Monday Morning Artwork

I've been working diligently on my submission to "The Butterfly Project" and since I'm finished it & it fits the theme for both Blue Monday and Inspire Me Monday, I thought I'd participate. I also thought showing the progression of the painting might be exciting too. I happen to have taken pictures of it a few times as I progressed, so this plan works out. The plan wouldn't come together so well if I didn't have those pics, huh. I guess I'd just have to pantomime. ;o) 
So, here we go... (click to enlarge)

  

  

1. Sketched out

2. Inked filled 

3. Watercolor added

...and here's the finished painting!

Title: "The Innocence"
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I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I'm also thrilled to be able to send a piece I'm proud of off to such a wonderful cause. I can't believe I get the honor of being a part of the display of 1.5 million butterflies, one for each child who perished in the Holocaust.

Also, please check out my new endeavor. In March (on one of the Saturdays) I will be launching a blog hop geared toward those of us who create art. If you consider yourself an artist at heart, please sign up your blog so I have some idea how many people are interested. Don't worry, I won't be tracking you down and dragging you back to participate if you decide later not to! Click here to read more about my "Artist's Play Room" and the start of the upcoming blog hop.

We'll talk soon, K? Oh, and if anyone out there has a secret stash of hazelnut coffee I'd be willing to do almost anything for a jar! (My town seems to be out of it city wide, huh... I'm having withdrawal symptoms. Thank God there's cake tomorrow. Happy Birthday MOM!! I Love You Muchly. :o)

Best,

Announcing: The Artist's Play Room

Before I make my big announcement, let me say I'm thrilled to be the newest Artist Member of Inspiration Avenue. I'm so happy that they picked me to become a new contributer to the team. Inspiration Ave. is a blog made up of about a dozen artists from several countries who get together online and inspire one another to create art. We all also have Etsy shops which we also endeavor to support & encourage. Since I'm now a member, I'll sometimes be posting information about the other artists and challenges we're hosting. 

Inspiration Avenue also wants to inspire you by inviting you to participate in the weekly challenges. The challenge theme for that week is announced every Monday. If you're participating that week, make sure you leave a link to your post in the comments section of Inspiration Avenue by NOON Sunday. We also request that you please add a link to the challenge and mention the theme that week within your post so we don't miss your submission. There are even prizes at the end of each month!

I thought I'd better participate in the first challenge (although members are ineligible for the prizes) since becoming a contributing member, lol. This week the challenge was "Letters of the Alphabet". I decided to do a sort of zentangle tile. Kind of a negative space kind of piece, let the tangles define the letters. Here it is. (Please click to enlarge)

Title: "I Know My ABC's"

My other announcement is that I will be starting an Artist's Blog Hop in March of this year. On Saturdays I'm hoping that all you artists come and show your wonderful art using the Mr. Linky that will be provided. If you'd like to sign up your blog now to say you'd like to participate, just go here. You will also find all the instructions etc. you'll need to know in just a few weeks, if you decide to participate. Remember, you don't have to be great, just enthusiastic. You don't even have to do the weekly challenge I'll be posting every Saturday, just post your best piece from that week, if you like. I want to encourage all those of you need encouragement and I love discovering & exploring other people's artwork. If you're going to participate, you can also add my APR button to your sidebar. I've provided it below, just copy the code in the box and paste it into any HTML Widget. I'd love for you to participate, so come on back in March and play in my Artist's PLAY ROOM!



(Just copy & paste into your blog post
or sidebar HTML/Javascript Gadget!)
<center><a href="http://www.justaddwatersilly.com/search/label/APR" target="_blank" title="Artist's Play Room at www.JustAddWaterSilly.com"><img src="https://img.skitch.com/20120129-8u34u63d238yq2adkecjh5q46q.jpg" border="0" width="150" height="150" alt="Just Add Water Silly's Blog Hop Link" /></a></center>

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Well, that's it for now. It's way to late for me to be up, but I really wanted to participate in the "Alphabet" challenge so I had to finish this post and the one about APR. (I am so excited about both new things!) I have a lot of art I'm just finishing up and I'm crossing my fingers that Sunday (today, sheesh!) will be very productive... right after I get 7-8 hours of sleep! (I'll be visiting Weekend Bloggy Reading, when I get up!)

Best,

Are You Feeling Lucky, Punk? Well, Are Ya??!?

Yes, yes I am, actually. Thanks for asking. :o) I'm feeling totally lucky, but a little overwhelmed. In fact, my six words for "Six Word Saturday" are:

"I'm overwhelmed with art on my desk!"

What's worse, today I woke up but just couldn't keep my eyes open. I've napped the whole day away! Now I'm REALLY behind, lol. Hopefully I'll be productive this weekend. Maybe it'll be a Sweet Saturday and I'll magically catch up with everything I've been struggling with this week. Mom's birthday is Monday so that's something wonderful to move toward as the weekend moves along.

