ARIEL

More from 100 Days Project

2016-06-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

It has been a week since I have posted here:-( Anyways here is the rest of my drawings from The 100 Days Project. Better late than never:-)

Day-38/100 'I am Safe' in my watercolor handmade journal

Day-39/100 in my handmade journal

Day- 40/100 Rose

Day-41/100 A mixed media piece from my Art Journal. My take for DLP Unplanner challenge of May 21st. Use self made stickers...

Day-42/100

Day-43/100 A favorite piece of mine in watercolor

Day-44/100 in my art journal. .. my take for the last week of May challenge for the DLP Unplanner Project

Use a stamp...

Day-45/100 Night

Linking my post to PPF and Sunday Sketches

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend

Susan

100 days project Day -33, 34, 35

2016-05-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

My late post for T Stands for Tuesday I am continuing with the 100 Days Project. Here is,

Day-35

Under the sea

For drink I'm sharing a glass of water. I did have my oats smoothie but forgot to take the picture. Erika had asked me about the smoothie, Erika, I ground regular oats first. Once it's powdered then I add milk, almonds, and the fruits of my choice, which is usually some slices of pineapple, apple and a banana. It's yummy and do try it if you are a smoothie person:-)

This painting is a favorite of mine. I can see it hanging on our boys' room. Once it's framed I think it will look so good in a child's room. My 5 year old has already taken this painting's ownership:-)

Day-33

A watercolor bookmark for a friend. I did a similar tag for Day-32 which you can see here

Day-34

My first attempt in doing a high heeled shoe. Not very happy with how it has turned out, need more practice.

That is it for today. I'm hoping to visit all the 'Tea' ladies soon. Have a great week

Hugs

Susan

More from the 100 days project

2016-05-21T05:02:00.000-07:00

Here is more art from The 100 Days Project. When my children were small I thought once they reach the school age I will have a lot more free time. But now I realize that is so wrong. Weeks fly by and always there's something or the other for us to take part in. My little one starts KG next school year. We had to go for the orientation this week, my oldest had a musical concert at school for which he played the violin, art classes here, the usual household chores and cooking, oh my gosh! in between I create more art, try taking bett er photos which sadly never comes out great...so on and on:-)

Anyways back to art. ..

Day-28 I was experimenting negative painting here. I need to practice this method a lot more.

Day-29 Seahorse in watercolor

Day-30 A mixed media piece from my Art Journal. This is my take for The DLP Unplanner challenge from last week. The art challenge was to use 'Under paper'.

This is the big sheet of paper with all the excess paints and gelli prints that I had. I used a part of it to create the tree and the flowers.Finally I added the watercolor bird and the deer to my page. Finished it with a quote, "Everyday is a Second Chance." (Unknown )

For today, Day-31 I have this watercolor tag I made to give someone. Love the soft look of it I'm sure I will be creating more of this kind.

That is all for this week. Wishing you all a happy weekend

I'm linking my post to the wonderful team at PPF and Sunday Sketches

Thank you

Susan

Tuesday Art...

2016-05-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

I'm continuing with my 100 Days Project. ..Last week I was in the mood to do Birds.

Day-24 My blue bird in watercolors . Can you see my new brush? It's a round 8, silver black velvet brush from Blick.

Day-26 one more bird with another new set of watercolors that I had bought a while ago.Will come back to that in detail in another post. I'm linking my drink, oats and fruits smoothie with Elizabeth at T stands for Tuesday

Day-27 A card in the making...

Day-28 Into the woods... This is a quick one. I just experimented with a mix of Ganzai Tambi watercolors and PH Martin's concentrated watercolors.
I'm linking the above picture to Art Journal Journey where the theme for this month is Journey.
That is it for now. It is sad that the weather is still not stable. Looking forward for sunny days
Wishing you all a happy Tuesday

Friday Creations

2016-05-13T07:04:00.005-07:00

Three weeks completed and I'm still going strong with The 100 Days Project :-)

Day-22 Continuing with my whimsical birds. If you are interested in seeing the previous birds that I had created it is here

Day-23/100 Jelly fish practice in watercolor

Have you watched the family movie, Up,Up and Away? This page is inspired by that movie. This is also my take on the first week of May challenge by Art to the 5th team. Sorry for the terrible photo. Today morning here it is cloudy and dark and I'm unable to take good photos. In real this piece is more vibrant and cheerful.

