Watercolour Sketches

 It seems the only time I ever pull out my watercolours is when I'm away on vacation.

A short weekend away was enough for me to sit down and grab some inspiration from the sights around me. Not hard to do when sitting at a lake in the brilliant sunshine.

Art Journals & Cake

A group of us got together yesterday to see our round robin art journals. It was 14 months ago that we started with 14 participants each adding to a book every month and passing it on to the next in the circle. Unfortunately, we all couldn't get together because some of the folks involved were in New York State and Oregon but a bunch of us shared our journals and ate cake.


I brought along this cake covered with mini-chocolate Hershey kisses that I found at a grocery store in the U.S. on one of my last trips there. Kind of looks like a hedgehog, eh?

You Are What You Eat

Here is the last book of the round robin art journal project which I was involved with. At the beginning of each month a new journal with a different theme arrived in the mail and it had to be completed and passed on by the end of that month. There were 14 participants so it has taken 14 months to make a full circle. This one was entitled "You Are What You Eat" and I did the history of the Caesar Salad and the Cobb Salad. Click to enlarge.

Places, Poetry & Prose

Click to enlarge
This month's round robin art journal had the theme Places, Poetry and Prose. I chose a Beatle's song and illustrated it with some of my more memorable journeys. Originally, I found the book's theme daunting. Now that it's completed, I'm feeling nostalgic for all those places.

Art Journal

Our round robin art journal has 14 participants so it'll take us over a year until I see my own, completed journal. Can't wait! Only three to go. This one is for Fran's journal called "Glass." Fran is a fabulous watercolour artist who paints glass (and other things too!) very, very well. Her watercoloured marbles in the journal are gorgeous.


The journal was full of beautiful versions of glass in various forms, windows, vases and the like. Since I'm toward the end of this journal, I tried to do something entirely different and did a spread entitled, "Rose-coloured Glasses."

Art Journal: Canadian Immigration

The theme of this month's round robin art journal was Canadian Immigration. It was a challenge but I was pleased with what I came up with this time...

Art Journal: Trees

Arriving in the mail this month was the round-robin art journal called 'Trees.' There's something pleasing about painting snow-bound trees on a hot summer day.

Art Journal: Travel

Our round robin art journal has about 15 players. Each month the mail brings another challenge; we have one month to complete it and mail it to the next person in the round robin. This month the journal's theme was "Travel."
The images came from a brochure for a California wine called "Twin Fin." I chopped up every image I could find and married it to a few lyrics of "Route 66." Kind of fun.

Art Journal: Flight

This month's art journal round robin has the theme "Flight." I decided to do a bird and found a beautiful antique image of a Booby. When I looked it up in the dictionary, I found it also meant "dunce" which is why the poor little bird has a dunce cap on his head.

Art Journal

I did this collage for our round robin art journal. This is for Jen's book entitled "Theatre of the Mind."

Cat Journal

I am involved in a new art journal round robin and my theme choice is CATS! I've always wanted to do a Victorian collage and had saved old calendars, stickers, greeting cards and all manner of Victorian images over the years but never knew what to do with them. A-hah!

Time Keeps on Slipping...

Another new year is upon us. I can't believe how 2007 just seemed to slip by so quickly. Best wishes to all for a very happy and healthy new year.

Nutmeg Catches a Mouse

Around 1:30 a.m., I was sound asleep and I heard the strangest noise coming from Nutmeg. She was sitting beside the bed and kind of peeping. Sort of urgently peeping. The noise woke me up and I said, "Get on the bed, Nut." When she didn't and her peeping became louder, I turned on the light and there she was, proud as a peacock. Beside her sat a dead mouse. I petted the cat on the head and flushed the mouse down the toilet. Yuck.
The other cats were asleep in the patio and Domino (now 17 and mostly deaf, is retired from the whole mouse catching thing) was sound asleep in her bed.
Nutmeg always takes second (or third) fiddle to the other killers in the house. This was a first and she was tickled. (So was I.)
The illustration above is from a colour journal round robin I was involved in last year.

Coffee & Tea Journal

The round robin art journal this month is Coffee and Tea. I used coffee photos I have been taking for the past 3 years (I love coffee) and made it like an old fashioned photo album. No pictures of tea cups so I had to work around that!

Make 'Em Laugh

Peter and I have been doing an art journal for the past few years now. We alternate who chooses a theme and mail our books back and forth. My turn to choose a theme: Circus.

River Art Journal

I just finished the round robin art journal entitled "River." I loved the size of the book, which was quite small and I also liked working on the black sheets. I originally was going to illustrate the Neil Young song "Down By the River" but in the end opted for these lyrics by Garth Brooks.

Art Journal: Patterns

The round robin art journal is almost at the end of it's circle. My latest addition was to the Patterns book. Somehow in my head it triggered the Simon and Garfunkel song "Patterns." I decided to look it up and sure enough, the word "patterns" is mentioned in each stanza. I used it as the base for the spread and built a pattern around it.

One Fish, Two Fish

These 2 pages are a spread from the collaborative art journal that I'm involved with. The round robin project is completed monthly. This time I got the "fish" journal. We still have a few months to go till all the journals have made it around. Lots of fun.

Art Journal: Rain

The art journal that Peter and I do together on a semi-regular basis was themed "Rain" this go-round. The fun with this spread was that only one of the Victorian figures had an umbrella and I had to add it to the others. Can you guess which illustration had the umbrella originally?

All I Want is Loving You...

...and music, music, music!

That is the title of the journal pages I did for our round robin "theme" journal. The one I received this month was entitled "Music." I love seeing everyone's different interpretation of a particular theme. Mine was certainly inspired by what my hair looks like when I get out of bed in the morning.