Category: A time to Play

A Time to Play- Maybe

Posted on by Mary
Maybe

All week I kept telling myself “Maybe tomorrow”. Well as we know from earlier this week that this week did NOT turn out as planned. Life has been busy this week and somewhere along the way I have wrecked my shoulder, It’s getting better but I have spent a lot of the week in pain just by moving.

So all that to say that I haven’t had time to play. But maybe I did. Maybe it just looked a little different than what I normally would have done. See a few weeks ago-like a month ago really, I made this choice.

The choice

I made a choice a month ago to take on this writing project-100 days of blogging every single day. I have settled into a rather lovely routine but I have other priorities. And when you say yes to one thing you are saying no to other things, When the schedule is full then pay time may look differently. So yes art did happen this week but some other things did. and they were enjoyable. And fun too. I guess most of it really comes down to perspective.

So yesterday Bug and I cleaned out our yarn stash. We just weeded out the colors we just don’t use. I wracked my brain thinking about who I could gibve them to. A friend of our has two older girls who do craft sales in order to gain money for camp and so on. BINGO. I texted her and had the privilege of helping their girls. It helped weed out stuff we didn’t need and it helped them. That’s fun in my book.

The other thing we did was clean out the cedar chest and closet full of clothes that I don’t wear. There is something so satisfying about that. And then I also got the chance the last few days to work on next month’s writing. I have something fun up my sleeve. I am very excited about the things that are coming- and when you are excited about what you are working on it really doesn’t feel like work. it feels like play time. It’s fun. So even though none of these things really seemed like “play time” as I have defined it here in past posts,The truth of the matter is it has been great fun. Fun to help others, fun to move forward in working around our house, fun planning for the future.

It’s all about perspective.

As I sit here tonight typing this I could look back over the last week and see how crazy it’ll been and I could be discouraged and upset That I didn’t get to do “what I wanted to do”. but that is not why I do what I do. So even though I don’t have art to share tonight I do have a healthy dose of perspective as a reminder for myself to stay focused on what I have said yes too.

Maybe this next week

So maybe this next week I will get to do some art. I can tell you that more art is definitely coming in October (there is a hint to part of what is up my sleeve!). But if it doesn’t happen I will choose to see and be grateful for what did happen!.

Thank you so much for joining me for day 35 on this crazy Choosing Courage Journey. We have officially have accomplished one third of the project. If you have missed any of this past posts you can catch up here.

Not Exactly as I Planned- A Time to Play

Posted on by Mary
Planned

I had a great plan last week- exercise then art. BUT schedules just didn’t allow for that. The kids have figured the rhythm out for school. I on the other hand have not found my rhythm. And I am still trying to find a healthy balance for everything. So I only exercised once the treadmill this week…but when I was done I didn’t have time to art.

So I took today

When we got home from church I took a couple of hours to do some art. Its not finished some of the cells are 1/2 done. ONE IS IN THE UGLY STAGE for sure- it didn’t go as planned either. I am hoping I can save it but it might be over for it. Actually I am not sure any of them are “finished for sure.

And one cell hasn’t been touched at all.

It’s been a while since I have done some artwork so I was struggling with art block but as I get back into practice this will get better.

The bottom middle picture is something I am trying to learn. Water is difficult and I want to learn how to paint it. It also didn’t turn out as I had planned either

So the plan for next week- I don’t have one…lol Actually I just want to keep working on these. I think I want to break out those new prismacolor colored pencils I mentioned a while ago.

If you are interested in seeing where I started with this last week you can click here.

And thank you for joining me for day 28 of my Choosing Courage a 100 day writing project. To check out the rest of the posts in the project you can click here

How about you…. did your week go as planned? Let me know in the comments below and also what are you working on in your play time?

A Time to Play- Preparing for the Week

Posted on by Mary
Preparing

Hey All. I have been busy today Preparing for this week for my art breaks. I have been horrible the last two weeks about taking the little art breaks as I have been prepping for and started school.

Every week I try to exercise on the treadmill Its been hard as I have been dealing with the low iron. One of the things I have done during this time has been to reward myself to art when I got off the treadmill. See with low iron I have a hard time getting my heart rate to lower so I found that doing something like art afterwards helps to calm my heart rate and keeps my mind focused and helps to avoid a panic attack.

Last week was a bad week for exercise and I didn’t have time to sit down and do anything. So I had a brainstorm on the way to church this morning! I was so excited. I came home and I got to work. Some times the key is preparing for these breaks ahead of time.

Here’s what I did…

So I masked off 6 cells and painted simple backgrounds. Then as I exercise each day this week I can just go into my craft room and finish off one cell. Even though I am not really having a struggle with my heart rate or panic attacks since my iron infusion, I am finding that reconnecting with painting is helping me just enjoy our current season a little more!

