Painted in 2011

I hope each of you find yourself with family, friends and love ones for the holidays, no matter what or how you celebrate.

I also wish for you some downtime so that you might savor the season's special moments without stress or worry.

I pray for safety for our troops and first responders scattered about the world, keeping us secure, and for their families as they celebrate alone. 

A tree? For me!?!

It's so shiny!

There's something on my head. It tickles.

Wonder if I can reach the shiny ball swinging down there, hmmmm....

I'm invisible and the humans can't see me!

Puncture marks on watercolor paper, copper foil and a custom card

I don't know about you, but I needed a little extra sparkle in my life today...so run your mouse around on the page and watch the faerie dust fall from your mouse!

Sooooo much fun and a totally time drain, but it still brings a smile to my face! Happy day to you!

Come and join me on Saturday, December 12th, from nine until noon, as we catch a little "Wave Action" in our sketchbooks!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to take a break from all the decorating and shopping and head over to the beach.

The class will be held at Keeton's in Bradenton and you can find more info here.  We'll be working from photos and with regular watercolor brushes rather than waterbrushes.

Waves seem like a challenge until you break them down into shapes. Adding the foam and white spray at towards the end of the page are what makes the whole sketch sing!

I hope you can make it!

From my "Pineapple Journal" I made myself with Canson watercolor paper.

Savor The Season Watercolor with ink (writing)

I'd love to tell you I created this recently, but it was actually last year and I never got around to posting it.

I find myself in the same headspace this year as last—wondering where the last 11 months went and how I'm going to get everything done between now and December 25th.

My plan is to take this advice to heart and
s. l. o. w.    w. a. y.    d. o. w. n.

I may get less done, but my hope is that I'll enjoy the season more instead of suddenly finding myself in January, thinking, "Huh, where did December go?"

The inspiration for the cup came from a very "plain Jane" cup I've had forever. It's totally ivory without any kind of holly border.

It was kinda fun to transform such a simple cup into something festive. With its age showing, it reminds me of an old friendship that is often renewed during the holidays. (Hello, my old friend, I don't see you often, but when I do, I am reminded of all our visits over a cup of tea...)

Regardless of how we got here, we're here—we might as well make the best of it and enjoy the last month of 2015!

For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I hope you have plenty of family, food and fun!

For those scattered around the world, I wish you Happy Autumnal blessings (even if it's Spring where you live!).

I am so very thankful for the friends and family I have, for our good health, the window on the world provided by the internet that allows me to pursue my artistic passion and for the small, everyday joys that come my way.

I have found myself in an odd place here of late and I wasn't really sure how to move forward.

I added a house (based on an ornament I have in my studio) at the lower inside right corner.

I wasn't overly interested in sketching and since I have 973, 974 things on my need-to-do-right-now list, motivation has been scarce. As in, none. It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while, I hit a wall or plateau and it all seems to come to a screeching halt.

Ollie, hanging out on the back of the card

The thing that usually goes first is my personal sketching. It used to terrify me when that happened. I'd freak out thinking I'd never draw, paint or create again. Time, that most benevolent teacher, has taught me that panicking doesn't help and that eventually, the desire/need/compulsion comes back.

Sometimes, it's a slow dribble that becomes a steady drip before the faucet fully flows. Other times, it's a deluge all at once. I prefer the slow dribble because the deluge has a tendency to be overwhelming and I find myself unable to pick a place to start.

Back of the envelope

What gave me a spark this time was a mother's request. In a group I play with on Facebook, a woman requested for folks to write to her two daughters as they're very, very homesick for the United States.

They are currently in Norway for a year and their journey is only in it's third month!

Are you familiar with Beatrix Potter's picture letters that she sent to her governess' children? The illustrations Beatrix created in those letters would later become the basis for her books. The thought of having received a letter like that as a child stayed with me when I read Ms. Potter's life story.

Front of the card

How could/would my life have been different, if at all, should I have seen someone using art in such a normal, everyday way? I dare say it may not have taken me until my mid-20's to find my path.

So when the mother asked for letters to ease the girls' homesickness, I decided to give Beatrix's approach to art a whirl. I cannot tell you how much fun I had coming up with simple illustrations!

I didn't want to stop. I sprinkled little illustrations along the sides of the letter and in place of a few words. Then I made a list of other possibilities I could doodle if the girls decide to write back to me.

Either way, creating this letter did the trick of opening me back up to the joys of creating. I think because it was something so outside of my normal round, it helped to remind me of why I love to create.

Now, if it will help to alleviate some young ladies' homesickness, it will be even better!

When you lose your way, how do you get back on track when you've misplaced your desire to create?

Left: This was as far as I got on location. Right: The finished spread. Watercolor and Ink

Kathy, from Catching Happiness, and I went sketching the other morning to take advantage of the um, cooler* weather, here in Florida and the fact that it's pumpkin time! It was 79º instead of 89º at 10:30 in the morning. Woohoo.

Sometimes, you gotta go when you gotta go and it doesn't matter what the thermometer is reading.

Still, it was fun and when a breeze came by, it's was sweet. We don't have too many of the large pumpkin farms in Florida like they have further north and we don't have the huge change in temperatures either. Obviously.

This was as far as I went while on location—it was taking too long and there were too many other things to draw and paint!

Finished at home, in the studio!

They had all kinds of pumpkins and gourds in all shapes, colors and sizes along with harvest corn, cornstalks, hay bales and some croton plants on display.

A purple pumpkin?! Actually, a happy accident! I meant to pick up the gray watercolor brush pen and accidentally picked up a violet instead. I was a little shocked, but then decided to go with it as the color wouldn't lift anyway.

The image above was originally going to be just gray watercolor along with pen and line but things went awry...in a good way! Sometimes, we find ourselves in new places because of "mistakes." After I got past my shock of the violet, I decided I kinda liked the look and continued. Now, I'm planning on exploring this style with other colors as well.

It was worth it to put up with less than autumn-like temperatures...well, scratch that...that was autumn-like temperatures for Florida! I think this may turn into an annual pilgrimage, perhaps as a way to shepherd in the change of the...calendar...even if it does still feel like summer outside.

How does the changing of the season effect your sketching? Do you do more or less? Change styles?