Geometry again

Happy
Acrylic and watercolor
Cotman 16 x 12 in. watercolor pad
IKEA frame

There are aspects of this experiment I like and some I don't. That being said, I do like to look at it hanging on my wall. I really like how my plants, flowers, dragon, prey, and scrip came out. I think my mushroom, scroll work at the bottom, and background have issues. The geometry at the top I like, and the way the bugs wings let it show through.

Painting - Plants

Plants
Acrylic and watercolor,
Cotman 16 x 12 in. watercolor pad, IKEA frame

In this painting I am starting to experiment more with acrylics and using a watercolor wash. In this way I am able to get more sense of depth.

New family member ;D and a painting

Okay so October flew by like an red-orange leaf in a windstorm. Last week I didn't paint: the family was home over Eid AND we acquired a new family member. It has been in the works for a while and is a promise full-filled to my daughter on moving here (we are still looking for the 'right' cat). Transportation to and from is still a bit of an issue, but we will work it out.

Saba Al Hasa

He is a lovely 2 year old beautifully tempered Arabian. We are very excited to welcome him into our family and looking forward to our new adventures with him.

This is a painting I did in October experimenting with water color and acrylics. I used my Cotman 16 x 12 in. cold pressed water color block. This size fits perfectly in the frames I get from IKEA. As you can see I chose to represent one o my dragons in a pose I haven't exhibited before. The jury is still out, but I think he is a bit too far to the right. He disturbs the symmetry too much, but that is what experimenting is all about - trying new things, making mistakes, regrouping, and moving right along.

Todays Experiment

I finished this one today. The photograph came out poorly (bad lighting), but I really like the way the painting came out. I used my 12 x 16 in. water color block, watercolors, and watercolor pencils.

Have a great day!

Theta

Experiments 3+

 This is the first painting in a three painting series. I've been thinking of desert sand and rock.

This is the second painting of the series. The third painting is in progress. Since it wasn't my idea, and it involves perspective and some other things, it will be awhile before I get it done. Prodding always makes me take longer on a project "/

This is my newest Leaf Dragon. I am obviously having fun with my new watercolors here :)

Grass King is my newest scene. Also done in water colors. I thought about doing a wash first, started painting the scene, and then decided to forgo a wash. I was having fun and when I was done, that was it.

Made this today for a lady that took Megs and I around a week or two ago. I have to return some stuff to her, so this is going with the returned stuff.

These are for Jean. They are called hood-hood in one of my husband's Arabic children's books and hunt for bugs in the sand our 'lawn' is growing in. The second photo was taken through the screen door and so is not as clear, but you can see it's beak meets better.

More on the 'lawn'. Here they put down a layer of sweet sand (in other words it's clean, no salt) and then put plugs of grass (often Bermuda grass) in it. So water intensive grass is planted in quick draining medium. Interesting... This way of planting calls for several hours of watering in the morning and in the afternoon. Having grown up in water rationing areas and this being desert and all, I keep cringing. However, since they use desalinization plants for water, I'm told "Don't worry, this is the way they do it here." It's still hard not to cringe...

Have a great day!

Theta

finished large piece

The internet is back on. We are not sure for how long it will remain on... In the meantime I started and finished my large drawing.

Now all I have to do is find a frame.

Have a great day,

Theta

Card #1

We have moved overseas again and are settling in. Happily this time, we have internet! Before we moved, my daughter and I made cards, lots of cards. I'm going to post some of them here until I can get my waitbook scanned and such :)

For the fronts of two of the cards I used my waitbook designs and we stamped the other two. (The sun designs are by STM, the swirls I'm not sure about maybe inkado, the yellow tag was cut and stamped with Sizix, the flower is Inkado as is Best Wishes) We had a lot of fun making cards together.

#27 WB2 Card for Pastor D

Our pastor is leaving our church, so I sketched a card front in my WB2. After the design was completed, I cleaned it up in PS3 and added the central text. We will certainly miss Pastor D and his wife!

May God bless you!

