Tuesday, November 23, 2010

That in the time to come you may be blessed with health, friends, unclouded joy, and the best satisfactions of life is my heartfelt wish. ♥

Things are super busy right now, and likely to get busier as the holidays sweep in. I pray you all have a season filled with love, peace and joy. The sweet sentiment in the title came from an antique calligraphied card that a blogger I visit discovered at a rummage sale, I was enchanted by the well spoken message, and share it with you.

Hopefully I'll find a moment to blog before January... but who knows!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Finished page...


nature journal grand-darling, originally uploaded by Az~Kate.
I spent some more time to finish up the shading and detail on this little nature journal page. I think it's finished. :) I am not at ALL happy with the plants, I get frustrated trying to figure out what detail to leave in and what to leave out. Also, I was working from a black and white copy of the photo, which didn't help. I would go and pull the color photo up occasionally on the computer for reference, but that isn't the best way to proceed. : / Anyway, some of you asked to see it when finished, so... ta da.  Also a note to my fellow artists and other visitors, if you have an art website or blog or flickr page, please include the address in you comment, I'd enjoy visiting your pages.  Thanks so much. 

Monday, November 1, 2010

Moving on

...to the more artful side of my life.  (do I hear a collective sigh of relief?)   ;)  Sorry, I've been battling some serious blues lately.

Here are a couple things I've been very slowly working on in my spare seconds.  Most of  the past month and then some has been spent working on my high school (homeschooled) son's College applications, research and paperwork (TWO acceptance letters now grace our bulletin board, and some nice scholarship possibilites!), also I've been recovering from an infection that seriously hindered my ability to do much else at all.

I managed to finish this nature journal page about the bullfrogs I visit at the DBG... (sadly I recently learned they are an invasive species not native to AZ, and they are threatening many native species of wildlife)
It encompasses Every Day Matters challenge #183 - Draw something dangerous.  You can read how the American Bullfrog is a danger to Arizona's native species here.















The next page in my Nature Journal that I've been working on, again, in very spare moments, is a departure from the rest of the book because it includes the sketch of a human.  A very special and dear to me 'human'...my first grandchild.  This past spring she accompanied granny to the Desert Botanical Garden to the butterfly pavilion, she loved it, and she was not yet 2 years old!  The experience merits inclusion in my nature journal because it was a purposeful excursion toward the hope that she will develop a deep love for the Creation and the natural world all around us.  Here in this unfinished entry, she is admiring a butterfly.  She was so good to 'look and not touch', she was as gentle as a lamb, and as curious and unafraid as she could be.  It was a beautiful morning.  :)

This watercolor and ink sketch fulfills Every Day Matters challenge #54 - Draw someone or something you love - and journal about it.






















I need to add more color, depth and tone to the overall page, as well as fill in her shoes, and the butterfly.  More to come, soon hopefully!

May you be blessed by time to notice the beauty around you today.

embracing the future...


















embrace the future..., originally uploaded by Az~Kate       
 For what other choice do we have?

A blessed, thankful, praise-rich, God infused, grace and truth filled November to us all.

May the good longed for, for which I (perhaps you, too) have lost hope, be resurrected; sacredly received and the glory given to Him - through whom every good and perfect gift comes.

I will cast my anchor into the future, my trust is in God. Goodbye past, farewell lost loves, be gone regrets.

I am a new creature in Christ Jesus.

If God be for us, who can be against us?

Godspeed...