Keeping Busy

Hi everyone! For the past couple weeks I've been on the mend.  I had surgery two weeks ago to remove a lump from my neck.  It was a benign growth in my salivary gland.  Everything went super well and today I pretty much feel like my normal self.  My neck is healing beautifully and hopefully that is the end of that!

I have been staying creative.  During my down time, I had some enjoyable time with some great artists. I watched a couple of fun and inspiring DVD workshops.  The first was by Margaret Applin, and it was titled Paint, Print, Layer, Collage.  The second DVD workshop was by Joanne Sharpe, and was titled Artful Lettering: Tools and Techniques for Discovering your Style.  Both of these are available from Interweave.

I also viewed a fun mini (online) workshop by Valerie Sjodin.  She creates some fantastic art journals and I've always enjoyed following her blog.  Her mini class is titled Embellishing Edges and Text.

Now that I'm feeling normal again, I've been visiting my studio again. I recently finished an online surface pattern and design course and that has been very motivating. I am filled with all kinds of ideas on design and creating design collections. I'm not sure where I will go with that but I'm hoping somewhere.

The next two photos are my current favorite pens that I use when designing. The first one is the Pilot Bravo. I had this one first of the two and I love it for drawing out designs and filling in negative space. It dries quickly and has a juicy nib on the end. I would compare it to a size medium in the Faber-Castell Pitt pen line. I can erase pencil markings and it won't affect the dried ink on the paper. It does only come in one nib size however. And one other thing I don't like about it is it is not waterproof.

So I set out to find another pen I could love just as much but that was waterproof. And I found one. And it even comes in a variety of nib sizes. It is the Rotring Tikky Graphic pen. Its nib is very similar to the Pilot Bravo, which I was thrilled to discover. Now I have a new favorite and I can even use it with wet media if I choose.

Today I am working at my desk creating some new designs. I'm having fun!!! I haven't had the desire to create new designs for a while but now I am in the groove again.