For some reason the link doesn't show up for my last post. Go to the following website to see the patterns: www.milliande-printables.com

This websiste offers printable linear patterns you can use for your artwork. My plans for a few of these include mixed media artwork as well as wood burning on frames that I create for my colored pencil drawings.

I have started doing some small landscape sketches in color. These were so enjoyable that I decided to not only frame them but also offer them as greeting cards in two sizes. It has been interesting getting the sizes right to correspond with the envelopes. Thank the Lord for online businesses that offer these things. You can find SO MUCH on the internet! I got suggestions from several people to offer Christmas cards. I have now designed two Southwest Christmas cards that will be offered along with the small landscape sketches. I promise to post photographs of these soon.

Now that I got the hackers out of the way, I can post new info. I have been doing some Mixed Media work....which has been a lot of fun. I love to experiment getting different kinds of textures from ordinary things. I use heavy duty watercolor paper and make samples as I experiment. I also have tried watercolors on canvas board (doesn't work) and done light watercolors on sketch paper (works if you let it dry for 5 or 10 minutes, cover with parchment paper then weight it down. I have fabric covered bricks that I use for this purpose. When I'm ready for a certain look, I can refer to the samples. Recently, I wanted to see which materials work to distress/make photographs look old. I wanted a somewhat "veiled" effect. I took laser printer black & white photographs and using Mod Podge, glued the photos to a watercolor page. Then, I placed wet tea bag material over it and brushed with more Mod Podge. The image started to wrinkle, so I placed parchment over it and weighted it as mentioned above, for 15 minutes. When I returned, it had dried, with a nice crinkled effect over the photo, which you could still see very well. Very pleasing. However, when I used a different experiment, using a used dryer sheet on top instead of the tea bag material, this made for a "too veiled" effect. Looks like the person is being seen from behind a screen door, you can barely determine what the image is. For my watercolor sketches, I found colored pencils that can be used for sketching, then afterward be made into a watercolor using a fine brush along the pencil lines. I did find, though, that even the tiniest brush is too thick for fine lines & went looking for an alternative. I discovered that Ace Hardware has a Hobby Lobby store that carries craft cotton swabs.....they look like tiny little Q-Tips and with water, you can control how thick your watercolor line is.

HACKERS!

Got an email that indicated that hackers had entered this blog. Info has been changed so there shouldn't be an interruption in viewing my pages Sorry if they have inconvenienced anyone trying to view this site. Eli

More pencil sketches

My first Mixed Media canvas. This was a lot of fun. I have done two more and will post those soon. The box of materials gets larger every day. I even got Lance interested in scrounging for materials, too, even
though he doesn't want to work on the projects, just wants to be supportive! He never complains when
art materials dominate surfaces everywhere. We've been together 40 years so he's used to it.........

We came home one night to find two "albino" lizards on either side of our porch light! It's amazing, you
can see right through them!

The next images are pages from my journal. The latest experiment was using first aid gauze over the page,
using Mod Podge. (the third image) It is relaxing to create these and they don't take much time.

Early in June I started an art journal, which has been a great place to do short little art projects. Some
are inspirational, others are an experiment in materials to see how different ones turn out. Using Mod Podge
I have tried many materials to go over images.....The first was a teabag, cut up & dried out after the tea was made....it had a brownish tint to it from the tea. See photo below

Later, I tried another journal page with an industrial paper towel, as shown below

Haven't posted much in June. Summer has been such a challenge this year for our family. Grief from my
stepfather's passing. Helping my mother through her illness and grief. Work had to be halted twice, once to
catch up a large workload, the other for my husband to recuperate from surgery, a large cyst removed from
his index finger. I turn to art, even in between these things. The creative faucet never really shuts off. It can
only be forced into a trickle when your days need attention in other ways. Just keeping up with daily work
often is tiring so that art can't be created.

I tried my first mixed media canvas and I am pleased with the results. I have been experimenting with
different materials to see how they turn out..

It was fun to do although it took more time and careful thought and placing of elements than other projects
I have done. I am working on a second canvas and will post that one later.

I learned about a process to do crackle medium that is amazingly easy to do. In experimenting with different
paints as bases and top coats, it led to a solution for a panel to replace the glass in our old kitchen cupboard. I bought foam core, which you can purchase inexpensively in the school section of about any
discount store, in my case, Walmart. I cut the foam core to the dimensions of the glass panels. Using acrylic paint, I did a black base coat, with only a little bit of water to help it brush on smoothly. Let it dry. Then
brushed Elmer's Glue on top of that and waiting 20 minutes or so to let it dry to a tacky state. Then painted
a greenish patina acrylic paint over that. This is what the cupboard doors looked like after I installed them.
The second picture is a close up so you can see the crackle effect better.

Loaded just a few of our nature photos from the last few days. Babies have flown the nest it seems.....I
caught the photo of Mama Quail looking for her babies. As I stepped out the back door I saw at least a
dozen little babies run up the hill. I snapped the photo just before she figured out which way they went.

Back to sketching..................(with summer just beginning my focus
has been more on nature!)
As a beginning artist, I have had trouble "seeing". That is, drawing
what is actually in front of me and not a preconception of what I
THINK it looks like. Once you have practiced enough, you'll have
taught yourself better how to "see. Another thing that I did early on
is practice solely on one part of the body.......eyes, nose, mouth, ears - since I wanted to be a portrait artist. Practicing is SO important! I haven't had much problem with that discipline....(more
a problem of time devoted to it and instead having to work all the
time) but, it's exciting, invigorating to see yourself progress. Even if
you work full time, it is still important to give even small amounts
of time to your art.

