BACKYARD VIEWS

Hi Everyone! 

Welcome back for our next adventure! Over the last several weeks we have been getting closer to my home on our park adventures, today we have arrived! Yup, we are visiting in my own backyard.  

My backyard is a jungle of tropical plants and trees and right here and now, I'll just say I'm not a gardener.  My husband is the outdoorsy person, doing all of the yard work himself, which takes approximately 3 hours per week just to keep the bushes and vines from overtaking us!  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE plants and flowers but do NOT like dirt on my hands or sweat in my eyes. 

You may have seen the photos of my orchids in bloom....in the kitchen window and on the front porch, and yes there are several in the trees that bloom off and on. 

Mostly the flowers in our yard belong to my neighbor, Capt. and Ms. Louie. Now both of them have gone to their heavenly reward but their legacy still lives on in their yard.  

 This is  a little painting I did of Ms. Louie's flowers, they hang over our fence and are quite colorful. Once my husband made the mistake of thinking they were weeds and "trimmed" them and boy did we hear about that.

Our small patio is where we spend our time when the weather is nice.  We don't have a screened in porch or pool like many people do in Florida for obvious reasons (bugs).  We enjoy having the pool in the sunshine and the occasional visitor of a frog or snake or other small animals. We once had a pair of ducks land in our pool! When they tired of paddling around they flew away. 

I like to take my sketch pad out and draw.  This particular day it was the Christmas Cactus (which I've managed to kill) and some sea shells picked up on our visit to the West Coast (of FL) on Sanibel Island. 

There are many plants that I don't know the names of, this one seems to be in the bromiliade family (I'm guessing here). It has the most delectable pink flowers. 


And this one climbs the fence on the side of the house with its tiny pink flowers, it might be a weed of some sort but it is so pretty.

And of course our marker of autumn is when the Croatians turn from green and yellow to the most lovely shades of orange, red, and burgundy.

That's my backyard and some of the tropical plants you'll see growing there.  I hope you have enjoyed the visit and will come back next week as we go inside to the studio! 

Until then, 
Suzy

ICAD WEEK SIX

HI Everyone!

Gosh it's been six weeks of creating a index card every day!  I've enjoyed the challenge and at times I really thought I might quit due to other things going on here but decided to stick it out until the end.  

You can see this weeks work by clicking on the INDEX CARD A DAY (ICAD) link on the right side bar.

Hope you will take time to peek at the cards and leave me your comments. I love hearing what you think about them.

Happy Painting and Doodling!
Suzy

THE SECRET COVE

Hi Everyone!

Welcome back! Moving closer to my home we're visiting another one of my favorite parks where I go to sketch and paint.  I take my sketch pad and practice the roof angles on the boathouse, or the window shapes and roof shingles or the intricate patterns of the palm trees.

 This tiny park is well hidden within the neighborhood and I love to go here on a lazy afternoon and watch the boats going in and out and try to capture the little boathouse across the creek. This painting was done before the hurricanes came and blew away the shaker shingles on the boathouse.

There isn't anything to do at this park other than enjoy the water view and the tropical plants and trees, but that's ok with me. It is very peaceful here, usually a nice afternoon breeze and shady places to sit and draw or paint. I call this place the Secret Cove.

Here I am writing about the new roof on the boathouse, the old shaker shingled roof has been replaced with a shiny new aluminum roof. Doesn't have the character of the old roof but it looks pretty good.

 I take my paints and a little folding chair, kick back under the mango trees and enjoy the afternoon sketching or painting.

Thanks for taking a walk in the park with me again today.  I hope you will come back next week when we will be even closer to home.....in my back yard.  Come join me! Until then keep your pencils sharp and your paint brushes loaded with color and ready for the next adventure.

Happy Painting and Sketching!
Suzy

PLAYTIME SKETCHBOOK

Hi Everyone!

Nothing better than PLAY TIME in a sketchbook or journal!  I love to spend time with my glue stick, stamps and watercolors.  It is good to spend time creating without any purpose whatsoever! You never know where it will lead you creatively.  I don't feel the need to finish a page or make it pretty. In my sketch books and design journals you'll find lots of unfinished pages, some with stamping and nothing else. Like this page below created when trying out new stamps and deciding between black or brown ink. Personally I like the look of both on this page. 

Whenever I purchase a new stamp(s) I always try them out in a sketchbook first! Stamping the designs over and over again helps me visualize other ways in which they can be used. Using different color ways also is a wonderful way to see how color effects the design. I enjoy doodling around designs and writing any ideas down next to the stamped images. 

I use watercolor pencils, ink, craft paint, scribbles, crayons, etc. Nothing is off limits.  

Mixing stamps designs is fun! Here's a page where I was experimenting with houses, drawing trees, stamping with feathers and even a birdcage. Yep, I know it's upside down! Who knows what THAT'S about. 

Being a quilter, I love pattern and fabrics and they sneak their way into my sketch books too!  Here's a little pattern for a bug quilt I made for my great-nephew. The fabrics are glued into the book with a glue stick and the curly cue antenna was a practice applique piece cut out and glued on to the page.

As you can see, anything and everything goes into the design sketchbooks. I so enjoy looking through these pages and getting new ideas and using some of the old ones too! 

Hope you are having a wonderful week!  Go glue or stamp something in your sketchbook!  WHAT??? NO! You don't have a sketchbook?  Well head over to the nearest Joanne's or Michael's and pick out an inexpensive sketchbook! Get your glue stick out and glue down a random piece of fabric or paper, add color or a nice doodle....get started now! Have fun!

Happy stamping & glue sticking!
Suzy

INDEX CARD A DAY WEEK 5

Hi Everyone!

It has been another busy week around here, working and caring for a little one! Wow, I'm finding it difficult to find a little block of time to create each daily index card. Each night after everyone is asleep I am trying to catch up with email and blog posts. 

Well, other than the time crunch this month, I've also joined an online class with Mary Ann Moss called SEWN. There will be more details coming! Check out the little video over on the left side of this page, if you are interested in the class, please tell Mary Ann I sent you! 

Ok, the Index Card A Day Challenge (ICAD) from this week can been seen by clicking on ICAD tab on the right side bar.  

Hope you will enjoy this weeks collection and be inspired to make your own little mini art works!

Happy Painting and Doodling!
Suzy

GOD BLESS AMERICA

 Happy Independence Day!

 God Bless America!

KEEPING A JOURNAL OF IDEAS

Hi Everyone! 

Some days I like to doodle and stamp random designs on my journal pages.  I dabble with watercolors in different color combinations and often the results sparks more creative activities, like the one below I used to make a birthday card.  

 I used book text to create a twisted stem and a leaf on the flower below.

 Another flower made with book text for the center of a hand drawn flower. 

 Gluing punched circles onto the page with a few squares and then some doodling.

 See how the design doodles above morphed into another design which in turn was used on a greeting card. 

 I jot down ideas to the side of the designs for future consideration. 

How do you process your ideas for different projects? Do you keep a journal or sketchbook to record them?  

Busy Bee-ing Creative!
Suzy