First post of the new year...

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah and New Years!  I got some new art supplies for Christmas and some I already had...I had asked for a new ruling pen (a small device you can dip into something like gum arabic or watercolor resist and you can adjust the pen to create the width of the line you want, super thin or very thick).  I had bought one when I was living in Arizona for my lithography printmaking class and I thought I had brought it back home to NJ with me.  I tore apart my art supply stash (which is all over my room) and I couldn't find it, even though I knew I'd have never gotten rid of it. So, reluctantly I bought a new one (the people at the art store didn't even know what I was talking about and we searched for a while before we finally found them).  A few days later, I was cleaning my room and what did I stumble upon but my old ruling pen in an art box stashed in my closet with monoprint paint in it.  Luckily, I still had the receipt and I plan to return it tomorrow after work and I think I want to get some more liquid acrylics.  I  think I have one of everything in the art supply world, but seriously can you ever have enough art supplies?? I don't think so. ;-) 

 I have so many plans for new projects this year and I can't wait to get started on them.  I want to try some new things, like acrylic seascapes and some architectural watercolor paintings from photos I took on trips to Turkey and Italy.  These plans will have to wait a few weeks until I get back to Poland and have the free time.  Until then, I'm working 40 hour weeks at the bridal salon and next weekend I'm actually going to a bridal fashion show in Philly.  Should be interesting! 
What I can do while I'm home is doodle and sketch in my (miniscule amount of) free time and if you haven't heard about the free workshops Strathmore is offering, you should check it out.  There are 3 workshops, on in Jan, March and May.  A new lesson every week for a month of fun techniques for mixed media art. If you're interested, check out Strathmore Online Workshops. (I am in no way affiliated with Strathmore, I just enjoyed the workshops last year and looking forward to them this year).  Happy 2012!