I'm linking the above piece on Art Journal Journey where the prompt is 'Journey'.

I'm also linking my whole Friday post with Paint Party Friday

Have a wonderful weekend everyone

Thank you for being here

Susan

Tea with Birds

2016-05-10T07:41:00.001-07:00

I'm so happy with how my 100 Days Project is going.I've heard artists talking about how practice can make you a better artist. I think it's true. In the beginning of this project I was not even sure whether I will have enough ideas to go till Day-20. Here I am on to Day 22 and as each day passes I find that I've more ideas:-)

Its always challenging for me to keep the white of the page. So that is what I tried to achieve here.

I'm having a cup of coffee with my art. I'm linking my drink and art with Elizabeth at Stands for Tuesday

Day-19/100 Little Birdie

Day-20/100 "Your wings already exist all you have to do is fly."Unknown

Day-21/100 More Birds...

Happy Tuesday everyone

Thank you so much for visiting and commenting on my art. It is so much appreciated.

Hugs

Susan

Happy Mother's Day

2016-05-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

Today I'm continuing to share the art I'm doing for The 100 Days Project hosted by Ella Luna.

At the beginning of this year I had also signed up for The Gratitude 52 Weeks Challenge hosted by Jennifer Frith. The prompt for Week-15 was Self Care. I did a leaf and flower wreath in watercolor. Added the tree and a quote by Deborah Day on the subject

This page is also my take for Day-12/100 for The 100 Days Project

Day-13/100 I usually use acrylics for backgrounds. This time I came out of my comfort zone and painted some florals with them. I love them so much and want to try more such Spring themes using acrylics.

Day-14/100 Picnic: I'm proud of being a girl😊😊A mixed media piece... I'm so happy that this is also an order that I received to make as a Birthday invite for a little girl :-)

Day 15/100 Hello... A special piece in watercolor for a friend:-)

Day-16/100 Her name is Faith

Day-17/100 Little Jumbo in watercolors

Day-18/100 A special page in my Art Journal for Mother's Day

The challenge for April 30th at the DLP Unplanner was to use a color that you usually avoid. For me, one of those colors would be brown. On an art journal background, I typically don't use this color unless there is a specific reason to use it. I would never choose this color for a banner. So here I made a banner with brown and on it says,

"I Love You Mom."

I'm linking my post to the awesome PPF team (Oh my goodness! I just saw my post chosen by the PPF team on their site this week😄😄 So happy to see my blog and name over there. Thank you so much Eva and Kristin you made my day:-)

To all the mothers out there Happy Mothers Weekend.Have a wonderful time

Hugs

SusaN

The 100 Days Project in watercolor and mixed media

2016-04-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

My water color and mixed media art works for The 100 Days Project is going on.

Day-8 More Flowers in watercolor

Day-9 Butterfly

Day-10 Spring Bouquet

Day-11 My mixed media piece from my weekly journal

T h e DLP Unplanner Challenge for the last week of April was to add numbers. Love the play of colors here. I had absolutely no idea how it would turn out but once the paints were painted this was the effect.Some handmade flowers were also added and as for the numbers I added the music sheet which had the notes and numbers to it. I'm linking my post to Paint Party Friday

Have a wonderful weekend everyone

Susan

Tea and art challenges

2016-04-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

Today I am sharing the art pages from two different challenges. Beginning of this year, I had signed up for a free Gratitude Challenge hosted by a very talented artist, Jennifer Frith. Every week she comes up with a prompt on instagram and we can create a page based on that prompt.

Prompt 12- Sunshine I created the above page using acrylics

The beverage I'm having is a cup of tea. I'm linking my art and tea with Elizabeth at T stands for Tuesday

Prompt -13 Worship. I tried a stained glass effect. Sadly it didn't come out well on the sketchbook that I've used. I guess, coldpress watercolor paper is the best for this.

