Hello June! Art And Nature

 Hello friends! Happy June! The nice weather has arrived and I've made a few art shorts and a couple of youtube videos. I am happy and excited for summer but just as long as the weather stays in the 20's

I've been having challenging days since I turned 50. Not going to lie. I am feeling a bit lost in the direction of my creative creations. Not sure where, what, how and why. LOL Hopefully I can express my self through my art.

Joining in with Friday Face Off hosted by the talented Nicole and Art For Fun Friday hosted by the talented Gillena. 

May 24th was my 23rd wedding anniversary and hubby bought me flowers and also a lovely patio set where I can sit and read outdoors.

I am truly grateful.

I've been enjoying my morning walks and managed to get my nails done. They do look pretty but how on earth do people work with long nails? I am not getting them done again. lol 

I hope you are having a lovely June and I hope you are staying creative. 

Some recent films that I watched and love:

Uptown Girls

Amelie

Agneta

I truly wish you the very best in June!

Thank you so much if you are reading this and thank you for your comments.

Love and hugs

Maria

Youtube Vlogs

Art For Fun Friday and Friday Face Off

Hello Friday and hello wonderful friends. This past week I've had a bit of a scratchy throat and hot flashes are a nightmare. My head feels a bit heavy. Might be the weather. It's been grey skies for a long time. Well yesterday there was a bit of sun and I loved it. Today is very cold here and it is -14 but feels like -21.

We are supposed to have a weekend storm. I am doing my groceries Saturday morning so I can avoid the storm. I feel I need to get out and walk a bit because being stuck indoors is not my thing. Especially with hot flashes. lol Cold weather is lovely. 

This past week I worked with pastels. It was amazing and very fun. I love how the pastels glide and are creamy and smooth. I want to make some animals but I am not sure what. Any ideas?

 Linking to Nicole's lovely blog for FFO and Gillena's Blog for Art for Fun Friday.

Thank you Nicole and Gillena for hosting lovely blogger parties. 

I made up this character. I realize she has different shape glasses. 

The view from my window. I always make one of these every season. I love rooftops and nature and houses. So much fun to draw. I hope one day we can own our own home. 

I didn't manage to get a vlog together. I will try my best to do so. I've been filming little bits here and there but didn't manage to put it together. I hope you have a wonderful Friday and a lovely weekend my friends.I look forward to visiting your blog and thank you for your kind comments. It means so much to me. Thank you kindly and have a wonderful and creative day. 

Maria

Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'

Happy Friday!

Linking up today with the wonderful and talented Nicole for Friday Face Off  

Thank you Nicole for the Feature! You are inspirational and a wonderful artist that inspires me. I appreciate you so much.

& 

The lovely and wonderful Gillena for Art For Fun Friday 

I can't get this song out of my head...

'Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’, Gordon MacRae,Rodgers & Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA 1955

I have started this Leuchtturm1917 Journal in 2022 and I am almost finished it but am I? 

The left side of the pages are not all full. Do you fill up both sides of your Art pages? 

I feel like I am wasting a page so I am going to fill both sides up. 

I guess we make up our own rules right? Our sketchbook our rules. ;)

Also today is 99 days until I turn 50.

I am grateful for each moment on this earth. 

The good, the bad and the ugly. lol 

A true blessing.

Made this little spread in my journal.

this week in the ART Space

Background acrylic paint and the strawberry in pencil crayons. 

A quick little sketch

always thinking about the ocean

This is a reflection on my thoughts and feelings at the moment.

Would love to know your thoughts about this piece. 

Portrait with no reference

New Watercolours! They are bold and bright! Really like these. 

Landscape with the watercolours

A doodle with Sharpie acrylic parker pens

I miss doing junk journaling this week but will continue on the weekend. 

Also I've been working on air dry clay and I am making a little dish for my desk to put some washi tape on and a brush rest for when I am painting. I will show you the results next week. 

I enjoy clay and making little dishes. I think I would like to make some fruit shaped ones! :) FUN!

Thank you for being here and thank you for your time and comments. It means so much to me. I truly hope you are all well my friends and I can't wait to visit your blogs too. 

Stay creative and have a beautiful weekend! 

Maria 

*feel free to use my code: MARIA for 20% off your purchase with Leuchtturm1917. 

Also this month is my mammogram scan. Please pray for me. 🙏

Thank you again! Much love and good health.

Faces Between the Lines

 

It has been a chaotic 8 days let me tell yoU!

Two visits to Emergency.

I am okay.  Don't worry. 

Thank you Lord!

The last vlog before going to Emergency

Linking up with Friday Face Off hosted by the lovely Nicole and Art for Fun Friday with Hosted by Gillena.

