Cactus Color

I live in Phoenix and love the southwest. This cactus is something I would do on my own sooner than I would do florals or animals.

Today it was off to audition gel pens at the art store. I came home with some great metallic ones. I braved the 111 degrees to get those pens, so watch for tomorrow's effort. Don't be surprised if it's more cactus. The desert inspires me.

Prismacolor Pencils This Time

This doodle features Prismacolor pencils which I purchased at my local JoAnn's with my 40% discount. Deeper, more intense color. I used about a dozen different colors. (Post-note: Tomorrow I will discover that my local Michael's craft store sells these pencils individually and pick up lime green and a lovely purple).

More Doodling

Doodling

Adding Color to the Doodles

For today, we are to add color to the circular doodles. This example uses General brand coloring pencils. Tomorrow's will use Prismacolor and we'll see if there is a noticeable difference. Coloring is very freeing. I used only five colors for this doodle.

Creativity Unleashed! I'm doodling...

I signed up for an online class with Traci Bautista for some creative summer fun! I selected Creative Doodling for my first class with Traci. Here are my first two black and white doodle pages. You are suppose to start your work with circles. This first was one done using Sharpie pens found in my studio. Then after a trip to my friend JoAnn's (you know, she's local here-just down the street and she has almost everything I need when I'm starting out a new pursuit. And I love her 40% off bargains.) There I found Pitt pens by FaberCastell and I was amazed at the smoothness of them. They just flowed across the page unlike my Sharpies, where the nibs sometimes get caught upon the page itself. I used a variety of sizes but most especially the "big brush". It didn't bleed through like the Sharpie onto subsequent pages of my journal. Note to self, bleeding is not a good thing, whether it's bodily fluid, fabric dyes or ink on paper. Avoid when possible. Back to my friend JoAnn's for more Pitt pens. Can't wait to see what's next. Google Traci Bautista for more info. I'm having a blast and what a good investment in myself. The class is open from now until the end of August, so I can play and play. Trust me, I will...

Art Unraveled is Coming to Phoenix

Hooray! I've rediscovered Art Unraveled. I've been before and loved every minute of it, but it's time to get the creative juices flowing again here in the heat of the summer. 112 degrees is boiling weather for me and I'm tending to hibernate like a bear in the cold. I'm in need of inspirations, so Art Unraveled here I come! It's time for drawing classes and collaging, imagery and inking. Check out Art Unraveled at http://www.artunraveled.com/ARTU10/AUindex.htm to sign up for amazing classes from August 3 through 10th. I signed up for classes with Mellie Testa among others. Traci Bautista is also coming, but I'm going to look into her online offerings. Sent in my registration and I"m waiting to hear if I got in all of the classes I hope to.

Decision Portraits by Susan Lenz

I've been a longtime member of the quiltart list on the internet (www.quiltart.com) and read with interest a call for subjects, quilters who had a story to tell that would help to complete a series by an artist whom I had never met, Susan Lenz. She was looking for subjects for her Decision Portraits series. These subjects would need to volunteer to share a personal story, a deeply personal story.

I am very honored to be included as one of those subjects. With Susan's permission, I am posting the finished piece which features my story. More information can be found at http://artbysusanlenz.blogspot.com/2010/06/for-science-decision-portrait.html. Please look if you feel so inclined, and learn more about Susan's series and my participation in it. As of this date, 75 portraits are completed.


Susan's Decision Portrait Series will be exhibited at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.  This exhibition is a leading visual arts event during the annual MOJA arts festival.  The dates are:  September 10 - October 10, 2010.

My First Podcast!!!!!

I've just published my first podcast! The subject is felting and I introduce needle felting, wet felting and felting by machine.
It has been submitted to Itunes and will soon travel the world for all to see. For now, you can easily view the podcast from my website at www.ritablocksom.com. Simply click on the podcast link at the top of the page, and then click on the title of the episode. Give it time to upload as there is audio and still shots. Another way to do it is just to do a search for felting under podcasts on Itunes. Many thanks to Kevin, Seth, Ravi, TJ, David and Neyl, my friends at the Apple store in Chandler, AZ, who are teaching me this skill. I'm so proud of myself to have learned this new way of sharing. I'm already putting together my second episode.

Pixelmator Prevails

Armed with my MacBookPro, I took myself off to the mall to the Apple computer store for a 7am class on photo editing and was introduced to Pixelmator, Apple's image editing program which would allow me to do kaleidoscopes from photos. Let me say that I love my Mac. I'm just sorry that Kaleidoscope Kreator, which I also love, doesn't have a Mac version. However, the beauty of having a Mac is the "One to One" classes that you can get with it. I can go once a week for a personal one-to-one class where I get to select the topic I want to learn more about. Today, it's how to do kaleidoscopes with my photos. Pixelmator cost me $59.99 and does both tiling and kaleidoscopes. I've posted photos for your viewing pleasure.

PSE

I'm learning Photoshop Elements so that I can further manipulate my photos. Here is the original and two changes made by selecting Filter-Distort and then playing...