I'm yet to finish 2 more prompts from this challenge. Hope to do them by the end of this week.

In order to keep myself inspired I'm doing The 100 Days Project. So far I'm able to keep up with this. Here goes,

Day -5 Food( This was also the 14th Prompt of the Gratitude 52 Challenge)

Day-6 Mushroom Garden in watercolors

Day-7 Swim Away using my Ganzai Tambi watercolors

Now I'm going to do another page for today:-) Hope you all have a lovely week.

Thank you for your support and kindness

SusaN

100 Days Project Day-2,3 and 4

2016-04-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

More sketches from The 100 Days Project. I'm taking part in this event for the first time and my theme is 100 Days of watercolor and mixed media.

Day-2 Cactus

Day-3 Spring Floral

Both the above sketches have been done using my current favorite watercolor set the Ganzai Tambi set.

I'm doing my watercolor sketches in my handmade journal made with 140lb Arches watercolor paper

This mixed media page is my take for Day-4. This is also a page that I created for the DLP Unplanner challenge of the 3rd week of April.

The challenge was to Create Outside The Lines. I experimented with some new color combinations and love the result.I've also added a quote on my page. It says,

"Don't waste your Life trying to impress other people, Do what you love, Love what you do."

This is also my post for Art Journal Journey and Paint Party Friday

Have a great weekend everyone

Thank you for your support

Susan

Tea and art using Ganzai Tambi watercolors

2016-04-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

This week it is real Spring weather for us:-) I feel like I too want to join the singing birds outside my window. I'm linking my cup of coffee and art with Elizabeth at T stands for Tuesday

For the last two weeks I was not feeling very creative. I read somewhere that even if you don't feel inspired to paint still you should do something random that doesn't need so much planning or thinking.

So this is what I did. Couple of months ago I had bought a new 24 pan Japanese water color set, named the Ganzai Tambi watercolors.I did a watercolor chart of this set. This has now become a favorite of mine. The colors are so rich and vibrant .I've not seen these many shades of green in any other sets.

A quick sketch of a Spring bouquet using these watercolors

Day-1 The 100 Days Project

Challenges always keep me inspired to create. Luckily, I found one named The 100 days project starting today till the end of July. The above stencilled feathers in watercolor, using my new set is my take for Day-1

For the above mentioned project I'm currently working in my handmade watercolor journal.

My journal has 15 sheets, including the cover ( that is 30 pages) of 140lb Arches watercolor paper. The cover is made out of a beautiful handmade paper from India and I've used saddle stitch to bind them.

Finally, I wanted to share this watercolor card that I had made for a dear friend here. My two words for 2016, are 'Grow' and 'Give'. Sadly, my poor organization skills have not let me in giving more. So this month I'm conciously taking an effort to create and give more of my art to others. More cards are in the making proces:-)

Happy Tuesday to all my dear friends who take the time to visit me and my artsy world.

Hugs

Susan

Happy Friday

2016-04-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

The Week-4 DLP Challenge was to "Celebrate the White Space". I love white backgrounds but find it challenging to create such pages. So here is my page. As it was the last week of March I did the April calendar and added the water color Magnolias.

Week-1 April Challenge was to create a page in black and white. I used the 12 by 12 Silhouette Script stencil by Julie Balzer from Craft er s Workshop to make this piece. This one was so easy for me. I finished it by adding couple of washi tapes on the silhouette.

Hope to come with new journal pages and ideas next week. Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Linking my page to Paint Party Friday

Adding Magic to My Life

2016-04-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

Couple of days back I was going through my old journals. I found this striking and decided to share it here. This was part of the 30 Days of Lists Challenge that I had done in 2014.

It says: " Ways to Add Magic to My Life"

* Nothing stays the same...

* Speak to God

* Spend time with the kids

*Face your day with a smile

*Drink a lot of water

* Eat Healthy, Stay Healthy

* Have Time for yourself

I need to follow all these inspiring ways to have that magic in my life again:-)

I'm sharing a good glass of water along with this page. I'm linking to Elizabeth's T Stands for Tuesday

This year I'm taking part in a Gratitude Sketchbook Project. I missed posting these art pages from the said Project.

