"Les trois derrière”

My daughter and I had a fantastic time on vacation in Quebec City and Montreal.  We laughed a lot, ate a lot, climbed a zillion staircases, and slept a lot. We both enjoyed keeping track of our daily activities in the travel journals I made for us.

Inspiration is everywhere.  I took many photographs, of course.  The weather was perfect for outside dining.  We took full advantage of that in both cities' many cafes and restaurants.  

The inspiration for my 9x12 mixed media painting on wood panel

My interpretation:

Just having fun with it!!

the background in acrylic paints

Oil paints to complete the composition

Voila!

Somewhere in Croatia

I finished this work this afternoon.  You can see the progression below.  I had difficulty deciding how to add the script to the sign over the door.  It's not perfect - but after all, it's not a photograph, it's a painting!

Finished work

 

Banff, Canada

Several years ago, my husband and I visited Banff and Lake Louise in Canada. It was late October. The weather was chilly and sunny.  It was between seasons there so we had the place mostly to ourselves.  It was one of our first vacations that I used my iPhone to take photos of our trip.  

original photo and inspiration for my painting

background in acrylic; line drawing for placement of mountains, lakes, etc.

blocking out background in oil paints

finished work

My Best Bud...

Traveling soon - I'm trying to make sure I bring all the cords, earbuds, etc. with me.  I ordered new earbuds but they didn't come with a case...

Problem solved!

How I did it...

Here We Go A-Travelling...

Our friends and neighbors are French and spend half the year in their home in Brittany.  They have invited Richard and I to visit this summer.  We're super excited about the trip.  The flights, hotels, etc. have been booked. 

As usual, I made myself a travel journal.  I made something similar a couple of years ago and since the design worked well, I made a couple more - (one for me and one for a friend who going out west this spring - don't tell it's a surprise - the journal NOT the trip!)

7x10" paper 

print pages

fold papers in half, add holes to signatures with Japanese punch (each signature consists of 4 fold pages)

Assorted papers

paper adhered to canvas - overall size of canvas cut to 15Wx7.5L

water color soluble crayons - that didn't work as planned

layers of acrylic paint - that's better - it changes again with more paint (see #2 below)

color scheme for journal (#1) inspired by Cezanne

Dupioni silk adhered to reverse side of canvas (wonder under); holes punched in spine

 

(journal (#2) colors more suitable to out west); stitch decorative thread around all sides to front side of cover 

My journal (#1)

Journal #2

After while crop-o-dile...

My granddaughter, Emily, is graduating from high school.  We're super excited to be going back to Chicago for the festivities!  (All photos taken with my Apple Watch.)

As is my custom, I made a travel journal to keep track of all we do and people we see...
The journal is made from a 7x7 child's book from the Dollar Store - sanded, painted with acrylic paints; image transfer, etc.

Cover shows Trump Tower where we will stay while downtown - fantastic location - beautiful hotel

painted pages drying

mark holes for binding

Crop-o-dile hole punch

line up holes with large toothpicks

heavy yarn for ties

using a large straw for wiggle room - tie knot in each yarn piece

inside pages

Lighthouse

The other day we walked along the 1.5 mile boardwalk (one way) in the Smyrna Dunes Park in New Smyrna Beach, Fl.  We couldn't get to the lighthouse on foot at least not from where we were walking.  I don't think I've ever seen an orange lighthouse before.  Actually, we did a 3 mile round trip walk.  Once we came to the end, we didn't realize that was the parking lot the car was parked in so after a bathroom break, we turned around and walked to the beginning again!

It's a bird sanctuary, but honestly, we didn't see anything unusual except a few tortoises, which, of course, aren't birds :-)  It was a beautiful day for a walk - not too hot, slight breeze.

Memorial Day memories

Firstly, thank you to all our service personnel who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our blessed United States of America safe.

Richard and I are enjoying a perfectly beautiful spring day in Chicago at Navy Pier.

shadows...

Shadows are intriguing - they can tell a story, show patterns or just create depth in a photo.  I particularly like finding unexpected shapes ...

Linking to:

Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday
Natures Footstep
Digital Art Meme

Katherine's Corner
Little Things Thursday