When I Get A Little Money

I promised myself that I won't start any new projects until I finish a few that have been in the works for a while. In an attempt to keep that promise, I just finished two hand lettered bookmarks that I started about a month ago. I thought these quotes would be perfect for a book lover and would make great bookmarks. They were made with a black micron pen and watercolor pencils on watercolor paper.

For me, buying art books and magazines is something of a treat and I would choose to buy books over clothes or shoes or groceries any day. I gave the bookmarks to my daughter's friend Trisha because she loves books and I thought she would enjoy using them. She's also a talented young artist who let me borrow and read her entire Twilight series and what's not to love about that?

What do you buy when you get a little money?

Parade The Circle

Everyone loves a parade—especially one that celebrates the arts. On our most recent Artfits field trip, Annette and Cathy and I headed over to University Circle to view the free community arts parade presented annually by the Cleveland Museum of Art. International and national guest artists joined Greater Cleveland artists, families, schools and community groups in a spectacular display of bright costumes, giant puppets, stilt-dancers, handmade masks and colorful floats. It was another beautiful day in Cleveland and the parade was truly a visual extravaganza.

This costume was stunning and swirled so gracefully down the street.

A fantastic giant puppet with hair spilling out like a fountain of color.

What could be more fun than another giant puppet?

Two giant puppets!

I think it's obvious that I adore colorful giant puppet creatures.

There were actually about 2,000 people who marched in the parade including this group who painted themselves blue!

It was another fabulous, fun-filled Artfits field trip. If you’d like to see more photos, click here to go to the Artfits blog or here to check out Flickr group photos.

A Beautiful Day For A Sketchcrawl

Today was a beautiful day for the June sketchcrawl event at Wendy Park. Wendy Park is located on the lakefront and is a little hidden gem with a very cool view of the city from a different perspective. Neither Cathy nor I had ever been there before, so it's always fun to discover something new in your own background. Once everyone arrived we walked over to Whiskey Island, which is really more of a peninsula. There we decided to sit on the pier and sketch the old coast guard station which has not been in operation for over 30 years. It was so relaxing with the waves lapping, the gulls calling, the rumble of a nearby train in the background, and all under a gorgeous blue sky and the welcome warmth of the sun.

I guess I'm a bit of a slow poke when it comes to sketching because I'm lucky to get one sketch done compared to everyone else who will finish three or four. I haven't posted the sketches from the last few sketchcrawls because a couple are still unfinished and a few others were finished way after the fact. Today I felt really good to have completed a sketch on sketchcrawl day, although I ended up ending a bit more color once I got home.

Today was also a great day for rejectamenta! I came home with a bunch of rusted bottlecaps, a couple of fishing lures, some sort of cable things, and a fabulous rusted "no smoking" sign from the coast guard station. All in all, it was a fun and productive art adventure.

Support Group For Artists

Everyone should have an artist support group. There's nothing better than hanging out with like-minded souls who understand why a new set of sparkle pens is enough to make your day...who are content to doodle with you in silence or brainstorm ideas for your latest project...who are ready to ditch housework in favor of field trips...who inspire you to try new techniques and explore new ideas...who never get tired of talking about art or making art. I'm fortunate to have found just such a group that we call ARTFITS. We get together every other week and spend several hours together working on individual projects such as altered books or journals. We also venture out on field trips such as sketchcrawls, art shows, and studio open houses. Since some of us work together, we even spend lunch hours doodling, sketching, or journaling.

I highly recommend finding or starting your own artist support group if you don't already have one. All you need is a place to meet and a couple of people who like what you like. If you don't have a space where you can work, consider getting together to share ideas and show and tell. Surround yourself with creative people and let the fun begin.