THE MOUSE DID IT

Windows has brought out a new version of Paint which has lots of additional features.  I've drawn a few pictures with the mouse using the old Paint so was inspired to try out the new.

I'm linking to the challenge at "Art Journal Journey" where Gill is hosting the theme "Inspired by....".

One thing I like about drawing with the mouse is that the mouse has an artistic mind of its own so it's often just a matter of watching what it does next.
When someone throws a party they sometimes say "Bring a friend".

OK I know it's crazy, the mouse did it.

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I'm often in the garden and thought you might like to see some of it.

Sheep in the rock garden.

Boxy has a new neighbour in the Zen garden and he's not very sure about it.

You can just see Boxy top centre.

My niece made us a little deer for Christmas and Mr. E. adapted her design to make one for the garden.

We have poppies all over the garden, everywhere.  This year I planted flowers specifically to help and attract the bees.

They go crazy over these poppies.

They love foxgloves too.  They go right inside a bell and have to reverse out.

Some of the vegetable plot.  Mr. Esmeralda made the raised beds.

On Saturday I planted mimulus round the birdbath and neatened the edges.

The next morning it was like this.

Here's the culprit.

The female blackbird was racing back and forward pulling up earth and rushing off with it.

We guessed that part of her nest had collapsed and she was doing emergency repairs.

A little flower bed to finish.

Hope you enjoyed this short visit to our garden.

If you ever come again, bring a friend.

IS IT A DUCK?

I've always been amused by this quote -

"If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck".

Gill at "Art Journal Journey" has a really good theme "Inspired by.....anything" so here is my painting inspired by this quote.

I started by making a drawing 12 x 8 inches (30 x 20 cms).
I was going to paint it in watercolours but then tried something different

which was colour filling with Photo-shop.

I had a next idea which was to fill with pattern.
All these infill patterns are my own original designs derived from my own paintings.

The last two fill-ins on the left took ages to choose.  I tried loads of patterns and colours.
Do you like the two pink creatures watching?

Finally, the final result.

So what do you think?
Is it a duck?

FISH ON A BICYCLE

The sun is shining in a blue, blue sky

and the flowers and plants in the garden are all going bananas because they want some attention

but my Finnish friend Susu has just posted a blogpost where she has painted a scene upside down.

Immediately I had to do this.

Here it is as I painted it. 
I did turn it round just once to check that it wasn't completely bonkers.  It was, but I carried on anyway.

It was crazy fun.
Here it is turned round.

Is that really a fish on a bicycle?

I gave it a better background.

The fish are now swimming on dry land but still looking quite happy about it.

I kind of like these dancing flowers.

Seriously, do give painting upside down a go.  It's tremendous fun.

I'm linking to Jo's challenge at "Art Journal Journey" where the theme is "Flora and Fauna"

and to "Moo-Mania" where the theme is "Flowers".

UNDERWATER FLORA AND FAUNA

Can you have underwater flora and fauna?

If so, then this is my entry for Jo's great theme "Flora and Fauna" at "Art Journal Journey", the great challenge site which gives us a new theme to inspire us every single month.

Here is my original painting, made with watercolours and a little stamping  

and here it is underwater.
I think the flora is at the top and the fauna, strange underwater creatures, are below.
Did you know that colours change under water?

And nearby there is a starfish and her friends.

Isn't it great that we can have and keep our original painting and also change and enhance it with photo-editing.

I'm also linking to "Moo-Mania" where the theme is "Flowers".

MEN AT THE WINDOW

For the past week (although it seems like a year) we have had men about the house (mostly outside) painting windows, doors, railings and walls.  Wherever you are or whatever you are doing (!) a man can appear at a window or door at any time.  It is totally discombobulating.

I managed to make some art by hiding upstairs and had lots of exercise running up and down the stairs to fetch bits of art equipment and cups of coffee.

Alison at "Art Journal Journey" is asking us to make art on the theme "Recycle and Collage".  

I've got a large box of painted papers some going back twenty years so that's the recycling.

If I hadn't been discombobulated I would have shown these papers before I cut them, but here is some indication of the bits

and the picture before I sewed the fabric to its "vase".

Here it is framed.

It's going to a group exhibition in May.   We each made a picture on the theme "Flower" using identical white frames.

Douglas likes it.  So that's alright.

THREE EXPERIMENTS

Hello again!

Regular visitors might remember I put up a couple of posts where the pens chose the colours for an artwork.

I took out four this time, but they chose four dark ones and I had to add another one - the light green on the right. 

My friend J. makes the most exquisite and also useful sketchbooks and I've now got quite a stash, so I broke open a new one and used a little thumbnail sketch from one of my Thumbnails Sketchbooks
.

HOME IS A VASE

"Home is a vase" ???

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Alison is hosting "Art Journal Journey" this month with the theme "Recycle and Collage".  

STORM AT SEA

I drew the sky and sea, and the rest is drawn and cut out. 

Some of the cut-out was left unglued to give a 3D effect.

Finally - and this will come under "Recycle", I had a few scraps left over from a textile piece and re-arranged they looked like this.  The only change/addition I made was to give the two walkers an eye each.

I'm not sure this is going anywhere but I found it amusing.

I'm linking it to "Try it on Tuesday" where the challenge is to "Recycle Something".