This post is being written over the entire Friday, so now I did actually get some of my work done. :o) I'm feeling ever so much better now. So, I completed a painting about opposites, a challenge from Fully Buttered Effect. I loved how it turned out! I'm just giddy with happiness, I'm getting better at seeing shadows and layers of color. It used to be such a struggle but it is something an artist has to train her eye to see. Mostly one just sees things three dimensionally. If you want to translate that to two dimensions, you have to analyze what makes it look three dimensional. See those shadows in all their glory, from the lightest hint to the darkest depth. Also, my mom is helping me understand "where the light comes from" which also helps see those shadows, even if they're hiding, lol. It's making such a difference in my paintings. (Click to Enlarge)

    

Title: "Apples & Oranges"
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My palette for Paint & Palette

Oh, by the way, here's why I'm feeling so lucky. :o)

Two very cool things. I signed up for the opportunity to win the of reviewing a few books over at Good Reads. Sooo many people sign up for that, like thousands for each book. Also, I am notoriously unlucky in giveaways etc. I never win ANYTHING. Now, I'm sure you've guessed... I WON. I get to read and review the newest book (not out in bookstores yet) by Lisa Gardner called "Catch Me". I'm so psyched to read and review this book. I love mysteries, 99% of the time, it's my genre.

The second really great thing that happened just this last week is my replacement iPod Nano came in the mail. As I'm sure some of you know (because you received an email from apple) they recalled the first generation Nano months ago. I dutifully sent mine in and was told that at some time a new first generation Nano would be sent to replace my "defective" one. Apparently, some of them have batteries that blow up or catch fire or something. Well, the replacement Nano finally arrived. I had told mom I would be donating it to her so she could get some speakers and download all her tunes off her iPad. Remember I got a new green 6th gen. Nano for Christmas. I thought the least I could do is set mom up with a tech savvy sound system for the apartment. Here's the very cool thing. When the Nano arrived it came with an apology letter, lamenting the fact that they had run out of 1st generation Nanos to send as replacements, so they hoped I wouldn't mind that they sent a NEW generation Nano instead. Mind? Did I MIND??!? Gee, no, not particularly. ;o)

So, now mom has a new 6th gen. silver Nano and I'm gonna buy her some cool new speakers that will keep it charged all while filling the room with tunes. I seem to be lucky this week. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket...  Hmmmm.

Gotta go, I think I have a toonie in my purse. (for my lovely bloggy American friends, a toonie is a coin worth two dollars. The name came about because the first dollar coin came out and had a loon on it, so we Canadians called it a loonie. Therefore when the two dollar coin came out... well you can see what happened, lol. Gotta love us Canadians, Eh?) I think I'll take a stroll to the corner store. ;o)

Best,

Painting, Hopping, Pinning and Answering...

I'm hopping on over to Create With Joy to participate in Friendship Friday Blog Hop. The idea here is that Joy posts a question the week before and we, the hoppers who are participating that week answer in our Friday post. This week the question is:

What Inspired Your Blog Name?

When I first decided to blog about my new adventure in watercolors I found it a little daunting, to say the least. I tend to obsess over things when I get scared about doing it. So, there I was, mentally obsessing about both my first blog post and whether I'd even be good at watercolor painting. Now, I know this may sound self congratulatory but I tend to pick up a new craft/art medium easily. For instance, I taught myself how to make sugar paste flowers. To the right is the first Stargazer lily I did. Over the years, I'd gotten used to just being to pick up any craft without much effort. Then I tried watercolors. This was HARD. As I played with my new watercolors, (and even took a lesson or two from a famous artist in Victoria) I found myself feeling really panicky. "What if I wasn't good enough?" The dream I'd had since I was a little girl would die! I wouldn't be a professional artist. What would I do then? (Because all I REALLY wanted to do was paint, it was my heart's desire and had been for 35 years.)

So, when Shirley Schmidt (the artist who gave me the few lessons I clearly needed) came over and I lamented that I was wracked with worry, she said something I've committed to heart and used every time I feel even a little daunted by a new painting.

Paint Jenn, just PAINT!

When I went to paint the next day I felt those awful fears again. I felt overwhelmed with doubt with myself and my ability to learn how to do this. Then I thought, "Damn, it's just water, Jen. Just add water, silly!"... and my blog title was born. I knew that's what I had to remember, to paint without fear, just paint and add water, silly.

That's me and my blog title. I am totally happy with it, it's me. I did my Etsy site in the same name and also my Twitter feed is similar (Just Add Water, Silly is too many letters, so I use AddWaterSilly, you can follow me by clicking the link in my sidebar.)

I figured it was fun, a little irreverent and memorable, much like me. I have a saying about myself which goes: "I'm not mysterious, just complicated." Yup, that's me. :o)

I've done a little pinning with Pinterest lately. This has inspired me to do a piece about iris's. I just love the thin flutteryness of the petals. I can't show you the piece, as it's a surprise gift for a birthday girl. Suffice it to say I'm working diligently and I can show it in the next few weeks. You'll just have to wait.

