Friday 22 March 2013

A Little bit of Whimsy

I am taking a whimsical art on-line course. The course is by an artist I follow named Alisa Burke (see her blog here). It has been a lot of fun and I am so enjoying looking at life with different lenses! The course has different classes in it and I thought I'd share one of my assignments from the "Whimsical Places" class. Here is a page out of my art journal I've called Red Door Town.  It's done in watercolour & black ink.









Have a happy and creative weekend!

Silvia

Friday 8 March 2013

Being Thankful

The last few years have been a journey into God's goodness for us as family.  We have worked hard to choose joy over sadness, hopefulness over despair and to laugh at the fears that rear their ugly heads at us.

We have seen God's goodness in our lives all over the place and the last verse of the well-known Psalm 23 has become regular table talk for us:  "sure goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life."  We firmly believe that, and we see the reality of it regularly.

Part of my journey into God's goodness is thankfulness.  Thankfulness brightens every day and allows me to look at what I have instead of what I lack.  I have a journal that I attempt to write in daily, for the sole purpose of listing what I am thankful for. And although I don't always feel inspired, once I begin, gratitude flows and it is easy to see how goodness has woven its way into my day.

I have learned this: thankfulness changes things! We become a target of God's goodness when are thankful.  We notice blessings which we might have overlooked in the past, and we give attention to them, which in turn draws more blessings.  And quite honestly, we are just a whole lot happier!

I started a new art journal this week.  The first page of a new art journal has often intimated me, and many times I've just left it blank.  But not this time.  Here is how I decided to start my new journal:










Have a great, and thankful, weekend!

Silvia

Monday 4 March 2013

These are a few of my favorite things...

In my last post, I mentioned my "Art Bag" which I carry pretty much everywhere I go.  For fun, I thought I'd post some pictures of my favourite must-have supplies that I always keep in it:

Sketch books (the two smaller ones are examples of what I keep in my purse, for those few times I don't have my Art Bag with me) ...


  
My sketching pencils ....


Charcoal pencils ...


My watercolours: a set of travel water colours and watercolour crayons ...



My brushes ...


These ones come with their own reservoir of water - I can travel very simply with these...


My little water pot & spray bottle ...


My black drawing markers ...



My brown drawing markers ...



My favourite white opaque markers ...



To sharpen my pencils ...


To erase ...


I can do a lot with these supplies and I love being prepared to snag any moment I might get to practise capturing life around me!

Silvia