There are a ton of home made play dough recopies out there but the best play dough is the one someone else made and gave to you. A friend of mine shot me some homemade play dough to take baby sitting with me. We all enjoyed playing with it and the kids especially seemed to enjoy shouting out things I should make:

a flower

various shapes

numbers

 pizza

 a caterpillar

that turns into a butterfly

a cat (though it kinda looks more like a mouse)

    I forgot how much fun playing with play dough can be. It doesn't matter if you can't think of what to make. It doesn't matter if it turns out badly, you just smash it into oblivion and start over. Heck, just smashing and rolling the dough can be cathartic, can be enough to get the creative juices flowing. It's a great and freeing exercise to do either alone or with the kiddos. Fun and forgiving. It doesn't get better than that.

  On June 13th I finally got to enjoy my last Christmas present, a painting workshop at Cedar Valley in West Bend, WI. My mom and I drove to the retreat early that morning. We spent all day learning to make a seascape in the style of Bob Ross, breaking only for lunch. Even though, my painting turned out nothing like the sample or like anyone else in the class for that matter, I enjoyed the day immensely. It was a treat to spend the whole day with my mom, just painting. Even though, she is not an artist, she enjoyed the day as well.

    Our palate and brushes:

 

 

   My progress and final piece:

 

 

 

 

  

   My Mom's progress and final piece:

 

 

    Oil painting is definitely a different animal from acrylic (which I was somewhat aware of as I started dabbling in oils before I tried acrylics) and the Bob Ross style is not nearly as easy as it looks. Its not exactly difficult, but it does take some getting used to. And the whole drying thing (our paintings still aren't 100% dry) takes a bit of getting used to. I can't wait for the paint to dry so I can hang it. (My mom on the other hand will not be hanging hers or so she says.)
 
    There's a certain gratification in the immediacy of acrylics that you can't find in oils. On the other hand, there is something soothing about the ability to work and rework oils that isn't available in acrylics.

   Speaking of  soothing, I think I'll stick to watching Bob Ross rather than using his style to paint with. I kinda prefer my own style, I think. And while I won't be trading my acrylics for oils, it is fun to pull out the oils and dabble every now and again.

  I went to Hobby Lobby recently where I found a set of Dr. Ph. Martin's liquid watercolors on clearance for $21 or $22 (of course, i threw away the packaging already). Even though Id already spent way too much, I had to get them.

  Experimenting with them, I created a cool tone and a warm tone piece. On the cool paper I tried blowing with a straw. That looks pretty cool even though, as suspected, I have like no lung capacity.  And, for the warm page  I sprinkled on some sea salt and flicked a little rubbing alcohol on with my fingers. The effect is subtle but pretty cool.

 
  Also, from Hobby Lobby I picked up some clearance embossing powder. I so didn't need them but the neon colors were very cool.

   I'm not entirely sure they turned out as smooth and opaque as the containers say, but I still like them. Especially for $1.79 each. I just tested the colors out on a few random stamps on a piece of watercolor paper. Which, of course, may have affected the result.

  A few day later, I got some spray paints from the dollar spot at target. I chose a purple and a blue. I love them. The color is intense, it sprays really well and was easier to vary the flow/mist then any other spray I have tried. I spritzed them through a couple of stencils and randomly across a sheet of water color paper.

                                                              (sorry, blurry photos)

 
  After playing around a bit with each new supply, I decided to put them all together.

   I dripped some water colors and spritzed and splattered the spray paints. Then, when I was satisfied, I tore out two of the embossed stamps and glued those on.

  Not really sure what I am going to do with it next. Perhaps I will collage bits of my clean up rags. They're almost art pieces in themselves.

    This weekend was a lazy one:
 
    Today, my mom and I went for a stroll in a nearby cemetery.
       
( I like how the cross, once topping the stone, ended up on its side on top of the stone. I would have thought it would have fallen to the ground.)

 (My mom decided she needed a coffin shaped headstone for the family plot, too.)

(This guy was 105 when he died.)

(Talk about a scary and pretentious headstone.)

     Before the stroll my mom and I went shopping and spent way too much.

(I LOVE these shoes. And the box is pretty too.)

Yesterday, I worked to catch up on my DLP (still way behind BTW), started designing a necklace for one of the pendants I created the other day, and painted a brass D-ring to use on a bracelet I made.

     I took my last opportunity to go to Artist and Display before they close for good after 79 years selling art supplies to the community. I got a large marker pad (for use with my new Spectrum Noirs), a few NeoColor 2s, a couple art stix, a metallic gel pen, a few watercolor pencils, several sheets of various papers and a plexi glass pen storage box.

    Friday was a lazy day spent watching PackerDi and Claudia Rossi.