Somewhere.....

...over the...



Taken yesterday evening during sunset.

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September Success

I completed my goal of being creative every day in September! It wasn't easy during the last 2 weeks. I posted about the neck problem, but then add a migraine, complete with nausea and light sensitivity, on top of it for a few of those days. Some days I might have only prepped a piece of wood for painting, but it was something.

I don't really have any new photos of projects, so here's a little collage for now.



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Stiff Neck

Sunday morning I woke up with what I thought was a stiff neck. It gradually became more painful to the point I considered the hospital by Sunday night. First thing Monday, after a long, sleepless night, Joel took me to the doctor. She seems to think it's an RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) flare up. I've had many of those, but never in my neck. Anyway, long story short, I've been taking muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories all week. They're helping, but I've mostly just slept. Which means less creative time. I have managed to do at least a tiny bit each day. And I do mean tiny.



Hopefully I'll be back at it soon and will be able to show you something finished.

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Mixed Media Portrait WIP

Mixed Media Portrait Work In Progress - Golden & Liquitex acrylic paint, graphite, gel pen (so far)

Joel and I visited a great new art supply store in Eustis called Drawn To Art. It's in a beautiful new building downtown.



Across the brick paved street is a new park where the old hospital used to be. I snapped a photo of a sign that leads me to believe this could be a fun place to play!



Once we went into the store we met the owner, who was extremely friendly and down to earth. He didn't have an item I was looking for, so he offered me a few things to try instead. I left there with 6 4x4 canvas boards, a white gel pen, and some titanium white gouache paint, free of charge! I did offer to pay for everything, but he insisted. I plan to go back and offer to pay again. I'm one of those odd people that doesn't feel right about taking free stuff. I love bargaining, but free feels like stealing. I do love local service like that, though. He knows how to make a lifelong customer. Anyway, so as you can see I gave the wood blocks a bit of a break today in favor of one of those mini canvases, courtesy of Drawn To Art. Right now she looks like she's sucking in her cheeks. She'll get an anti-duckface surgery tomorrow.

PS. I'm still on my September creative streak!

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Mixed Media Art Block Painting

Art block girl number 2 is done and ready to be scanned and sealed....I think. I'm never quite sure. I love creating these quirky girls! I will enjoy having them around my home, too. Any name suggestions for her?



My creative streak continues! Every day in September means 12 straight days so far. I know that may not seem like much to some, but to me it's huge. Maybe soon I'll make a more personal blog post and talk about my creative struggles, but for now...pass the Cobalt Teal, please?

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In The Works

I didn't have a large block of time to paint today, but I managed to get a bit further along on the orange/red block.




I colored her hair and hated it, so I went back to white and will decide what to do with it tomorrow.



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Miscellaneous Going Ons

This work in progress is what's on my work bench at the moment. I'll try to finish her details (hair, lips, eyes, clothing, etc...) tomorrow.

I did decide to paint the edges of the last girl.



I did a a few other details, too, even though I THOUGHT I was done.



I've continued my streak of creativity. I've been in my studio working on paintings, however short the time might have been some days, every day this month so far. I hope to continue this streak. Wish me luck!

In a totally separate subject, check out this visitor to our yard today.



He isn't a stranger. We see him, and his larger friend, a lot in our trees. It makes me nervous since we have two little dogs. He sure is beautiful, though.



This photo is from the back and may be harder to see, but his back feathers are so pretty!

I hope you all have had a nice weekend!

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Strong

I'm not quite finished, but I'm pretty close. Here's the progress for today.



...and a texture shot.



One more just for kicks.



I don't know if I'll paint the sides or leave the wood grain. I will more than likely separate her and the word from the background a bit with a dry brushed white halo. We'll see where she goes tomorrow. :)

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W-I-P Wednesday

Here's the progress on the greenish blue block. I had hoped to be posting a finished painting by today, but a doctors appointment yesterday didn't allow for a lot of creative time. I did sketch in the shape of her face yesterday, so I have kept up my streak of having creative time every day. Maybe I'll be able to finish her tomorrow.


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Block Head

I've continued playing with the 4x4 art blocks. I'm finding the size and the inexpensive substrate to be freeing. If I mess the whole thing up, who cares!? I guess with anything you can gesso over what you don't like. Still, though, there's something about these that takes the pressure off.

I finished up the cupcake. It just needs a spray seal and I plan to do that outside when more are complete.






Here are the ones I'm working on now.



I really like how these backgrounds turned out. The color combos make me happy. I intend to draw faces on both, but we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. I change my mind more often than anyone I know!

