Hard Day

It was seriously, a hard day. So pretty, blue sky with fluffy clouds, and sun. I lounged in sunbeams coming through the window today. Felt so good. Ah....

Anyway, I also got a body stuffed. She'll get a face soon and I finished December's front page for my Bullet Journal. It's a gingerbread crypt.

Better Late Than Never

I almost have a batch of monster doll pins done. Almost. It seems I get to the end of something and stop. Not a good habit. Maybe I lose my faith, or nerve, or whatever. I tell myself that I'd rather clean the bathroom or do laundry than add hair and hearts to these little darlings. It's amazing how our brain tricks us into doing what we don't want to do and not what really makes our hearts sing.

I did manage to finally get the September front page for my Bullet Journal done. Yeah, yeah, same old thing. A day late and a dollar short. I kind of knew what I wanted to do then scrapped the idea. So I did that wonderful yearly rite of passage. The first day of school. I used oil based color pencils. Walnut Hollow I believe. I do like those pencils and years ago I was getting pretty good with them. Then I stopped. Now it's back to square one. But I shall continue because now I think I have a pretty decent pencil sharpener. One that won't crack the leads or eat up the pencils.

I think I would like to try this drawing again. Add a few more things. Then I drew some pumpkins. I was going to make them jack-o-lanterns but I'll have plenty of time to do them next month. I used Tombow markers on this one and a Tombow brush pen which I truly find amazing. You can get a fine line and with a little pressure, get a wider line. Like using a paint brush. Gonna have to work more with that too. I messed up on both with the lettering. I guess I wasn't paying attention but for right now, I'm pleased with both. Because it's fall. Not technically but for me, fall starts right after Labor Day.

Until next time. Have a nice day.

A Small Drawing

Still working on catching up on things. I drew this little setting earlier this month and just colored it last night. I like the characters and still haven't named them but the rat with the martini is my favorite. I've never been camping, so it's one of the things I like to draw. Ever since I was a little kid and summer would roll around, I had school chums who always went camping with their families each summer. I thought that was so cool but I never got a chance to do it. Maybe one day I'll get lucky.

The drawing is in my Bullet Journal. I'm trying to jazz it up a little with some color and drawings. I won't get as complicated as some but I like looking back and seeing what I've done. This is my third journal and I'm almost done with it. Looking back at the first one, it was more business like. Just what I needed to do. The second one had more drawings in it but that was to brighten it up a bit. This one has more drawings and some scenes.

I really need to get back to drawing on the regular. I can see where I need and want to improve. I used color pencils on this. But I like markers too. Ah... the learning curve. But if you don't use it, you lose it. I know I still have several sketchbooks to fill up. So I best get to it. Have a good Friday.

Holy Smokes!

Yikes! Two weeks into the new month and as usual, I'm behind. This month has not been kind and I know... it's just begun. The cosmic balls in the sky are playing croquet. Anyway, I drew my August cover for my bullet journal more than a week ago and I finally got it finished. I should probably name these characters as they are showing up each month. The rat is wearing sunglasses, the spider is too and drinking a drink and barbecuing a grub. What do you do for August but go on a road trip? There is a Transylvania County in North Carolina and a Hell and Bad Axe, MI. I had fun with it.

November

It's November. Wow! It came so fast. It seemed to take forever for October to get here and now it's a sort of fond memory. I saw snow fall on my walk yesterday and now I guess fall is over and winter is setting in. We all know it's going to happen if you live in northern climes so, well, it is what it is.

I will be participating in NaNoWrimo this month and will be posting my word count soon. Have a lovely day!

Moving Forward

Slowly.

This hasn't been the week I was hoping for. I know, it's only Wednesday but I have been chipping away at things. Finally got some hair on my lady doll pins, prepped some fabric for my next embroidery project and got some sketching done. One step at a time.

More Wendland Witch sketches. I'm trying to keep up with a sketch a day. Once I get three projects out of the way, I can start making these.