Faces Between The Lines

I got this notebook off my shelf, I initially started keeping my creative writings in it and doodles in 2021 and then the notebook turned into a journey of my cancer diagnosis in 2022 and then this notebook turned into documenting my doctor visits, scans, blood work, treatments, journaling, poetry and doodles. 

I found comfort in writing down everything that I was going through. 

Letting you all know I am cancer free and praying that in January my scans will be clear just like the page from 2022.  

I doodled the following faces through my Cancer Journey. 

I enjoyed making faces without lifting the pen off the page. 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! God Bless you all!

You can tell I am starting to feel better when I start having tea again and making collages. :) 

Thank you for your comments and your kindness. 

Have a lovely rest of the month. 

Blessings your way. 

Maria

Winter Wonderland and Whimsical Wonder

Linkin up with

  ART JOURNAL JOURNEY 

FRIDAY FACE OFF

ART FOR FUN FRIDAY

Winter

Winter wonderland is here and it is cold outside. I've been enjoying winter walks in the forest paths and I love the sounds of nature in the cold. The branches clanking and whipping each other, the birds sing and tweet, the squirrels rustle through the leaves to find seeds and nuts. I've been writing a lot of nature poems and would like to share them with you soon. I take my book out in the forest and write what I feel. I feel so much whimsy and wonder in the forest. I truly miss the forest in PEI. We lived close to this magical trail and I loved it so much. At the moment I am living close to another trail, I can still hear a little city noise, it's okay though. I am grateful. 

I have been enjoying filming daily for Vlogmas on my Youtube Channel and I am finding with daily vlogs it really makes me focus on the daily things that sometimes we can take for granted. I am finding that each day has beauty and magic. The pink skies and the sun rising, the lights on the Christmas tree, the hot cuppa coffee, the snow that sits on the trees like fluffy cotton. All these little things are beautiful and magical to me. I am grateful.

Winter is truly a wonderland and whimsical, it is playful and helps my imagination to come to life. I love to express what I imagine though my art and videos. I am appreciative and grateful. The sense of wonder comes out when I take walks. I do pretend I am a kid again and wonder always what is around the corner or around the tree. My imagination kicks up in nature. The only thing I don't do is run around and frolic in nature. I walk but I wonder if that would change how we feel if I actually run like a kid again. Have you tried to frolic and run in nature? I wonder why certain things fade as we grow older. Why do we lose our sense of wonder, excitement and enthusiasm and forget how to play? Why would it feel "silly" if we jump or hop around like children? I feel we should skip, jump and frolic like we did when we were kids. I think we should awaken our sense of playfulness and have fun. I feel we should bring back our sense of wonder and do more pretending. 

Winter Wonderland Artwork 

Winter Wonderland of The Past

Thank you all so much!

Art For Fun Friday & Portrait Challenge FFO

Happy Friday! 

 Linking up with Nicole's Friday Face Off Challenge and Art for Fun Friday hosted by the lovely Gillena.

Photo Reference:

hello it's me

nice to see you 😊 

I started sketching for the Portrait Challenge this last week and I truly learned so much. 

First drawing

I did a quick sketch, a sketch with more time put into it and also I traced my self in the final piece so I can learn what I am doing wrong. My sketches do not look like me. LOL They look lovely but they don't look like me. 

Quick sketches

More time spent on this portrait. 

 The traced one below looks a little more like me. I learned a lot and with each line I almost cried. I've been through a lot the past four years and I am grateful for each pencil stroke. I thank you Nicole for inspiring me and for hosting this challenge because I am more appreciative of myself through this challenge. I will continue to work on self portraits because I do find it such a great challenge to learn and grow. I would like to work on a self portrait with paints as well. 

I traced the outline of this one:

As I traced this I learned about placement of my eyes, width of my nose and I know I would like to work on shading more. I am grateful for this challenge because I learned alot and I know that I need to keep practicing to keep growing. 

 I have so much more learning to do. Portraits are not my usual comfort zone. Landscapes and abstract and vases with flowers are my thing. So this was truly a challenge. I had a lot of fun and a lot of learning happening. I will continue to work on my portraits and continue to challenge myself. 

Thank you all so much for your visit and your comments mean so much to me. Thank you Gillena and Nicole for your amazing challenges and blog hops. It's a beautiful art community. 

I am truly grateful!

NEW VLOG

Please have a look and subscribe to my Youtube Channel.

I will be filming weekly vlogs in December called #Vlogmas

Previous Posts

Thursday Art and Dinner Date

T Stands for Theatre

Art Sketchbook Flip Through!

I finished the small sketchbook. 

A junk journal Page in my Christmas Composition Book

I really love doing these so much.

Setting up my Leuchtturm1917 Christmas Pages

*Feel Free to use my code: MARIA with Leuchtturm Canada and receive 20% off your purchase. Not Sponsored.