75 Days!

on October 14, 2012 I decided to try the sketch book challenge by Brenda Swenson.  You sketch with pen and ink only. no pencil or eraser, for 75 days!I wondered if I could co it, but decided to try. I love sketchbooks, and have a bunch that I have done over the years, but always in pencil.
The last day was today! I made it. I did miss 6 days but filled up 3 large sketchbooks.  I am proud of the sketches! I had to think through them before I could make my mark. I am posting the very first one, and the last one, and then I am going to photo them all, and posts some of them.
Thanks to all of you who encouraged me with your remarks as I posted them!!

 The First Day
 Ruidoso Church was done before I got my good ink..(Noodler's ink) and it ran as I painted it. I don't really mind it, but didn't want all of them runny!

The Sketchbooks are the 3 that I filled, and drew in the 4th one. I had to start a new one on Dec. 19th.
I counted most of them, (leaving some out due to how bad they were!) and had 208.
I have so many sketch books, and these will be put up with the rest, and hopefully I will continue. So far,
I don't tear out the pages. They stay in the book!
The spiral book is one of the  visual journals. It has nice paper. The one in the middle was ok. It is pretty thick. The little red one, was a gift from my daughter and it had beige textured rough paper. It was awesome to draw on, better than the slick, but was so hard to paint. It just absorbed all the paint, and would bleed through. They still turned out nice though.

The Last day! December 28th, 2012  -  75 Days of Sketching with Pen and Ink.

Snowed In

I couldn't have all these Christmas paintings with out having a tractor!
I love to hear them coming and going in the driveway by the house.
 For some reason, it is a comforting sound. I will miss it if we ever leave the farm!
There is nothing like a John Deere!  I have spent many hours riding on one with
Ken after we got married.

Art Colony Gift Exchange

I am in a group of artists called 'Art Colony' and we drew names again this year. Each year it is kept secret who it is from, until you get your gift in the mail.  This year, I was lucky enough to get a beautiful painted egg by Mary Jansen, from Chicago. She is a pastor's wife, and she has a prayer on the egg for me. It is very special and I am in awe at all the detail, and how tiny the designs are. She also sent a tiny necklace that she made with 2 red robins.
I put the little red package on the tree limb! It looked so pretty, but was excited to finally get to open it!
you can go to www.artcolony.blogspot.com and see all the exchanges there, and how much fun we had! Mary's address is: http://marymjansen.blogspot.com/
if you want to see her beautiful work.

The Wisemen

This is only a couple of years old. It is a larger painting than the snow kids.It is also done in a different manner, even though it is watercolor.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

I named this one 'Birthday Party' for obvious reasons!

I pray that each will be blessed this special day, and remember the real

Reason for the Season... to celebrate the birth of Jesus, not just for 

getting/giving gifts, or eating a lot of yummy food.'

Merry Christmas to each of You, and May your 2013 

be healthy and blessed, and

full of love and laughter.

Christmas Eve Delivery

Taking Gifts to Kids who need them!

The Choir Program

This is another one of my favorites. It is also older.