I did create this blog to be about both sketching AND music AND
miscellaneous things in life (like the nature photos I got caught up
in!) I like to listen to music when I sketch.....even outdoors with
a music player or phone. I also love to sing and get together often
with friends so that we can learn songs, teach each other things
and learn harmonies. For a long time, I thought that you had to
harmonize in a certain way....such as an alto or a tenor part like
you see on sheet music. But a good friend pointed out that if you
just listen and FEEL the music, you'll see where the harmony is....
there is no set way to do it. Sometimes the harmony is below the
melody part and sometimes it is above. Listen to some of your
favorite songs and see if you can hear where the different harmonies are. Try to match the singer's voice doing the harmony.
(It's not easy, there's often several!)YouTube is a great source to
use to do this, since you can listen to certain parts over again. It is
a great tool for learning a song you might want to sing, perhaps
for karaoke. After you've listened to the song several times, do a
search for that song and type karaoke after the song title or artist's
name. Many songs you like will have the karaoke version on YouTube so you can see what you sound like singing along with
a guide vocal. Soon you'll be doing this often to learn your favorite
songs!

Hummingbird babies are flying now. Only one stays in the nest. It has been fun to watch them and get photographs....almost sad to
see them fly away!

We have been watching Mama Hummingbird since her eggs hatched. We have taken a long time trying to
catch her image (through the window, while we are indoors) being careful that we don't scare her. She
feeds very frequently and while she was gone have been able to take photos of the two babies. They are growing so much you can see their little heads above the nest. They have very long beaks!

Mama sitting in the nest, in back of her babies

Mama hummingbird feeding her babies

I know, the last few posts haven't been "sketching" or "music".....but I had to show off the awesome nature
photos we have taken recently. We are talking about planting another honeysuckle bush in our yard....only
this time in the backyard. We are putting a small feeder in tomorrow and hope to attract more hummingbirds. They are such fun to watch. I have enjoyed watching things from my front porch too. Busy
days don't allow for much personal time, so I eat breakfast and sometimes lunch at the wrought iron table
on my front porch (the table courtesy of Cindy, my sister in law). Since I work at a computer all day at
home, I often get cabin fever and need to get outdoors!. I have occasionally expanded this on weekends
to include bringing things outdoors to do....such as sketching and planning mixed media projects. I find it
important to create. You can look in unexpected places for inspiration to sketch, for subject matter. Being
out in nature can have a wonderful feel-good effect. Especially if you spend most of your time indoors.

It seems that women are expected do so much these days, often working out of the home while still taking
care of it, caring for children and husbands. It is essential that you do something every day just for you,
however big or small. You can lose your identity otherwise.  Today, take time to define yourself away from
what life's responsibilities are and ask yourself who you are, what you want from life. Give yourself a bit of
time, find a way. I once read about a woman who wanted to write so badly and felt that she could not, with
two little ones to care for. She ended up writing for half an hour after they went to bed (likely too tired to
do any more!) When she really was too tired to put in that half an hour, she got up earlier and wrote before
everyone else got up and needed her......to make breakfast, to pack lunches. She was able to publish several novels that way!  If you are not near a junior college that gives art classes, you might try learning from art books. Since I wanted to learn portraits, I purchased The Art of Drawing People by Walter Foster
(from a Michael's craft store). Not only does it cover tools & materials you need, but goes into detail about
practicing lines, "painting" with pencils and shading. Blending strokes can be done using a paper stub (also
known as a tortillion). Some artists use their finger, but even a clean finger still has natural oils in it that can
damage your art.

I will continue discussing sketching at a later time as it is late in the evening for me. Have fun sketching!

Lizard!

Desert Tortoise

Desert Tortoise

Mama hummingbird's eggs!

A hummingbird built her nest in our sunburst windchime on the back porch! Had to take it through the window to not disturb her.

When I first started sketching it bothered me that a finished sketch didn't look exactly like the photo it was
drawn from. After a while, others pointed out that it didn't really matter, no one would be comparing the
photo and the sketch anyway.....only me. The finished sketch would stand on its own.

I just call this one "Jake"

As I get older, I realize that life really is about celebrating every single day that God gives you. That means
that you should listen to your instincts and if you are a really busy person like I am, you need to carve even
itty bitty pieces of time to do something for yourself. Even 5 or 10 minutes on a sketch, if that's all you have,
can move your creation aloong. And don't get caught up thinking that you need a place to sketch. Your
kitchen table, on your lap watching TV works out perfectly. Do try to set up some good lighting, though, if
you sketch at night. A clip on lamp works well on most tables. If you have no place to set up your sketching
be sure to keep all your materials together....pencils, sketch pads, etc. as well as folders of work you have
done. It is essential that your sketch pads and works in progress be kept flat. Also, be sure to use plain paper to protect the top of your sketch when you put it away. I call these my "smudge sheets". Everything
can be stored on a shelf or, if you are so inclined, ready to be taken outdoors. A large canvas bag works well to carry your work flat.  You are sure to be ready when the mood strikes.

Happy sketching!

Pencil sketch of Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw, an early sketch

This was my first real sketch, now framed in a huge rustic frame

This is a man that attended a play at Schefflein Hall in Tombstone. I snapped a photo of him and drew this
sketch from the photo.

If you are a creative person, create!  Waiting for other things to happen....such as.....the kids to grow up,
a room to create in, once your roommate moves out, etc. etc. only delays your personal growth. You grow
a little bit more each time you stretch a little bit....creating something that is uniquely yours. Sketching requires lots of practice. If you're not ready to call yourself an artist yet, then say you are "practicing". Take
art classes. If you aren't able to do that, get sketching books that will take you step by step.You'll soon see
that you have progressed further than you thought you would.