Day 3

 

I used a Uni-ball Vision pen for this drawing.  No sketching with pencil first, just going for it.  I see lots of mistakes…like I said on day 1, this is for fun… and learning…no stress. I was looking at a fashion magazine page while drawing this one.

As I mentioned yesterday, that face was inspired by Ruben Toledo. He and his wife Isabel have contributed a lot to the fashion world.   I am not really  into “fashion” too much, never have been.   However, I am enamored by what they do,  and have accomplished as artists.  Here are a few photos from Ruben’s book, Style Dictionary:

under this photo it reads:  7th AVE. SAYS WOMEN WILL WEAR NOTHING BUT PANTS THIS FALL SEASON.   Details, August 1988

 

“I THOUGHT MARINA WAS QUITE A CATCH – BUT MY FRIENDS ALWAYS KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING FISHY ABOUT HER…”   Details, 1988

 

“ANIMATION PROJECT FOR “7th AVE. OPERA.”   Animation film, 1991

…art and a blue moon

My art work has been sporadic lately…I’m kind of starting to get back into it more lately. We have taken to sitting on our deck in the back yard very late in the evenings…watching the birds, listening to tree frogs, and looking at the sky. You would be surprised at what one can see in your own backyard. We have both noticed a face in a certain tree out there and last night I grabbed my sketchbook and tried to draw some funny tree faces:

And we laughed a lot over this one:

We’ve been seeing a big moon the last few nights. I had noticed on our calendar that shows a full moon for tonight. It will be a blue moon. I always thought a blue moon is the second full moon that occurs during the same month. This article explains that there is also another definition for blue moon. Here is a great article about it:  http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/blue-moon.html

Some more pages from my sketchbook:

These are from the duct tape journal I made earlier this month:

I had been obsessing over finding the perfect old book to turn into an art journal…or in my case “visual” journal since I do very little journaling in my journals. I found a book last week with a sewn binding (and the price was right ($2.00) at one of our local flea markets. I will try and finish the duct tape journal before starting a new one….or maybe not. Jane Davenport puts her own watercolor paper along with some of the book pages in her handmade journals. This is an excellent video showing how she does that:

http://janedavenport.com/art-lessons-cloth-paper-scissors/

Have a great weekend!

all kinds of books…

Several months ago, I prepared some pages in an old instructional book on navigation. I planned for that to be an art journal. I put it aside to work in later. About a month ago, I picked it up to see what I could do in in it and the pages were falling out. I made a huge mistake of not checking to see how the book was put together. It was a glued binding, not stitched. You will be able to find several YouTube videos on how to prepare a book to be used as an art journal. I decided to use some of the pages from my failed project. After gluing on some collage pieces onto my background, I sketched my idea out with pencil, then went over that with charcoal, and finished with my Artline pen. (my new favorite ink drawing pen).

Last week, Diana Trout blogged about Flow Magazine in this post entitled “Good Vibes. Then, I went to Teesha and Tracy Moore’s “Artstronaunt Club” website and she showed a few pages from a Flow coloring book: Coloring is a Form of Happiness and I knew I had to have that book. It was less expensive from a seller on Ebay than ordering it on Amazon. It was in my mailbox on Monday. I think it will be a good source of inspiration for drawings.

And finally, here’s a couple of sketchbook pages:

This pencil drawing didn’t photography very well:

altered book revisited…

We have been purging our house of unwanted and unneeded items.  We have taken one big load to Good Will and plan to take another one really soon.  I have become an art supply junkie…buying lots of art supplies because I thought I needed them to become a better artist and also because “art instructor” in my latest online class said I needed a certain product to get a specific result. Not that I’m blaming anyone…I didn’t have to do that, did I?

Anyway, while going through my art “stuff,” I found an altered book that started in 2009.  I decided to work on some more pages in it.  I took an altered book class offered then by Patty at Tuscan Rose(River Bend Ranch).  She has changed her art direction and is now making some beautiful art quilts. I found the post that shows a page from my altered book.  Here are some pages I did last week:

…I planned to draw this book cover from an old Jack and Jill magazine but gave up part way:

…two other sketches last week:

4×4’s and more…

“Give thanks for the rainbows, for the butterflies,
for all God’s creatures – large and small,
for the bright blue sky and the soft fog and the gentle rain,
for the tree veiled in the season’s first frost,
for the baby’s laugh, for the touch of a hand
and the whispered “I love you.”
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I finished a good book last week:  A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It or Not!” Ripley by Neal Thompson.  Go here to check out a great article about the book.  I don’t read a lot of biographies but this one is excellent!

I finished eight more 4×4’s.  I’m going to have to hurry to attain my goal of 200 by the end of this year 🙂

This set numbers 161-164:

This set numbers 165-168:

…some random pages from my visual journal

…collage using an altered page from a children’s book:

my photos aren’t coming out very crisp….I’m looking for another camera

odds and ends collage:

here’s wishing all in the US a great Thanksgiving Day this Thursday with family & friends!!!

have a good day…

“The expression “Have a good day” was born the week our oil supply was depleted, water became scarce, telephone rates went up, gasoline was in short supply, and meat, coffee, and sugar prices soared.  It was as if the warranty on the country had just expired.”  ~Erma Bombeck~1970’s

I’m having a good day…it’s the first day back on God’s time 🙂

I made a new journal last week…I sewed the signatures together on the sewing machine and used duct tape to put the signatures together.  Then,  I found the middle of the journal and sewed that to the cover using a simple pamphlet stitch.  I will be using this method again.  I wanted to practice using a composition book for the cover.  The next one I make, I think I’ll try using an old book for the cover.