Week-8 Role Models. I cannot limit to a single person here so I created this heart in watercolor . I'm grateful to all who have taught me something valuable in this journey called Life.

Week-9 Shoes On Your Feet... loved sketching my shoes ...

Week-10 Clean Water I think every living being in this planet is entitled for having clean water.

Week -11 Spring Flowers

She has already posted Week 12 and 13 and of course I'm behind but that's all right. I will be doing them in the coming days.

The weather is still acting crazy:-( The temperature is in minus today... I miss my walks Hope next week we will have warmer days.

Happy Tuesday everyone

Thank you so much for being here.

Susan

Welcome April

2016-04-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring and Welcome April:-) I'm so grateful for the songs of the birds and the beautiful blooms, long walks and healthy smoothies, children playing outside and so many more blessings of this season...

The art pages that I'm sharing today are from the 2016 DLP Unplanner project.

For the first week of March, the theme was to go splatter crazy. I wanted so much color on my page and was totally happy with what I had made.

Week-2 Challenge was to add real or painted leaves. I was still so much in love with adding as many colors as I could and this is what I created. A real Spring page with singing birds and dancing flowers.

I'm linking this page to Art Journal Journey where the new challenge is to create something with a music theme.

The challenge for Week-3 was to use "Arrows ". I'm a big fan of silhouette images. Loved this page with the neon colored background and the handmade stamps and circles.

That is all for this week. Hope you all have a great weekend.

I'm linking my post to the wonderful Paint Party Friday team.

Thank you for being here.

Susan

Spring Inspiration

2016-03-29T07:20:00.001-07:00

Happy Spring everyone. The days are sunny and warm here:-) Today I will share more sketches from March Daily Drawing Challenge that is hosted by Pam Garrison at Creativebug.com.

Day-22 Lamps

The drink I want to share with you all is a healthy oats-apple smoothie. It's simple and tasty. I ground half cup of oats and added apple slices and soy milk to it. Finally, I blended them till it turned to a smooth consistency and the smoothie was ready. If you want it to be sweet, you can add sugar or honey to it.

I did miss some days of sketching but am happy with whatever I am able to do. Reminding myself not to stress:-)

Day -13 Sea weeds

Day -21 Purses

Day-23 Cakes

Hope to finish the rest by this week. Spring has arrived and I created a mixed media page.

Love the tree and the hand made flowers. I had a textured paper and used that for the bunny.

A close-up of the piece.

I've been lucky enough to take classes at home for children. Above is a lovely canvas that was done by a 4th grader:-)It is always wonderful to hear children coming up with their own color combos and ideas. I give the freedom for them to choose and come up with their own imagination.

Hope you all have a great week. I'm linking my page to Elizabeth's T Stands for Tuesday
SusaN

"Rest and be thankful"

2016-03-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Today I have my Vitamin C supplement drink and more of my daily sketches from creativebug.com. Last week I was down with the flu and realized the need to slow down. Life had been too busy for me, and sometimes I think sickness arrives to help us realize the need to take some quality rest time.
For the last few days I have consciously taken my time and have been trying to do everything slow. I especially have taken care in sleeping well. I'm an early morning person but now I'm trying to be in bed for couple of hours more than my usual waking time.I feel it has given me better focus and energy during the rest of the day.
So thankful that now I'm back to normal.
Here are some more of my daily sketches :

Day 7 Candy My little one identified them as gummy bears:-)

Day 9, 10 Butterflies and Balloons The butterflies were done with Sharpie pens.

Day- 11 Bows

Day-12 Seed Pods

Day 15 and 16 House Plants and Watering Cans

That is all for this Tuesday. Linking my page to Elizabeth's

T Stands for Tuesday
Hope you all have a lovely week
Susan

Tuesday Art Projects

2016-03-15T03:28:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - Lollipops

Happy Tuesday everyone at Elizabeth's T Stands for Tuesday . Along with my art I'm sharing my glass of green smoothie. I've slowly started making this healthy drink again. It has a mix of greens and fruits blended in coconut milk.
As for art, there is a daily drawing challenge for March at Creativebug.com hosted by Pam Garrison. I started this project late...Here are the first four days' art...

