"Feeling A Bit Unraveled" - A Colored Pencil Painting of A Peeled Orange in High Contrast

"Feeling a Bit Unraveled"     2.5" x 3.5" (ACEO)     Prismacolors and White Gel Pen on Acrylic Paper

So I absolutely LOVE works of art that are done in high contrast, so when Lela Stankovic posted the reference photo for this piece on her blog site, "Paint And Draw Together," I just about went giddy with excitement! It reminds me of the works done by the old Masters - well, her photograph does anyways... I tried as hard as I could to do it justice, and found that working on such a minitiature scale required a different way of getting in my bright white highlights, and oh did I stumble upon the best tool ever! I never would have thought to use this over colored pencils because I just wouldn't think it would actually draw on top of them, especially with how wonderfully waxy Prismacolors are, but earlier this week I had done a Tangle on a Black Tile with a White Gel Pen and I thought, hey, why not try it out? And it worked out so perfectly for what I was hoping for that I just wanted to dance a little happy dance right then and there, even if it was the middle of the night (added bonus - everyone was asleep so no one would see me making a fool of myself - smart, right?!). =0) Before the whites were so dingy and dull, and now they sparkle with a brightness that's just how I pictured them. I love it when things work out that way!

Oh how I hope you are having a wonderful day today. I'm nursing my sore gums - I had an oral surgery last week to remove a molar that was so extremely painful - it had an abscess in it for over a month and yet our dentist, who's no longer our dentist, kept dragging his feet to even see me for it. The new dentist we have now is so incredible - their surgeons are so kind - and even though it took a long time in coming, I'm glad I waited because I got better care in the end. Turns out my roots are so long they actually go into my sinuses (crazy, right? Only me, only me... I seem to be the "it only happens to the 1 in 1 million" person - though I imagine this is more common than that) that they had to do a bone and membrane graft as well, which is so weird. I feel like I'm starting to become a little Mrs. Frankenstein - made up of more of other people's parts than my own... Lol! Oh man, you just have to laugh at this stuff, it's so ridiculous! =D Well, I'm gonna go paint and try to not eat all the ice-cream in the house - it just feels so good on my gums right now - so I bid you farewell. I'm almost done taking the last pics of that painting "Hospitali-tea" with the Mice and Chipmunk having tea under the Mushroom so I'll be posting that soon, so keep your eyes open for that! Alright, bye now! =)

"Teal Owl" Coloring Book Page

Lately I have been absolutely enamored with all the beautiful Stress Reducing Adult Coloring Books that they have been making these days. I have the feeling 2016 will be remembered as the year of the Adult Coloring book they have become so popular! I honestly want to design my own some day soon - how fun would that be? But for now, there is so much joy and peace I find in relaxing and sitting down to color, and the greatest gift they've given back to me, an unexpected gift from God, is that my boys come join me. They got so excited about them that they ended up wanting their own, and so we found some really cute Star Wars ones at Costco for them. So now I have the joy of pulling out my Prismacolors and having my little loves surround me, and of course they want to use mommy's pencils, because let's face it, Prismacolors are just the best! So we all color together, and it's like a little taste of Heaven here on earth. Praise the Lord - little things like this make me feel so blessed!

Teal Owl from "Midnight Garden Coloring Book"

I chose this particular color palette because frankly, I absolutely just love these colors. Teal, coral, just about every shade of blue, lime green, mint green, deep forest green and a touch of purple and hot pink - ooh, they just tickle my senses and make me smile deep down inside myself! I wish I had added a few more blueish and purpleish  flowers up top, but all in all I like how it turned out for my first page. I have to admit, I was actually nervous about messing it up, but the farther in I got the more I let loose and just enjoyed myself, and that's when I started seeing how it really does help relieve stress. So if you're in debate about whether or not to buy one of these books, I say go for it (and they are way cheaper on Amazon than at Barnes and Nobles - with a huge selection as well). Well, I hope you're having a great time out there my friends, and let me know if you're a fellow colorer too and if so, what book is your favorite - I always love hearing back from you! =0)