Art Journal Day 17 - Yellow

For today's entry, I prepped my pages with gesso and a couple thin layers of Golden Light Molding Paste. It was a better surface for taking watercolor than just gesso. I sketched out the sun & sunflowers with a Derwent chocolate drawing pencil. The painting was all done with Van Gogh watercolors. After it dried, I went back over some of the lines with a Pitt pen, which was also used for the journaling.
I never really considered using yellow in my art very much until after my Grandmother passed away a little over 4 years ago. Not long after her passing, I started working with acrylic more than watercolor because I wanted more texture and more intense colors. I noticed that I was using a lot of yellow. Then my Dad died and the bright colors continued, including yellow. I think it helps elevate my mood. Yesterday, we lost another beloved family member, my husband's aunt. Working on this spread helped me deal with the sadness.Some of you have asked how our winter is. I took this shot yesterday. Our mailbox is nearly buried in snow. The snow isn't that deep all over, but we tend to get the biggest drifts on our block, and hubby has been shoveling A LOT of snow. It's really been piling up.

Winter ArtFest AEDM2008

We had too much going on today to try get new photos of our exhibit at Chocolaterie Stam. I didn't use flash because of glass on our framed art. I knew I'd get a lot of reflections. So... here are some of the shots I took.

It was gently snowing yesterday. You could hear Christmas music outdoors. Giant lighted snowflakes lined the street.

Inside Stam, there was a lot of seating around cafe tables and on vintage sofas and rockers. Friends gathered to enjoy coffee, chocolate, and gelato. It was a wonderful setting for our art.

I enjoyed seeing friends and acquaintances who were making the circuit of shops hosting artists.

Later in the afternoon, I made my way to see some of the other artists. At Gallery 319, a basket weaver was making friendship knots to demonstrate a simple weaving techniques. She was handing them out to visitors, and I have one tucked in my sketchbook now.

As for our house project, Hubby and I took advantage of the warmer tempature (50's) that melted away yesterday's snow. He finished trim work on the front while I did touch up painting. All that is left for the front is to install the storm door and garage lights. We won't be installing the new garage door ourselves. The back of the garage has a little more work left. We are expecting some mild weather this week, and hope to complete the job.

I'm letting my latest painting sit tonight. We're watching the latest installment of "24" tonight.

Art Every Day Month & House Update

We've completed the east end of the house! Hubby took some shots with me wa-a-a-ay up by the peak as I was touching up the paint. Yesterday a friend helped up make more progress. The big job he helped on was getting the old front door out and getting our new door in. It was too dark for pictures last night and I forgot to take some today.

This morning I dragged my weary body out of bed and went to church. Two or three Sundays each month I sing with our worship band. It's a blessing to be able to be involved in music ministry. I love it! In addition to our mid-week practice, we always rehearse before Sunday School. I usually get some breakfast during the Sunday School hour before heading back for our worship service.

Today I went to Panera for a pink ribbon bagel (scrumptious) and a cup of tea. My body was really aching from all the time spent working on the house this past week. I decided to sketch my cup of tea while I sat there. When it was time to leave, I realized that my pain level had decreased significantly while I was sketching. Sure, I'd taken some ibuprofen, but I think the process of making art contributed to my improved sense of well-being. That's a lesson for me.

House UPdate

The weather has been gorgeous. It's officially Indian Summer weather. We took some time off work and the surge has been on to get the siding project done.

We will complete the east end today and proceed to the upper part of our garage.

I painted nearly 60 planks this week. We usually place the freshly painted planks on the unused section of scaffold - but it is being used for its intended purpose right now. I spent most of the afternoon up there yesterday handing off tools to Hubby as he worked from the ladders on either side of the scaffold. While he was cutting the next boards, I was either touching up paint or sketching!

I got to place a few nails with the air nailer. oo-oo-oo

We put a bowl of candy out front because all the little beggers started coming around while we were still working. Their little "twick or tweat" voices sounded so CUTE!

Canadian geese come honking overhead each evening. I can hear them from so far away & suddenly they are overhead.

I signed on for the Art Every Day project & hope to be posting daily this month.

That's why I added the new link over to the right. Time to get back up on the scaffolding....

Bless This House

Things are picking up on our house exterior remodel. The windows are in, facia & soffets replaced, and all the trim boards are up. The first coarse of siding is around the house. Hubby installed several planks of siding this weekend.

I've been prepainting the siding. We're using Hardiplank, a fiber cement siding. We put a palette on sawhorses where we lay the siding planks to be painted. You can see them in the foreground of the 2nd picture. In the 3rd picture, you can see a section that hubby installed yesterday.

At the end of my painting sessions, I often use up some of the excess paint on my brush by writing blessings on the tyvek. I also get silly & sketched faces. Not really portraits, but they represent the Hubby & me.

It's really exciting to get to this point on the project. We never imagined it would take so long, but there have been plenty of weather & work interuptions.

I'll keep you posted.