Where Did February Go?

Even though there was an extra day this month, February blew by. And ending with a snowstorm in the Midwest. I have some really cool news that I'm waiting for the go-ahead to tell everyone. Something I can cross off my Bucket List. Lent is now on and I will be working it. Not necessarily a religious thing for me but a time of reflection, get back to eating healthy, get back to exercising on the regular, get old projects done, new projects started... basically, work on me.

The first two months of the year and new decade have been okay. A few downs but mostly ups and I'm feeling fine. Haven't been able to say that in awhile. Going out on the limb to try new things. Getting back to enjoying the process of creating. Realizing that some projects just won't see the light of day. And that's okay. I've got a cargo ship load of ideas. But so far, the year is on an even keel.

Kept up with my 29 Faces art challenge. Have one more face to do. Maybe. Previous years it's been 28 faces but this is Leap Year so I guess I'll do one more. For the heck of it.

I'm thinking about turning some of these into dolls. Working on a size and what to make them out of. Air dry clay, polymer clay... not sure just yet. And all are from the same basic face I started with. Not bad I'd say. The next 40+ days might be a challenge. My plan is to complete 20 pieces of work. We'll see how that goes. Stay tuned.

September

It's been awhile. I have been recuperating from knee surgery. Four weeks now and PT (physical therapy is going well. Right now I'm about 75% functional. My PT therapist says I'm doing better than most who have had my procedure. Of course, I'm not a patient person and I'm working on not being hard on myself for not being further along. But I can walk without shooting pain and my flexibility is improving everyday. I even got more types of exercises to do. I'm planning on another tow weeks to see how things go and then I'll be ready to look for a new job. I don't know if I want to be on my feet all the time at the old job or deal with people this holiday season.

It's been rough trying to get creative again. Lots of starts and stops. Lots of tears. Lots of being mad at myself. I tell myself, one-day-at-a-time. Do a few things and rest. Think of all the cool and wonderful things I've done and celebrate. Put fear in the backseat and keep moving. It's hard. After being in constant pain for so many months, having the surgery, and not working, it is very hard. My self esteem is in the toilet and I just have little faith in creating right now. Once again I have missed out on several creative opportunities.

It's my favorite time of year and I'm working on enjoying it. The leaves are starting to change colors. I love that. The temps were cooler but we seem to be getting a late summer right now. All the fall and Halloween decorations are out in full force. I have to just look. Look at how people decorate their homes, both inside and out. I keep telling myself that one day, one day I will have my own home to decorate. Right now, that's kind of hard to hold on to.

I tell myself that each day is a new day. I've been trying to just get back to creating something. After surgery, all I could do was knit. So I made dish cloths.

I finally got a front page done for my Bullet Journal.

I started drawing mushrooms for a project I've been wanting to work on for over a year.

And I finally got back to my EPP (English Paper Piecing) using hexies. The mini ones below in the first pic will turn into something. I can see what I want in my mind but I don't know if it will happen.

The larger hexies have backings and will be appliqued down and eventually turned into pincushions. One can never have enough pincushions. Plus I'm trying to use up some of the fabric and other materials I have.

It's a start. I now have to finish them. Another big problem. Finishing things.

One Day At A Time. After all, I'm still healing. And I need to cut myself some slack.

Getting Started

Yes, getting started. I finally got a chance to watch Puppy Bowl. The puppies up for adoption were so cute. And the puppy sports commentary was hilarious. There were even baby kangaroo cheerleaders. I was able to get two faces done for the 29 Face art challenge this month. I don't have a style or subject I want to stick to this time around, so I will just do some faces.

I do think I will try more male faces. I really need to practice those. That's it for now.

#29faces

I'm Here!

Still here on this plane on Earth. Dealing with more hours at work, trying to stay healthy with so many ill people around me, truck is doing a lot better, working on getting my 'happy for the holidays' back. I tell you, retail can suck the happiness out of the holidays. Can't wait until the next week and a half is over. No snow yet. On the good side...

I finished two commissions. I almost talked myself out from doing them (Bad Wendy) but I told myself that this is what I want to do. Even though things are hard for independent business owners, artists, writers, this is what I want to do. So I did it. Them. And they are off to their new homes.

I also did a drawing for an online art challenge and I'm behind. Here's my mutant candy cane. He has issues.

I will work on getting some of the other prompts done. Now I have to clear up the art area, go through fabric to see what I have for the next round of dolls. 2019 is so close and there are so many things I want to accomplish. Continuing on the big plan. Until next time, be good.

How Did That Happen?

I wasn't looking. Hello October! Finally some cooler temps. Today we got tons of rain and now the fog is moving in. Kind of creepy. Very Halloween like. And once again, I'm not ready. There's nothing like freaking out under-the-gun of getting things done. My doll show is this weekend and well... I'm flying by the seat of my pants. Maybe not, I am ready. It's that same old thing, am I good enough? It doesn't matter now... the show must go on.