I have no idea what will be pained on these backgrounds or what line art will come out of it. But I am excited about this little project. And maybe if this works out well this will turn out to be a fun little Sunday project preparing for the week ahead! We shall soon see.

I hoping that next week I will have 5 or 6 fun mini paintings all ready for you!

Thanks for Joining me for day 20 of my Choosing Courage : My 100 Day writing Project. You can check out the other posts here.

A Time to Play: Taking Time to Create

Posted on by Mary
Play

Welcome to our new weekly blog post, A Time to Play. Sunday afternoon’s were made for relaxing in our house. It is something we have made a huge priority over the last few years. We guard it pretty closely and it ends with a date night rotating amongst the family members. It’s a way that my very busy Hubby is able to spend quality time with each one of us.

Well this is the beginning of what I hope to carve out some time to learn some new skills. As we have had to change our schedules when hubby left his ministry it has been difficult to find the time for my craftiness. (HEHEHE- that just sounded kinda funny)

Scheduled play Time

Now each week will look a little different- some weeks I will share some artwork or I might share a favorite supply

This week for instance I am going to share….

WHAT’S In MY TRAVEL ART BAG

I have had this Eastpak Back Pack since I was in High school- It has been half away around the world with me and back again. It has been through 4 years of college too. It has been camping and hiking and has now found permanent residence in my craft room.

The front pocket

Let’s start with the clear pouch that holds 2 bottles of water- I used two travel bottles that came with our camper. (It had shampoo and conditioner) in them. and there is masking fluid. It keeps white spaces when using water color. you paint it on and then rub it off when dry. a glue stick and some binder clips.

Then there is my favorite mechanical pencil and a simple microfiber cloth for wiping off my paint brushes.

Then there are scraps of paper for testing projects and an artist card pack.

The Big Pocket

This is one of my favorite watercolor notebooks. It’s small and I love the spiral bound option so I Can fold it over for easier use.. I have really grown to enjoy Arteza’s Art supplies and there a bunch listed throughout this post. You can check out their website here and stay tuned to learn about more of their art supplies! You can check out more here

THESE are my absolute favorite water brushes also from Arteza. They come in 6 different brushes 3 round (small, medium, and large) and 3 flat brushes (Small , medium, and large). I lost one of the caps while we were camping 2 years ago! the velvet bag came with the Artsy palette coming up in a few pics

this pencil set was an Amazon find. I needed a cheaper set for traveling and I needed some new drawing pencils. this set was perfect.

This simple little travelers notebook was something I put together a few years ago. I had to re-work the band. and I took so over side sketch paper and water color paper and cut them down to fit the inserts. It is perfect for camping and traveling.

Somedays you just need a coloring book! and this one is small enough to just slide in amongst the other stuff in the bag and I can just grab it and the colored pencil pack and go sit at t a picnic table somewhere. and the little book to the left is just an insert for the travelers notebook above covered in scrapbook paper and it has some heavy duty mixed yardstick.

This little pack has a bunch of goodies in it. Hubby and I have matching ones. His is gray and mine is this lovely shade of purple

The top picture is what is held in the pockets on the left hand side.. The pack come with three pencil holder “Pages. the first one is stitched in but the second two can be put in with velcro. I only have an extra one in. in currently. the first one front and back hold my Arteza Woodless Watercolor pencils- they are my faves to date. they are so smooth and not scratchy like some. And they dissolve so well.

Page two

The second page has my PITT Pens (fine Liners and a Mechanical pencil with Red lead in it!!! I have recently started using red colored pencil to sketch in before I water color over it. It just kinda melts into the painting and adds depth to the artwork.

The big part of the pack has just a few little things.

This little cellphone looking device is actually a watercolor paint palette. I needed something small. Would you believe that there are 60 colors in it? I love just how pigmented these colors have and I love to play with them.

The top picture are 2 silicone muffin cups one for clean and one for dirty water, my kneadable gray eraser (AKA stress therapy) and a roll of WASHI tape .

These are super special paints!!! These are Derwent Graphitint watercolor paints. They have Graphite mixed into the hues- These amazing paints give wonderful earthy tones with a slight graphite luster. I have thoroughly enjoyed using them and I am currently saving upper the water soluble Graphitint colored pencils.

Finally these mini travel brushes can be corked and make for easy travel.

If I need to get smaller I can just grab the purple pack and the travelers notebook. and be good to go. These are made by Sakura Koi and come in round brushes in 3 sizes (small, medium, and large).

So are you ready to play>. Join me each Sunday and be ready to share what you are working on!! I can’t wait to hear what you are working on!!

You can check out last weeks art post here

And to check out the rest of my Choosing Courage posts you can click here. This marks my 14th blog post and the end of week 2!