Gloria J Zucaro's "First Drawing for Sketchbook Skool"

After a hectic weekend and being up all night with a stomach ache, I took it easier today.  

I had planned on doing my first "Beginnings " lesson early in the day from Sketchbook Skool, but kept procrastinating with household jobs and trying to fix a problem with my computer.  

Finally after returning home at 6:15 from watching my grandson's soccer practice, I ate dinner and opened a gessoed notebook page and put down some watercolor paint.  I dried it with a heat gun then put down a layer of acrylic heavy-bodied paint.  But to my surprise it was transparent!  So after some sketching, I added more paint.  The first sketch was a little "sketchy", but I went over it with a darker pen. 

It is not really in good proportion but I like it anyway.  It wasn't as bad as I feared!  This is my New Balance sneaker.  

My sneakers are my most comfortable shoes and whenever I am at home or for flea markets and other casual long-days of walking I wear them.  (my orthotics and magnets fit into them!)

First layer over gessoed page.  The gesso made the rather thin paper very lumpy when it dried, but I like the texture.

In the next step we were to make a general outline of the object we were painting.  As you can see I made the end of the shoe shape going off the page.

Here is my final drawing after a second coat of ink with a bigger nib.

I used an 01 Sakura Pigma pen first then an 05

With all my lights on in the family room I also got some shadows in the picture!

I am posting this to Paint Party Friday, Facebook and Twitter.

OOPS!  There is more Below, My first page of journaling, and my desk top in my family room.

I have started to journal very amateurishly!  Yesterday my day got away from me as usual, not being in the habit of having what I need with me.  So I journaled it today, just drawing little pictures of things that caught my attention yesterday.  I went shopping at Costco for a new blender.  Then spent several hours with my daughter-in-law and my grandson, who is 6, at Goebberts Pumpkin Farm.  It had suddenly dropped in temperature and was extremely windy.  So we kept on the move to see the pumpkin eating dinosaur, the three tents with animals(chickens running free).  There were all sorts of exotic animals including the big cats that I especially love. Three baby tigers, and leopards and a couple of Linx.  There were various deer type animals & goats, pigs, a cow, ostrich, Alpaca, Parrots, etc.  Then we ran to the corn box, which is filled with shucked kernels, then to the maze that was inside a structure and the piled hay/straw made it seem warmer.  We hid from each other and ran in opposite directions for about 1/2 hour.  Then it was time to checkout and get some Kettle Corn!  On to dinner at Portillo's( for me) it was a chicken sandwich and onion rings.  I got home about 7 and fell asleep on the sofa!

The last questions that Danny asked about our feelings on the class at the end of the week and my answers.  You can probably figure out some of the questions.  

I feel better now that I am into it a little more.  I think it is a good idea to journal, because as has been said, we forget the minutia that is really what makes up our lives.  I really like that I don't have to be perfect in my drawings and can just put down my impressions.  What scares me is doing it on the spot in a public space.  !. I don't sit down in an area like that ever!  2.I always need some other supply.  Today at home I had pen, paper and watercolors, but decided to use my Derwent watercolor pencils and then wet everything afterward.  I would not normally have that.  I also needed the cardboard box the blender came in to draw a facsimile of it for my journal.  I needed some scissors too!  And paper towels.  And my camera!!!

Today I shopped for ingredients to make cornbread to eat tomorrow night with chili that my son is making.  We will have dinner together after my grandson goes trick or treating.  I measured all the ingredients out into bowls and cups.  Then I took a picture to use as my sketchbook journal page for today.  After the cornbread muffins and sticks were baked, I took a photo so you could see how delicious they look!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Tracy & Her Demented Friends!"

Another surprise!  A package arrived from Tracy Delisle.  In it was an abundance of fun!  A wonderful "Nevermore" plaque.  I love ravens, crows and other blackbirds.  But especially Ravens for Halloween.  I think she thought that "Demented" was missing his other friends in Delisle Land so she sent along Mister Raven to keep him company.  There was a little easel to rest Mr. Raven upon and I quickly put him up by "Demented".  They are a happy pair.  Some other special additions to the package were candies of all types, two glow-in-the-dark skellies, and some Dracula teeth for me to use on my still-human friends!

On Wednesday morning I took a "Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan" class at "Tattered Tiques" in Barrington.  What a great welcome was given to all the class-takers!  A goodie bag with notepad, pen, paint brush, decorated clothespin clip, a paint chart, a postcard from the store telling about Fall specials, a detailed handout of instructions to help us after we got home.some peppermints, some script in French for adding to possible painted pieces a picture frame, and 4 other pieces of raw wood for practicing the Chalk Painting techniques on while in class. 

This was the frame I picked.  It was just your ordinary medium brown wooden frame.  But we did a two color process on it and then distressed it and waxed it.  

It looks so cool now, a little "beachy".

The orange piece also got  orange Chalk Paint and two different types of wax, clear and dark. You can see the difference above.

This piece was the typical traditional 1970"s or 80"s gilt frame with ornate carvings.  Since many people no longer like that style of picture frame anymore, we did a one-step plus wax process to tone it down.  Doesn't it look neat!?

The last piece of raw wood is oak.  Oak has a nice grain so we did a one step process called "liming".

As you can see, I started to write my name on the wrong side.

Below is my first attempt at paper collage from Karen Sako's class.  I really enjoyed adding all the paper pieces to my moon and crow.

Up close view of papers

The 6" x 6" whole

I am linking this to Paint Party Friday, and Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

Have a great week,

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "Collage on Three"

This week flew by again.  I spent my time planting perennials for next year, and watching the birds and small mammals in my yard.  A very relaxing week.

I wanted to show you some of the collage pieces done in Karen Sako's collage class.  We used Masonite boards covered with gesso, either regular white or clear.  Other supplies were magazine pages, sandpaper, baby wipes, saran wrap, crackle paste, gesso with sand added, pastels, India ink and my favorite, strips of paper applied with gel medium, and then sealed.

The Beginnings

Gesso with impressed sand, torn paper, acrylic paint, sealer

Gesso, crackle paste,torn paper, gel medium, acrylic paint, sealer.

Gesso, saran, gesso with sand, tool to add lines, acrylic paint, sealer

I am posting this to Paint Party Friday, Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

Have a wonderful week.

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "Demented Candy Corn from Tracy Delisle and Sun Filled "

I am sorry I took so long to get my "Thank You" to Tracy Delisle  out for this incredible "Demented Candy Corn" piece of art by Tracy.  I have it on my mantel in the family room and just love it.  Tracy is known for her very original pieces of three-D art.

"Demented Candy Corn"

This past week I finished a pastel I was working on.  I am trying to decide on a title I like.

This painting is 9" x 12" on La Carte sanded Pastel Paper.

Contact me if interested in purchase.  May be enlarged by clicking on picture.  Thank you for taking a look.   

                    Gloria