Here's a closer look at the texture on the blueish green colored one.



Thanks for stopping by!
xoxox

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What's On My Art Table

In progress...




I'm not sure if I'm calling this one done or not. Probably not. My intention was to finish it in a day, so I'll be breaking that rule if I do anything to it now.



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Scenes From The Yard

We've worked in the yard a bit in the past couple of weeks.


The bushes across the front went all the way across before. The ones closest to the door were causing problems. They were overgrown compared to the rest, they were too close to the stucco and caused stains, wasps nested in them and kept coming back, and the last straw was the snake hiding under them. Mind you, they were RIGHT beside the door. So snakes and wasps waiting to attack as we walk out our door equals high anxiety when leaving the house. Now we have this...


We're still trying to decide whether we'll remove the rose bush. It just seems a little odd where it is. Until we decide where to move it, we'll keep it right there. My favorite part is the fountain, of course. I love the sound! So relaxing...


The Blue Daze flowers and heart shaped topiary are a close second.






And a few randoms...















Supervising yard work from the other side of the glass door...

I took a video of the final inspection performed by Sheldon...

Ok, this last one wasn't from our yard, but I just love it, so...


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Evolution of LIlith

I worked on a "quicky" painting last week for practice. I stole 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there, and tried mixing my own face colors rather than relying on colors marked "flesh" or "skin". First I did a VERY quick sketch of a round faced girl, I then slapped the paint undertones on haphazardly, I did a mid range color, a base color, some pinkish color for her cheeks, brightly colored eyes and lips, simple highlights, etc... Then came the hair. I obsessed over the hair and I think it turned out to be her best feature. Maybe I should have obsessed more on her little pudgy face like I did the hair. I always seem to go wrong at the hair, so I practiced with color a lot before I got the courage to use my brush on the canvas rather than the pallet. In the end, I didn't spend a lot of time fussing over this one, with the exception of the hair, but maybe that's why I enjoyed bringing her into the world so much? There was no labor in her delivery, you might say. Anyway, here's Lilith's transformation.

Slideshow Of Random Photos

I put together a slideshow of some of my photos. Some are recent, some are not so recent, most are cell photos, and all are mine. They're not perfect or even good shots, but I like them all for one reason or another. The majority of them have been shared on Instagram or Facebook already, but I felt like making a slideshow.....so here it is.

Photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Happy Easter

I hope you all have had a nice Easter! We did. In the photos above Sheldon has chosen his favorite Easter Basket treat and is trying to bury it on our bed. He cracked us up doing that all over the house.

Like any other day, we went for our evening walk around the hood. Every day we see groupings of Sandhill Cranes. We leave them alone and they leave us alone. Well.....usually.

After our encounter with the cranes we crossed the road and walked our usual route. On our way back they were still in the same spot.

Silly cranes. I love them.

Thanks for stopping by! 🐰


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My Renninger's Books

These are the books I scored from rummaging in the Renninger's used book store.



I was incredibly happy to find the concrete and sewing tips books. Plus, the sweet book lady threw in the sewing one free! She said that was one of hers. The pillow book comes with patterns. REAL patterns separate from the book...not just diagrams within the book. We're planning lots of projects for the house, so these will come in handy.

On a side note, I'm still doing FatMumSlim's photo challenges via Instagram. I send all of those images to my Tumblr, so stop by there and check them out. www.Rischa.Tumblr.com There are lots of pages, so when you get to the bottom of one be sure to click to the next.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope you have the luck of the Irish today, Blog Readers!! I spent my day at the Antique Extraviganza at Renninger's Farmers and Flea Market with Joel. I found 6 used books for $9 and a bunch of bright, pretty radishes for a buck. (I'll be sketching those, not eating them. Yuck!) Now I'm snuggling with Sheldon and watching a Friends marathon on TBS.






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Leesburg Art Festival

It's time I be more consistent with this poor little ignored blog of mine. So, I will stop being a perfectionist and waiting until I have time to compose a perfect post with perfectly edited images and only the MOST interesting of topics. You may see more blog entries via BlogPress from my phone, but at least there will be consistency.

So, with all that being said, here are some photos from today's outing to the Leesburg FL Art Festival.

View from where we entered the festival.


Leesburg Library


Tropic Theater.


Another view of the Fest.


Another view of what I think is a beautiful library building.


Yet another view of the festival.


A fair in front of the mall. We did a little shopping after the art Fest.


And I saved the best for last. My hubs, Joel. :-)


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