A new bike, a package and lots of fitness.

You know, something just ends without me noticing

and something increases for no special reason. My health focus is one that increases. The other day I bought myself a new electric bike (elbike) and what a joy it is to ride it. The engine stops the minute I stop using the pedals, so I still need to use energy, but I won't be as outworn as with my ordinary bike and that leads me to use the bike much more often.

The seat is somewhat different from the one on my old bike, so I feel a bit sore " you know where". But I count on it to pass rather quickly. I'm really looking forward to spring and summer and many trips out on my bike.
Three times a week I'm also still walking the trails, so I've had quite a change in my days. Each Friday I have my sons company, and he pushes me more than anyone else. What started with 4 rounds has increased to 9 rounds now, thanks to my son and his pushing. Well, to quit smoking didn't exactly harm either.

Yesterday I received a package in my mail box, and the above charm and chain were in it. Thank you so much Kristin, I'll feel really special wearing it.

I've also made some more etegami, and I really love the simplicity of making them. Below is a card I made for my facebook friends for Easter, good wishes.

The next one contains a term we use to tell someone to shut up or behave. It says, Have a pear.

Above is a longing for spring, it says Everything is up for a new start. It's made on a dark substrate and I'm very happy for how it came out.
This last one was made after the bombs in Belgium and inspired by all the tomatoes I eat.

Thank you all for your lovely comments, it's really a joy to read each one of them.

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

An interesting week

This week I finally did something I have thought of doing for a long time.

I made myself a gelliplate. It was easy to make and it works fine.  In the photo it's covered in plastic wrap.

I have made some prints and now I just need to plan a bit before doing more of them. It's fun and very addictive. Well I guess you all know this, I'm just a bit late in trying it.

I also had a good helper, little Lucas was allowed to pick which colors to use, and he loved touching the plate, without the paint on it. It feels cold and sticky. He even wanted to stand on it to feel it's surface against his feet. Later on we had some tower building to do, as you see in the photo.

Lucas is such a good and fun boy. He has been sick this week, and he stops eating, so we had to come up with some interesting new ways to eat. He loves fruits, so I cut then in small pieces and let him have a stick (close to a toothpick) to eat with. That was what it took to make him eat, and he even asked for more.

Now, last week I had a giveaway here, and boy was I surprised to see how many people who actually had room for one more piece of art. Thank you all for participating in this fun event. I'm very happy to give these three pieces away, and I ask the winners to e-mail me or leave a comment with their mail addresses. The comment with the address  will of course not be published.

The winners are:
#1 cozydoodle and she chose  #1 - the stack of cups.

#2 Nicole Beadwright Campancella she went for #6 - sunflower and insect.

#3 EAGHL (granny annie) #9 - the face.

Now I'm off to do some washing in my kitchen, tedious work but it needs to be done. I'm linking to Paint Party Friday. Happy PPF to all of you.

Much going on.

I've been so busy making art the last few weeks

that I hardly noticing the time passing. Handyman baught me an online class (ehmm.... I told him to) for Christmas, and I haven't really had time to look into it properly until now. It's a fun class and a very good teacher. From magazine to masterpiece, is the class and the teacher is Roberta Laliberte. She has made me understand things that I somehow knew about but didn't really understand. Like the importance of contrast and lots of other stuff too.

This piece is made using her technique, and it was fun doing it. I did, of course, do some major mistakes mostly because I did it first and then re-watched her videos. Just the same as to read the instructions, first I do, then I read the instructions.
If you enlarge the photo, you'll see that what seems to be a window, in the background, actually are lots of faces.
Right now I'm working on a project that I enjoy so much. I'm making some tiny pieces of art, and they are looking so good if I may say so myself.
Sorry I can't show you any today, but be sure to pop in next Friday, then I'll make a post about them and have a tiny giveaway.

Linking to Paint Party Friday, enjoy your weekend everyone.

How are your New year's resolutions going?

Still keeping them and doing fine?

For many years I had lots of plans on how to improve things in my life, and just as sure as January were gone, so were my resolutions. I guess, like most  people, I set unrealistic goals and always had big plans on things I really didn't want to do anything about. That's the nature of such goals, isn't it? To make the story short, I stopped making them.