Theta

#7 WB2 Scene Happy Orange

Last evening I had some 'spare' time while waiting at home and was able to color this scene I drew in February. The orange, red, and yellow is so bright and cheerful.

I hope you enjoy this cheery, peaceful scene.

Theta

#3 WB2 Scene Wishful Thinking

I finally finished coloring this one. It feels like it has taken forever. It's really been only a couple of weeks and at that I have worked on it sporadically.

My daughter and I have been making greeting cards. I will think about posting some of them here.

Have a great day!
Theta

#18 WB2 Scene

Well, this is terribly out of order, but I have not felt like coloring the others in between yet. I have been looking at Indian textile patterns and henna patterns from different places. I like the fluidity of the designs.

Life here has been a bit busy. I am tutoring an Algebra 2 student and have been doing some review on Khan Academy. Besides quizzes, they have excellent videos on math and other topics. Other things have been going on, but that is the main reason I haven't been posting. Most of my coloring is done at home and both the cleaning up and posting of my sketches require the computer, hence, with my 'spare' time at my desk I have been working on math, not my sketches.

Hope you all have a lovely blessed day,

Theta

#8 WB2 Scene with Words

This one is a bit different than the ones I have posted before. The extra width gives me space to experiment.

Since I am not hurrying to finish this book, I am not working in page order as I have for the last month. Now, I have colored and posted pages 1, 2, 4 (sort of) and 8 (this post), have inked through page 11 or so, and have sketched another 4-5 pages in my Waitbook 2. I like working in my book this way because I can pick and choose what I do at any given time. However, the pages will not be posted linearly as they have been for awhile and I'll have to be careful I don't forget any :0

Have a great evening if you're in my time zone, otherwise have a great night/morning.

Hugs,
Theta

Sketch #97 Scene 7

This is the last scene I drew in my Waitbook 1. I am looking forward to sketching more scenes in my next Waitbook 2.The rest of my Waitbook 1 is filled with leaf dragons.

I was doodling along and decided to add an elf king to the sketch. He seems to think he is hidden, concentrating so hard on the reddish flying prey, but he's not. The little blue guy without antennae seems to be thinking about what kind of threat the king may be, probably none. He doesn't have a net and their size is quite large relative to his. The oak leaf dragon is keeping very still in hopes that the king will not see him, so far so good :)

I enjoy drawing these scenes. They do take longer to sketch, ink, and color than a single item, thus I have to be in the proper mood to work on one.

Have a wondrous day,
Theta

Sketch #96 Scene 6

In this sixth scene the Leaf Dragon is  hunting, but its prey is flying around unconcerned. Maybe he is full...

Have a great day!
Theta

Sketch #72 Scene 5

This guy is hunting for his lunch. It looks like the caterpillar has spotted the predator and is telling the blue bug to hurry and hide. The blue bug looks a bit worried.

Sketch #56 Scene 4

This sketch has been sitting in my sketchbook for awhile and I finally have had the inclination and opportunity to finish it. I like how the color came out. This guy has an unusual trait for my leaf dragons...

Sketch #40 Mini Elf with Mushrooms

Here is another scene with characters for Cy :) He says the inchworm is a baby dragon because it has a goatee.

Sketch #30 Elf/Gnome Scene

This is the Elf/Gnome drawing I did for my son last week. He wants an even more involved scene, so I may have to get out the drawing board and a bigger piece of paper.

Sketch #7 Mouse Scene

This day I felt like incorporating several elements into a scene. I started off with the mushrooms and then doodled in the mouse. The mouse had to be looking at something so I added the ladybug. Then to fill fill the page and make a better setting, I added the foliage.

The 5x8 sketchbook is quite sufficient for my individual sketches, but I feel the need for more space when I do something like this. One thought I had would be to use 12x12 paper, then store the pages in a scrapbook album. In other words build the pages rather than have them already in a book. Then I could use page protectors and the chalk wouldn't get all over. That could give me more medium flexibility. I have page protected some of my small pastel drawings in the past, but not stored them in an album. The are samples for the kids to see.

If someone does this already, please leave a comment on how it works or doesn't in your experience.