The Week in Review

I've been most neglectful of you over this past week, but as holiday weekends are bound to do, my schedule became null and void in a flurry of fun, impromptu gatherings, much needed yard work, planting, workshops, well - you get the picture!

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

The weekend began on Saturday with a great cookout at my sister's house in the country (where we grew up).  It was immediate family and was much needed, long overdue time together spent catching up, having fun, and indulging in way too much yummy, down home cooking.  I forgot my camera, but the memories will linger forever.


As I predicted, the weather turned from miserable, rainy, 50 degree days to humid, 90 degree days virtually overnight.  I planted my peppers and tomato plants on Saturday, and on Sunday, I planted my Blue Lake green bean seeds.  I brought art supplies out to the deck to journal, but as it turned out, it was even too hot and humid for my Pitt pens to work!  I did manage to work on the cover a little bit before throwing in the towel.

I also started working on the inside cover.  I decided to do a schematic of both the back garden and deck box.  I still have a lot of work to do on both pages.

TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY


I spent most of these days working on the yard, grocery shopping, and spending some time with Mike.  I was also gathering supplies for my new art journaling class.

THURSDAY- MY FIRST ART JOURNALING CLASS!


This was the moment I've been working toward for such a long time.  I finally have a class and enthusiastic participants.  We had so much fun, and it's such a joyful reward to share what I know with others who are anxious to learn about creative journaling.

"Fun Journaling" Photo by Katherine Szerdy Harris

The first class was very basic - experimenting with water soluble pastels and incorporating magazine words and images.  This group of creatives embraced the entire process with remarkable ease.  I'm so happy to get the positive feedback and I'm looking forward to many more weeks with them.

My first Creative Art Journaling class

FRIDAY


Friday became another impromptu family day with my brother hanging out with me on the deck while we watched my sons Nick & Mike complete a brake job on Nick's car.  Of course, there were snacks involved and it was really good to spend the time with them.

At some point during this flurry of activity, I managed to complete another sugar skull journal spread in my moleskin journal.

Creating these little spreads has given me more ideas than I'll have time to complete on canvas - or maybe not!  I know I'm having a blast working with them, and the bright colors are scrumptious!

I completed both pages using only my Pitt pens.  I can't tell you how much I enjoy using these for small details.  They're worth every penny.  I haven't found the colored pens locally (I ordered these from Dick Blick), but I have found the black and sepia paint pens at Pat Catan's.

SATURDAY


Saturday was National Drawing Day, and I was happy to obliged by attending a colored pencil workshop with Jennifer Kosarko.  This workshop was about the technique of using watercolor pencils as a base for applying colored pencils.  This method of colored pencil drawing is "legal" and acceptable by the AWS.

Here I am working on our first project; a pineapple developed with a base of yellow and green watercolor pencils.

My completed drawing.  There are additional layers of colored pencil in the leaves using indigo blue, Tuscan red, and white.

Our project after lunch was a a little fish vignette.  Here, I'm applying the first layer of watercolor pencil (magenta).  A layer of violet and black watercolor pencil were applied, wetted to blend, and then dried before applying indigo blue.  The "black" in the fish is very rich and has lots of depth.

My completed drawing includes a wash of 2 shades of blue Neocolor II crayons for the water.  This workshop was a lot of fun!


As if my day hadn't been exciting enough, we had a cookout with close friends in the afternoon and had a great time well into the evening.  The 6 of us have a lot going on and it's sometimes a struggle for all of us to gather at the same time, but when we do, it's quality "family" time and as always, way too much food!

"We feasted like royalty"

SUNDAY


Yesterday was another fabulous day.  The humidity is gone for a couple days, and I got to spend time at the beach with a Twitter friend that I met face-to-face for the first time.  We both enjoy "shopping" for beach glass, and it was the perfect venue for getting to know each other better.  

"Melanie and I take a break from shopping for beach glass. Check out her groovy boots!"

It was a fun time with Melanie, and I hope to go shopping with her again sometime.  It was a delight to spend time chatting and getting to know her.


So, that's my week in review.  I hope you had an enjoyable holiday weekend, and I hope that as you "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!", you embrace the love and celebration when "create" is taking a back seat.  I'm still playing "catch up", and will try to get the June journaling prompts up tomorrow.



PHOTO OF THE DAY

"Clematis"

I wasn't too busy to notice how beautifully my clematis bloomed this year!