I am not especially good at taking things slow, step by step. Normally I love to jump right in and just do. Life has learned me that most times I come out of things standing on my feet, and if I didn't, at least I made an attempt.  All of this has made me not being afraid of trying new things, which is a good thing, in my opinion.
This year I decided to have another go. I need to get out and improve my fitness. Our local authorities have created a group for people like me. We meet every Monday morning, follow a trail (mostly up hill) and walking as many rounds as we can in half an hour. After that we do some sort of workout. We have this beautiful city wood, and included is a very fun balance trail and a group of exercise machines. I am still doing it, and I'm sure I'll continue. Once a week is easy to overcome, and when spring arrives I might even use my bike in addition. So to conclude, I'm still keeping it up.

My art today is showing a painted sketch (upper one ) and the final piece. By painting the sketch I saw that my composition needed to be improved, so that's what I did. This was an exercise in using two sets of complementary colors.

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday, have a good weekend!

Who are we trying to fool?

I have been thinking lately

what kind of signals we pass on to the world. How fantastic our lives are, what great successes we have, how up to date everything around us are, not to speak of our amazing homes, cars and the newest cell phones....... and on and on and on.

It's no wonder the youths get problems if no one tell them what life really is. That problems are a part of life and we have to deal with them, find reasonable solutions, give and take and put into action what we have agreed on. Act friendly and be polite.

I have a good life and it's the small things that make me happy. Everyday moments that I appreciate, and when looking in the back mirror, many of those moments have turned into small gems worth a lot. It can be as simple as the sun shining on some grass, or shining on a frozen landscape where trees and grass are white and glittery. Or it can be when I rise in the morning and handyman has lit the stove and it's already warm for me. Small things but making my life good, and by keeping my pleasures small I'm guaranteed plenty of them.

I'm taking part in a weekly art challenge called Color Me Positive, and the prompt for this last week was : Make today so awesome that yesterday will be jealous. I really don't like any form of jealousy and that was what made me think of all this. Let me add, it's a fun challenge and most times there are more than one option in prompts.

 My art here is what I made for this weeks prompt, and as you see I underlined the small things in life.

How would you describe your life?

I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday, so happy PPF everyone.

WIP, has to come to an end.

This piece has had a long life just put away.

I have decided to finish such old ones this year, and this is the first one. I have to say, I've learnt a lot since the beginning of this, and now I do see many things not as good as I first thought.

I have been reading much about composition since then, and I wish I'd done it a bit different.
Here is where it all started, 

I need to change almost everything in it, it all seem so flat. But building depth is possible, and I'll try to get it done. Below you see the one face done. I like it much better. This piece measures 70 by 70 cm, so there's a lot of work to do.

Now, this face need to be sculptured, can you see how flat it is?

Here they are, both faces done. To do this work, I'm using my inktense watercolor pencils. Working on top of fabric and wetting it, it's very risky so I have to be careful.

Below is a photo of it all. I've just started working on some of the houses. I am excited to see what can be done and if it's worth the effort. As for the composition, it's too symmetric and too centered. I do believe though, that by adding more contrasts it may look different.

I'll link this to Paint Party Friday, so happy PPF everyone.

Oh, and it's my 58 birthday today so I'm going to have a good day and finally start my new year as well.

Finally summer

It's warm, warm, warm and I love it!

Class work has eased up and I have been practicing some more loose style this past week. It is incredible how much more relaxing it is to not think of an end result. Erika asked me, in a comment, last week, if I felt it hard to let go of control, and no, not at all but I still need control from time to time. But to loose up is a good way and one do not have to choose between them. Each technique is better for certain things.

My banana is very loose and I was experimenting with the black ink. I really think the ink can become part of the artwork itself, not only an addition to it.

Otherwise I have been thinking of sketching cityscapes, and for that I'll need to add people to make it more realistic. So, the other day I sat down playing with some left over colors in my palette and made people. Color and a brush and just do, it was fun and two three of them are really good. I think I'll make it a habit to use left over colors to make people, one day I might have it in my hand to make them. In a painting I'll have to use different colors on their clothing, if they're not just black "shadows" to fill in the picture.

I also did some sheep experimenting. Sheeps are a big issue where I live and also they have an easy shape to draw/paint. Once you find the typical lines for a sheep, they're very easy to do. I did these in less than 30 minutes, but I had done some studies earlier on.

In class I've done the red peppers or capsicums as I understand they're called as well. Not as loose here, but I got caught up in thinking perfection. 

