Sunday, September 26, 2010

Art journal page, a sketch challenge and more


I painted a sketch in my art journal that I had drawn quite awhile back. I added a phrase that I saw somewhere this week that I loved! I'm sorry, I can NOT recall where I saw the phrase but it sure stuck with me :) Be yourself, Everyone else is taken!
***Too funny! How can I paint something and look at it over and over and not notice something SO obvious? Look at how her shoulders go higher than her neck! hahaha**** That's the good thing about art journals. They're for fun, right?


I tried the beautiful Kelly Berkey's sketch challenge this week. Thanks for inspiring me to try Cathy! I struggle with proportions so this was a good exercise for me and I look forward to pushing myself even more.


On Saturday we went to a 30th birthday party for Dale's niece, Lisa. We had a nice meal, a hayride in the country and then sat around a campfire and listened to some guitar music and singing. It was pretty awesome!




This is the birthday girl!



This man, I believe his name is David, can really sing and play the guitar! What was really cool is while this man was singing, we all say a HUGE shooting star go across the sky behind him. It had a beautiful blue/green tail and seemed to last longer than any shooting star I'd ever seen. The whole scene was somewhat surreal, like something in the movies and not my normal life, ya know?


Dale and his grandson, Carson sitting around the campfire :)



And lastly I wanted to share a little something I tried this past week. I put some beef cuts in the bottom of my crock pot one morning and topped them with FF cream of mushroom soup and added a few potatoes. I decided it would be nice to have a vegetable to have ready at the same time but I didn't want RED gravy or gravy on my beets so I put foil on top of the meat/potatoes section and the beets on top. I drizzled with a little olive oil and put salt & pepper on, covered it all up and headed to work.
When I got home for lunch (I invited Dale and my oldest son, Derek) everything was done perfectly and kept it's own color and flavor. Maybe this is an old trick, but I had never heard of doing it this way and thought it was very cool :)

Have a great week!

10 comments:

Micki Wilde said...

I Love that phrase too Darla, so good!! Your painting is as lovely as always, i never tire of looking at your work!!

Sounds like you had a great weekend too :)

Micki x

Cathy Bueti said...

Darla your painting is so cute! I love how you do the lashes! And I would not have noticed the shoulder thing...looks great to me! ;)

Your Kelly sketch is amazing!! Beautiful job! And thanks for the shout out! :) I finished mine late last nite but haven't posted it yet....

Glad to hear you had a great weekend!

Oh, and thanks for your suggestions on the watercolor paper from your other post. I will try your suggestions!

:)

Marguerite (Tina) Smith Hart said...

I love the sketch and I think the proportions look great!
Sounds like it was a perfect birthday celebration and lots of fun for all.
I had never heard of that idea with the crock pot but it does make sense and is a great idea if you thought it up! I may have to try that this winter as I have a major thing for Progresso Mushroom soup!
Have a great week Darla..
Tina xo

Unknown said...

No no, it's a flashback to the 80s, she's totally wearing shoulderpads! =p

I like the life drawing, I should try more of that. It's not really my forte but I think it can be really helpful to understand dimensions, shapes and proportions, which in turn you can apply to whimsical art (as a kind of ground base from which to deviate if that makes sense).

That party looks awesome! I'd love to sit around a campfire and sing songs, that reminds me of going to summer camp as a child.

Jeannette said...

Oh my gosh I love her I think shes beautiful.Not perfect like people should be but beautiful as all people are.

Jennifer Williams said...

It's just a really thick sweater!

I never have any luck with our crock pot. I always, always burn stuff.

Nicola said...

Well you have been busy Darla!!! I really like that page from your journal, and I think she could have been wearing shoulder pads ;0) I probably wouldn't have noticed either ehheheheh. I really like that phase it's perfect and her eyelashes were too cute. That sketch you did of Kelly is great, I wanted to do one this week too but just too much else going on, i I think it would be good for me to have a go to.

sounds like you had a lovely weekend!!!!
Nic xox

violette said...

What a sweet art journal page Darla....i love the whimsy of it and the quotation too!

love violette

Kelly Berkey said...

hi darla,
your sketch is amazing! and you might have read that oscar wilde quote on my blog:-) i have it on quite a few posts and one of my soldered charms! that's one i use to remind myself to quite worrying about what other people think about me...it paralyzes me from being me!

so glad you joined in this week, check on on wednesday night to see all the artwork!
xoxo

Kelly Berkey said...

hi darla,
i have to apologize, i somehow missed putting your sketch on my blog. it's out there now with a link to you. i'm so, so, sorry. i will not miss you next time!
yours is so close to my own it's amazing!
hope you are having a wonderful and relaxing weekend, muah!