Originally uploaded by Jenny.M.

This is a lovely illustration, perfect to illustrate creativity. I LOVE the glow of light from the window!

Any of you who also follow me on twitter know that I had grown my hair for Beautiful Lengths and recently cut off that pony tail to send off.

Those of you who know me in "real life" know that until 5 years ago I had short hair. In fact most of my life I've had short hair. I won't go so far as to post my embarrassing high school freshman year pics. I won't go so far as to show you the pics of the shaved sides of my head… Good god the 90's were an awful time for hair. I grew it out at my mom's request for prom and senior year pics. Then in college I was too cheap and lazy to get cuts. (seriously spend $30 on hair when I could spend it on beer? Priorities people!) As soon as I graduated I cut it off.

From then on it was one short hair cut after another. After I quit teaching I shaved my head, yes the college thing many young women do I did after graduation. I was a late bloomer. I also dyed my hair a variety of colors. Bleach was my friend, until my hair was really tired of bleach- for a year I kept it bleached white and short. Sometimes I added funny colors, like pink, blue, orange etc… Again I was a late bloomer. I really wish I'd done more of that in college.

Anyway, until I decided to grow my hair for locks of love I had kept it short. Last time I had 12 inches of hair. This time I made it to 8, when I noticed something… I'm going more and more gray. Anyone who dyes their hair can tell you… Gray hair does not dye evenly, both Locks of love and Beautiful lengths ban more than 5% gray… I'm getting there. I suspect that the 2 years it takes me to grow the 8+ inches needed for either charity I'll be much more gray than I am now, and I'm verging on 5% gray. (I'm going mostly on my temples and sides)

So I'm back to my preferred short hairstyle. This time I went for what the stylist called a longer shaggy pixie cut.  3 or 4 inches on top, one to 2 on the sides and back, and she textured the hell out of it with the razor. It will grow out well becuase of the texture, meaning I'll need a cut every 2 months.

I feel free! What makes you feel free? 

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nice art journal flip of a fabric covered journal. Some very nice pages in this one.

Office Building
Originally uploaded by lessherger

Welcome to Technique Tuesday!

This page started out with Stonehenge 140lb paper. It was very lightly sealed with regular Tit White heavy body acrylic. I used a credit card to spread a VERY thin layer of the paint on the page. I then went back to the page and scraped off MOST of the paint. Leaving an extremely thin layer of paint that allowed the texture of the page to show through. This was completely dry before the next step.

Working in my car I used a Pilot G2 gell pen to sketch in in the rough details. I added more details as I fleshed out the image. When I was happy with the base drawing I used a waterbrush and my Cotman 12 pan set of travel watercolors to add color. I deliberately allowed the gel ink to run into the color. The sky was gray and I used blue and yellow ochre as well as ink the brush picked up to get the proper sky color.

I've begun to have something of a style/ technique when it comes to using hte ink pen combined with the watercolors and I like the effect it give.

You can see the full sized image and get a lot of detail by clicking on
the thumbnail above and clicking the "see all sizes" button above the
image that comes up.

Last week I wrote this post about fear and being a closeted creator/artist. My point was that it's okay to create in a closet until you feel comfortable enough to share with people. WE all have our own time line in which we become comfortable to talk to our friends and family about art and our creativity. You'll find your time and place. Eventually your friends and family will look at you as that person who always has a journal on them.

Michael Nobbs recently wrote a post about how Danny Gregory's book the Creative License was all about giving the reader permission to add art and drawing to their lives. His post is great and everyone should go and read it.

Connie of DirtFootPrintsStudio.com recently wrote this post about investing in  herself. It's a powerful honest post about what weighs you down, not just the fat, but the poor choices we all make that slow us from our purposes in life. She pushes you to look at what your choices are and how to make time for the stuff that matters. What matters to you? How and when do you wish to invest in yourself. There were  times when I might come off and say that this is new age-y metaphysical bullshit, but Connie has a point here, and it's a point that I've been trying to come to across the last few years. And its that if something matters to you,  you'll find time to do it, be it  art, your health, your family whatever it is you'll make time to make it real. You'll embrace it in your life and find a way to make it happen. Check out her other belly love posts, truly a powerful message.

sketchbook
Originally uploaded by cathy cullis

Cathy Cullis does some fantastic work. This dense little sketchbook page is exactly what I love about her work.

Wind
Originally uploaded by *ambies*

Love this page! I want to know if the leaves were used as a mask and then the resulting space drawn into. I love the colors, and the painterly effect of the paints. very nice!

O TEMPO PASSOU..MAS EU NÃO ME TRANSFORMEI NA MOÇA QUE DESCE A RUA DA LADEIRA NAS TARDES DE DOMINGO..
Originally uploaded by Cecília Murgel

I love this page. the layout is really neat and I like how colorful it is.

gas too
Originally uploaded by inkandclay

If you haven't checked out this guys work on flickr yet you certainly need to do so.