The coneflowers are just lovely! I’m so happy to see them blooming and growing in my little garden area between the coral bells. The rain we had last Thursday and Friday really perked the floral displays in all our gardens. Praying God sends more rain. The heat we’ve had this summer so far has been intense. Like today, which is once again going to top the ninety degree mark.
As I write this, I am sitting on my front porch enjoying the birds singing and eating at the feeders my neighbor has on his porch. I’m happy he put them up, but I sure wouldn’t want the mess I know he has to deal with! But I’m sure he enjoys them from his front window. I’m enjoying the sweet citrusy scent of the citronella plants hanging on the shepherd’s hook in my front garden.
As for July 4th, I went to church in the morning and otherwise spent a quiet day at home. I binge watched some of the episodes of a series I enjoy on Roku and I used markers to color a picture, which will be shown below with the other ones I completed during the past week. Life has been fairly quiet and peaceful. Templeton has been sleeping a lot, but since he is over ninety in cat years, I know this is common. He also misses his brother and sister.
I’ve been working on the puzzle and finally completed the lightest part of the sky areas in shades of yellow and orange. Now I’m SLOWLY piecing together the darkest area at the bottom of the puzzle. One day, I’ll be happy to show the completed puzzle and then display it on the wall in my office! My youngest daughter, who gifted me this puzzle, gifted me another for taking care of their cat while they were on vacation. It’s a beautiful picture of the lighthouse at Cape Hatteras. Am excited about working it next.
Okay, enough catching up. Time to reveal the beautiful colors I added to my life last week. I colored 6 pictures from various books and various media. This first one is the one I did for the monthly color along with two of my daughters. It is from artist Selena Fenech, picture titled, Dragon Fae Pink. Since I didn’t want to color the fairy pink because I figured both of my daughters might, I chose to color the background in pink. This entire picture was colored with Jane Davenport pastels from the pallette “Chilled.” I used white gel pen and some Stickles glitter glue.
The next picture is from artist Derya Cakirsoy titled Chic Fairy. This one I colored with Black Widow pencils. The background is done with Pebbles chalk pastels.
The next picture is from artist Ruth Sanderson. I used a new set of pencils from Brutfuner. They are oil based and budget priced at only $20. I love how they worked on this paper. I also added some white gel pen to her dress and around the butterflies. I learned a trick from colorist Kori on YouTube channel “coloringoptimistic” about flicking to make the needles on pine trees. I used that technique for the grass and I think it turned out good.
This next picture is from artist Jane Maday. This book has 100 easy pictures to color. I bought it to work on learning how to add depth to marker work. This is the first picture I colored besides the introduction pages I shared last week. I had trouble with the brush markers bleeding outside the lines. Going to take a lot of practice, but that’s what learning is all about!
Next is a picture in the color by number mandala book. It’s a fun book to color when I don’t want to worry about what colors to choose. This one I colored with ColorIt gel pens. I started working on it while watching tv one evening and finished it the next day.
And last is the picture I colored yesterday with markers. The artist is Hanna Lynn. This is the book I want to complete this year. Only 8 more pictures to go!
And that is concludes the colors I added to my life this past week. I so enjoy coloring. I enjoy the pictures like the mandala, the easy bloom picture and the one just above this paragraph because they are very relaxing and quick to finish. The other pictures take more time, concentration, planning and thought. I enjoy watching them as they come to life with the colors I’ve chosen. Coloring is therapy to me. I’m very grateful for this hobby to fill the hours of my day. May your week ahead be filled with beauty for your eyes to see and make memories to last. Until next time…
Carol Ann Erhardt, Author 