today.  The image above was some watercolor practice from a book I found at the library.  The bottom images was teaching shadows with the wet on dry technique.  I don't think I love the hard edges but I did actually do some practice before jumping into a whole large piece. lol.

The image below was another practice piece.  It was some brickwork which I don't think turned out too badly.  I realize that I need to space the bricks closer together and on the edges where it was pretty much obliterated the instructions were to use your soft brush and fade it.  Well, either my paint was still to wet, my brush was too wet or I used to much pressure because I pretty much erased it.  Another lesson learned.

Not sure I'll have a masterpiece for Paint Party Friday but I will have something!

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A New Medium

Well my trip to Hobby Lobby paid off.  I got so many neat things yesterday.  One of them being a set of pastels, which produced the above image.  Few things about pastels, I love them!  They are a little messy and it's a little awkward at first but I had a lot of fun playing with them.  I have a book from the library and decided to go for one of the larger images, you know, the whole learning to walk before I can crawl.  I realize now that I should have done the little exercises first but I still enjoyed working on this.  I also realized that I need larger paper for an image like this. It was hard getting the detail in a small space.  But that brings me to one of my other finds, pastel papers in an assortment of colors.  I also got a set of Watercolors in the tubes, a super neat spiral bound watercolor field journal, a book on watercolors, some watercolor card papers and envelopes and a tiny little sketch book.  Everything was either on sale or on clearance and the one item that wasn't, the pastels, I used their 40% off coupon for.

Now, if I could just get up the guts to actually use the watercolors we'd be all good!

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Let Your Inner Child Out

 

I wasn't in the mood for serious drawing yesterday yet I wanted to sketch.  So I just went with the first thing that popped into my head and sketched this young girl tending to her flower as she looks off at the swing she is longing to play on.  My puppy looks like a cross between dog and squirrel, but that's all right.  I had so much fun coloring her in with my Prismacolor markers.  I felt like a kid again, just coloring away.  :)

Off to Hobby Lobby to see what kind of deals I can get.  I have some birthday money I haven't used yet so I think I'll treat myself to some new art supplies.  Hoping to find a good watercolor instruction book so I can actually participate in Paint Party Friday!  Have a good one!

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A Painted Lady

Ok, so she's not really painted with the typical mediums you would think of such as oil, pastel, acrylic, watercolor or colored pencil.  She was brought into Adobe Illustrator and given a bit of color.  I didn't go too crazy with detail as I wasn't looking for a photorealism look and I didn't want to spend hours and hours on it as it was more for fun than anything.  I thought the background was fitting for the era she belongs in also.

Hope you like her. :)

Thank you for all of your kind words yesterday.  Artwork definitely helps with the healing.

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Sunday Sketches

I don't have much of a sketch this week as I have not been feeling too good the last two days.  I'm also still trying to cope with losing my boyfriend as today is exactly one month since he passed.  I did try to color her with my watercolor pencils but it was not a good thing.  The paper I used was too thin and buckled so I started over and decided to just leave her alone for now.  I'm thinking of bringing her into Illustrator and playing with adding some color but that will have to wait for another day. 

Hope you all are having a good weekend.  Be sure to check out all of the lovely Sunday Sketches hosted by Sophia of Blue Chair Diary.

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TGIF!

So happy it's Friday!  I don't have a normal weekend like most people but I do get Saturdays off so I'm super excited that it's finally Friday!  I drew this little guy last night.  I took my time with this one and I'm really happy with the results.  I normally get so worked up with a new design that I work straight through from start to finish and I think by the end sometimes I'm not focused enough to try to get all of the details right.  This time I did my graphing before I left for work.  I sketched in the main areas at work and waited until I got home to do the actual shading and everything.  I'm planning to frame and hang some of my favorite pieces in my bedroom/studio soon.  Still planning to take some photos once I'm finished.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

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Inspiration Avenue - Black, White and Pink

This week's Inspiration Avenue weekly challenge was Black, White and Pink.  I immediately thought of a ballerina so I sketched one while I was at work and broke out my water colors when I got home.  I really like her; however, if I were to do it again, I would not put any facial features.  That's the one part I really don't like.  I had a ton of fun with this one and really let myself go and not worry about trying to be perfect.  

I've also realized lately that I'm loving the color pink.  Purple has been my favorite since I was little but lately everything I like happens to be pink!

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Learning to Walk Before You Can Crawl

Meet Kevin.  I did not think Kevin up on my own.  He was a fun little exercise I found on drawspace. And while he may look cute, he doesn't look much like the example but that's ok.  He's my little piggy and I don't think he needs to be an exact replica.

One of the things I have recently come to realize is that I learned to draw before I knew how to sketch.  Kind of like learning to walk before you know how to crawl.  I love my Lee Hammond books and have learned some really great techniques from her; however, I discovered that I don't really know how to sketch.  Sketching is much looser and freeing than actual drawing.  Sketching can look very realistic like drawing but typically takes less time and is more of a rough image.  I love that I can draw but don't always have the time to dedicate to one piece.  So I am trying to learn how to sketch.  Big difference for me is that whenever I start a drawing I always graph, I am really bad with proportion so it is a must for me.  Trying to sketch something just by eyeballing it seems so much harder to me for some reason.  Or maybe it's not harder but that I'm not letting go enough to just do it without thinking so much.  Either way I am going to keep trying as I know practice makes perfect.

