Day 2 of the Challenge.  This is a small watercolor painting (4x6).  I started this because of the challenge, but finished it because I was totally in love with the background.  The background is soft and misty done in greens and oranges with a touch of purple - one of my favorite combination of colors.  Could be halloweenish, but I find the colors more autumn and hauntingly beautiful.  I started this and after the background was done and the foliage drawn, I had to leave to visit with a family member who had received some really bad news.  I came back and at midnight sat and finished this.  The tree stump with the little fairy key hole, just showed up and was never part of the original idea.  But once the little tree stump was done, it added to and finished my painting.  Now to do this on a bigger canvas!

Happy New Year!  To begin the year in an auspicious manner, I have painted a picture of Ganesh in watercolors.  This is also my first painting for the 30 day painting challenge.

 29 FACE CHALLENGE

I agreed to do a challenge in February.  I joined a group to do 29 Faces.  It's a face a day plus one extra.  When I started this challenge, I thought the challenge would be to draw faces, but as it turned out, that wasn't the real challenge at all.  The real challenge was to see it through! Normally, I would get half way and then procrastinate or find excuses to say that life got in the way.  This time, and in this year, I am challenging myself to quit putting off things and finding a balance in Life.  I now have a full time job that takes up all my mornings, and many evenings and weekends.  That's the beauty of working from home and the hazard of working from home.  I get to set my working hours and my commute is from one room to another and in my PJ's, if I want.  However, I'm always next to my work, so I never get away from it.  In February, I thought if I did this 29 face challenge, I would get some time to play.  So, I worked in the day and then I quit for the evening and weekends (well, mostly).  I drew every evening.  As the days wore on, I found that I craved the time I spent immersed in my drawings.  As each day passed, my husband and kids watched me curl up on my couch and pull my drawing supplies to me and amazingly, let me be.  My husband made me cups of tea and my son brought me cookies.  So, even though, some days I did more than one drawings and other times, I worked on the same drawing for more than a day, I learned an awful lot.  And I'm not just talking about drawing.  I realized I am a perfectionist, a procrastinator, shy about touting about my art and awed when people appreciate my sketches.  However, when I look at my collage, I was hit squarely between the eyes with the realization that  not only on good days, but even on bad days, I can draw! 

Playing with watercolors.  She just flowed out of the brush.  Almost no underdrawing done.  Did this during the superbowl.  I lost myself in her so much, that if it wasn't for DH yelling when someone scored, I would have totally missed who won the game!

This was my third drawing which is done in watercolors.  I started off going for the softness of the watercolors that I love.  Then added a touch of red for the lips with pencils.  There was no going back from that red, so I just embraced it!

Playing with color pencils.  This one I 'm not so sure of.  I didn't quite get the pencils blended as I am used to with other paint mediums.  She feels a bit rough to me.  I need more practice, I think.

It's been a long time since I posted, but...well, there is always a but.  I've been lucky enough to start off this year with a get together with some of my "arting" friends and so excited to be able to do some drawings again.  Currently, I am taking part in a challenge to do 29 faces in February.  It's one per day plus a bonus drawing.  These are four that I did all in pencils.  I totally loose track of time while drawing, which means I am dashing to make dinner or catch up with house chores.  Sometimes, those just have to take a back seat to art!