What I am working on, one of the many things I'm working on is to sketch or draw something everyday in October. Hopefully I will be able to carry it on through November and December. But we'll start with this month. I don't know if I'll be following any of the wonderful challenges online but I will do my own creepy thing. Here's my first drawing.

I lightly sketched it in pencil first then went back in with a Tombow calligraphy pen. I love that pen. It's the W5-BH. I don't know what that means but it came with another pen with a larger point. Brush. I'm still learning how to work with them. It really works like a brush or a pen. The size of the sketchbook is 4" x 6" and I found it clearing out my stuff at my mom's. Dated when I was back in undergrad. Yikes! Many, many seasons ago. A lot of trips around the sun. Again, I love sketchbooks, I just don't fill them up. Have a good evening.

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.

Day One

Of my next trip around the sun. Yep, it's my birthday. And so far so good. A couple of off-key renditions of that happy birthday song, which were hilarious. A long talk with a friend from another state. Lots of happy wishes on Facebook; a friend took me out to lunch. I had Salmon Ratatouille and a Blueberry Mule for a drink. Blueberry infused vodka with ginger beer. I wasn't driving.

Bella made it to North Carolina just fine. She picked up some reading once she got there and is ready for her stage debut.

A new year for me. Last year was, well, it was better than the year before so that's saying something. I now have a mission and a bucket list of sorts that I will be working towards. I'm going to do a personal challenge of a piece of artwork everyday for 365 days. The next trip around the sun. Could be anything but probably drawings or paintings. While cleaning up my mother's place (an ongoing process), I found a small sketchbook from when I was in undergrad at university. A... long...time...ago... I'll work on filling that up. It is 4 inches by 6 inches in size. About 30 pages..

Today is celebrating and relaxing and I'm about to binge watch some movies that have been on my list for awhile. Because tomorrow, it starts. The creative movement and that's because I have about eight days off from the other job. Nice huge blocks of time to make stuff.

Okay Day

Today was an okay day after not doing much yesterday and a lot the day before. So before I started getting down on myself, I told myself that I had a recharge day yesterday and made up for it today. I'm quite satisfied with that assessment. Not only did I sketch, I painted in my watercolor sketchbook (I'll have pics tomorrow once it dries), started a new doll, posted on social media, worked on a novel series (still getting all the parts together on that), and worked on my latest Redwork project. Things are okay.

I've always wanted to make a Frida Kahlo doll. I cut one out, sewed, and stuffed it today. Now I have to pic a face to embroider.

And here is my latest Redwork piece.

#wendyluane #fridakahlo #fridakahlodoll #redwork #embroidery

One Week In

Wow! The new month is off and running. My finger is a lot better. Typing has gotten better. I was able to wash said finger today with soap and water. No bandage. Yay! I was able to do some sketching and painted a picture in my sketchbook. Straightened my work area so that come Monday I can get back to making things out of some Creative Paperclay. I've been writing some and today I will retype a short story. I also want to watch a movie again to look at the costumes because I want to do that too. It will be my take on something. Considering the nightmares and nonsense going on in the world...

I am okay.

These are sketches of forest folk. Just wanting to get into sketching more.

And this is Sania, a zombie, who is ready for spring so she can get some sun.

Acrylic on watercolor paper. Have a great weekend.

Saturday Post

Yep, weird week but I made it. Got back to sketching, prepped my next Redwork piece, painted in the sketchbook. Maybe I can fill it up this year. One can hope. And here are some flowers in the yard. Spring has sprung.

I was supposed to do this Krampus around Christmastime but didn't get to him. So here he is, ready for spring. Maybe I should do a series on Mr. Krampus during the off season when he's not harassing bad children. Maybe this is his end of the school year picture. Ha!

I got my fabric prepped for my next Redwork piece. I used a woven interfacing on the back to see if it's a bit more stable to stitch but not be overly heavy to get the needle through. We shall see.

#redwork #krampus #embroidery #woveninterfacing #pellon #dayofthedead

More Hands

Seems like the only thing I'm keeping up with so far this year is my hand challenge. I'm getting a little better at them but will have to keep working. I'm also keeping up with my writing and I'm working on editing a short story and adding more to a rough draft to a longer story. Haven't really touched anything else. The saga continues.

I just watched the documentary For The Love of Spock this past weekend and I really liked it. So this is my hand in the Vulcan greeting.

#sketchbook #pencildrawnhands #sketchchallenge #handchallenge #vulcangreeting

Hands

Working on keeping up with my hand challenge for the month. And I filled up an almost filled sketchbook. Two more scheduled for the rest of the year.

#pencilhandsketches #pencilsketches #sketchbook #handchallenge

I Am Ready

Yes, I am ready and hunkered down for the Snowpocalypse. It's when it's supposed to snow very bad in North Carolina and other southern states. The weather models show varying amounts of the white stuff to fall, so we kind of don't know what we'll get. Many have run to the grocery store for provisions and so did I but I already knew I had to go. Snow or not. And one does have to make sure that you have enough of the TP (toilet paper) for any such event. I have no problems with southern snows. I'm originally from Michigan and if someone tells me to stay indoors until the roads have been plowed, that's just what I'm going to do.

