Illustration Friday - WINGS

This week's Illustration Friday theme is WINGS.  Wasn't in the mood to draw or get too messy so a collage was just the ticket. . .

Gobs and gobs of mixed media goodness is featured on this page including:  rhinestones, stickers, paper doily, washi tape, film strip, staples, fabric embellishments, etc.  With all that layering going on, don't miss the absolute "fabulous-ness" of that marbled base paper from Thailand that I picked up at ArtMart!!  LOVE that paper! 

I chose my colors from the page Kim did on the opposite - this is part of our collaborative art journal.  Kim is a big nature/bird fan and I am a lover of neutrals so this spread really shows both sides of our personalities.  

"You must unfold your wings as you fall. . ."

Weekend trip - St. Louis

So in my last post I was complaining that I was too busy and stressed - what is the antidote for such a malaise?  Apparently, it is to drop everything, take the kids to Nana/Papa's and jet off to St. Louis for the weekend!  If you're ever in that town be sure and visit ArtMart - it definitely gives Disneyworld a run for its money as "The Happiest Place on Earth"!

We also visited the Art Museum - I'm so amazed at people that have enough chutzpah to work in front of others.  So cool!!  

Here are some of my favorite pieces of the day. . .

Maquette for Sculpture Screen at Lambert-St. Louis Air Terminal

Harry Bertoia 

This is a miniature of a screen that was once part of the airport and has since been removed - I love this piece and have taken pictures of it every time I've visited this museum.

Boxcars, Minneapolis #2

Ralston Crawford

LOVE this piece - the angles, the colors - I asked if I could borrow it for my living room and they told me no.  sigh. . .

Seated Woman, 1953

Pablo Picasso

Pitcher and Fruit Bowl, 1931

Pablo Picasso

The Artist's Mother

Paul Cezanne 

The Artist's Sister

Paul Cezanne

It looks as though I posted this picture upside down but look in the background (at the right side up Corey).  The information provided stated that his early portraits focused on members of his family and that is possible that he painted on both sides of the canvas for financial reasons.  I love that they mounted it where you could walk around and see both sides.

  

St. Ives Cornwall, Composition, 1934

Ben Nicholson

Composition, 1933

Jean Helion

   

Stairway at Auvers, 1890

Vincent van Gogh

Little Dancer of Fourteen Years

Edgar Degas

This bronze was the only statue that Degas showed during his lifetime - the others he made were for private collections.

Cradling Wheat, 1938

Thomas Hart Benton

This was Corey's favorite piece of the day - he likes all the movement and the colors.

They are expanding the St. Louis art museum so many, many of the contemporary pieces were in storage - the new wing opens June 2013.

It was a great weekend filled with beautiful works of art.  I LOVE museums - do you?

Splash of Green Girl

Life has been very busy lately - too busy to draw/sketch!!  AARRGGHH - Despite the chaos around me, I took a few minutes to sketch a girl yesterday but then had no time to post her until now.  She's a bit contemplative and perhaps sad?. . .maybe she is dreaming about when she will have more time. . .

Colors from the current Play Date Cafe Challenge.

Used gouache for the first time (Emerald) - not sure if I like it or not - I was in such a hurry to finish that I definitely appreciated that it was easily squirted from the tube but that's not much of a recommendation for a paint is it?

(Blazonry stencil by Balzer Designs)

Art Journal Every Day

Paint Party Friday

Sunday Sketches
Artists in Blogland-Show & Tell Saturday

Illustration Friday - MYTH

You  know how they say that you shouldn't food shop when you are hungry?

Obviously, the same rule should apply to sketching - don't do it when you are crabby.  Unless, of course, it is your goal to make a seriously disgruntled girl that no amount of purple glitter or faux doily hair bauble can make look pretty!

She is illustrating the MYTH (Illustration Friday) that "you can do it all" - ya right!!

Just about the time you start thinking you've got things kinda together you end up with an

enormous headache, a car with the VOLT light on (new alternator?? - won't know until we can get it into a garage on Monday) AND a washing machine whose drain pump goes out on the first load of laundry and had to be manually drained by hand.  This was followed by a trip to the laundromat today.  The part is ordered  but won't ship until Monday - hence no dryer until Wednesday or Thursday.

Trust me - I realize that my paltry problems are nothing in the big scheme of things but I cannot be trusted to "draw happy" when I am crabby - - - so there!

Linking to Art Journal Every Day,

Paint Party Friday, and 

Sunday Sketches.

CLARK - The Manly Retro Dude

A gentleman is a man who can play the accordian but doesn't.

