stockings

I just finished what I think will be my last big sewing project of the year, but I am not making any promises.  I am longing to paint again, so that means it is time. 

But I have to say that I am really happy with how my stockings turned out.  I took much of my inspiration from this tutorial.  i can't wait for Santa to come and fill them up!

Each year as we add more stockings to our family, I thought it would be a nice addition to embroider the year on the back.

Just in case anyone's wondering what Lynlee is up to while I am working on these...

O is for Ostrich

M is for moose

quiet book

About a year ago, I was in a quiet book exchange with my cousin and 10 other people.  I just have to say that if you ever make a quiet book, they are so much work!  And this is definitely the way to go.  We each made one page 12 times and swapped.  I was at my in-laws for Thanksgiving last year and used my mother-in-law's machine to make my pages.  But with the lack of machine, I hadn't been able to finish the rest of the pages and book until now. 

Needless to say I have been working on it almost non-stop for the last few weeks.  There were a few pages that I made changes to, others that I re-did and some I didn't use, but all in all, the swap was great.  To give the whole book a sense of continuity, I added the words that label each page.  So without further adieu, here it is:

Here it is, all zipped up!  I ended up making more of a case than a cover for the outside because I wanted to be able to zip it all up.  This way hopefully we can reduce the number of missing pieces in the future.

The Family Tree is the only page that is not completely done.  Those little apples are picture frames and need to have pictures of mom, dad and grandma(s) and grandpa(s) inserted. 

The farm animals are little finger puppets!

Need to get a few more animals to put in Noah's ark...

(The lady bug puzzle is the one that I made for the swap.)

Can you see the little car on a string?  This little guy can fit inside both houses!

Last but not lease, I had a blank space at the end, so I wanted to have something fun to put there.  There isn't really an activity to go with this one, but The ribbons are pretty fun to run through your fingers!

Hope you enjoyed it!

I know, I know

I can't believe it has been 3 whole weeks and I have posted nothing.  So sorry.  But I just wanted to let you know that, yes, I am still here, and YES! I am still creating wonderful things.  

I have actually been quite a busy bee since my mother gave me my beloved sewing machine for my birthday.  I have finished a highchair seat cover, a few new bibs for Lynlee and made her a few pair of skinny pants from big baggy ones that she was crawling out of. 

But there is more.  Something big.  Something so big (for me) that it pretty much has been taking ALL of my time lately.  I think my husband may feel a little neglected (I know my esty shop sure does), and I really, really need to catch up on cleaning my house.  It is almost done!  Pictures to come.

N is for newt

R is for rabbit

H is for horse

Y is for yak

E is for elephant

P is for penguin

H is for hippopotamus

J is for jaguar

Time for another Give-Away

For the Grand Opening of my etsy shop, I will be having another give-away.  Don't worry, there aren't really any hoops to jump through for this one.  Simply, I will be giving away a free 8x10 print of any image in my shop to the first 5 customers!  So spread the word to any and all that you think would be interested in this...or don't :).

android and me

So, my brother is a real nerd. And I am pretty sure he is ok with that. He is a big fan of Android and everything associated with it, not apple. If you know anyone like that, then you get my brother. I am an apple girl, but we don't have to talk about that now. Anyway. He had a great idea for this contest. Where the winner will get an awesome android tablet, keyboard, wireless mouse, carrying case, and my favorite, a stylus. So, he had me draw up a sketch for his entree:

He told me that if we win, he will send me the prize pack 'cause he already has a tablet....Oh, I hope we win! (even if I am an apple girl.) P.s., for those interested in entering, the contest ends tonight at midnight.

D is for duck

I is for iguana

new on ETSY

I have created a new shop on etsy.  Never heard of the site before?  Check it out!  Now there is an easy way to get a hold of my watercolors! Enjoy, and make sure you keep checking back--I still have a lot of stuff to put up!

bridgetssketchbook.etsy.com

today's art class: different watercolor textures

My class and I had a lot of fun tonight experimenting with different ways to add texture to our watercolor washes. We practiced 3 different techniques: crayon resist, salt crystals and bleach. After experimenting, everyone chose a technique to fill a page and then we painted rockets on another paper. Next, we cut out the rockets and glued them onto the background. I was so impressed by how they turned out and all looked so different. Way to go class!

