Pen & Ink with Oils

This project is called Orchids and Bamboo and was designed by Janelle Johnson (http://www.janellejohnson.com/) - it is a colored pencil pattern, but, I decided to be creative, so I used colored pencils, pen & ink, the oil rouging technique and also straight oils. It was a lot of fun. I started by basecoating the surface with J.W. Undercoating (mixed with some acrylic paint). I then took colored ink (I used disposable pens because it is such a pain to keep filling and refilling my tech pens). At this point, since the surface was not white, I could not just use the oil rouging technique, so, after spraying the piece, I used oil paint to basecoat everything except the bamboo - I also used some of my colored pencils to add some color here and there. After spraying, I proceeded to use the rouging technique for most of the project. I am pleased with the results, and I plan to use different techniques in some of my future projects.

Now, onto other news - my husband had shoulder replacement surgery on February 5 and is now on the road to recovery. It will take quite awhile for the strength in his arm to come back, and, at this point, he has very limited movement in his arm. Since I am spending a lot of time helping my husband and doing extra chores around the house, I will not be scheduling any teaching classes this spring. I do hope to hold classes in the fall, and my schedule will be posted at that time.

I am going ahead with my weekly art sessions, which start next week. As the girls complete their projects I will continue to post some of their artwork on my blog. If anyone is interested in attending these art sessions please contact me.

Mary Owens now has her teaching schedule posted for 2010, and she has added some interesting items to her website (http://www.maryowensdesigns.com/). If anyone is interested in purchasing Mary Owens' patterns or products, I have most of the items in stock.

I have decided I have way too many pieces of completed art - I don't have enough room to store any of my new pieces. So, I am planning to sell most of the artwork I have done over the past ten years. To see my artwork go to the main page of my blog and look in the gallery, or you can look at the slideshow at the bottom of the page. If you are interested in purchasing any of my art please contact me.

Well, I think that is it for now - I am just finishing a couple of colored pencil projects and I will post them shortly.