Working

Finally. I just had a short staycation and I didn't do anything. I was able to just sit and think and plot and plan out things with no one around. I watched movies, read some books, and basically took stock of things. And started a new plan. A two year plan. I've a couple of creative opportunities right now and a new one that may be coming up. So today was get to the grind stone and start turning it. I finished painting doll pin faces, found mohair, and pulled dress fabrics for the full body pins.

I also made Raggedy Ann some new legs. They turned out okay considering I didn't have the original pattern. She'll get bloomers tomorrow or part of a new face. I don't know which just yet.

I enlarged some drawings that will become part of a larger embroidered piece. Haven't sketched for the day yet but that will happen and post those pics tomorrow. And I've got to work on a short story. Added another part that may clear some things up. Just moving right along.

Tiny Faces

Yep, some things are getting worked on. The full body doll pins have faces. They are pretty tiny but I think they are cute. Tomorrow I look for hair and start dressing them.

#wendyluane #clothdollpin #clothdoll #dollpin #originaldesign

Ugh!

At some point, hopefully, I will get things at full speed ahead. Right now, it's starts, stops, and bumps along the way. I've been having a rough time at getting creative again but hopefully I'm on the right launch pad this time. Here I've started painting the doll head pins that I started a couple of weeks ago. Eegads! They should have been done by now but I'm a big goof. I'm working on changing that, really, I am. I put down the basics with acrylic paint. The eyes and lips. Next I'll go in with color pencil to do a quick makeup job, finishing off with permanent pen.

For the full body pins, I used clothes pins to keep their legs separated while I painted their shoes. For larger dolls I use the toe separators you use when you paint your toenails. Those things hold and separate doll legs quite well. And as you can see, clothes pins work for smaller pieces. You use what you have.

Below you can see better the beginning of their paint job and how the pins are holding their legs.

Onward

The adventure is still in it's baby phase and that's okay. One day at a time. Got the binding stitched down on five more mug rugs and two more faces were added to my 29 Faces challenge.

The mug rugs below show each side.

The same with these. Bears on one side and bear paws on the other.

Short Post

This will be short. I'm working on a huge t-shirt quilt on the longarm. 88 inches by 114 inches. I did the part-time gig and I can't keep my eyes open. I did manage two faces. Writing is going well, the prepping for NaNo in November is on track.

New Stuff

I colored in my adult coloring book the other day because it does soothe me and helps me to relax. I need to do it more often. A friend sent this to me one Christmas and like I said, it helps to calm me down. I have to remember I have it. This book is Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford.

 I also finished off two of my latest preemie quilts by stitching down the binding and putting on quilt labels. These are 36 inches by 36 inches.

More Faces!

Who knew. I may just finish this challenge after all. I decided to channel Amedeo Modigliani, one of my favorite artists.

#29faces

Almost Forgot

My second batch of snail mail art. Things are starting to arrive at their destination and so far, everyone seems very happy. A mash up of St. Patrick's, voodoo doll, and aliens.

A little Bit...

I promised some friends snail mail art. I've got tons of tiny sketches, I now have to put them on nice paper and paint or use color pencils to finish. Here are the first two.

Keeping up with Faces

Okay, I did two faces today in order to keep up. Something weird happened to me and I decided that I was better than the incident and that I was going to get busy. So here are my faces.

The blue one is for how I was feeling yesterday. It was a sucky day. But... I shall persevere and keep on keeping on. The green one is one continuous line and both are done with color pencil.

I made progress on my Bargello quilt. I'm doing the wall hanging just to see how the thing is done. But I can continue on to make it a bit longer so it will turn into a throw. The backing is flannel. I'm finally excited about this project.

And here is a job on the longarm frame. So far so good for the end of the week. Time to continue to find my happy and create like nobody's business.

A Painting

I finally got a painting done. I had started it a month ago and made time to finish it. I used Walnut Hollow oil color pencils on a canvas board covered with black gesso.

Here is my initial sketch and the transfer onto the panel.

I like how the colors pop on the black background. I didn't like the texture of the canvas panel. So for the next one, I sanded the panel a little to make it a bit smoother. I will then add on one or more coats of black gesso. Such a wonderful idea I got from another artist friend.

We'll see how this one works out. I have a series of mask kids because I have that many panels. Cheers!