Mid spread in my booklet, and this time I used a few words from a Norwegian song to follow the painting. I'm happy with the result, but also learned (Tracey told me) some important stuff. That pomegranate was beyond the stage of being rescued, so I turned it into a laughing face instead.

Linking to Paint Party Friday.
And, once again I will thank you, lovely fellow bloggers, for your inspiring and kind comments. They're much appreciated.

How was your week?

I've had a fantastic inspiring week,

and also got lots of painting time.
I'm still, after several years of painting, always surprised on how much a small collection of colors can do. It's a true joy to sit down each morning with fresh, clean water and my watercolors, and just create whatever I want to. I know for sure that my lifestyle is just a dream to many people, but real for me and I truly appreciate it.

SOC 5 week 2 is pink + pink + orange. Lovely combo and some of my favorites. It was very tempting to make another flower, but I chose to experiment a bit instead. In fact, this is an idea I've had for some time and now got to test it a bit. My colors this time is: Twinks, Jasmin and pink garnet the orange one is "flat" watercolor. Black and white in addition this week.

In class I had a go on an old can I have, and I have to say I'm very pleased with the result. Someone asked me if I were going to frame some of my work, and I said no because I have so many from earlier that should have been framed, but this one does need a frame.

I have chosen to make a booklet containing some of my paintings in class, together with poems/ verses. I made the front cover the other day, and am happy with that. It has a good feel to it and as it's growing, it becomes more and more a part of me.

First spread in my booklet looks like this. An English verse I stumbled upon some years ago, and that flew right into my heart. I so much admire people that live their lifes in a practical manner. Lol.

Right side contains a Norwegian poem about the wasp.
Now, it seems I have gotten into some computer trouble, and can't access the classroom. So I'm not sure I'll be back in there, but the problem is worked on. In the meantime I'm painting on my own, and today it's time to paint a red pepper.

Beautiful people, thanks alot for all your lovely and inspiring comments, I really appreciate you for taking the time.

Linking to Paint Party Friday and SOC 5.

Yet another busy week

I've been working hard in class

and now I feel I'm slowly taking on board all  the new stuff. I really enjoy to test all the new in private also, so my entry for the first week in SOC 5 is a tiny piece done in Neocolors 2. Colors used are: phthalocyanine blue, dark ultramarine and light olive. Beside that I've also used black and white ink.

At a certain stage I thought I'd have to throw it in the bin, but I've learnt to follow my instincts and at the end I really love how it came out.

Otherwise in class I've made veggies, some flowers and other things as well. It really takes some time to clean the "top drawer" to make room for new learning.

I absolutely feel more confident now, and starting to get the grip of my pen and ink. The corn cobs below were fun doing, but the first one (right side) ended up not being as good as planned and I made the other one as well. They both have character and when I see them together, I think of a couple dancing a fiery tango.

 My dragon fruit, pink, pink, pink! Some weeks ago I saw a dragon fruit for the first time in my life, I didn't know what it was other than it was heavenly beautiful to look at. I bought it promptly and photographed it so that I had references to paint from.

Isn't it quite an ironi that I've been trying to paint droplets for ever so long, but never could make them good. In my fruit I tried to paint a dip, suggesting I couldn't wait to eat some, and all I can see is a pile or a droplet.

Thank you for stopping by, and all your lovely comments.

Linking to Paint Party Friday and SOC 5.

Have a good weekend all!

Gone fishing

Gone fishing, Chris Rea, beautiful song.

There's something wonderful about researching for a job one is going to do. I had a good time searching the internet for trouts, colors and how the water is colored. I found lots of stuff to work from, and now I feel I know a bit more about the topic than before.

I sat down and sketched some fishes, still not sure whether to paint one fish or several, on my piece. The biting one is my favorite, so that one has to be painted. I even painted one of my sketches, on sketching paper, just to try out some colors.

I found I would like to make a test, just to see if I really could do it, and get a fairly good result. I used a 100% cotton watercolor paper, and that is the best I've ever paint on. It was so easy to get the transitions smooth and good. At one stage, my piece looked like the one below. It has changed a bit, but this is a good close up.

This is the paper pad. Best ever for me.

Here I'm done, I can see things to change but the wide open mouth is done deliberately. I want people to know that when I'm fishing, all the fishes are lined up ready to bite my hook. LOL.