I mostly used painted papers on the cover:

Here’s the introductory page…watercolor and collage:

I spilled some ivory paint the other day…so, I quickly swirled it on some magazine pages.  After the paint dried…I went over some of the paint with pan pastels.  I like the effect that I discovered accidentally:

I painted these 4×4’s last week.  They number 149-152:

I made this set of 4×4’s today.  They number 153-156:

Last week we went for a drive to look at the fall color.  We made a little circle and came back home.  When we drove in our driveway, I told my hubby:  I think the prettiest leaves are right here in our own yard.  Here’s a photo of the Hickory Tree in our backyard.  After a rain, the leaves look neon yellow:

Side yard:

Across the front yard looking down the street:

Everyone have a great week and be creative in all you do!

a pantyhose world…

A week ago last Friday, I went to our local “friends of the library” book sale.  I wasn’t looking for books to read…I was cruising for collage material.  Since getting a Kindle…all my reading material is on it.  I love my Kindle!  I found some old books to use for altered books or reuse the covers for journal covers.  One of the books I bought was by Erma Bombeck: if life is a bowl of cherries-what am I doing in the pits? I’d forgotten how funny she was. One of the chapter headings in the book is “A Pair of White Socks in a Pantyhose World.”  If you are over 40, you probably know about Bombeck and pantyhose. Here’s a quote from the book:

“I worry about scientists discovering someday that lettuce has been fattening all along.  But mostly, I worry about surviving.  Keeping up with the times in the world that changes daily.  Knowing what to keep and what to discard.  What to accept and what to protest.”

The above quote is from the introduction….she says this book is about surviving…it’s still applicable today…funny stuff about some serious subjects 🙂

Here are my recent 4x4s:

These number 137-140:

For this set, I used pages from the Bombeck book.  The first three were drawn with my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and the last one is charcoal and pen.  These number 141-144:

I’m not really satisfied with these 4x4s but time is running out…so, I will include them.  These number 145-148:

until next time…be creative in all you do…

more 4×4’s…

AUTUMN HUMOR:

Autumn is a season for big decisions — like whether or not it’s too late to start spring cleaning.

Autumn — time to drag out your winter clothes and see what kind of summer fun the moths had.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I need some new potholders and I’ve been thinking of making some for myself and maybe some for Christmas gifts. The Stitching Scientist has these.  Who knew there are so many tutorials and videos about how to make potholders.  The Ribbon Retreat blog offers this tutorial.

And then, I was looking at some other craft projects and found this great idea for recycling those wooden leaf and bowls that you can easily find at most flea markets.  Jennifer calls them Boho Chic Jewelry Trays. I’m sure they could be used for other items, as well.

On to this weeks 4×4’s.  This first set started with a magazine cover.  I put gesso on both sides.  I used acrylic paints, markers, and oil pastels.  These number 129-132:

I used watercolors, acrylic paints, and black acrylic ink and a dip pen on Bristol paper.  Before drawing the black lines…I brushed Liquitex Gold Interference paint over the entire surface.  This set numbers 133-136:

until next week…going to go hold my dog’s paw…he’s freaking out because of a thunder storm…

Create…

“if you do what you always did, you will get what you always got”   ~attributed to Albert Einstein~

This is a collage I made a few weeks ago.  It’s a page from a book about the sea and as the chapter title denotes, it tells what to do if your boat springs a leak.  I have no qualms about tearing pages out of the book because the information in it is most likely out of date now.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  🙂

I completed some more 4x4s yesterday.  This first set is all collage.  I took of photo of the piece before cutting it down into 4x4s:

The written French notes were in an old French text book I found at a local flea market.  Most of the other collage pieces are from a fashion magazine.  This set numbers 121-124:

This set includes oil pastels, acrylic paints, homemade stamps, Distress Inks and spray inks.  This set numbers 125-128:

Enjoy your day and have a great weekend!….until next time…

painting and painting…

“Creativity is

inventing,

experimenting,

growing,

taking risks,

breaking rules,

making mistakes,

and having fun.”

~Mary Lou Cook~

Here are the latest 4×4’s I have finished.  I’m up to 112 now 🙂

I felt like I needed to do something else to this first set.  I couldn’t think what, so, I’m letting them stand as they are.  It’s acrylic paint on Bristol paper.  This set numbers 101-104:

I glued down very small squares on a painted background for this next set.  I used some scraps from painted papers and other collage scraps.  This set numbers 105-108:

I used acrylic paint, collage pieces, black Stabilo pencil, and a handmade stencil on this set.  I like the combination of red and raw umber.  This set numbers 109-112:

I am painting an old chest to put back into our newly refurbished bedroom.  It measures a little over five feet long. My husband remembers it being around when he was very young. I decided to paint this because I looked for a new one but couldn’t find anything as well made as this old piece.  It had a few dings and the veneer peeled off in a few areas.  I filled those with wood filler and sanded it down.  It’s a work in progress:

This is the first coat of Kilz 2.  The drawer fronts are all  “Kilzed” too.  I plan to glue (Mod Podge) some old maps on each end.  The dresser will be painted 21st Century Blue semi-gloss by Valspar. My next decision to make about this project is:  do I keep the old drawer pulls or find something more modern.  Since I am a big believer in using what you have and recycling, I’m thinking I’ll just go with the old pulls and spray paint them with sort of faux metal paint.

Here are the bedroom colors:

The accent wall color is the wall behind our bed. It’s actually a Behr color(Solar Flare)  but all our paint is from our local building supply store and they carry Valspar paints. I took a chance when I picked the orange color for that wall but we both really love it!  We used the Valspar Medallion paint and primer all in one.  It covered the walls with one coat.  When I get everything back in place, I’ll post some photos of the room.

That’s all for now…