Source: google.com via Tracy on Pinterest

Much love and hazelnut coffee to you all. (Oh, and chocolate cupcakes... there's one with my name on it in the freezer!)
Best,

Workdesk Wendnesday, Crocheting Around

So, here's an actual craft project, created by ME! I found a great picture on the web of a pretty headband, but with no corresponding pattern. I decided I would figure out how it was done. I mean, I'm a pretty good figure-out-er ;o) and generally smart person, this couldn't be that hard. It took some fiddling, mostly me cursing and pulling stitches out over and over. But, I finally figured the pattern out and NOW, I've written down what I did so you, my bloggy readers, can do it too!! This will take some of your own...

Ok, here we go with my (humble) instruction on how to make a lovely loopy do-it-yourself headband.

This is NOT me wearing the headband.
This is the pic I found on the web.
Click to enlarge.

1. I used light(3), fingering weight wool and a 4 crochet hook. I ended up making 16 connected loops but I have a larger head, smaller heads will probably only need 15. Happy crocheting. Oh, I'm not a professional crocheter or pattern maker, in fact, this is the first pattern I've ever made all by my self. I've tweaked some patterns but this is the first I figured out myself. Cool!
2. Normally, this project would be for the beginner crocheter, but because you may have to fiddle to get the pattern to do what you want, I would recommend being an intermediate crocheter, or a REALLY confident beginner, lol.
3. ch5 loosely, slip stitch in first ch to make loop. chain 3. (this counts as first double crochet.) Double crochet 10 more times in loop. This creates HALF of the circle. 
4. (You do half of the circle all the way to the end then come back down, completing each circle to finish off where you started.)
5. *For next circle, chain 5, connect with a slip stitch to chain 1 to form second loop. chain two tightly and slip stitch into 8th double crochet of the previous half round. This counts as one double crochet. If you are having trouble at any time, just think that the total of each circle should LOOK like it has 20 double crochets, in actuality, there are 18 double crochets, one chain two and one other double crochet looking post. I hope that's not too confusing. (when you do the chain 5 loop to put your double crochets on, it creates a crochet bit that reads like a double crochet so I count it as one to make the circle balanced on both sides). So, back to the project...
6. Now you turn your project. I'm left handed and am unsure if this will be a problem for you, but I ended up having to turn the wrong way to get the wool on the correct side to continue crocheting. Just fiddle with it until you get so you can do a double crochet in the chain you just created.
7. Oh, by the way, all the first chains in the loops will be all on one side so when you get to the length you want you crochet down the other side to finish off where you started)
8. So, to continue, turn your work and double crochet 9 times in the loop.* Then repeat from * in B until you have the length you want. (Measure around your head where you want your headband to go, if you're using the actual crochet project to measure, remember to pull it tight because if you don't it will be too loose when you finish it.
9. When you reach your total desired length, just continue double crocheting in that loop nine more times to create the first completed circle. Slip stitch into top of the 10th double crochet of the previous loop to form your first completed loop. 
10. *Double crochet in loop 9 times and slip stitch in top of 10th double crochet of previous loop* Repeat from* until you have come to the end loop and your headband loops are filled. Slip stitch into top of original ch3. Now bring last loop and first loop together.
11. To finish your headband project, slip stitch into the top of the 9th double crochet and then the 10th double crochet of the opposite end of your headband to strengthen and thicken connection. FInish off and hide ends of project in the rounds. Done, one headband!
12. I hope you have fun and no trouble following my instructions. I put in as much detail as I could to make it as visual as possible. Fiddle around, you'll get it!

So there you go. Happy crocheting!

Ooh, guess what? I just made "Pre-Birthday trial run" CUPCAKES! It's my mom's birthday next week on January 30th. Since I'm NCGS (non-celiac gluten sensitive), we needed to find a cake mix that was gluten free. Low and behold, Betty Crocker makes two different kinds! Chocolate and yellow cake. Yummm! We're "testing" the chocolate tonight. Heehee! I haven't had dessert for like 6 months, dieting. I'm having a damn cupcake tonight and I'm gonna COVET it!

Just so it's clear, I am still working on art, not just scarfing down cupcakes and crocheting headbands, lol. Here's a picture of my Workdesk, Wednesday... (I'm a little overwhelmed with projects.)

Ooh, I gotta go make my hazelnut coffee!! It's going to be a good, good night. :o)
Here's wishing you a cupcakey week ahead.
We'll talk soon, just don't interrupt my cupcake eating. ;o)
Best,

Turquoise Lovin' On Wordless Wednesdays

Title: "Blue Without You"
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Back of Bookmark
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Close-up of Heart
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I'll be back on Friday with stuff!
Best,