Day -2 and 3 Buttons and Leaves

Day 4 and 6 (I skipped 5) Light bulbs and Birds

This is a small painting that I did on a 6/6 size watercolor block. I'm linking this sketch to Art Journal Journey where the theme is on 'going down the woods'.

Have a great Tuesday

Hugs

SusaN

Hello Tuesday

2016-03-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday everyone. ..It's almost Spring I'm thankful for the warmer temperatures we have this week.
Today I am sharing my morning cup of green tea and my Journal. This year I'm continuing with the Documented Life Project. Last week's challenge was to use a magazine clipping.

Here is my finished page. The background did go through many layers. Sometimes it's so difficult to come up with something that I like. Aft er the acrylic paints and modeling paste dried I added the collage elements.

Two of my art works have left to be in their new homes. I am so glad and thankful for being able to sell them. The confidence and support that I receive from such acts are so much appreciated.
I'm linking this short post to Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday Hope to visit all the other tea lovers today
Have a great Tuesday
Susan

'Taking the Leap'

2016-02-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

Week-3 of February challenge at the DLP Unplanner was "Love Without Hesitation" and"Taking the Leap" Loved both the phrases. One of my words for 2016 is "Grow" I could relate my word with this month's challenge. This year has started off with so many new adventures for me. I'm grateful for all the new experiences. Each one has also been a learning curve for me. I trusted the Almighty and in my strengths and 'took the leap' I'm glad that I did...

The background is in watercolor. I doodled the flowers with my black micron.Added couple of my watercolored feathers , the polka dotted washing tape is from Ikea. I got 4 rolls for 50cents:-) Another one is the one with the word 'Love'on it. Finally I completed the page with the silhouette and the phrase.

The PAC challenge was to add something related to Gratitude. Again a favorite theme of mine. On my watercolored card I added the butterfly and jar stamps. All my Gratitude notes are inside the jar:-)

Prompt-7 for the Gratitude 52 Weeks Challenge was Music. I drew my son's violin on a lightly washed background.

Waiting for Spring here:-) How about you all? I'm linking my page to PPF and Art Journal Journey where the challenge is to create something related to music.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend

Susan

Flowers for Tea

2016-02-23T07:33:00.000-08:00

Wow! Now we are in the last week of February. .. Time is fleeing and I thought I would share an interesting 'time' quote here. I have no idea about the source but I found it striking.

"The bad news is time flies.The good news is you're the pilot." This is something that I need to keep in mind. Instead of whining about lost time I should steer myself in the right direction, so much can be finished in so little time then-:)

This is my morning table. I have my usual glass of water and some more loose watercolor paintings.

I found a wonderful artist in youtube by the name 'jayart' and learned so much from her videos.

Made couple of 'celebration' cards. I added some glitter to them as well.

Thank you dear husband for this cart-:) About two years ago I saw this cart being used by couple of artists. Recently, I happened to see this in our Ikea store and my hubby bought it for me as my anniversary gift-:)

This cart is lightweight, has wheels and so much can be fit in each tray. Now I can keep my dining table more clean, I guess-:)

Linking my post to Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesday

Wishing you all a wonderful week

Hugs

SusaN

Friday Art

2016-02-19T06:43:00.002-08:00

The DLP Unplanner challenge for the second week of February ...

I created my journal page using a watercolorbackground.On it I used some rub ons and rhine stones that I had in my box for more than a year -:) The feathers were stencilled, cut, colored and doodled. The cardinal is a watercolor image of my own.I adhered everything together on the page andcompleted my project with a meaningful quote.

The PAC challenge was to use a single shade of color on the card. I used a shade of blue and added stamped and watercolored butterflies

A 'love' themed page in my handmade journal

Finally, Week-6 challenge on 52 Weeks of Gratitude Journal Project was to illustrate something related to "Acts of Love".

