Virtual tour de France

We found out about the virtual paintout just this past month. Since we can't afford to travel wherever we would like, we have been traveling via Google maps. It is awesome!

I am in the middle of rereading Chocolat by Joanne Harris, and wanted to find Lansquenet, which doesn't precisely exist. So I clicked randomly and found this quaint church that said "draw me", so I did.

I wanted to test out my new Noodler's Creaper flex nib pen. I'm still on the fence, it has this weird smell, and it's my first fountain pen, so there is a slight learning curve. I promise that the church isn't crooked in real life.

This is just a sketch with some light watercolor washes put down once i, mistakenly, thought the ink was dry in my small Moleskine watercolor pocketbook.

Travels

Brie and I spent a day in Minneapolis. Checked out some new supplies and enjoyed a kid-free day that has been years in the making I swear.
I picked out some lovely schmincke half pans and I'm testing them out. Thought I would use them for some plein air, but wintery weather lingers on. Did a google street view in Belgium instead. I do so love my google travels.

Plein air at Devil's Lake

I'm going to start off with a work in progress shot from last summer. I am dreaming of warm weather so we can once again paint outside, plus that gives the kids something to do. Karen and I were out at North Shore and had a bit of time to paint before the amazing sky decided to break open and start raining.We each got some pretty awesome work done, if I say so myself.

I learned that a three year old will trail sand everywhere, and painting with a baby is almost impossible.

Also, I like to work small, I've got a 4x6 watercolor block that's got a cold press finish that I love, but has now been stolen by the three year old. You can see my block in the pic, with half finished painting of the West bluffs.
There will be more to come, most likely wip shots from my phone and finished paintings that look much better.

Welcome to the Faux Artistes!!!

We are just two mama's from the middle of Wisconsin wanting to share our artwork. We are by no means artists, we just want to have fun, perhaps with a little help from our children (not that we asked for that extra bit of color on our paintings), and work on our skills.

We created this blog of awesomeness to share with our friends and family, and anyone else that cares to take a gander at what we are up to. There will hopefully be plenty of posts to follow.

For now, happy painting and more to come!