Nature Walk Art

The other day I went on a nature walk with Little I and collected a couple of different items I found on our walk.

When Little I went down for her nap I drew them out on a piece of paper with pen (not pencil because then I would have been too worried about mistakes!) and then used watercolor pencils and acrylic paint to paint my drawings.  It was a great way to create art without stressing out about figuring out what I wanted to paint.  If you ever feel like you are "art blocked" this is an easy drawing and painting exercise.

Lay out your objects in front of you to draw.

Use pen so you don't focus on erasing mistakes.  Have fun and don't stress!

Queen Ann's Lace is my favorite!

Searching for the Muse

Lately I have been searching for "the muse."  In order to do this you must WORK and hopefully the muse will think you are worthy enough to give you some ideas.  This is part of what Steven Pressfield writes in War of Art.   I recently read this book and can't get it out of my mind!

So here are some of my recent little paintings/sketches.

This one is my favorite.  I really like how my leaves turned out!

The little bird on the bottom right is actually a transfer from the top bird. 

P.S. Do you like the teal and white painted rock?  I painted this last summer and I just felt it went with my little paintings.



 P.P.S

Here is my earthy "muse".  Coffee!  Oh how I love it so!  It always gives me ideas:)   What is your earthy muse?

Have a lovely day!  I am off to paint some more! Be sure to stop by later!  I will be posting some pictures of Little I's shaving cream paint experience!  So fun:)

The War of Art

Hello!  I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!  We watched the fireworks over the lake with my family at the cottage.  Little I was able to stay up for them and couldn't stop talking about them when we were walking home after the fireworks.  "Boom, Boom" is all she kept saying, so funny!


The husband, Little I and I are back from the island and I am trying to get back into my own personal art and art business.  My brother and I recently had a conversation about "art".  He graduated with a degree in professional writing and would like to someday write for a living.  He read a book that he highly recommended called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (most known for writing Legend of Bagger Vance). Of course I downloaded it on my kindle immediately and began reading!
  This book is awesome for any person who feels they were born to do something creative in their life for a living.  Many of us want to do something creative whether it be painting, sculpting, writing, cooking, etc but put it off and procrastinate in doing it.  We make up excuses on why we cannot work on our creative endeavor thus making ourselves unhappy and feeling empty and sometimes this can be the gateway to destructive habits.  Pressfield tells us to WORK, who cares if the product is horrible.  The actual process of working and finishing something is very important to us as creative individuals.   Another really important point Pressfield makes is that often times we get our best ideas as we are working.  We should not wait until the ideas come before working.  I agree with this immensely!  Often when I am working on a painting or collage do I get my best ideas.  The creative gods or Muses smile down on hard work and whisper ideas into your ears!

There are so many more important insights in this book, if you get a chance you should read it!  I will probably be sharing with you more about this book in later posts.  I am so inspired by Pressfields no nonsense writing style basically telling me to GET to WORK and NO EXCUSES!  I really need this kick in the butt especially because I really don't have excuses on not to work on my own personal art anymore.  Did I mention I finally finished my masters!  Hooray!  I officially graduate in August!

Well I am off to paint a little before Little I wakes up.  It is currently 8 am here and she is STILL asleep!  Wow!

Have a great day!

Artwork I am currently working on inspired by the island!

Little Bird

 

While Little I was sleeping I was able to start a little rock painting.  Here is my little bird!  I still need to add some detail to the wings but I need a tiny brush to do this and of course I don't have one here on the island!  Oh well!   Today is rainy and stormy here on the island so maybe while Little I naps I can start another one! 

Beach Glass

I have been on the island since Friday evening when the husband, Little I and I took the ferry over.  We have been having a very relaxing time!  Yesterday my mom watched Little I while I took a huge raft out into the lake and just laid out for a half an hour.  It has been so hot this week (90s...with not much breeze)  The best idea ever was when we blew up a kiddie pool for Little I and filled it up with water.  She played in there forever and I was able to put my feet in, look at the lake and drink a lovely cold drink.  I just LOVE summer!

Another thing we have been doing is looking for beach glass.  It is EVERYWHERE and it feels like treasure hunting when you go look for it!

My mom, Little I and I went to a secluded beach the other day to look for beach glass.

My mom and Little I looking for beach glass

This is a picture of the rocks on the beach.  Do you see the glass treasures?

Literally beach glass was everywhere!  Can you find the treasures in this picture?

The beach glass is so shiny when it is wet from the lake.

This was some of our findings.  Beach glass that is really old has that frosted look to it.

My mom and I have collected so much beach glass since last summer when I found my very first piece.  Beach glass is so interesting because it takes about 50 years or so to create each piece of rounded glass.  My mom and I mostly find green, amber and white pieces which are common colors.  I have found a couple of purple pieces, cobalt blue and turquoise!   The rarest colors to find are actually the primary colors, red, yellow and blue.  I guess orange is the rarest of all though.

Do you see in the above picture the rock with the cross on it?  That is something I collect while looking for beach glass.  I have a couple of them.  I guess you could say I am pretty spiritual. 

