A little crayon therapy

We spent Independence Day at my husband's grandparents house in Langdon, ND. This quiet little town is the perfect escape for our little ones who are not big fans of fireworks. Also, my Grandparents-in-law are just wonderful people. They've set a great example to the family of how Christians should live and love people, warts and all!

It was really hard to say goodbye to them on this trip because Grandpa's second round of cancer is finally catching up with him, and we don't expect to see him again on this side of eternity. We are filled with a mix of grief for our up-coming loss but also a hope-filled peace that he will soon no longer have to feel the effects of this disease. 

This up and down of emotions has just made me just not want to work on anything I've got "in process" for the moment. I knew that I just needed to work on something so I was thankful that Jane Davies posted this showing her latest pieces using crayons. Given the ages of my children I'm sure you can imaging how many crayons I have!!

I ended up using a combination of crayons, oil pastels and watercolor. The pastels and crayons work as a resist for the watercolor which can created some interesting pooling of color.

The older I get the more I appreciate these times to just experiment and play. They help keep my creative energy up and any negative inner criticism down. Using cheaper materials also takes off the pressure to create masterpieces each time I'm in my studio!

Speaking of tough critics, my four-year-old told me that she thinks I did really well on these pieces. She is not known for holding back negative reviews of my work so positive comments are always appreciated! :-)

Inspiration in other's work (pt. 2)

So here are my final two drawings from my trip to the Denver Art Museum. Enjoy!!

         

     

Part one can be found here! 

Inspiration in other's work (pt. 1) ...in my sketchbook

While in Denver last week, I had the chance to go explore the Denver Art Museum. With two buildings chalk full of paintings, sculptures and installations, I definitely felt waves of inspiration hitting me!

Sketching the work of other artists is a great way to  think about incorporating different mediums, lines, colors and forms in your own work. 

And since I was out of town, I had very limited drawing supplies with me (a sketchbook and a pen). This meant that there was no way for me to capture an exact replica of pieces, which really isn't the point anyway!

Also, drawing in ink was not allowed so I had to be fast before I got "caught" by anyone! Oops!

My goal was to render the gestalt of each piece so that at a later date, I could go back and add my own touch to each piece.

  

 This is also a way to make museum trips more exciting and memorable for the kiddos. I've got a few other sketches to work on, and I'll try to have them posted later this week!

(The original artwork was from the Robert Motherwell collection on display through May 27th)

Road trip knitting...off the needles

This past weekend, my husband and I took our annual trip to Denver for skiing, brewery tours and fine art gazing. It usually takes us eight or so hours to get there plus many hours of hanging out with our friends so several knitting projects are usually required. :-)

I cast on the Social Climber Cowl by Liza Gustain about halfway along our journey (had problems with my first project which I will write about when I finish that project), and it kept me very happy both on the road and during our vacation.  

If you have never knit lace and are thinking about taking it on then this is the project for you. The pattern makes it easy to "read" your knitting and mistakes are easy to find/correct with this weight of yarn. 

 Since I was often talking while knitting, there were a few instances where I had to drop down several rows to fix an error. Also, I think that it is important to note that I finished weaving in my ends the day after I finished knitting. See! There is hope for me yet!