Trying to keep a hand - or at least a finger - in art

Seems like there is never enough time to make art, especially if it requires getting out paints, gesso, drop cloths and making a mess. Same for bead-stringing, collage, paper mache' and the like. But I always like to doodle and try to make time to at least do that. Here are some practice pages from my sketch journal, using techniques from some recently acquired books, including a Japanese manga-girl art book, and Japanese pen-and-ink doodle book and the simplified drawing books of Ed Emberley.

My 2' x 2' canvas from Dyan Revealey Super Bowl Sunday class at The Queen's Ink

Another class at The Queen's Ink with Dyan Revealey - Some of her art pictured here

What a Super Sunday it was on Super Bowl Sunday! And a super Super Bowl, too. Sunday morning I took a mixed media painting class at The Queen's Ink in Savage Mill with Dyan Revealey, a Ranger senior Signature Educator from the U.K. I had taken two classes with her last summer and enjoyed her style, techniques and total attitude.
This time we made a two-foot by two-foot canvas which I will show in my next post. Great fun in a 4.5 hour class. But, did I ever get messy! Found a miracle product for ink and paint on the hands though, the Craft Scrubbie, by Inksentials. I have no idea how, with only a little soap and water, it gets all that staining stuff off, like black liquid ink all around my cuticles. But, it did. Needless to say, I bought one of the little $5 buggers.
Also, Dyan's brand-new Dylusions rubber stamps, stencils, ink mists and more, just announced Jan. 24, were available at The Queen's Ink and a few supplies found their way into my shopping basket. Over concern for the popularity of the new supplies which were in limited quantity this weekend, shop owner Patti Euler made auction-style "bidding paddles" with numbers, which we could flip up and wave whenever we saw a product demonstrated that we "had" to have.
Dyan's Zetti-like style as shown here is so exciting, lively, fun, inspiring. Looking at it displayed around the classroom was very much like working in a candy shop!