Theme word for Illustration Friday this week: Garden
Watercolor and Pencil
We are super excited about spring/summer fruits and vegetables! They are the best. Strawberries and tomatoes are two of our favorites. We are preparing for a small garden, hopefully it will go as planned. If not, we have our local CSA and a community garden. At the very least, we can say that we finally have our compost started.
Happy Wednesday!!
I have a theory that, sometimes, art needs to sit awhile before it can really sing…
Well, way back when, in my early college days, I took a lot of photography classes. One of them was a mixed media photography class where we made gum prints, sun prints, photo transfers and the like. It was a really fun class. This old print was something I made. It involved some kind of emulsion that was painted onto paper and a large 8 x 10 negative that we developed. This particular print was actually a discard but I kept it anyway in hopes of making something out of it later. Sixteen years later I stumbled across it while looking for other old photos and was immediately sidetracked with the task of finally doing something with it (I really should be doing a million other things right now).
I used water color pencils, water color paint, colored pencils, stamps and ink. It reads:
Sail me on a silver sun where I know that I am free.
Show me that I am everywhere and get me home for tea!The Beatles, “It’s All Too Much“
I think I’m going to frame it and put it in my kitchen, since I love both tea and a good Beatles song.
Happy Tuesday everyone!
This illustration (for illustration friday, word: choose) represents my younger self and my younger husband (15 years younger). I think I chose him, he thinks he chose me, but really it was instantly mutual. And honey, I’ll always choose you because I can’t imagine anyone else making me laugh as much, making me as happy or loving me as much as you do. (Now, you didn’t think I’d make it through an entire Valentines day post without a little bit of sap did you?)
And these are for my little guys. I had a craft date with a new friend today (we had so much fun) and I made the one on the left. When I got home I made the one on the right which is on a different type of cardboard so it looks a bit brighter.
These were the responses from my little guys:
Super-E: “Thanks Mom, it’s cool” Turns around and walks off. (what do ya expect, he’s 6)
I-guy: “Thanks mommy!!! I love it, I love it, I love it!!” while twirling around and looking at it lovingly. Wow, didn’t expect that kind of supreme cuteness! We immediately headed into their room and hung these up by their beds.
The night wasn’t complete without heart shaped pasta for dinner and wacky cake for dessert (recipe courtesy Pink Chalk Studio) Thanks Kathy, it was soooo good!
Hope everyone had a love filled Valentines Day!
These are the cards I made for my 3 winners. They are carved linoleum stamps on a pretty speckled recycled paper cardstock. I had tried different colors of ink, but the black seemed to work best.
I also have had 3 half-finished pincushions lying around my craft room for a while, and finally decided to finish them up today. I made little heart straight pins for them and I think they add the perfect touch. They are polymer clay shaped around the ends of straight pins then baked. A nice simple and fun little project to do while juggling the sad woes of my three sick guys.
The three pincushions are in my shop, since I won’t be doing that little craft show this weekend with my new group, Sonoran Artisans. This is all I’ve been able to make all week and it would look pretty sad having three little cushions on a table for a craft show. Aw, well. There will be more shows I am sure. I will definitely go visit the group to see what they’ve got. Better to meet them first anyway,rather then jump in head first, I think.
The colorful flowers were strangely exciting.
A quick one for Illustration Friday ~ watercolor and ink
Something that I’ve wanted to do for a while is keep a creative/art/life journal. It’s not so much for writing, but for drawing, sketching, collecting ideas etc, etc. You know, creative stuff with maybe a little touchy-feely stuff. I’m thinking of trying to focus more on art this year and I’m hoping this helps.
It’s a plain journal that I decoupaged, painted and added polymer clay buttons. I had to love the look of it, for me to want to use it. And I do love it.
This is a peak inside. It’s intimidating to work with a completely blank book. Letting loose on the cover and inside kinda helps break its newness. I also did a calendar grid on the first couple of pages to help me ease into this. I plan on committing to a weekly journal entry. Daily seemed like too much. I know I can handle weekly.
Here are some inspiring art journal links. They’ve really helped me to get started and will hopefully inspire me to keep going.
Flickr Sets & Pools: Geninne’s Journal Pages, Tara Anderson, Flea Market Studio, AKA Creativity, Journal Junk Pool
Suziblutube: How to keep an art journal This girl is totally zanny, but she digs in, gets dirty and does some amazing work. She has loads of videos to keep you entertained for hours with lots of great ideas and tips for journaling and making art. She really puts herself out there. Wow!
Inspire Me Thursday: Weekly journal prompts to help keep you going (I love this website!!)
Some of these bird cards were sent out with my bird ornaments. I’ve also been making gifts cards sets with them too.
These house cards were made up today, also for gift cards sets. The stamps have been used to decorate envelopes and also the packages for my little house ornaments that were sent out.
I love notecards. They can be so handy when wanting to send a message or add to a gift. I always try to have several different cards on hand at all times, just in case. They just make the gift or message a little more special. Which reminds me that another notecard swap should be in order (maybe Jan, Feb?)
These will be sent out tomorrow. I just loved the collage of my guys on the last post, so that’s how I printed them up. I love how they turned out. I also did a little tree/ornament illustration for this year’s card.
Just barely getting this one in for Illustration Friday.
Musical Mermaid with sparkling scales. Pencil, watercolor, colorful fineliner pens.
putting stuff up on my etsy shop, that is. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
Tissue holders. I made them last year and had a special request to make more.
Notecard sets. Two lino-cut designs and two watercolor illustrations. These are printed on 100% post-consumer waste, acid free paper. Love that!
Shopping totes made from thrifted pillowcases.
I love the whole process of making and photographing my items, but the listing part, GEEZ! At the rate I’m going, the holidays will have come and gone, before I’ve been able to list everything. There’s more, go check it out (thanks!) :).
