Siamese Cat in Luscious Colors

 

Have you tried the Derwent Tinted Charcoal? The colors are so lovely. The lend themselves nicely to drawings of subjects in a more natural setting. And they are perfect for Siamese cats! Charcoal has a reputation for being bold, even visually "loud". If you love the colors but are a bit intimidated by the fact that they are charcoal, this is the workshop for you. I use techniques with charcoal that bring softer results than is typically imagined with charcoal. And these tinted colors are wonderful to work with. 

Students at any drawing level can enjoy success in this workshop.  I give detailed step by step instructions. You can even email me with your questions or scans of your drawing as you work so that I can help you. This is a video workshop so you can watch it as many times as you wish at whatever hour your creative juices are most active. Join me! We'll have fun. 

Click here to join Siamese in Tinted Charcoal.

Wind and Honey Creations
Creative Pencils - Online Drawing Lessons

Let There Be Light - WBC Take 2

If you read my previous post, my original entry for the Where Bloggers Create Party, you'll know I had some electrical difficulties producing a dark studio. Since there was some interest in how I found ways to fit a 20' x 20' studio into a 9' x 9' room, I am sharing more, now that the lights are back on.   I have tried not to repeat what I already showed you in the WBC post.  So, if you didn't see those, you can do that here.

The biggest secret is to go UP with everything!

In moving from a spacious space where light and room were generous, to an itty space where everything seemed a frustration and challenge at first, I learned to look from a different perspective at what supplies should be out where they were visible.  In my large studio, I loved having everything out and visually available at all times.  That was no longer an option.  Well, actually at one point I did have my stainless steel shelves on one wall and the printer/scanner shelves (which is just like the cat's bunk beds) were out.  But I found that in this tiny space, all that utility felt very uninspiring.  So the closet houses the printer/scanner shelves and the large stainless shelves filled with mixed media supplies.  I also have some less than lovely plastic drawers in the closet holding decorative papers and odds and ends.  

My antique dental drawers filled with pencils

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I had to think through what I really use on a regular basis.  Could this still be convenient in the closet or does it need to be in the room?  Maybe less than convenient in the closet (the printer and scanner) but maybe worth it to not look at it every day.  Does it really need to be on top of the work table or could it just be in a handy place close by?  I play with mixed media art but artist's pencils are my premium medium when I work professionally.  So having the pencils out and available is most important.

I use altoid tins to hold my most used colors of Derwent Artbar and Derwent Intense blocks.  They take up less table space and are great cases for travel when I want them.

   This is a vintage laundry table.  The top is porcelain so paint just washes right off.  The drawer holds markers.  

This little folding tray is so handy.  It extends my work table.  It is easily moved to the desk should I need it for drawing supplies or beside the sewing machine.  Or I can just fold it up and put it away if I need the room.  I have one more I use sometimes but I think its in another room right now.

Kenya and Rose in the bunk beds

This vintage ironing board folds up and takes up little space.  But I can easily set it up when I need an extended table top to spread out supplies or finished pieces.

My daughter's ballet shoes

 

The folding drawing board substitutes for my drafting table.  It works fairly well as I rarely work larger than 11" x 14" anyway.  I loved my drafting table and I did have it in here for a while.  But there was hardly any room to walk.  I realized the real need was for a drawing space that could be elevated at an angle and a safe place to leave the paper while a project is not yet finished.  The table top board solves that need without taking up 3' x 3' of the room and it can be moved should I need the desk for other purposes. 

Cigar box for drawing supplies

I love vintage objects.  Previously I had the luxury of being able to place them in my studio just for the purpose of inspiration.  Many boxes and jars were empty.  I just loved looking at them.  But in my new small space everything has to have a purpose.  So if there was something I really wanted in the room I found a job for it.

Matchstick holder for drawing brushes

Lydia, Studio Supervisor in charge of holding the floor down

I love rocking chairs.  I found that I neeeeded a rocking chair in my studio for it to feel right to me.  But, of course, there is no room for it.  I do kind of have a thing for rocking chairs.  I have 7.  This one is the most light weight one making it easier to move about if necessary.  My sweet husband, the Poet, bought me a keyboard that I can hold on my lap in my rocking chair and a large monitor.  So, this can be my desk chair.     ---I know, I know........

