A light bulb as a starting point

This started out as a page with left over paint on it.  There was a lot of brown, not a color I gravitate to.  But I stuck with it, I added some yellows and blues and it came to life. The stenciling was done with colorwash inks.  The tape is some of Tim Holtz tissue paper tape and some others that I had on hand.  I was attempting to write with a script liner and some acrylic ink.  The white ink I have is all gloppy so it doesn't work the best but it is an easy way to do lettering.  Thanks to Jolene for telling me all about it.

This is an exercise we did in the Muse Facilitators Training I am taking.  We started with a lightbulb.  After I drew the light bulb I decided it looked like a woman with a long neck. I used Carb-Othello pastel pencils and neocolor II watercolor crayons.

I was watching a video on FB the other day and the artist talked about taking all those pencils we have in tins and putting them is cups and boxes so we can use them easily.  I thought oh she is right, so now I have all the pencil sets and crayons out of the tins and right on my table.  I am sure I'll use them more now.  I kept the tins because they do seem to be the best way to travel with pencils.  The pencils in this piece are some I haven't used in ages, mainly because I forget about them.

Do you have supplies you don't use because you forget you have them.  Are all your pencils still in the tins they came in?

Sunday sketches

Todays sketch was completed in church as most of mine are.  It seems like something should be in the upper left corner but I haven't decided what.  Another flower, a cloud?  Do you have any suggestions?

Check out Sophia's blog for more sketches?  Have a great Sunday everyone.

Postcard Challenge 2012 - China

The postcard challenge travelled to China this week. With so many images to choose from I went with a simple Panda. I created this with Pitt brush markers in lt green and black and caran d'ache watercolor pencils and graphite pencils.

My characters still don't know very about eah other, but they have all year to learn. You can join in on the fun at any time at Art-and-Sole

Fearless Painting pt 2

Fearless Painting number 2.  This one is all about balance.  We did yoga exercises before painting it and I liked how that got my body ready for the process. I had fun with her. This fearless painting is really freeing me up to paint green hair if I want.  I really can see how it opens you up to all sorts of possibilites.

This afternoon I am off to visit my friend Jolene for an Art date.  She has new art supplies for me to try and I have some for her too.  Its bound to be an amazing fun afternoon.

The Art of Breakfast

I saw this on a blog and loved it I know you will too.


The Art of Breakfast from DannyGregory on Vimeo.

Finding TIme For Art

Its been a few day since I have been able to blog. My daughter moved to Portland so time was spent helping her to get ready. Plus having a going away party and attending a weekend spiritual workshop I did not have time for a whole lot.

I had insomnia last night and it gave me the time to do some art. Just playing with some of my favorite colors is always fun.

Sometimes when I have a detailed background I find myself covering most of it up.  Do you ever do that? Mixed media is like that sometimes.  You never know what you will end up with when you start out.

This page I didn't have any gesso or anything on it so first I drew the bird and used sharpie markers to color it in, I added the tree and did the same.  I used gelatos to color in the background, I like how easily they blend together.

Brazil - Post Card Challenge

I couldn't find anything that inspired me for this postcard. So I thought oh I will do the Brazilian flag easy, right. Well it proved not to be. I did the flag upside down and then I had to fix it. Then I wrote the words and then they didn't fit, then I had trouble drawing the 27 stars in such a small space, so I painted over it again. Yikes.. I could go on and on but I will not bore you.

Here's a video you will enjoy, yes creativity does take time, this is an great depiction of that idea.

Etre créatif demande du temps - Koreus

Just Playing Around

This two page spread started with leftover paint from my palette. I do like to use up excess paint but sometimes when I slather it on a page and it dries its not so pleasing. So I added layers of stamping and then saw this lady hiding inside. So out she came and it became even more fun to add the castles.

This is a collage I did while listening to a vido conference call. I got so lost in the piece that I found I wasn't paying attention to the call. Oops.

I am finding this week to be incredibly busy.  My daughter is moving out, heading to Portland to find her future. So there are all these last minute things to help her with. I am taking the Muse facilitators course with Jill Badonsky, so for the next 11 weeks I will be immersed in the Muse's. Its bound to be lots of fun.

What fun things have you decided to do this year?

Fearless Painting

I was listening to a video last night and felt like working in a journal as I listened.  I grabbed the first art supply I could see.  She was created using Faber-Casteel Gelatos, a water soluble oil pastel.  I didn't use water on these though, I just applied and used my fingers to blend.

Fearless Painting

I have long been fascinated by the Fearless Painting Course BIG put on by Connie at Dirty Footprints Studio.  I have seen the work posted by other people and almost signed up once but it wasn't a good time.  Then I really didn't want to spend that much money on a class.  So recently Connie offered this free workshop called Total Alignment on her site. She basically explains some of her ideas and gets you started in the Fearless Painting Process.  There are 4 things you need to be able to do.  They are as follows
1. paint a scribble
2. paint a line
3. paint a shape
4. paint with the enthusiasm and non judgement of a kindergartner. ( that is the hard one)
Oh plus its not about the painting, its about the process, how you feel and all that. So paintings can really look like crap but that is ok.  I  have to keep telling myself that.

