I actually drew something again!

Don't worry. This isn't supposed to be a human. It's my Blythe Phoebe on the beach in her vintage Skipper swimsuit. You can hop on over to my Blythe blog to see the real Phoebe and decide if this sketch is any good.

What I've Been Up To....

...a little doodling, a little jewelry-making, a little painting, a little cooking, a little traveling, a little paper mache, a little reading (Double Image by David Morrell), a little writing, a little poetry, a little wedding today.

Facebook? D.I.Y.

I've been on a crazy doodling kick lately. I think it might be a stress reliever! The last photo- a zentangle- is definitely that. This one is 3" x 3" and doodled on watercolor paper with an extra fine point Sharpie. You can read more about Zentangles on the Web, and see many varieties on Flickr. It's fun to turn them every which way to see what you can see.

The face doodles started when I met Kellie Rae Roberts at Art & Soul, Portland, and had her autograph my copy of her book Taking Flight. I just love her solemn-faced girls, and have been practicing the techniques in her book. So, some of the these faces are her design, just tried by me.

The painted girl 'Fly' is in my regular art journal and done on a Twinkling H2O background with watercolor crayons.

The other faces are mostly charcoal pencil or graphite pencil. See anyone you know? I think I accidentally made Chloe from '24' and Alexandra Steele from The Weather Channel! I started doodling these after getting Journal Bliss by Violette.

I decided I will dedicate one of my journals to being a 'Facebook.' Grown-ups certainly can be and are on the 'real' Facebook, but I've got enough sites to maintain as it is. So, I'll just keep all my face doodles in one place. I can't wait to make a cover for it. So, Facebook? I say: (Do)odle it Yourself.

Moi

Moi
Originally uploaded by Gina2424

And now, just another silly Flickr play toy, the Warholizer, by Big Huge Labs.com. This is my self-portrait for the ZNE Artists and Poets fat book page swap which I am hosting and binding. This is a 4 x 4 inch doodle I created with Zentangle-style hair, using a Sharpie fine tip.

The End of the Weekend

I finished these doodle cat ATCs last night during Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. It's hard for me to "just" watch television. I like to be doing something, because, let's face it, one really doesn't 'have to concentrate' on those shows, as good as they are.

Had a hard time falling asleep, so I started recounting all the things that went on over the four-day weekend. When I reflect it always makes me feel like the days lasted a little longer, because they always seem to go so fast otherwise. Then for some reason, I woke up at 4 a.m. raring to go, whatever raring means.

So I did email, ate some Raisin Nut Bran, read my favorite blogs, looked at Flickr, and finally at 7 a.m. decided to take pictures of these cards. I found a "doodle" that works for me, and now I cannot stop doodling these cards. I'd given the previous cats all away, so I thought I'd make some for me. These are watercolor crayons and gel pens on heavy journal pages, cut out and mounted on various background papers, some from Shabby Cottage Studio http://shabbycottagestudio.com where I am on the Design Team: The Seven Shabby Sisters. Watch for our next project of an altered paper house/hanger-upper-thingy.

I already was asked by the lovely Jade to swap a card I posted on Flickr last night, so they don't last too long! I'm hoping she will send me a Zentangle in trade. I am just learning about these here: http://www.zentangle.com and haven't tried one yet. Need to get a good pen- it is key.

Looking forward to today's mail arrival. With all of my swaps now sent out, it is fun to just sit back and see what comes. That's the benefit of getting done on time or early, I guess. Forgot to take a picture of the snowman swap I sent to Mary Isabella, but I guess that's a good thing because she's one of my regular blog visitors. So, no sneak peek for you, Mary! Ho, ho, ho.