Author: Clare at CatsEatDogs

Running. Shall I, shan’t I?

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I used to run a lot and I managed a few half marathons and some 5 and 10k runs too.  Then I stopped, I didn’t stop exercising, just the running part. I haven’t run properly for over a year now and my friends asked if I wanted to start training with them for a half marathon in October. Where to start as a ‘previous runner’? Will my legs remember? Will I need a sit down after a few steps?  Do I need a couch to 5k type plan to re-start or can I leap into a half training plan which usually assume you can manage 3 miles? I thought I might cope with the couch part of the couch to 5k plan as a starting point… Then there is the consideration of how my year older body will cope, will bits stop working?  I have complaining hips and I don’t want to upset them too much, I mean they do hold me up in day to day life. Will anything fall off or come loose? …

Weekly Photos 11/52

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Spring sprang yesterday officially and we woke up to snow on the ground!  After a week of sunshine and mild temperatures, I pulled out my boots again. 1. I have been trying to keep up with a sketch a day project over at Skillshare, but I seem to be leaving it for a week at a time then doing all the drawings/paintings in one day to catch up.  March doesn’t seem to be the month for a daily challenge. 2. I have been obsessing about the flowers in my garden lately, it is so lovely to see them, I can’t helping recording them.  Here I sketched some magnolia flowers with my pencil crayons in a kraft paper sketchbook. 3 & 4. The light was creeping in slowly the morning I took these two photos. 5. The star magnolia is all abloom! I hope you had a good week.  Happy Monday x  

Get Messy Thursday. Art Journal pages.

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Two bright and colorful journal spreads this week! I picked up a pile of old National Geographic magazines free from the library and I used images from the magazines on both spreads. The honey comb in the top spread is from the magazine and the background rice field in the bottom spread. I tried out my new stencil from Stencil Girl in the pink pages, I love how stencils add to a page either as a base layer or on top of everything. I must admit when I added the drippy ink, I wished I hadn’t, but I carried on and I like how it turned out. The green page is mainly acrylic paint and fortune cookie wrappers and fortunes on top of National Geographic pages and a page from an old dictionary.  Lots of layers on this page. I hope you have had a creative week too.  The new Get Messy season starts next month, so if you are interested in joining, pop over and see what it is all about. Happy Thursday.

Taking Stock March 2016

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Time for a litle stock take on this sunny blustery day.  If you want to have a stock take too, there is a blank list at the end.  I try and go through the list without too much thinking about each word.  If you do these regularly, they are fun and interesting to look back on. Taking Stock is the brainchild of the lovely Pip at Meet Me At Mikes blog. Making : Lots of art, I draw, sketch, paint or journal every day. Cooking : Spaghetti and tomato sauce for dinner. Drinking : Cups of tea. Reading: Bella Grace magazine. Wanting: Flowers, I can’t get enough of flowers at the minute! Looking: At the trees blooming all around, especially my neighbor’s pink magnolia tree. Playing: Swing Ball in the back garden. Deciding: Which sketchbook to use?  Grey pages or tan? Both are so effective with pencil crayons. Wishing: I had an airy studio full of light and art supplies. Enjoying: The sunshine and wind combination in the air today. Waiting: For my photos to …

Weekly Photos 10/52

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1. The star magnolia is starting to bloom. 2. We got a new dog and her name is Ruby!  She is a rescue and a cutie. 3. I made an Easter card using watercolours, a white Gelly Roll pen and a blue Micron pen. 4. My neighbor has a beautiful magnolia tree which is blooming and looking amazing. 5. I bought the new Bella Grace this week, it is a magazine extravagance but I really enjoy it. 6. I managed to snap the magnolia last night with the night-time clouds in the background. Everything is starting to bloom now, just starting, the daffodils are peeking out and some trees are in bloom and some are just budding.  My neighbor’s magnolia smells just gorgeous, especially on a rainy evening. I hope you had a lovely week and are about to have an even better one! Happy Monday x  