I have caught up to my first challenge of the year. I'm sketching hands all month. Because I need to practice on hands. I'm working from Jack Hamm's Cartooning the Head and Figure. It's a very old book. I think I got it when I was in high school. And I found another sketchbook that's almost filled.

And I sketched some doll clothes. I will have to check my fabric to see what will work and then make some final renderings.

Holy Smokes!

It's been awhile since my last post but I've been busy getting ready for a craft fair. My first in a couple of years. Making new things, repricing some old ones. I finally got a nice roly cart to haul things and a friend's teen is going to help me out a bit. As life would have it, I got more quilt tops come in to be done for Christmas. It's all good. I'm feeling happy for a change and I plan on working to keep that vibe throughout the new year. I also made a swap ornament for an online group I'm in. It's a Krampus but he isn't very scary.

 
I added another painting to my sketchbook and I don't know if I'll get anymore filled by the end of the month.

And then there have been the holiday parties I went to. Not as many as I was invited to but the group Mary's Mavens had their party last night which was amazing. The food was wonderful and the energy of all the women there was wonderful. I made some new friends, saw some old ones, and had a tarot card reading which was pretty much on point. A tarot reading is different from a psychic reading because you don't tell anything to the person doing it. She reads things through the cards and she hit several things right on the head. As far as things that I am pursuing as far as career and what I want out of life and the things that are standing in my way. But I am on a good track. That part was really cool to hear and it has empowered me to forge full speed ahead.

Here are ornaments I finished yesterday. Today I work on tiny table toppers and finish pricing things, pick up a table from a friend to use at the fair. I'm excited but starting to run on fumes. My apartment is a wreck and it will take a week to get things back together for the next big project.

The Next Big Project

I know, I know. Starting another project before the first 85 are complete. Ha! That's not how this lady rolls. Actually, I started this project some time ago and it never went anywhere. I have always loved playing with dolls. Making clothes for them, writing stories for them. And then I turned thirteen and my mother thought I was too old to continue to play with them. That kind of hurt. I let it go and pursued other things. But guess what?

It's come back full circle. Now I just don't have baby doll, Barbie, and others I can't remember to dress and play with. They have dolls called Blythe and the Bentley of the wonderful dolls are BJDs or ball jointed dolls. I used to work in the theater too. Making costumes for others to wear. Watching them enjoy the limelight in one of my creations. Now, I can still enjoy the limelight of new costume creations. Only this time, the dolls don't talk back or jump if you stick them with a pin. And they're a lot smaller.

Until I get my own doll, a friend has allowed me to use her little one to get started with. He's an elf and I will start off with some elf/faerie/sprite outfits. I watched The Santa Clause yesterday and did some very rough and preliminary sketches. The movie is really cute and I remember when it first came out, how I fell in love with the elves. So, here are my first sketches. Thank goodness for the pause button.

These are in another sketchbook that needs to be filled. Maybe that will happen soon too. Have a good day.

#sketchbook #dollclothessketches #bjd

Still Going

Still working on my sketchbook. I may just get this one filled by the end of the year. I'm practicing my watercolor and still getting used to my new Ink Tense paints. I'm really loving pen and ink and black markers.

I also finished up my little knitted stocking. This will be for Mesmer. I have enough yarn to make him a scarf and hat. I'll get some tiny candy canes to put inside and wrap some boxes for him. My tiny way of decorating for the holidays. The stocking is about 4 1/2 inches tall.

What's Up

I'm proud of myself for finishing up a project and able to cross it off my long list. Now I'm on to other projects and keeping up with my sketchbook. I'm trying to figure out what to do with toilet paper rolls. I saw someone else do a thing, so I'm going to try my thing. If this works, great. And I just threw away a bunch of these.

Here's my start to my latest face in my watercolor sketchbook. I also used the salt technique on wet paint.

I get fresh eggs from a friend. She got new hens and they finally started laying. Can you tell the difference between the new hen and the more mature hen's egg? I think it's just too cute. Both were yummy and I can't wait until the get bigger. The green is spinach and there are some shallots in there too.

I am behind on my NaNo but will continue to catch up. Right now the word count is 9325.

#sketchbook #watercolor #fresheggs

Finally

Again. I got something done and can cross it off my list. I finished 16 Bat Hat ornaments. I had started them some time ago and for the life of me, I didn't finish them. Now they are done and I can move onto something else. I do feel good having them done. Now it's time to tackle something a bit more challenging. After all, I do have a craft fair coming up.

And I'm still working on filling another sketchbook.

Wow!

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. Unbelievable that we're in a week into another month. Yikes! Okay, I'm trying to keep up with NaNo and a bit behind but plan to catch up today. Word count right now: 4759
I just got notice that I got a spot in the Krankie's Craft Fair in December, so I will be working like crazy to get some things done. Still working on some challenges: a book challenge (personal) through Goodreads and get my next two sketchbooks filled by the end of the year. I'll be working on my Cosmic Smashbook for awhile yet but it's time to get in-progress pieces done.

#sketchbook