Saturday Painting time!

watercolor journal page 3 winston sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

Today I spent several hours with some of my cousins who are in town getting to visit and we had the opportunity to videotape my grandparents telling stories. What an awesome experience!

Then I came home and deciced that I HAD to make some art. I pulled out a photo I took of my dog Winston last summer on a really hot day. He so didn't want to move. I figured that it was a perfect time to get a photo. :)

I sketched first with pencil, then with the ink and finally with some Albrecht Durer Watercolor pencils. This was such an odd angle that it was a challenge to get Winston to "look right" I also decided not to draw the grain in on the wood of the bench, I figured it would make the painting look too busy. what do you think??

I hope you are having a great weekend!
cheers, SB

Wow! An amazing week of learning.

watercolor journal poppy
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

I was able to attend the Washington Education Association Leadership Accademy this week. It was a wonderful experience being immersed a learning environment with a couple hundred educators. Amazing.

I worked on one watercolor pencil painting this week and I actually finished it! This poppy was done usingAlbretch Durer Watercolor pencils on 140# watercolor paper in my new watercolor journal that I made last week. this is from a photo that I took a couple weeks ago while walking into downtown Vancouver. I love the smooth application of these pencils!

On my way up to the conference I had the opportunity to visit the Daniel Smith art supplies store in South Seattle. It was so cool! I even found most of the Albretch Durer pencils that Kate Johnson reccommends for light fastness. that's what I used for my poppy. I love these pencils!

On another note, today was my grandfather's 100th birthday! Yup, 8-8-8 was when he was born. It is so exciting to me to think of all the things that have changed and happened in the world since he was born. It sort of boggles my mind. We had about 20 family members at lunch and then more showed up at Grandpa and Grandma's house for cake and Icecream too. It was so fun to see folks I havn't seen for almost 20 years!

I hope you have a great weekend and make sure to tell those you care about what you think!
cheers, SB

Sunday Show and Tell August 2nd!

watercolor journal page 1 sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

Watercolor journal page 1.

I have 16 pages in the new watercolor journal and I have finished my first entry in the book! Wahoo!

I took this photo of a bumblebee at the Edgefield McMenimins Just outside of Portland Oregon last summer. I thought it was so cool that I was able to catch the bee sitting still and see the shine on it's wings.

I remember when our son was little he used to pet the furry bumblebees hanging around the lavendar bushes in the front yard. He would always laugh and then run to tell us about the soft bumble bees. :)

Here's to summer memories!
cheers, SB

New Watercolor Book

watercolor journal cover sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

I made myself a hand bound watercolor journal from 1 full size sheet of 140# paper today. I havn't done any bookbinding in a couple years so this was a fun exercise! It is Coptic bound hard covers.

I'll be able to get 16 watercolor sketches in this book. I decided that wasn't too many. I tend to get overwhelmed by too many sheets in a journal or sketchbook. when there are too many pages I start and then keep seeing ALL THOSE OTHER PAGES and think I'll never be able to fill them up and so I stop even trying. I'm working on getting better about that kind of talk to myself

Since this is a watercolor journal It ended up with a watery theme to the doodling on the cover. I had fun seeing what it would become. I used a Koh-I-Nor Rapido Sketcher pen (I'm loving this pen right now) and my Prismacolor Watercolor pencils.

happy Saturday! Cheers, SB

Inspired this evening!

watercolor postcard gazebo garden sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

I was inspired by a photo in a Home improvment summer magazine. The Gazebo and lots of flowers, perspective and greens made it challenging and very rewarding when I finished it. My husband even said it looked really good. That's high praise, usually things look nice or pretty good. so...

Any comments or suggestions on what to do next time greatly appreciated!

Have a great evening(or morning depending on were you are in the world!) cheers, SB

Friday fun time--my last one of the summer

watercolor postcard portals 3 sm
Originally uploaded by sbergeron00

This is my last friday of summer break. I'm kinda sad about that as I have been having so much fun getting back into my art!

I have decided that I'm not going to let work get in the way of my creative side. I have the evenings and I'm going to make them count.

I hope to remember that after I get home from work I can rechage my personal batteries with a homemade latte and a sketch. Even if all I do to start out is the Everyday Matters (EDM) Challenges.

For now though, I'll share my watercolor postcard portals series number 3! It's yet another stone wall entrance to another place...It was done with Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils, Pitt xs black pen and Prismacolor Color Pencils.

As Always I love to hear what you think! Please leave a comment or suggestion.

Cheers! SB