Speaking of not having time, I have been picking up extra hours at work and when I'm not at work I've been busy working on setting up my new studio space in my bedroom.  I've gotten the closet cleaned out, the furniture rearranged, my desk and computer set up as well as my bookcase with my books and supplies.  Now I just need to go through the hundreds of other craft items in the spare room to make room for my son. lol.  I'm so exhausted that I haven't had time to draw/sketch or do much of anything else.  The good news is that I'll be way organized once I'm done going through it all.  I hope to have some pics of my space once I'm finally finished.

Hope you are all having a good week so far.  ;)

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Dreary Monday

 

I look outside and all I see is gray.  A very dreary Monday indeed.  It feels like Spring will never come.  So I decided to draw some Spring!  The image on the left is the unaltered image done with Prismacolor colored pencils.  The one on the right was brought into Photoshop and had a watercolor filter added to it.  I was having some trouble getting this to scan.  It was coming out so light that you can not see the highlights as I had hoped.  I broke out the camera to try to take photos only to find the battery is dead.  So I did what I could in Photoshop to try to get it as close as possible to the original.  I kinda like the filter effect.  Seems to give it more life.  This piece was one of the exercises in my Lee Hammond book.  I'm so new to the colored pencil media that I was having a hard time with highlights.  I love my Prismacolors (they came with a kit for my graphic design classes and I've noticed they're quite expensive to purchase in hobby stores so I really want to use them properly) but I think I may pick up some Col-Erase pencils as they may be easier to work with.

I loved looking at all of the Sunday Sketches and would like to thank Aquariann as her wonderful dragon piece gave me the inspiration to break out the colored pencils.  I'm still hoping to do a watercolor this week but I am in the process of rearranging two bedrooms which includes all of my craft supplies.  After my boyfriend passed away, my youngest son moved back home with me.  I used the spare room as a studio/computer room and am now trying to squeeze everything into my bedroom so he can officially move all of his things into his room.  It's been slow going as I have a hard time going through all of my boyfriend's things but I know life must go on and he would want me to continue with my artwork.  The only way to do that is to clear out some things and create a new studio space.  Luckily, I have a rather large bedroom and I should be able to cram all of my crafty things into the space I have available.

I hope you all have a good week and can't wait to see more Spring inspired artwork.  I'm so done with winter!

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Sunday Sketches

It's so nice to be sketching again and I'm so excited to be contributing to Sunday Sketches again!  I love sketching birds.  They're pretty easy to do and they're just so darned cute.  I sketched this little one from an image I found on the web.  I'm trying to work outside of the sketch books I have as it's easy to draw something that has step by step photos of how to add the shading and everything.  I think it turned out pretty good.  Much better than the last few things I tried sketching.  I guess it's partly because I really love the subject and I'm not just doing it because it's one of the exercises in my books.

I found a really good watercolor book at the library so hopefully next Sunday I'll have something in color for you all!

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A Few Disastrous Pieces

Well, I can tell I'm definitely rusty with my sketching.  I have done three sketches, one animal, one portrait and one still life and really don't like any of them.  This one was the only one worth posting.  I haven't even finished the portrait as I really didn't like how it was turning out.  I think part of it was due to the paper.  It was slightly rougher than what I had been drawing on and it's much harder for me to blend on rough paper. 

This image was taken from one of my Lee Hammond books.  I really love the life like quality of her work but they are very time consuming and sometimes I would just like to sketch quickly.  I have a book on sketching but I can't seem to  grasp it for some reason.  I think I need a more beginner style book than the one that I have.  I'm going to check out the library tomorrow to see if I can find something with basic quick sketching techniques.  I would really love to take some art classes at our local college. I think it would be great to have some input on what I might be doing wrong.

Well, that's about it for now.  Not a great comeback post like I had hoped it would be but it's something.  I know that with practice I'll get back on track in no time.  Hope you all have a good weekend.

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It Has Been a While

It's hard for me to believe that so much time has gone by since I last updated this blog.  A lot has happened in the past several months, with the most devastating being the passing of my boyfriend.  He suffered from a chronic illness for many years and succumbed to complications caused by the illness on February 13.  I miss him everyday and it's hard for me to try to work on my creativity as he was such an inspiration to me.  He always encouraged me, no matter what medium I chose to work in and helped give me the confidence to believe in myself as an artist.  I miss him dearly but I know he is finally pain free and no longer suffering.

Now it's time for me to heal.  I think I just need to take some me time and get back into my drawing as it always helps bring me a sense of peace.  If you know of any challenges or classes hosted by other blog owners, please feel free to leave comments for me as I would love to have something that will help keep my mind off of things and the creativity flowing.

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