This photo is very close to my original painting, the colors that is. Mostly I've used flat watercolors, but I've been glazing using Twinkling H2O's. In a certain angle the fish is glittering like it's wet and fresh out of the water. Egyptian Gold, Chestnut Brown and Iscicles are used for glazing.

Let me end by saying thank you all for your lovely comments and visits, it warms my heart ans thrills me to read your words. Enjoy your summer and have a lovely weekend!

I'll link this post to Friday Sketches and Paint Party Friday.

Bowl of Beauty

Right now my peony, Bowl of Beauty, is blooming.

It's by far my favorite peony. I once picked a huge bouquet and gave to a friend to her 50th birthday. She was going to have lots of collegues (teachers) to coffee and cakes, and I was there to help her out. The peonies served as table decoration and some creative teachers discussed how I had made these flowers. One of them concluded that I had stuck the "yellow flower" through a not filled peony. The other ones agreed to that and spoke of me as very creative, while the fact was that they were the creative ones in this case. Each year I think of this when they start blooming, and I can't help smiling.

Happy Friday Sketches and PPF everyone.

I had to sketch my peonies, but I have delayed it. Wasn't sure I could do it, at least not good enough. But, I did it and the result isn't bad at all. The only thing I wouldn't do over again, is to outline the flowers. That black line is too hard against the "fragile" flowers. Otherwise I'm very pleased.

The background seems too dark in my photo, but in person it isn't. Don't know excactly what happened.
What's your favorite flowers? I find it hard to pick one flower to call my favorite, there is so many beautiful flowers. I even love some weeds as well, not smart with a pretty large garden.
Next on my sketching list is the wild rose. It's blooming as well right now and it's so beautiful. Old flowers (3 days) almost white with a dark brown/black center, newly sprung flowers, beautiful medium pink and a yellow center.The buds are more strongly pink, and they all appear, on my bush, at the same time.

Thank you for visiting and for your lovely comments, it's much appreciated.

I'll link this post to Friday Sketches and Paint Party Friday.

A huge work.

Yesterday I started a new work, and it's huge.

It isn't the flowers I were making in last weeks post, it's doodling. I was so inspired by a piece I saw on FB, that I had to make my own.
I went out and bought a large sheet of paper, 76 x 56 cms, 600 grams watercolor paper. So, I felt for testing some patterns, and find what suits well together for my project. Below is some tests.

It's very useful to test things, at least for me, that way I saw what worked and what had to be changed a bit. The outer edge isn't going into my work at all, I have some other ideas.

I've never worked on a piece of this size before, and I were vorried to set any kinf of unwelcome marks on my sheet while working. To deal with that, I just used delipaper to make a couple of loops and taped them to my working table. The large sheet were stuck into the loops. The delipaper protect my sheet and holds it to place as well, and best of all, it's just the working space that's "open".

I can move my sheet both left and right, which makes this a super solution for me.

Above is how far I've come yet. This will take alot of time to finish, so I might take breaks to do other stuff in between.
Not much color to show you this week, but it'll come further on I guess.
Happy PPF everyone and have a pleasant weekend!

Lots of fun this week

Happy Friday sketches and PPF everyone.
Let me start this post by saying thank you for all your lovely comments on last weeks post. It's so enjoyable to read them all, and how creative you all were. Many times it can be hard to leave a comment that's fresh and feels new when the list of comments is long as a good week.

In my sketchbook this week, I have tried to capture some of the most loved flowers in my garden. When I was finished painting them, the usual thought I'll just......  arrived and I topped it all with a glaze of gold. I'm not sure that made my painting any good at all, but that's how it ended. By the way, I actually sat outside sketching these, but I prefere to work at my desk.

I've also been into a roll of making flowers in a more free line or freestyle. It all began some time ago when I was making this rose.

Some time later this one emerged.

And a couple of days ago I made this one. This last one is the main flower in a piece that I love and it has to be framed and can never leave home. LOL.

Yesterday I started playing with different flower shapes, to simplify them, and that's what I'll do this weekend too. I hope to find some really good lines which will make beautiful freestyle flowers. Next week I hope to share with you a piece made with this type of flowers.

Right now, this is how far I've come. Still just at the stage of experimenting.

Thank you for visiting and have a lovely weekend!