Old post didn't get published - Art: Ink pours.

Thursday we had an art class at the Village Art Gallery in downtown Yuma, Arizona. It was pure fun. The teachers were Norma and Deanie from the gallery, and they are members of the  Desert Artists.

We learned how to do 'pours'.

We sprayed water on WC paper, and dropped acrylic inks, using the dropper in the bottles, into the water. Then we had our choice of how to continue.

We could blow thru a straw to spread the paints, or just about anything else to move paint around. I used the straw like a brush and made little circular lines.

Salt can be used to absorb some of the inks, a sea sponge to make designs and shapes, scrunched plastic wrap laid on the paper and taken off after some minutes to make other shapes, and etc. etc.

It was sooooo much fun. I'm posting pictures of two of mine that I liked best.

The one above was made by:

spraying the water very lightly, dropping only a few drops of ink, turning the page one way and another and then using then dragging the straw thru the inks. The inks were limited to two colors, orange and blue.

The second painting was created by:
spraying larger spaces of water, dropping turquoise ink into the water and allowing it to spread on it's on in the water spot, layering green and a small drop of yellow, drawing thru all with a straw to make branches and trunks.  I also used to straw to pull some color off the page for tree trunks, and then .... I paused. The two teachers said," Janet, what do you need?"
I hadn't realized they were watching me that close!
"I need a pencil or pen. Wait, I'll use my eyebrow pencil." 
I used it to make tree trunks, and then I added yellow ink but it was too thick to spread, so I moved it with the straw. Then I made a puddle of yellow and a puddle of black ink on the backing board and dipped my pencil in one and then the other to make more leaves and more branches and trunks.

These are soooooo much fun to make! The two here are the only ones I liked of the five paintings I did, but with some thought I might be able to save the others. I've saved them from the round file until I decide.

Next week I hope to teach the little bit I know to some friends who expressed an interest.

I love to play, I love color; I love art!

Where Have I Been??? Well to the Camel Farm of Course!

Well I just realized, I haven't posted anything to my blog for months!
I couldn't believe it myself. So.....here goes.

First I believe I should open with a grand daughter 'funny'.
(And it does relate to the rest of the post, really.)

On the Sunday after Christmas my daughter and
little four year old grand daughter and son-in-law
all were going to church with us.

As I headed for the bathroom to get ready
I told my sweet-faced little grand daughter,

"Well I guess I'd better go do something about my hair."

I smiled down at her.

She looked up at me and said,

"Yes, and you'd better get rid of that old face too."


And then, in the middle of the month, I couldn't
stop it, my birth date made me a year older.

So, since my last posting I've aged, a lot it seems.

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(Old) Ladies' Day Out

Recently I went with five ladies from my artists' club to a local Camel farm. It's a small place but, so is the cost to get in, & there are plenty unusual and interesting animals to see. It is also easy to get around. All the pens face a fairly large circular space. It took us about an hour to see the camels and other animals and take some fun pictures. Taking pictues was the main reason we came. Some of us will make paintings, or cards or whatever other creative things we can think to do with our photographs.

Our group varied in age from early sixties to early eighties. We weren't at all worried about what a group of oldsters enjoying the animals might look like to others. And then, a young couple with a little child came in. The mom looked each of us over with a smirky smile on her face! How rude! Also how presumptuous. Just because we aren't children doesn't mean we can't enjoy animals!

Luckily no one else in my group seemed to notice. They were too busy discussing how beautiful the weather was and where we'd eat lunch! We decided on a new Chinese place in town. We left in a three-car-train and sped our way to a wonderful lunch and some fun conversations, not all sweet and polite as you might expect from old ladies either! Old people are still just as real as anyone else, if you can believe it. (We are only super nice and sweet when it's our grand babies or great grand babies we are talking to.)

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May you have abundant laughter to balance the tears.
May you never forget God loves you, and is only a prayer away.