This was the view from our cockpit a couple of days ago.
Loving boating season.
Feels like it has been raining for ages in this part of the world and I for one am wondering whatever happened to long, lazy summer days. The forecast is for sunny days ahead and I am delighted.
The photo theme of the month is Exactly Seven and my nephews were delighted to help with the project.
Been exploring capturing human faces this year, and am delighted with how this turned out. I feel like I really captured the essence I wanted.
Had fun creating this page.
Am having fun playing with henna stencils that my Mom brought for me. This is one of three hand stencils. Love the intricate patterns. And more impressive is watching henna artists apply it freehand in lovely patterns. That kind of skill must come after years of practice.
As you've probably read in a recent post, I've got birds on my mind.
We've been having the strangest weather season out here in the east - hot, cold, thunder storms, tornadoes. While watching the tornado activity in the western part of the the state was captivated by the Doppler radar images of the activity. Kinda like impressionist art.
It is hard when you live in climes that have essentially 10 weeks of summer - so much to pack in to such a short time.
Sometimes inspiration comes from unexpected places. PJs for example.
The tornadoes that touched down in our state yesterday left a path of destruction in its wake. Other than big boomers, incredible lightning, heavy rain and high winds, we are fine. But there are many people not so lucky this morning.
I'm exploring a new journal size: 6 inches by 6 inches. Am liking the unusual page size and also liking the portability of a smaller sized journal.
On of the fun things about long walks outdoors is that there is always the chance of finding treasures.
Happy Easter.
The Sketchbook Challenge theme for this month is Branching Out - Out On A Limb.
We've cleaned and put away all the stuff from the DC trip. I've been going through my photos and thought I'd share some pics of Palo's first trip to DC. In spite of some mishaps, she loved it and cannot wait to return.
Here was the prompt for my local art journal group this month: for this meeting, you will need to find a photo of yourself as a kid - baby, toddler, grade school. Find a photo that you like, hate, whatever. Is it in color or black and white? How will you use this image in your art journal? Come with your finished page to show and tell.
I took my journal along while accompanying Babes to a medical procedure.
In keeping with my last post, here are some lovely ladies with brown skin.On this rainy day, I'm thinking about the fuss over skin color. I mean, we do all know by now (I hope!) that the color of our skin is due to melanin. More pigment, darker skin. Less pigment, lighter skin. An evolutionary adaptation to the climes we evolved in.
So why all the fuss over skin color? On trip to Thailand several years ago, was hard pressed to find any lotion or potion that did not lighten my skin while I slept, ate, or otherwise went about my day. What are these lightening ingredients? Who knows? Surely that is not as important as having the highly prized lighter skin no? So what if the mercury destroys your skin over time? We are all dying anyway, so we might as well look fair and lovely while we are alive no?
A distinct memory from many years ago floats up through my neurons. My sister, my cousins and I are sun bathing on a very crowded piece of sand in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Why, since we are already dark skinned are we sun bathing, you might wonder. Because the heat of the sun warms you from the inside out. Because the sun rays seem to lightly stroke your skin. Because in short, it feels good. So there we are, all spread out on our beach blankets soaking up the rays, when we hear loud shouting. In Malayalam. It is my Ammachi, on a balcony at least fifteen floors up, who happened to look down and could not believe what her eyes were telling her. Surely those could not be her grand daughters lying in the sun making themselves darker. Could it? Her yelling got no reaction. Figuring that for some reason we did not understand Malayalam, Ammachi switches to English, and yells, “Girls! Get out of the sun! You will become black!”. People on the beach start looking up to see what all the hullabaloo is about. Our response is the only sensible one given the circumstances – ignore the strange, crazy woman who seems to be yelling at someone else.
Skin color is just that. The color of our skin. Nothing more. Nothing less. All the baggage we assign to it is just that. Our baggage. I have spent much of my life hearing some well intentioned person say that I am too dark. That I should spend less time outdoors, and try to keep my skin fair. That no one wants to marry a darkie. Proved them wrong, and on this rainy day, I think about the sun and miss how it feels on my skin.
While reading this book I came across this: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity" - Hanlon's razor, and it stopped me in my tracks. It is like someone just told me that the earth was really flat. That is how much my mental maps just quaked. The world is a different place today.
And just like that we are at the end of March.
You might know that I am working on getting better at drawing faces this year. Hence, all the face pages I've been posting.
After our play date last week, my nephews gave me a couple of their Pokemon toys to play with - not to keep mind you, to borrow.
I love the line that I get with the Koh-I-Noor Rapido Sketch pen. My only complaint is that the packaging has no instructions on how to refill the ink, so that took a bit to figure out.
While it does not feel like Spring outdoors, it certainly feels that way inside me.
Have been thinking about juxtapositions lately.
Love silhouettes. The background was created using wet acrylics and plastic wrap.
An example of how a page is made around a quote. Was listening to Madeleine Albright who said, " there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other". Love that and quickly jotted it down. The woman was inspired by Modigliani - love his work. Quick and easy page - total time about 20 minutes.
Loving playing with masks and beads from Mardi Gras season. Loving crazy March. Loving sun kissed skin. Loving the return of the Robin. Loving the chipmunk who does his sun salutations each morning on the front stairs. Loving reading by the fire. Loving mugs of hot tea. Loving playing with paints. Loving planning trips. Loving being over-excited.
A quick sketch during a fun art journal discussion on Saturday. The page already had the music scraps pasted down. Added color at home. Quick and easy and captures a moment in time.
My local art journal group had the prompt HOME for this month.
Really delighted with how this page turned out.
March already. A new month, a new start. Love that it is staying light longer. Feel the sap running. Been exploring many new things. So much fun.