Kenya, my muse

As I said before, the sewing machine tucks away neatly on the typewriter shelf.  And there is room underneath inside for my light box.  

 

The bookshelves are hardly seen but are still available.  They are behind the door and beside the desk.  They hold up the chair my daughter Kate made that holds the tv.  

Some finished pieces available to purchase.

 

I want to recover this chair but don't have the sewing skills to do it properly.  I welcome suggestions or ideas!!!

 

And then when all the necessary things were in place I found a few places, mostly on the walls, to add a bit of decorative fluff just to make me smile.  

Bo.  The Old Man.  

 Thank you for indulging me this 2nd run through.  I am still learning how to make this space work more efficiently and yet maintain an air of creative whimsey.  It is a growing experience.




Wind and Honey Creations
Creative Pencils - Online Drawing Lessons

Rain and Life's Rhythms

 

Its raining today. Everything in me wants to sit with a nice cup of tea and draw while listening to the raindrops tap dancing outside. I am not unique with this thought. I've heard it so many times from others. The rain calls us to be still, to slow down, to be calm.  The birds outside are tucked away somewhere under large tree leaves or the eaves of a house.  Even the dogs and cats inside are more sleepy today.  

Of course slowing down isn't what we do.  We curse the rain or we choose to ignore it as we bustle around trying to get 36 hours squeezed out of 24.  I've been thinking a lot lately about the rhythms of life and how we press so hard against them.  It would seem to me that paying better attention to the patterns set by the Creator might be the wiser route to go.  That isn't an easy task in our culture.  

Our lists for "to do" are longer than our arms, and then just a few moments spent on popular social media is enough to remind you that whatever you might have gotten done today, surely you are behind what everyone else is accomplishing.   

I propose that we proclaim a respite from those dreaded lists and try, at least a little bit, to listen more to the rhythms of nature.  I propose at least one hour of each day be set aside to live life rather than run the list.  I imagine this will be life altering and life giving.  I'm going to try it.  I dare you to join me.

Wind and Honey Creations
Creative Pencils - Online Drawing Lessonshttp://creativepencils.com

Review of My New Kitty Fountain

Cats are finicky.  That is a well known fact.  And they can be a little quirky sometimes too.  My two are no different.  Water seems to be the place where finicky and quirky meet with my whiskered "kids".  Rose decided she didn't like water a few years ago and no tricky maneuvers on my part with her water bowl would dissuade her.  Finally, to her dismay, I had to start watering down her food to get enough fluids down her.

Kenya, on the other hand, has a bit of an obsession with water.   If Kenya does not have access to water for over an hour he begins to panic.  Before we adopted him from the Tulsa Humane Society, Kenya was living in a large discount store parking lot.  This was during a time when our state was experiencing a drought.  It is our assumption the scarcity of water during that time and at that location is the source of his emotional issues about water.  Also in recent years. he has developed some health issues related to his time on the streets that necessitate drinking lots of water.

It is Kenya's choice to share water with the dogs in the kitchen.   But he really feels the need to have a source of water in the bathroom too.  He expressed this need by chronically licking soapy drops of water off the shower floor.  It is this need that prompted me to look into a new cat fountain.   As I searched, I was delighted to find Thirsty Cat Fountains on Etsy.  Thirsty Cat Fountains are designed and created with the artistic hands of Keith Davitt and Jackie McKannay.   Theses ceramic fountains are truly pieces of art for your home.  The fact that the cats can drink out of them is a bonus.  Each fountain is handcrafted and each one is unique.  They have a variety of colors and even several designs for the copper spouts. 

My fountain is this beautiful cobalt blue.  I was a little concerned about ordering something so fragile to be shipped from half way across the country.  But the fountain arrived quickly and in perfect condition as it had been packed quite thoroughly in an ocean of biodegradable packing materials.

I appreciate how much thought has gone into these fountains.  They are beautifully created with a nice smooth surface.  Even the bottom of the bowl is lovely.  Everywhere you look, from the placement of the cord, to the way the spout connects to the pump, there is proof of excellence and attention to detail.  And the pump is adjustable so you can create a vigorous flow or a smooth gentle stream.

The Thirsty Cat Fountains were the only fountains I found that claim absolutely zero lead in the glaze.  And the copper is the same type of copper used in the pipes of our homes.  Like I said, attention to every detail.