Here is my art for that challenge...

I'm linking the 'love' themed art to Art Journal Journey, Sunday Sketcehesand my entire post to Paint party friday

Wishing everyone a happy weekend

SusaN

Tuesday Tea and Blooms

2016-02-16T08:41:00.001-08:00

Happy Tuesday everyone. ..

I want to share all these bloom study and my tulips with you. I bought these lovely flowers last weekend. As it was the Valentine's weekend the flowers especially red roses were priced so high.

Today is our 12th Wedding Anniversary and I wanted to have some fresh flowers.The Tulips were reasonable and hence I got them.

I love loose watercolor techniques and these are some floral practice that I did couple of days ago.

It is so intimidating to just use the brush and paint and create something. I'm more comfortable in sketching first and then filling with colors. But I wanted to try something out of my comfort zone.

I'm sharing all my blooms with dear Elizabeth at T stands for Tuesday Last 3 days we had terrible weather h er e. Today I'm so grateful for the warmer temps.

Dear Linda, Thank you so much for the Apple Cake Recipe that you shared last week. I made it and it was so yummy. My boys loved it and I bought more supplies to bake again. Next time I am going to remember to take pictures of it first-:) I invite all of you at T time to try that recipe. It's so simple yet delicious. Hope to see more yummy recipes from you dear friend.
Wishing you all a wonderful week
Susan

Happy Valentines...

2016-02-12T07:58:00.000-08:00

Week-6 DLP Challenge For this week I created a Valentine page using patternpaper, stamps and acrylic paints.

For the Pocket Art Card I created a watercolor wreath and adhered another of my watercolor image ov er it. Added a bit of red colored thread on the bird's beak to meet with the 'use a floss or thread challenge'.

In my last post, I had shared my handmade journal. I already started sketching in it.

A sketch from the journal...

Stay warm everyone. Here we have a terribly cold weekend.
Linking my page to PPF and Art Journal Journey
Susan

Handmade Books and Sketches

2016-02-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

HappyTuesday everyone at Elizabeth's Tea Stands for Tuesday Today along with this cute tea cup (I didn't make it,it's part of a card kit) I wanted to tell you all how much I appreciate your kind words and encouragement here on my blog. I am so thankful for the time and effort each one of you take to go through my art and writings. Thank you so much-:)

Coming back to my challenges, here I'm sharing the rest of my drawings that I did as part of Lisa Congdon's 31 Days of Drawing Challenge.

Enjoyed trying out these different spice jars!

House Plants

Boots

Shells

Lamps

Sunshine

Bees

Telephone

I loved the daily sketching process so much that I made couple of sketchbooks to do more sketching-:)
This week I got into a book binding mood and in over the last couple of days I made 2 Japanese side sewn stitch sketchbooks and some saddle stitch books using Strathmore Drawing sheets and Watercolor paper.
Did you like the cover pages? I bought both the Marble paper and the handmade one using dry flowers from India couple of years ago.

This one has 18 sheets of watercolor paper with the magical marbelized paper as the cover.

This one has 14 drawing sheets and I'm goingto use it for sketching in one of the classes that I have signed up for.

One more page to share... A page on my art supplies for the Gratitude 52 Weeks Challenge.

That's all for today. I'm thinking of creating couple more of these sketch books this week

Wish you all a happy Tuesday

Hugs

SusaN

Friday Art

2016-02-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

I am continuing with The DLP Unplanner 2016 project. Above is my take for Week -4.

Two weeks ago we had the first snow storm here and I wanted to do a page on that. Blue is my favorite so of course this page is so

close to my heart.

For the Pocket Art Card I used the same theme. The cardinal and the background were created in watercolors couple of months ago. I made them into a collage and adhered it to the card.

Week-4 of Gratitude 52 Challenge was Shelter. During Winter I love to be amidst these things. Hot cocoa is my children's favorite.

I'm linking this watercolor image to Art Journal Journey and the entire post to Paint party friday
Have a great weekend
SusaN