Praying Mantis

I've been thinking about things I want to accomplish in my yard this year. I can't really call it a garden...the back yard doesn't have anything planted except one cherry tree I planted last year. I want to set my fire pit up, I want to plant to draw birds and butterflies, and I'd love to fence it so that I can just let Hawkeye out without having to watch him every second. Here is another critter I'm always happy to see in the garden.

This is drawing on one of the prints made on the gelli plate. The bug was lost in the background completely until I added the color and beefed up the main outlines a bit. I used Sharpie markers and a PITT pen. If I had it to do over, I'd have painted the leaf in with a lighter green so you could see his legs better, but I was at work and impatient, so I used the markers I had.

The wonder is......trees in my art journal.

Who doesn't love trees? Incredibly, I've actually known a few who don't, but to me trees are a wonder. I did another 15 minute background for this one, but using entirely different colors from the last one. It made me think of the woods. I seem to have a lot of quotes going in this journal, and I think I'll just keep adding more of my favorites.

15 Minute Journal Backgrounds

I've been watching Rae Missigman's video's about making backgrounds in 15 minutes. It's a great way to overcome that fear that sometimes hits when you are faced with a blank page or canvas.  Click on the link to watch her video. It is fun to do a background so fast! The picture above is the background before I started doodling over it. I started with a page that was written on when I was taking notes on a book I was studying. so that is the script you see behind the paint. There are also a couple of pieces of paper ripped from a gelli print.

After I turned him on to Sharpie water based pens, my friend, Warren Ludwig, sent me some fine tipped ones! So I've been doodling with white over everything! Warren has a great blog, and he reviews the pens in this post. I'm thinking spring again. It was sooo cold and windy here today, but eventually it has to warm up, right?!

Shake the World

In a gentle way you can shake the world. ~Gandhi
Doodling away on another Bingo card.
Indian Ink, marker, acrylic paint, and stamps.