Next to the cross rock is a piece of pottery with text on it. I would just love to know where it is from also! 

Have  a great day!

Crayon Drawings and Dance Parties

Last night the husband had a late appointment so Little I and I had a drawing party on the floor.  Little I doesn't have much of an attention span right now so our drawing party only lasted about 15 minutes but it was fun nonetheless! 

While we were drawing we were also listening the the Elizabeth Mitchell pandora channel (great for kids songs!)  This lovely song by Tristan Prettyman came on and I thought I would share it with you!  We had an impromptu dance party to it!

Well we are going back to the island today!  So excited!  I will be there for almost a week to celebrate the 4th of July.   I am off to pack!

The Spinach Smoothie...YUM!

Today is HOT here in Ohio.  The weather man said it was going to be 102 degrees today!  Yuck!  So I wanted to share with you my favorite new super healthy way to cool down.


drum roll please.......

 

 

The Spinach Smoothie (high protein, low sugar)

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you!  It really says spinach and it is actually super amazing delicious and HEALTHY!  Hooray!

So let me tell you how to make this green concoction.  First of all I got this recipe from my bestie cousin-in law Jeanette who was so kind to share this awesome recipe with me.

So here it is:  How to make a spinach smoothie:

You will need the following ingredients:

-About 1 1/2 handfuls of FRESH spinach ( I have never tried frozen)
-1/2 of a banana (sliced frozen bananas make the smoothie extra cold and amazing)
- A couple of pieces of fresh or canned pineapple.  You can really add as much as you want.  The more you add the SWEETER the smoothie becomes (also more sugar).
-About a 1/2 cup of water
-3/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt (or really any yogurt, Jeanette tried blueberry yogurt and said it was tasty.)
-I also like to add a bit of almond milk to give it an extra creamy taste.  If you do this only add about 1/4 cup or so.

Next you put this all in a blender or in my case, the Magic Bullet.

Blend it all together for about 2-3 minutes (really try and get it all blended and SMOOTH...hence the name Smoothie!)


And then VOILA:

You got yourself a LEAN, MEAN drink that is GREEN.


I have been making these for myself after my morning runs.  It has lots of protein from the greek yogurt, iron from the spinach and potassium from the banana.  It would also be a fun drink for St. Patty's day:)


So hooray for tasty drinks that are healthy for you!  Hope you have a fabulous day!

Summer Salad

Yesterday my cousin Kate came over to hang out with Little I and me.  Kate lives in Brooklyn, NY and is one of the coolest people I know.  Kate is a singer/nurse-to-be and performs with her band The Tickled Pinks.

Kate and I awhile ago

Kate came for lunch so I made this lovely summer salad.  It was inspired by Stelabird's random facts post.  She talked about putting cucumbers in a bowl with lemons and salt.  It sounded so simple and delicious!

and then I added a couple of ingredients:

 

How to make a Lovely Summer Salad:


-1 cucumber (peeled and cut into small-medium slices)
-6 cherry tomatoes (cut into halves)
-1 Lemon
-1 ripe avocado (cut into slices)
- A pinch of salt (add as much as you want)


This is what you do (it is soooo simple!)

-Throw your tossed veggies into a cute bowl (white always makes food look pretty!)
-Squeeze your lemon all over the veggies (use the whole lemon or just half depending on how much you love lemon)
-Toss in the salt
-Mix with clean hands
-Presto!  You got yourselves a lovely summer salad.

P.S.  I also put a couple of black beans into the salad for some contrast and some protein.  I didn't get a chance to take a picture.  You could put anything else you wanted in like chick peas, pinto beans, asparagus, corn....oh my....there are so many possibilities!


This would also be a perfect salad to make if you are going to a 4th of July party!


Well have a great day, I am off to hang out with Little I!

I Heart Nora Ephron!

Wow, I seriously was just thinking about how much I LOVE Nora Ephron movies today and then I just found out the news that Nora passed away.  So sad!  I am a romantic comedy sap and I LOVE Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks together.  You've Got Mail is still one of my most favorite movies.  When Harry Met Sally is another all-time favorite.  I just love Harry Connick Jr.'s music on the soundtrack.  I listen to it every fall for some reason, it is a great fall-winter cd.


Anyways....I am so sad!
So here's to you Nora Ephron!  Thank you for all of the romantic comedies that made me smile and helped brighten my day!

P.S  What was your favorite Nora Ephron movie?


P.P.S.  This is one of my favorite songs by Harry Connick Jr.    So sweet!

Throwing Stones

Today we left the island and went back to the "real world."  blah.  Little I had her 18 month shots today.  Can you believe she is 18 months already?!  Time flies so fast!


Before we left the island, Little I did some serious rock throwing, her favorite past-time when she is on the island.

Throwing rocks with Dad

Check out that form!

Pointing to where she threw her rock

Check out my cute shoes!

Hello Shadow!

Little I and me...my shadow is kind of funny looking!