Time for a post? Ya think? :-)

In case you've wondered....

1. Yes, I'm still alive, and

2. Yes, I'm still making art

and...... I have some news.........I'm a new grandmother!

My first grandbaby, Colton Joshua, was born on February 26, 2012. He's a little guy... a preemie. His Mom, my DIL, was only 25 weeks along when Colton decided he'd had enough and wanted out! At birth he was almost three months premature, weighed 1 lb 4.5 oz and was 12.5 inches long. He's doing very well though, and the doctors and nurses in the neonatal unit are doing a wonderful job taking care of him. He'll be in the unit for at least another two months. If you could weigh sweetness, he'd have been a ten pounder! This grandma can't wait for him to go home so she can hold that precious little bundle. The photo above was taken when he was three days old. He's gained a little weight since then.

On the art front, I've been active over on Drawspace, participating in the trades there every month since September(?). I find ATC's to be a wonderful way to get in some relaxed practice, and experiment with new colors, paints, surfaces and techniques. The first batch below is from the January trade with a theme of "What's in Your Back Yard"?

This next batch (below) is from the February trade. It was a trade to be done in graphite and/or pen and ink using any subject. I chose to do a series of shells. Normally, graphite is not my cup of tea (What? No color? YIKES!) but it was great drawing practice and, to tell you the truth, I ended up really enjoying just drawing for the sake of drawing.

ATC's

I've made enough progress that I'm able to do a little bit on the computer and spend a little time on art (YAY!). The physical therapy is really helping- I'm faithfully doing exercises to strengthen my neck and shoulder muscles so that I won't have a repeat of The Neck Incident.

Before The Neck Incident whacked out my normal activities, I had started work on some ATC's (Artist Trading Cards- 3.5" x 2.5") but had not posted them. So, here they are. I like some better than others, but find doing ATC's very valuable. Gives me a chance to experiment, cover a variety of subjects, and the volume (I'll make 20 cards for this trade) gives me much-needed practice.

It's SO good to be back in blogdom! I've started visiting blogs and am enjoying catching up with y'all ("y'all" . . a most useful Southernism ;-). Thanks again for the visits and encouraging words... you guys are great!

Teresa
xx

Maine ATC's

A couple of ATC's in mixed media (watercolor and colored pencil, with a touch of white gouache on the boat sails in the bottom ATC). When I did the portrait of Blue Girl I used wc as an underpainting- simple, light washes to speed things up and get the white of the paper covered before I started with cp's. I liked the way that worked so I'm now seeing how I like using wc to get the lion's share of the painting in and then use cp for all those tiny details that I dearly love (funny how I paint fairly loose with oils, but when I switch to wc or cp I think I MUST have those details!). I also considered gouache as an underpainting medium and may still give that a try. Nice to be able to just experiment and see what you like!

Fruits of our labors.... literally!

Been another busy week. July is the busiest month in summer for us.... that's when the blueberries are ripening as fast as we can pick them. Yesterday we (me and the hubby) picked berries for over three hours, then I spent another hour and a half sorting and freezing the berries. Pictured above: the yield from yesterday's pick which ended up being 13 very full quarts in the freezer. A good afternoon's work. The hubby was busy calculating how many pies you can make with that amount of blueberries... a lot!

On the art front - yes, I have been productive this week - but can't post anything! I'm doing ATC's (Artist Trading Cards or Art Trade Cards?) for a WetCanvas project but can't post them online until they've been mailed and received by the recipient. The project is called Vacation Dreams and you do cards (I'm doing 4"x6") with a theme of places you've visited or would like to visit. So far I've done Ocracoke Island (been there several times... absolutely love it) and France (on my "would love to see one day" list). It's a lot of fun and is a great opportunity to try out new techniques. I used a layering technique on the first card, and I'm using solvents for a more painterly look on the second card. Since I'm using a new medium (colored pencil) the practice is also much needed and very welcome. Will post the cards when they've arrived at their new homes.

Have a good weekend!