New Moon Monday & Drawing from Memory!

 
The Moon cycles sure to seem to get faster and faster. And if you are in to that kind of stuff, like I am, this is a really cool animation of Moon phases for 2022!
And with tomorrow's New Moon on February 1st, it's also the Chinese New Year! Year of the Tiger! 

I drew this fun little Tiger yesterday, following a youtube tutorial! So much fun! And I did watch the Bengals win yesterday, so I'm super proud of our LSU Tigers!!! I can't wait to watch them win the Super Bowl! And, I'm not even a football fan! But while I was watching, I drew this awesome little Owl! This week's drawing challenges are all animals "from memory" --- lucky for me, I know exactly what an Owl looks like!

I love how Procreate records your drawings in a time lapsed video [this is the short version]. So cool! And it's finally going to warm up a wee bit today, so I'm looking forward to some afternoon sunshine! Happy Year of the Tiger!!

love and peace always ~ Kathy

Instant Pot & Art!

 
It's been so cold here!!! All I want to do is stay in my PJ's, draw on my iPad and make food! So this beautiful little character came out last night! I love her! Meet Mayvin! She's an "App" developer and also an avid collector of ceramic frogs. Her grandmother was a collector of frogs, as well, and Mayvin inherited the whole collection when she was 12 years old. Since then, she has added some gorgeous hand-painted ceramic frogs to her own collection, some of them really rare and dating back to the 1800's. A lot of her friends think she's weird and quirky, but frogs are way more special to her than people, anyway. Currently she is working on an amphibian identification app which, hopefully, can help identify some species of frogs that are believed to be extinct. She's currently saving all of her money to take a trip to the Amazon and Equatorial Africa Tropical Forests to test out her app!
I bought an Instant Pot a few years ago and haven't used it in at least a year! I was actually thinking about rehoming it, until I started seeing all of these amazing recipes from Jeffrey Eisner! His cookbooks are just choked full of flavorful recipes and old favorites! Like this delicious Italian Sausage and Shell Pasta I cooked last night. It's super rich [just look at the ingredient list], but certainly worth the splurge now and then!

And today I'm making a big pot of onion soup [Japanese Steakhouse style], because my allergies are kicking my butt! I'm so ready for Spring!!! I hope you are staying warm where you are!

love and peace always ~ Kathy

"So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being." ~ Franz Kafka

My iPad Saved My Life!

I know everyone has some type of creative outlet...of course, those that know me know I have way more than one! As we all know, in the beginning of the pandemic, face masks were not available for all of us, so I started making them. I ended up making close to 500 and spent my entire Spring of 2020 in our basement, sewing...all day and night! I even had Wayne helping me! I made several patterns and he would get everything cut out and ironed and I would just sit there and sew and sew and sew and SEW!! Ugh!! I sewed so much, I sewed all of my sewing inspirations out of me entirely! I didn't even turn on my machine during 2021 and I have zero desire to ever sew again. But I'm kinda hoping that changes, since I have so many adorable fabrics that are begging to be turned into something cute!

Just ONE day of my months of sewing every single day!

And now the CDC says these don't work! NOW they say the only ones that work are the ones they have available, which were NOT available when we needed them!!! So frustrating, especially for someone like me that threw themselves into a project to help others! I'm just hoping all of the masks I made had a placebo effect and kept everyone protected anyway!

But, there is an upside to all of my mask making madess!! I used the money I made to buy and iPad Pro and an Apple pencil, so I could start drawing in the Procreate App! And boy has that paid off for me!!! I absolutely love it!!! Drawing has saved my sanity AND my life!!! There is nothing more rewarding than sitting down with a blank screen and letting whatever is in my head come out through my hand...it's an amazing process to watch. And one of the best things about Procreate, is that you can record a time-lapse video of your drawing, like this:

This is Lola! For her full story, check her out on my instagram page:

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So much fun! I encourage anyone looking for a creative outlet to invest in an iPad and start drawing! You just never know what you might have inside of you that is dying to come out!!

Happy Tuesday! Live your life and NEVER stop learning!!!

love and peace always ~ Kathy

 
Me in my "element"! During a recent camera club presentation, a friend of mine [Jo Crebbin] had this photo of me in her slideshow presentation. I don't even remember her taking the photo, but I certainly remember the day! This was several years ago, during an outing at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC --- we were there to take photographs of the Sunflowers! So keeping in the spirit of things, below is a picture of Jo!

When you get a chance, be sure to check out her photography! She is amazing!!! Absolutely stunning photographs! Thank you, Jo!!! And here is another photo from our outing! What a gorgeous day!
 
And it's another gorgeous day today, so I'm going outside! Happy Sunday!! But first, Meet "Gordon" --- another little character that's been living in my head :)

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love and peace always ~ Kathy

 Every man dies. Not every man really lives. ~ Randall Wallace

 Has everyone enjoyed the first full Moon of 2022!! It seems like it's lasted for days here! With our first substantial "sneaux" of Winter, the reflection from the Moon beams has made it seem like an eternal daylight. I'll take it, though! It has been keeping me awake...not because I can't go to sleep, but because I can't stop looking at it. This photo was taken from my pillow, with my phone! The Moon had two rainbows around it and it was gorgeous! Wayne said that means there is ice in the clouds when that happens. So gorgeous! 

And since it was another super bright Moon last night, I stayed up late, drawing on my iPad! So much fun! I hope you are all having a great week!!! 
love and peace always ~ Kathy

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Daily Meditations...

For several years I have tried [without success] to meditate...you know, the traditional way...sitting quietly, listening to soft, relaxing music, reciting a mantra over and over in my head until it literally sticks in there for the whole day...counting beads on my Mala, etc., nothing worked. My mind just wandered and wandered, thinking about what I should/could be doing, or what I needed to get done later in the day. I finally gave up on it and decided I would try again this Winter, when I didn't have so much to do in a day. 

Those of you that know me, know how much I love playing with Photoshop! Well, over the years, I have collected quite a bit of digital scrapbooking stuff and digital art. One of the places I get a lot of stuff from is "Design Cuts" --- there you can download everything from fonts to patterns, to clipart, to photoshop tools, etc. I had gotten away from the traditional "digital scrapbooking/collage" stuff that I used to love and spend endless hours playing with. But now, since I really know how to use photoshop way better than I did 10 years ago, I decided to start playing with it again. Not only am I in love with the results, but it has become so "meditative" for me! I create in the mornings, while I'm having my coffee, and just let my mind be free --- so much fun! So relaxing AND rewarding! You should try it...instead of a paper journal, it's like journaling with your computer

I even created a new page on my website, just for my digital art --- check it out! And, there's music, so turn up your sound! As always, thanks for stopping by!

love and peace always ~ Kathy

"The thing about meditation is: you become more and more YOU" ~ David Lynch