....And to All a Good Night

I wish you and your loved ones a joyous Holiday Season!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas, Colds, Getting Nothing Done....Fa La La

Last week was a tough week in our household. Both our kids got colds. They are still toddlers so, a simple cold has them up every 90 minutes during the night. My son has it tougher though. He has Allergy Related Asthma (that's what the doctor called it). Normally it's under control with medicine but when he gets a cold he gets a horrible cough he can't shake. Sometimes he coughs for 5 minutes straight. It's horrible to see him there struggling, just wanting to sleep but a cough attack is preventing him from rest. And,of course, if he isn't sleeping neither am I. Needless to say, very little got done last week with the family/Christmas to-do list and my art making to-do list. I did manage to practice shading with pencils in my sketchbook. I'm taking Suzi Blu's Petite Dolls e-course and she shows how to shade with pencils. I think I did okay on my first go. 

I found coloring with the pencil to be rather soothing. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it as I tend to have the brush in my hand more than the pencil. I think I will keep practicing with colored pencils since they are portable and will likely help improve my shading skills.

Consumed With Christmas

I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I've just been all wrapped up with Christmas (pun intended). I always try and have the bulk of the shopping done by Thanksgiving weekend, but that never happens. Fortunately, I am pretty much finished with shopping. I just have mailing gifts, Christmas Cards and wrapping presents to do. We aren't into the double digits of the month yet so, I'm feeling pretty good right now. I have been sketching daily too.  I've been pretty good about keeping up the practice. I love curling up with my sketchbook after the kids have gone to bed and just practicing or doing home work from the numerous e-courses I'm taking. I am also discovering tools that I like and don't like. For example, I prefer the Strathmore Visual Journals (mixed media and drawing version) over the Canson Mixed Media Journal. Canson claims to handle water media but the pages buckle and wrinkle like crazy. Not so with the Strathmore. Here are some things I've been doing and you can see that some of the pages have buckled. I suppose I can iron them but, I barely have time to do art!  In future posts I will tell you all about the e-courses I'm taking.