Saturday, July 27, 2013

1 Cute House - 4 Fun Sketches

Is there any better way to spend the day,
than with 3 good friends with sketchbooks in hand?
Let's see what we've been up to....
This was our inspiration.  A cozy yellow house.
Mmm...I smell yummy muffins in there.
Katie made us tasty treats!


Hard at work in the sun.  


After an hour of drawing we sat at the table
and brought out some scrumptious supplies.


  You remember Sandi...we hung out at Passionflower
last week.  She has a rainbow of colors to use.



Melysa worked her magic with colored pencils.

 


Here I am...mugging for the camera.
Notice the hat hair....


Katie has a little helper.
Now is that fair?
This is Paloma...she's a real charmer!

Here are the results from our afternoon....
 
 







4 unique people - 4 unique interpretations!



It's fun to compare....
I hope you had fun watching the process.

Hmmm...I just thought of something.
It took us 1 hour to sketch and
2 hours to paint.  Guess what that equals =
3 hours of optimism!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Passionflower

Several downtown City streets were blocked off from
automobile traffic this Sunday so the walkers and bikers
could come out and play in the streets.
Who hasn't waited for permission to do that?

There was music, food, activities and many of
the stores were opened too.
(Can you say..."J. Michaels" and money spent on books!)
My friend Sandi and I joined the party


We packed sketchbooks and pens...
stopped at Starbucks for iced Chai and Mocha
and looked for the perfect sketching spot.
I've wanted to draw Passionflower ..like, forever....
and finally here was my chance.

 

Two hours and two sore bums later...those curbs are not cushy..
we went into Passionflower to show off our drawings.
The staff loved them and you can see our famous photos
on Passionflower's Facebook page!
I'm not a Facebooker...I know...I know...
or I'd give you the link.


 If you have never been...make your way down to 128 W. Broadway and Pearl.
They have the most fabulous gifts.


You never know what you will find....


..for instance a copy of "The Drunken Botanist".
Where else will you find that?


Here is Sandi with her completed picture...
have you met?  Good friend of mine.
Mad talent that girl....


Here's the prize winning close-up.


Here is my double page spread.....
certainly worth the sore bum....and so fun to compare.
If you check closely you will see that we just
started making things up at the end.
That's a tricky artist thing when you are getting tired.
Don't tell...

If you want to check out Passionflower online, go to:
so much cool stuff !

I hope you enjoyed spending a Sunday afternoon with me!
We'll talk soon.....
 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

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Monday, July 15, 2013

4 Way Thai

If you ever want to get in trouble over some Thai food....book a table at Ring of Fire with these gals and  hold on!  This group will keep it just as spicy as the curry...

                           Meet Miss Bliss, Dee Dee Divine and Vivacious Vee....

We spent 3 hours (of optimism) discussing the big issues in life:

                              Aliens
                              Mind Control
                              Volcano's
                              Insurance
                              Who we want to be when we grow up.....AND......
                              Emily Proudfoot's amazing jewelry (check it out below).
                              Each dinner guest got one of her lovely necklaces....




    You can see more of her work on her blog at:
    These are individually hand painted, and she has a bizillion.
    Rumor has it she is working on an Etsy site.  I'll keep you posted.


    And because I missed Frida Kahlo's birthday on July 6, born in 1907...
    that would make her about 106...
    I'm putting up my own tile painting of her...done in acrylics.
    Happy Birthday Frida...you still continue to inspire!

    If you would like to be notified when I put up a posting,
    go to the bottom of the page to sign up.  Let's raise those
    follower numbers people.....more numbers...
    more optimism for all !!










    Sunday, July 7, 2013

    Welcome to Shade's World

    Welcome to Shade's world....and my very first post!


















    This is me.....I can be a little sassy sometimes.

    This is where the creative magic happens.  And sometimes a little bill paying too...but who wants to read about that....you've got your own bills to pay and your own creativity corners to tend to.  If you look to the right you will see two small green bordered pictures.....


    When I was very young my "Bompa" used to tell us kids stories about the Dog and the Coon.  I made these for him as a Christmas present one year.  And if I do say so myself...  they show my budding artistic talents.

    The messes have grown larger since then and the complexity too....but it is still fun... and I have so many more toys to play with!


    This is Chris....he is my honey and fellow mischief maker.  Although, here it looks like we are watching for aliens or a falling gift basket...


    Here is Chris with the newest addition to the family...Devin James Cherrier.  Devin has been instructed to call Chris "Captain Awesome!"  I am to be referred to simply as "Aunt Shade...Queen of the Universe." 

     

    I would like to say it has been all sunshine and cheer this last year.  Sadly, my mother lost her battle to the nasty opponent...ALS.  (Lou Gehrigs).  She leaves behind two wrung out children who are slowly working their ways back to a new normal.  She also leaves behind a wonderful legacy of art quilts which you can see by going to the link for storiesincloth.wordpress.com  I would like to think she is now in a heavenly quilt patch, sewing at the speed of light.

    Three months later we lost Maddie...the worlds best snuggler.  She was always waiting to sit in my lap after a hard visit to the care facility to see mom.  She loved to wander around making muffled meow sounds while carrying her bunny in her mouth. (Mostly after we had just gotten to sleep).  And if she saw any hugging...she wanted in!

     One last family member....this is Mister.  He used to be called Morgan, but I heard Chris call him Mister so often when we first met that I thought it was Morgan's name.  Chris asked me one day why I always called him Mister.  He got a good laugh out of my selective hearing...and now the name has stuck.

    I hope you have enjoyed meeting the family.  I will continue to vie for your rapt attention in further posts.  And I hope it will spur me to excellent adventures so I have something to report.  Until next time.....