So I took the bait, I decide to tack cardboard on my wall and just tape poster board to it.  She wants you to paint standing up and I don't have an easel for that. I just happened to have saved a big cardboard box so I was all set.

She recommended using Liquitex Basics paints, so I got a couple colors from Michaels and began my first fearless painting.

I am not a fan of pink so when I went for that color first I thought I am really following my muse and not questioning and that is what you are supposed to do.  When I look at the painting I see all the flaws, like the houses are supposed to be on her shirt where now it looks like she is standing behind them. But I also think oh that is ok, I learned something with this painting and I had fun making it.  Painting big is so different.  I encourage you to check out Total Alignment if the process interest you at all.  There are five videos all set up to help you to connect to you artistic source. Even if you don't want to paint big I think the videos have some great information.  I know I can't wait to do another painting now.

So it was off to Michaels for some more colors and when I got to the checkout I discovered I could get 40% off the price of my total acrylic paint purchase.  Now it was such a deal I went back and got a few more colors. Seems like I was meant to do this.

Sunday Sketches And A Tutorial

Here is todays sketch, I was attempting something that was a little hard to do in church, so the body was not quite right, so I filled it with words anyway.  Check out Sophia's blog for other sketchers,

Now for my friend Jolene a tutorial on one way to use Neocolor II Water color crayons.

Insomnia Art

I had insomnia last night so this was the result. I didn't have my usual faber-castel black pitt pens nearby so this was drawn with a Pilot PreciseV7 pen in a moleskine WC journal .  I used a charcoal brush pen for the darker areas. I really had fun doing this, I ended up going back to bed and did get some sleep after all. If you ever can't sleep maybe doing a little art is just what you need.

Today's Sunday sketch.  Why don't you come join us over at  Sophia's blog  where you'll find other artists and their sketches. You just might be inspired to join in.

Postcard Challenge 2012

I just found out about this postcard challenge for 2012 and I had to jump in.  Its hosted by Darcy at Art and Sole.  You can still sign up so check it out if you are so inclined.  It is basically a take off on the idea in Nick Bantok's books Griffin and Sabine.  You create post cards between two people, create a book to store them in and just have fun.  You need to create 2 fictional characters and have a dialogue between them.  Darcy lets you know what country to write from every week.  You can take part as little or as much as you would like.

I being one who always loves a mystery, chose Louisa a school teacher on holiday who leaves a card slipped into a travel brochure at a B&B for someone to write her. She has no mystery or excitement in her life.  Unbenownst to her the man who picks it up works at the Romanian Embassy in London.  As a young child a fortune teller tells him that he will find this card and he needs to respond. He has tried to deny his gypsy anscestory but the arrival of this post card sets him on a journey.

For my postcard I chose to recreate one of the hand carved masks used in Triol during the Fanascht celebrations. These are hand carved masks for men only, and they have very elanborate costumes in a festival that takes so much effort it can be held only once every 3-4 years. Often it is the women who make the masks so they are not totally shut out of the festivities. This was created with Neocolor II WC crayons.

To see what other participants are doing you can go here and click on the Mr Linky icon.

Still Drying Out

Fixed the leak, cleaned up most of the mess, I have a fan on one section making sure all those nooks and crannies get dried out. I have cleaned out one space so I can work on a little bit of art.

Here is some behind the scenes video on the making of the Hobbit. The exciting news is that this time Hobbiton will be a permanent settlement so geeks like me can go to New Zealand and visit it. If you liked this go look at the other 4 vlogs they have done. Wow New Zealand is an amazing place.

A Surprise In My Studio

I spent the morning watching video's for Life Book and then cleaning the kitchen. So I head downstairs to the studio because i was downloading something on my computer.  Download is complete when I see it.  Water on the floor, under one of my tables.  I look up at the small window in the room but do I see dripping, no.  I do see all the stuff on the floor though. Stuff that is now wet, some of it ruined.

Call the hubster.  We find water on the other side of the room too. We have to move half the stuff out to get to the wall where the pipes are.  Some of the walls are just paneling so they have to come down and then we eventually find the leak.  Its coming from the upstairs bathroom.  So we can't use the sink or shower.

Meanwhile I discover a book I was going to alter soaked, all the scrap foam core, soaked, roll of red rosin paper only soaked about 1" at the bottom. I am sure that is just the beginning.

Now he is trying to fix bu he can't get the pipe unscrewed.  We may endup with a plumber at the house before long. I hate to think about how long it will be before I have a studio back again. I may be going to the gym just to get a shower taken.  I hope this is not as bad as it seems.