Love these book quotes with my man's man!  Isn't he rugged and chiseled?  He could dictate a letter while drinking his coffee black simultaneously thinking about how he is ready to chop wood at the cabin over the weekend.  

An Etsy purchase delivered this fabulous retro drawing book to my collection.  While it isn't the most comprehensive book instruction wise, it sure is fun to thumb through. . . 

All this would seem to proceed upon the assumption that man is still rather primitive.  He is.  The veneer of civilization is very, very thin. . .

Illustration Friday - OCEAN

A woman's heart is like a deep OCEAN of secrets.    -  Alicia Figgs

The Illustration Friday topic this week is OCEAN.  Started with a background splish-splashed about with diluted acrylic paints.  Salt was added to the puddles of paint which enhanced the visual texture once the page was dry (and the salt flicked off).  Flyaway hair comes from India Ink blown around with a straw.

 Colors are from the Play Date Cafe Challenge - 

Linking to Sunday Sketches, 

Artists in Blogland, A Piece a Week and

Creative Every Day.

Ledger Girl - Girl with Purple Shirt

My first girl painted directly into my "new to me" old ledger.  Funny - my MIL was completely flabbergasted that I had bought this ledger through the internet.  

MIL - "You bought this through the internet?!!"

ME - "Why yes I did - there is no end to the things you can buy online.  Look at these old flash cards I got too. . ."

MIL - "Seriously - you bought this online??" (said with confused face)

ME - "Yes"

MIL - "Honey - she bought this ledger online. . ." 

A person who isn't into mixed media can get sad at how we repurpose "new to us" old/worn ephemera - my husband still cringes when I tear pages out of old books.  However, to his credit, he doesn't scream, "WHY?!!" any longer - hee hee.

Linking to Art Journal Every Day,
A Piece A Week 2013, and

Paint Party Friday

Illustration Friday - EDGE

"When one jumps over the edge, one is bound to land somewhere."

- D. H. Lawrence

This week's topic at Illustration Friday is EDGE.

I haven't quite decided if she is waving happily as she prepares for her leap off the edge or if she is giving the "talk to the hand" gesture to those behind her who are trying to talk her back from the edge.  What do you think?

Used some new Mister Huey's spray with a stencil on the background.  The usual suspects of Washi tape, acrylic paint, Sharpie paint pen made their appearance but the oil pastels are a new addition to the art journal.

 Colors used are courtesy of the current Play Date Cafe Challenge.

Linking to Sunday Sketches.

China Marker girl -

LOOK - a super colorful girl!  She was started on an extra background that I had made some time back - it is always good to make multiple backgrounds when you have all the stencils/sprays out - then you have a place to start on a day like today. . . 

This was definitely a mixed media kinda design with acrylic paint/sprays/markers/neocolors and a China Marker.  What is a China Marker you may ask?  Let's have Wikipedia answer that question. . .

The grease pencil, a wax writing tool also known as a wax pencil, china marker, (or chinagraph pencil in the United Kingdom), is made of hardened colored wax and is useful for marking on hard, glossy non-porous surfaces such as porcelain, glass, polished stone, plastic, ceramics and other glazed, lacquered or polished surfaces, as well as the glossy paper that is used for photographic printing (particularly for contact sheets), x-rays, and for marking edits on analog audio tape and film. It is also used to label theatrical lighting gels. It is often used as a construction or handyman's marking tool as it rarely scratches the surface it is used on. It may be used to mark a wet surface. They are also favored among some traditional artists. Due to its ability to write on glass, it is often used in chemistry labs to mark glassware.

The house is getting littered with my girls again - I've started taping them to my craft cabinet in the corner of the kitchen - Now they can stare at us while we eat dinner. . .

I think I gravitate to drawing girls since it is my antidote to all the testosterone in this house!!   Plus - girls are way prettier and more fun to draw than boys anyway.  Draw some long locks and luscious lips on a male and they get all wigged out about it!

Linking to Art Journal Every Day,

Paint Party Friday.

Illustration Friday - NEW

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the NEW.  But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.  There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.  - Alan Cohen

It is the first day of the new year - can't believe how quickly time has been flying by - our oldest son will be 16 very shortly.  While he is a very responsible young man, the thought of him spreading his wings and getting independence on the road makes this mama pretty nervous.

Time to embrace NEW - I'm normally not so great with new - I like what is known and comfortable - I miss my boys being little and thinking that we had all life's answers. . .

Hence the vaguely worried look in this gal's face. . . a bit of wistful yearning for the past mixed in with cautious optimism for the future. . . the look of a woman that isn't so good with NEW.

Linking to Illustration Friday - NEW.