Illustration Friday - TALL

This week's theme at Illustration Friday is TALL.  I made this canvas trio back in January and I've always been struck how the words seem like little buildings that she is towering over making her very tall indeed!

Out of the Journal - Week 4

It is Week 4 of Dina Wakley's Out of the Journal Challenge and I've finally framed up my Jane Davies inspired collage/watercolor/ink prints!

They are hanging in a corner of the living room where Caleb's lizard, Clyde, can enjoy them - notice how he is gazing upon their artsy beauty.  Clyde is a very discerning lizard - he has fine taste in art and in food (his current favorites are canned caterpillars and clover buds from the backyard).  

It is a long story how he traveled from Caleb's upstairs bedroom down to the corner of the living room but you can rest assured that it was never my intention to have a lizard in "my space" - the perils of being a mother to boys!!

Anyhoo - Janie Davies recently had an art retreat and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer attended.  Oh man - I so wish I could've been there!! 

On a completely different note - Got together with Kim the other day and she gifted me with the above book which is a old manual on mine first aid.  So cool!  

Kim knows my love of weird medical stuff and this book is chock full of how to bandage all sorts of wounds. The above pictures give you a small sampling of ways you can bandage up your head in a mining emergency (yes, there were pics of how to bandage a wound to the buttocks too - just in case you were wondering).  Obviously in a mining accident the issues are stabilizing the patient and removing them from the mine so there were pages and pages and pages of how to carry an accident victim as well.

This is my favorite part of the book because of the little doodles across the top of the page.  I can just imagine the miner in his mandatory safety meeting doodling the places that foreign bodies can lodge. 

Did you see the warning about the possibilities of coins, needles, false teeth, etc getting lodged in the windpipe?  It also says to be careful about laughing while you have anything in your mouth so you don't accidentally suck it into your windpipe.  What if you laugh while eating and wearing false teeth??!!  Dangerous stuff. . .

"Maris" -

Husband - "You should name her Maris."

Me - "Why?"

Husband - "Duh, she looks like a Maris." 

Caleb (age 11) - "Mom, why do you like to draw naked girls?"

Me - "Excuse me!!  I don't draw naked girls. . ."

Caleb - "Really?  She looks naked to me. . ."

Me - "Connor, what do you think of this?"

Connor (age 15 - barely looking up from his video game) - "Looks pretty, mom." 

Me - "Did you even look at her?"

Connor - "Ya?"

It has been a crazy busy week - work and taxes.  It seems like a great idea to file an extension until it is time to buckle down and do the taxes - BLECH!!  Apparently, when I need a break I decide to paint a naked, pretty girl named Maris.  What do you do when you need a break?

Linking to Art Journal Every Day,

Paint Party Friday, and 

Artists in Blogland

PDCC145, FTL204, Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger: Autumn Awaits

Haven't made many cards lately but three different challenges caught my eye and pushed me to play!  If you look closely you will notice Stampin' Up's Circle Circus stamped on the orange and blue circles.  (Is it just me or do those stamped orange circles look like pepperoni?  Apparently, you shouldn't stamp or write a blog post when you are hungry!)

That fashionable lady is from the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger:  Autumn Awaits challenge.  Sketch is from Clean & Simple Stamping and the colors are from the current Play Date Cafe Challenge. 

Staggering the circles at different heights adds to the fun - dimension and texture.

Shelter Girl

This month's theme at The Sketchbook Challenge is SHELTER.  That word has been  floating in my noggin for a while and came out as this canvas.

Texture was added easily to the layers with stencils from The Crafters Workshop.  

I outlined my pencil lines with blue ink pen.  Since it tends to bleed through acrylics, I don't lose my lines - much easier for quick painting.

This is the point where I take a "work in progress" around to my boys/husband and ask how they like it - I mostly do this cause they are always creeped out by no eyes!!  Caleb is also creeped out by long skinny necks so you can imagine how "pleased" he was by the fact that I extended her neck all the way down over the deep edge of the canvas!!  

TIP - Want to know how to cut the bottom off a Tim Holtz metal embellishment?  My initial plan was for the piece to curve around the bottom of my canvas so I put it on a metal block and was tapping it with a hammer to bend it when it broke off completely.  Not what I was aiming for but still quite workable.  (Let me know if you have a tip on how to bend a Tim Holtz metal embellishment)

Linking to Paint Party Friday and

Dina Wakley's Out of the Journal 2012 Challenge.

An ATC Adventure. . .

Recently Artists in Blogland announced their first ever Artist Trading Card swap.  I've never made an ATC let alone participated in a swap but being game for a challenge I signed up.

The only rule (that I am aware of) with an ATC is that they must measure 2.5" x 3.5".  I decided to sketch a girl and go from there. . .

