Gratitude

"It is not Joy that makes us Grateful, it is Gratitude that makes us Joyful."

During this season of thanksgiving, remember all the blessings you have been given.  Thankfulness brings peace to our hearts and joy to our lives.  Live in Gratitude!

New Journey in Watercolor

For a really long time I've wanted to learn to watercolor.  Something held me back, which, if I'm honest, was a bit of insecurity.  I've admired other's work, but didn't have the courage to try it myself.  Well, living here in the UK and all the beautiful scenery that is here and that comes from all our travels has inspired me to give it a go.  I was hesitant to put my firsts up to be scrutinized by others, but I've realized that there is a whole community of artists out there who are some beginners like me, but also other more seasoned artists who want to give encouragement and advice.  And I've found some strength in their words.  I admit my first attempts are rather child-like, but it didn't take long to start to get a feel for the paints and the water.  Not sure I've found my "style" yet, but it's coming.

Here a few early ones and I'll continue to note my progress as I go along in this new and wonderful world I've stepped into!

These I call my mini skyscapes.  I was basically learning to blend the paints and the skies made that easy.

Skyline Art Work

Oh...wow!

I hadn't realized how I've neglected my art work.  I have been busy this past year creating some pen and ink.  Here are the skyline pieces I've finished since being here in the UK.  It all kind of started with the idea of Zentangle.  But Zentangle is hard for me as I'm an "in-the-lines" kind of gal so I started creating these that combine mandalas and Zentangle into fun skyline art of some of my favorite cities.  Downloadable prints are available here...Aimee's Shoppe.

LONDON

London was my first piece.  The idea was the sun shining over the city and the river currents flowing beneath it.

PARIS

Paris was depicted with more flowers as I loved Paris in the Springtime.

ST LOUIS

Our hometown back in the States...St. Louis.  The arch, of course, with fireworks setting off around it and the river flowing in front of it.

LOUISVILLE

Louisville was a commission for trade piece.  The idea was that the compass always leads you home.  The fleur de lis, I learned, is a symbol of the city.

Available as Instant Downloads HERE!  @ Aimee's Shoppe

Zendoodling

Most everybody that knows me, knows that I love all things creative.  I've dabbled in a lot of different things over the years.  Thanks to my momma, who made sure we were exposed to lots of opportunities when we were young.  She had me in music and art classes as far back as I can remember.  I loved my art classes in high school and experimented with all kinds of mediums.  Some of my favorites were pen and ink.  Several years ago I picked up my pen again.  I started drawing some animal characters and filled them in with doodles.  They are kind of cute.  Most of these I used my old mechanical pen with India ink.

Recently, I realized that there is a name for this type of drawing...Zendoodles or Zentangles!  I'm not into the whole "Zen" thing, but I love the designs and the detail of these drawings.  I have to say it's pretty addicting.  The idea is to just doodle without giving it much thought, however, I'm one of those perfectionists so I sketch mine out with pencil before outlining.  Here are the projects I've been working on the past couple weeks. I've started using Sakura Art Markers for outlining and filling in.  They are a lot easier to use than the mechanical pen which is really fine and tends to clog on me all the time.

The next one is filled in with watercolor pencils giving it a soft watercolor look.

This is my first mandala...almost finished with a second larger one that is getting colored in with markers and a blending pen.  Coming soon!