It was no surprise when Kenya fell in love with this gentle flow of water that matches his blue eyes.  But the wonderful delight is that even Rose thinks this fountain worthy to dip in her tiny pink tongue.   She is once again drinking plenty of water thanks our new Thirsty Cat Fountain.  Thank you Keith and Jackie for designing these beautiful fountains.

So Kenya is happy with his artistic bathroom water source and Rose is drinking again.  My only real problem now is that I keep finding more beautiful fountain colors and designs on the website.  I've started wondering if I need one in the living room too!
 


Wind and Honey Creations
Creative Pencils - Online Drawing Lessons

Grow Your Blog Party

Dancing Swan

Today I am joining the Grow Your Blog Party hosted by Vicki at 2 Bags Full.   I will begin by telling you the obvious.  I am Elizabeth Johnson of Wind and Honey Creations and Creative Pencils.   Wind and Honey is the name under which I create my own personal art.  I have used that name for almost 25 years now.  --I was but a toddler when I started.  Hahahahaha!!!!!

This has nothing to do with anything.  I just thought is was pretty.

 I have created a variety of types of art.  But in my wanderings, I always end up coming home to my first love, artist's pencils.  The sparkle and excitement of paint and glitter call to me.  But bringing life to a blank piece of paper with nothing but a simple pencil is what makes my heart sing.  Somehow when I've drawn something I love, it feels as if a part of that subject is then in my heart in a way that cannot ever be removed.   My passionate first and forever subject of choice is animals.  I love them all -- domestic and wild.  I strive to capture each one's unique personality and show it to the world. 

Just some of my pencils

Mattie

Creative Pencils is the name under which I teach drawing 

workshops.   I first began teaching in my local community 14 years ago.  I started with children and eventually grew up to adult classes.  I have taught almost as many media as I have experimented with.  But, as with my own art, I always return home to my pencils.  I have taught many students my right-brained approach to drawing.  And it has been a delight to watch them blossom and discover they could do something they thought they could not.  I love watching the look on their faces as they begin to realize they are actually drawing.  Last year I opened an online site called Creative Pencils where I teach online with a video format.  That has been quite an adventure.  

Lydia

I began blogging when I had a shop on Etsy some years ago and it was suggested that it would be a good thing to do.  Oh my!  I had no clue what I was doing or what to say or what to do!  But I stumbled in anyway.  Through visiting other blogs and basically following what I saw in others, I found this to be an enjoyable place to be.  I much prefer blog hopping to spending hours on other social media.  When I visit blogs I feel I've spend time in someone's living room or had tea in their quaint gift shop.  I hope my blog communicates that kind of warm atmosphere too.  And, although I do brag on my students here, and I do show my work here, my blog has become much more than just a place to promote my business.  It has become a place to visit friends and share my world.  

Kenya

As to my personal life, I have been married over 30 years to a man that spends his free time writing poetry.  And yes, ladies, some of those poems have been written to me.  I have to say, its pretty nice. 

I have 2 grown children.  My son is a chef and my daughter is a sculpture artist.   They are the delights of my life. 

I have 2 cats and a Great Pyrenees who grace my home with warm snuggles, lots of laughter, and constant studio supervision.  

Thank you for visiting me here today.  I am giving away a prize!  Fun, fun!  And anyone can participate.  I will hold a drawing on February 1, 2013 using the names of those that comment here.  The winner will receive a Giclee fine art print of my Dancing Swan created with mixed media pencils.  It is the image at the top of this post.   It is 10" x 8" and will come ready for you to mat and frame as you wish to coordinate with your own personal decor. 

 
Wind and Honey Creations

Oh, To Be Seven Again! Kid's Make the Best Art

Here are some friendly felines drawn recently by a couple of my younger students.  The artists creating these drawings were both 7 years old.  Aren't they fun!  They make me smile.  Now, don't tell me you can't draw.  Surely you're not gonna let a 7 year old show you up.  If you'd like to know how you can learn to draw even better than these wonderful budding artists, check out my online drawing lessons. 

Wind and Honey Creations

Thursdays Just For Fun - My Daughter's Funny Cat

Maybe I'll grow if I sit in here...

After a long nap in a packing box.  

Wind and Honey Creations