‘I Like’ Friday. The planting, reading, sketching and eating edition

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Lots of things to like this week. Flowers starting to bloom on the trees being a big thing to like.  Here are some more things to like this fine Friday. This soup from Meet Me At Mikes looks like an essential.  I just need to find fresh tumeric which I have never used before, I have only had dealings with the bright yellow powder. I bought this book called Urban Watercolor Sketching by Felix Scheinberger and it is gorgeous as well as full of information.  More guidance than instruction and tons of inspiration. At last I have managed to read a book this year and now I am on my second.  This one is a great read, it is All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders.  It  is a little bit magic and a little bit science. These DIY affirmation cards look so lovely, I want to have a go at making a deck for myself. After taking this  Sketching class at Skillshare, I am feeling a little more confident in my outdoor …

Get Messy Art Journal ‘Happy’ Season.

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The weather today is pretty grey but I like to think of this page as grey sparkle rather than dull weather grey. As I splattered the background I managed to cover myself in black ink as well as the page and the floor.  Don’t worry I did the splatting outside! I did have a very nice time with my gelli plate and some pages from an old dictionary.  I used a used gift card and feathers as texture creators in the paint. I mixed some paints, but stuck to the grey theme. I also did some prints using dry deli paper for a lovely see through effect when I stick  them on my final page. It really is wonderful how many effects can be created using lots of different techniques and tools.  I am so pleased with the gelli prints on this page. All of this journal fun was inspired by the week six prompts over at the Get Messy Art Journal website. The idea was to cover the background with the same colour, so I chose …

Weekly Photos 9/52

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Looking at these photos, all of them have library connections!  I have had a library week. 1. A side alley and side building in Clayton, MO.  I took this on the way back from the library where I had just picked up some new books. I liked the ‘windows’ and the sunlight. 2. This book was heading back to the library but I liked the idea of the feather/leaf potato prints, so I took a photo of the page to refer to later. 3. On the way to my local library and I enjoyed this magnificent sunset. 4. This is why I was heading to the library, mug decorating craft night. All supplies were provided and the even was free, how cool is the library! 5. Later in the week I got a tour of the ‘below library’ storage area where there is this rather fab, if precarious spiral staircase. It used to go directly to the fire house which was once housed above the library.  I wouldn’t fancy navigating these stairs in full fire …

Get Messy Friday. Art Journal Pages.

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This week has been a funny old week, I seem to have been busy busy but when I look back, I haven’t achieved very much.  I am already behind on March projects which is a great start!  Next week I will catch up.  Hopefully. Maybe. The trouble is I keep finding new things to learn and do!  There are so many classes via Creative Bug or Skillshare, not to mention the endless classes provided by various blogs and websites.  I am skipping from one thing to another like a Spring bunny. There is an urban sketching class, a watercolor class, another watercolor class, a sketch-a-day class, a drawing on a photo in photoshop class, not to mention all the books I borrow from the library.  This bunny needs to focus! In the midst of all of the skipping, I did finish some journal pages and started some too.  I tend to work on more than one page at a time because I will start one page and always come up with another idea and start another …

A month of Tinkersketch drawing challenge

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Through the month of February I joined in with Rachelle from Tinkerlab for the Tinkersketch drawing challenge.  Prompts were provided along with ideas for each day, sketchbooks were grabbed and art was created. I decided to use an old book discarded from the library as my sketchbook and I had filled it by the end of the month.  I didn’t use every page because I used all kinds of media which invariably ruined the next page or two. Here are some of my favorite pages from my little vintage book as sketchbook.  I quite like that I ended up with lots of bugs scuttling across my pages! Day 2. Mirror. Day 7. Repetition. Day 5. Tiny Doodle. Day 11. Stamp. I used a squashed cardboard roll to stamp hearts. Day 14. Hearts. Day 15. Sky.  Watercolor with masking fluid and pen and a collaged moon. Day 19. Junk Mail. Day 27. Mismatched. Day 29. Torn Paper. The final prompt which was ‘torn paper’ was completed on the very last page of the book. Thanks to Rachelle …