You might have to squint a little

 

I had a great time this past weekend working on some postcard-sized doodle/paintings. And I just realized that it's already THURSDAY and wow, am I late showing these to you!

Actually I'm only going to show you one for now. I don't know if it's because the watercolour paper is still slightly curled, or if I did something wrong when I cropped out the extra stuff, but this photo isn't exactly accurate.

The colours are pretty close to the original, but the actual picture is taller and narrower, not short and stumpy and crunched-looking. So yeah, if you squint a little you'll get the idea, but I think I'll try to get better pics to show you the other ones I did. 

Back soon.
Love Shelley!

Never had one lesson!

Okay, that's not EXACTLY true.

A couple of years ago, I signed up for a beginner's art class that was supposed to teach me how to draw.  Well, the teacher and I didn't exactly see eye to eye.  Her idea of teaching was to repeatedly say some phrases that didn't mean anything to me, like, "Just draw what you see!"  (If I could do that, I WOULDN'T BE HERE) and "Compare and contrast!" (?????)

So yeah.  I've had a couple of lessons.  But on the whole, I just try to draw what I see.  HAHA!!  Ironic, isn't it.

I didn't see this chicken in person today.  Just a photo of him standing atop a building.  He's a roadside attraction somewhere, I think.  I thought he looked majestic and happy, so I decided to see if I could draw him.  I was just playing, nothing serious.

I sketched him out in Sharpie and filled it in with watercolours.  He does not look exactly like my model, but if I don't show you that one, then you can't compare and contrast, can you?  Basically, if you can tell it's a chicken without me giving you a broad hint, (BAWK!) then I'm happy with how he turned out.

Of course, I can never leave well enough alone.  I thought he was a little boring, so I added some extra details to the background.

Can you still tell it's a chicken?

Good.  Then my work here is done.

Love Shelley!

True Confessions, Part XXIXVIMXXIV

So here's something I've been exploring: the "FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT" way of life.

It's kind of cool, actually, as long as you don't lose your nerve.  When you can project the confidence that you know exactly what you're doing, that everything is going your way because it simply wouldn't dare do otherwise, that things are working out exactly as they should, and it's all because of your sheer awesomeness... well, even if it wasn't strictly true to begin with, sometimes it ends up actually turning out that way.  And somehow, you just make it look easy.

Like magic.

And then you find out?  That you had that wild, free-flying awesomeness inside you the whole time.

Trust me on this one.

Love Shelley!

So I have this penpal...

She's awesome and amazing and has made me realize something about penpals who turn out to be (or turn into) real friends.  Just because we live far away from each other doesn't mean we have to follow the traditional penpal rules, where she sends me a letter, and then I send her a letter in reply, and then we each take turns ad infinitum writing to each otherNOOOOOOO.  Rules are for people with no imagination!

THIS penpal has sent me three very different items since the last time I sent her anything.  And one of them was a quick-and-dirty thinking-of-you note that was actually just as awesome as the other two more elaborate packages.  Which got me to thinking: that's right!  Every single thing I mail doesn't have to be "ART".  Or rather, it can be, but it doesn't have to be the kind that takes four days to put together. 

In that spirit, I dashed off a note on a long piece of gray heavy paper I'd gotten at the thrift store (a big pile of these sheets for $0.49!!) and added just a couple of embellishments, nothing fancy at all.  Just a quick hello and update on how things are going over here.  Then?  I didn't even put it in an envelope. 

I know!  How much less formal can you get?  Instead I just folded it up and used these Avery mailing seals to keep it together.   

Of course, you kind of have to know ahead of time that you're doing this, so you can leave a clear area for the address, but I think it's kinda cool. Oh, and this also works best if you're just using paper - not adding in little loose things as gifts or anything.  If this does happen to come open, nothing will be lost.  And a mailman somewhere will be highly amused to read the transcript of a recent prayer I sent up.  Win-win, right?

I didn't really do anything fancy with the back, it was getting late and I was determined that this was going to be a quick note, and would be in the mail TODAY.

I'm happy to say: mission accomplished.

Love Shelley!