Spreading Peace and Love

I see people checking my page, and I know I haven't posted in a while. The things on my mind lately can't really be posted publically. At least not the full story yet, in any case.

I have been having adventures with printers lately. For the last year, every time Microsoft updated Windows 10 they screwed up my printer. I've had a few words with Microsoft, but that was only because they popped up on my screen one day asking what I thought of Windows 10. They even went so far as to list some possible problems and ask if I was having any of them. Well, yes MS, and I tried really hard to tell you, but there does not seem to be a place to report such things, except to your virtual assistant. The problem with that is that if the problem has not been reported previously (which, as I said, isn't possible) the assistant cannot help either.  But obviously, you are aware that Win10 is capable of making peripherals inoperative since you had that problem on the list. Do something about it, and do it quickly! I have some big print jobs coming up and I don't  trust you not to update at just the wrong moment.

On a more fun note, the Christmas card exchange I got in on was such a success that we have decided to do another exchange for February. I've found it much easier to design cards this time. At Christmas, it felt like it had all been done before, and fresh ideas were hard to come by. February has lots of holidays and even if I just go with hearts and flowers for Valentines Day, I can come up with some cute ideas all on my own. In the process, I've discovered a few great techniques that I'm sure I'll use for years to come.  Part of that is because I have not always been able to simply print designs from my sketchbook as some do, due to the problem mentioned above. I was forced to create all new hand-painted cards, but now I'm actually glad of that.

I'm being asked to share what I'm doing on Facebook, but there are members of the group I'm sharing cards with on there, and the big reveal isn't until the end of February, so I don't want to spoil any surprises. Also, since I expect to reuse some of these ideas over time I don't want my family and friends to end up receiving something they've already seen online either.  I can show you the cards I received for the Christmas exchange though, from others around the world.  There are so many different styles. Some people had their paintings printed as cards while others painted each one individually. One lady even made the paper she painted hers on and another printed her cards but created the linocut for her prints herself.  There are so many talented people out there.

Creating and exchanging cards with people throughout the world is not only fun but a great way to share peace and love.....which is what we are doing for Valentines Day.  I hope this gang continues this practice for a few more holidays.

Extra Fuel On My Fire

 As if I didn't have enough to do at this time of year, I had to add fuel to the fire by taking a card making course at Sketchbook Skool. No, it's not one of those ones where you cut and paste one piece of paper onto another, or stamp the words. It was a two week course on how to use your own art to design and create greeting cards good enough to send out into the world, not just to your friends and family, but maybe even to the card publishers themselves.

I got one week into it, when, of course, someone decided that it would be great if we held a holiday card exchange. About 150 of us sent off our addresses to someone willing to divide us into groups of six, with people scattered throughout the world. The cards have to be in the mail by December 10th in order to be sure they reach some of those destinations. That meant I had to suspend my class and get to work on the cards for this project. I'm sure they would have turned out a lot better if I had been able to finish the class first, but I'm learning new tricks with each one that arrives in the mail. Oh, this is great fun!  Everyone has their own style and ideas. I can hardly wait to see what a Christmas card from Australia looks like. They are in the midst of summer there and, as I hear it, often go to the beach for Christmas day.  I do hope she doesn't make me one with a snowman on it!

I was also able to rejoin the art explorations with the group at the library this month, after not being able to attend the past couple of months. This time we learned about portraits and drawing faces in general. We did it in stages. First we were to draw a blind contour. That's when you look at the picture you are copying, but are not allowed to look at the marks you are making on the paper. You are also not supposed to lift the pen from the paper. It's easy to get lost and have to backtrack, making all kinds of wonky lines. The results can be rather interesting. After that we had to do a quick sketch, taking just two minutes to get the face onto the paper. Those were our warmup exercises before taking our time to try and draw the face we had chosen. I was introduced to conte pencils and now I want some!

Not long ago this sort of exercise in the presence of others would have had me panicking, but one of the other courses I took this fall had me sit really close to someone and stare at them while drawing a big face and then add a little body on whatever space was left on the paper.  I got my grandson to "help me with my homework" and he liked the results well enough he wanted to take it home. 






Shortly after that I captured the face of a total stranger, at a bit more of a distance. He didn't know about it until I showed him later.

A friend saw these and wanted in on the action, so she posed for me too. None of these faces are realistic, but they are still faces, and they are recognizably human so I'm happy with that. Besides, they were just fun to do.

Maybe I should try to draw Santa's face sometime soon. I really do have to get back to that card making course. I still have a week's worth of lessons to get done. What I've learned so far is that you don't have to be able to draw really well to make beautiful greeting cards. Simple designs and lots of colour work well. I may have to take up calligraphy next though.

Oh, that reminds me. I still have to send cards to the usual people on my Christmas list, and write at least a note to go with several of those. So much to do. So little time. But I'm sure it's the same with you, even if you aren't silly enough to add card making classes and extra projects to your chores at the busiest time of year. Let's take a deep breath and get the work done without adding any more logs to the pile.