Used Caran d'Ache Neocolor crayons to give her a sunkissed summer look (wish my hair was that color) - How many times have I shared my love for those crayons??!!  They are THE BEST ever - someday I will have them all - I pick up a few each time I head to Blick. 

My printer couldn't/wouldn't duplicate the colors no matter how hard I tried.  Stupid printer!!  

I also thought that I was supposed to make 6 of the same ATC - Stupid me!!!  

I ended up making 3 each of 2 cards since I had three addresses to send to - 

The most fun part of the whole experience is when your swap cards start arriving in the mail!!

These two are from Marcia Beckett from Artists in Blogland who put together the whole swap.

Jessica Sporn

There aren't many handwritten envelopes that land in our mailbox and each and every time I was

Michelle Alkerton

surprised and delighted!!  Whoo Hoo - Mail for me!!

My attempt at Abstract Painting. . .

Today was the day that I decided to dabble in ABSTRACT. I had a blast!!  Not sure how good the composition is on this but it was lots of fun - I started with a frame painted in Yellow Ochre but that didn't show at all so I changed it to black. . .

then spent time filling it in with lots of shapes in various colors of acrylic paint.  Since I knew it was gonna be a total mess I didn't bother taking any pics at the beginning. . .

took this one before I added the black and white details - It was about at this point that I realized that I might end up liking this project after all.   

It never ceases to amaze me how much change a little addition of black and white can make!

Of course, an abstract painting can be hung in any direction - not even sure why I thought it should be hung Landscape versus Portrait but this orientation looks "upside down" to both me and my husband compared to the picture at the beginning of this post.

Linking to the Second Floor Challenge #7: Just Five Items

The 5 items I used were:  canvas, acrylic paint, paint brush, white pen, black pen.

Also linking to Week 2 of Dina Wakley's Out of the Journal 2012 Challenge, and

Artists in Blogland, Show and Tell Saturday #32

Illustration Friday: FREEZE

This week's Illustration Friday theme is FREEZE.  I can't do cold in the middle of summer so I took advantage of a freeze frame moment I experienced when looking out the window and seeing Connor mowing the yard.  One of the many things I love about this challenge is that it is open to any interpretation.  

This is my first post in a week - things have been crazy around here.  The boys started school on Wednesday so the first of the week was centered around prep for that.  After successfully navigating their first day then things went downhill.  The internet went out and our hot water heater went kaput!  While hot water was first on my/Corey's list of important things both the boys were more upset about the lack of internet.  Today both issues were finally rectified - that means we can be both clean and have our internet needs satiated!!

This pic is of Connor actually mowing the lawn.  The perspectives are pretty wacky in my sketch  - I drew the mower way too small and Connor looks kinda short while in reality he is only 1/2" shy of 6'. 

Linking to Paint Party Friday

Art Journal Every Da

Illustration Friday: BOUNCE

BLUE GUY - "Mind if I bounce an idea off you?"

GREEN GUY - "Ouch!  I have ideas of my own." 

When do we cross the line from trying to be helpful into forcing our ideas/conceptions upon others?  Something that I've been thinking about while we are raising our two boys.

My ideas are not necessarily their ideas. . . 

sometimes to my relief - sometimes to my chagrin! 

Linking to Illustration Friday: BOUNCE

BTW - Dina Wakley suggested scribbling today and I took her up on it!

Gelatin Leaf Prints - FRAMED

Do you recognize the gelatin leaf prints?  Told you they'd make a reappearance.  Recently a friend was over and while we were talking she said, "I like what you have on the walls here but I like what you make even better."  While I was flattered I was also surprised - I'd never even thought of putting something I had done on the walls here - in a main area of the house (not hidden away like my other things that are on the walls) - especially to replace the matched set of kitchen botanicals that I LOVED when I purchased them a few years back.

It is funny how we get in a rut with things that we've seen so many times that we don't really even see them anymore.  

I realized that if I saw the gelatin leaf prints that I made recently in a store I would totally want to buy them - I love the look of them but never thought until Abby commented that I should hang my own work on the wall.  Reused the frames and got a new look without having to move any nails - BOOYAH!

I think they look pretty fabulous!  Please note the edge of washi tape - everything is better with washi tape!!
Linking to Dina Wakley - Out of the Journal.

Edgy Girl -

I was trying to paint a little more "edgy" than usual - used a palette knife to do the skin and hair.  Mostly, I think she looks like she has a dirty face - The cool patterned paper is from Basic Grey.

Want to see something really creepy cool??  When I first painted this girl I held her up for my husband to see and he said, "You freaked me out cause your face and hers morphed together!" - huh?!

YUP - Weird!!  I tend to paint my girls with long reddish brown hair but this was funky even to me!

Linking to Art Journal Every Day and

Paint Party Friday.