Things got very busy around here in August with summer band practice starting for my son and all the rest of the general getting-ready-for-school preparations that go on.  Now we are a couple of weeks into the school year and things are starting to settle down a bit.  I have made a pretty good start on my holiday cards but got slowed down when my dad arrived for a visit–it’s fun to spend time with him.

I have managed to do a few of the LifeBook 2013 lessons, although not many, and for some reason the optional assignment for this week just got me going–make some whimsy houses.  Mine aren’t complete, yet, although mostly done.  I had a lot of fun not following anyone else instructions and combining various techniques from the LifeBook pages we’ve done so far . . . twinkling H2Os, masking fluid (which I applied FAR too heavily and then had to gesso over the masked area before continuing), Neocolor IIs for easy splashes of color, collaged shapes . . . I used a stencil and Liquitex spray paint for the sun’s rays behind the houses.

Partly I am proud of myself for getting a color palette that hangs together without my needing to consult ten thousand different references before proceeding (only a slight exaggeration).  I didn’t note the twinks used, but the Neocolor IIs are canary yellow, pink,  reddish orange, scarlet, Indian red, turquoise, azurite blue, middle cobalt blue hue, and ultramarine.

It’s funny–the only direction I did use was the outline of Tam’s houses, and it’s only now that I have taken pictures for this blog post that I realize they look like pencils :-).