Bleach method:  dab a Q-tip in bleach and then make spots on a wet wash.

Salt method: sprinkle salt into a wet wash.

Crayon resist method: put something with texture under your paper and do a crayon rubbing, then paint a dark wash over the crayon.

R is for rooster

B is for bison

A is for armadillo

I am still here.  And I have found new inspiration and new motivation.  Thanks in part to this little guy.

I was obsessed with this book when I was little. Has anyone else ever read it?

And the winner is...

So I made this really great video of myself sifting through a bowl filled with little folded peices of paper with everyone's names on them, just to show you how legit my drawing was.  And after 4 failed attempts of uploading the video onto my blog, you will just have to take my word for it.  Oh, and sorry it took me so long to post this, but I was hiking with my wonderful family for much of the day.

So, without further ado, the lucky winner of the give-away is:

Heather!

Congratulations!  I know that you said you liked the elephant, but please let me know which watercolor you would like an 8x10" of!  I have your address so, it will be in the mail as soon as you let me know which one you would like!

Only 2 more days left to enter the give-away!

It's Give-A-Way Time!

I know, I know.  This is the moment that everyone has been waiting for, right?  So, here is what we are going to do.  I am excited.  Are you excited?

I will send the winner of this give-away a free high-quality 8x10" print ($15 value) of their choice from any of the watercolor paintings that I did this summer.   Want to know what your choices are?  Just click the link on the right hand column of my blog that says "painting-a-day".  Any of the entrees that have the label "watercolor" at the bottom are fair game.

So, here's how it works.  You may enter your name into the drawing up to 6 times:
 
1.  Post a link to this give-a-way on your blog
2.  Post a link to this give-a-way on your facebook account
3.  Post a link on goggle+
4.  Post a link on twitter
5.  Put this blog on your RSS subscriber (like google reader)
6.  Leave a comment on this post telling me 2 things: first which painting from this summer has been your favorite and why, and second, how many of the things above you have done (on your honor here)

I will put your name into a hat for every one of the entries above completed before 12:00 am (midnight) MDT, Sunday Aug 4.  That gives you almost a week!  No excuses.

Ready, set go! 

2 Fall Art Classes Starting!

For those of you interested, I will be starting two new art classes this fall.  They are filling up. So, reserve your spot while you can!

Adult Classes:
Thrusdays 8:00-9:00 pm
$10/week
Starts Sept. 1
(2 spots left)

We welcome all skill levels!  For this class we will start with basic drawing and painting skills (watercolor, acrylic, oil...student's choice!), after which each student can expect individual guidance on a larger project of choice. 


Childrens' Classes:
Ages 2-4, yeah, you read that right :)
$5/week
Tusedays 11:00-11:30
Starts Sept. 6
(3 spots left)

This class is specifically intended for pre-school age children.  They will have a wide variety of experiences in different mediums including, painting, paper-mache and other sculpture.


To sign up or for more info please email me: bridgetlsmith@gmail.com

farewell summer

It is with out much warning that I have to say this will be my last "painting-a-day" for the summer. I have had an ongoing discussion in my mind trying to decide when the "end of summer" will be for me. There are a lot of possibilities and I didn't realize when I started this how open ended I had left it. So, I have made up my mind, and for lots of reasons, this is a really good time.

Don't worry, though. I will still be adding updates regularly, including: lots more new paintings, information about upcoming art classes, as well as my first give-a-way. Get excited and stay tuned.

black bear

mountain goat

the great gallery

I know, I know. No post yesterday. Well, to make a long story short, we drove home from Washington and had an unexpected 3 hour stop in Boise to fix our a/c, putting us home really late. Too late to post. So, today I have one for today and some extras to make up for yesterday.

These are a few sketches I did a few years ago in southern Utah in 9-mile Canyon studying the cave art. These figures come from a series of figures on a wall called the Great Gallery. They stand larger than life size. Majestic. To this day, no one really knows what they mean or even how they were stained on the wall.