"Nebula" watercolour

Nebula

3.25"x5"

watercolour

"Jubilant"

"Jubilant"

8.25" x 11.25"

watercolour, 90lb smooth watercolour paper, large chunk salt
(click on image to see larger version) 

I normally only use textured watercolour paper and found the smooth very different to work with.  Will take some getting used to but I really enjoyed doing this piece.

Home has cats, plants and gardens

I love noticing things that bubble up or trickle down into my art from my sub or super conscious.
This is the second yellow house with orange roof I've done!  I like this one much more than the 1st one.
I would never consciously choose those colours but they are in me somewhere!

I'm working with Speedball waterproof ink in a fountain pen I unearthed that is likely older than I am - and loving it.

first the drawing (which I let dry overnight so the markers would be less likely to smear):

then colour with markers:

5" x 6"

Very cheerful, sunny house.  I think it's straw bale with yellow stuccoed walls (and solar panels) :-)
I wasn't positive I could draw the garden well enough so I drew it elsewhere and cut and paste when I liked it (which thankfully was on the 1st try).  My work tends to be abstract or very loosely representational so I'm not too good at proportion or realism.

Repurposing Failed Projects

Some watercolour experiments don't turn out well so I use the paper as background or scraps for other projects.  All of the words shown in the lefthand photo will become fun inspiration tags like the Magic one shown above.
Update: I finally came across the photo that inspired me to do these (although the method is a bit different, the core idea was from here).  Like much of my favourite inspiration, this came from Daisy Yellow (thank again Tammy!).

I made a strange little decoration for one of my plants including this lovely Blue Jay feather my mom sent me in a Valentine's Day card - thanks mom!

Fragrance In Gluesticks

Due to the high VOC content in liquid glue, which I react badly to, I use gluesticks most of the time for my adhesive needs.
Unfortunately, the only gluestick that I had been able to find unscented has changed their formula and now adds fragrance. :-(
So I have less than one full gluestick left!  Woe is me!
I wish I knew why on earth companies feel the need to add fragrance to a glue stick.
I react to even small amounts that the average person can't smell.

If anyone knows of a glue stick that they are positive is fragrance free, can you let me know?  Unfortunately they don't label them as being scented so the only way I can find out is to buy it.

Thanks!

Inks With Paints

"evolve"

1.5"x6.25"

watercolour, inks

I'm loving the contrast that inks on paint can provide. 
Visit some of the links below to see some wild and wonderful work by artists incorporating inks with paints and other mediums.


I love:


- almost every single piece by Lawrence Yang 
seriously... go check this page out - there are so many and they are all so awesome! Yes, I like weird and wacky :-)

- these weird and wonderful pieces by Cherie Tan

artificial,
umbilical


- most of, but in particular, the fish pieces by Marina Korenfeld. (my fave is The Wind - sorry no direct link but it's near the bottom of the gallery thumbnails.)

Home Is...

Colouring Fun!

The child in me loves colouring.
There are many neat colouring books you can get these days that are details enough to appeal adult-level colouring skills.
There are also a number of places online where one can print off colouring pages for free.

I can't recall where I printed this one from but it's one of my favourites:

 

My thanks go to http://www.mandalarbre.com for their amazing, inspiring colourable mandalas. They are all designed by Marc Bove and are copyrighted.
They have galleries there where you can see various coloured-in mandalas. It's wonderful seeing all of those vibrant colours!  You often can print out free sample pages.  Here's one:

And if you love whimsy, check out Phee McFaddell's colouring pages!
Lots of fun fairies and fantastical creatures:

I like having a few colouring pages on the go - it can help me get unstuck on a main project.  I think that a freed-up inner child is a boon to any artist!

Getting Distracted by Clutter

I have gone into my new creativity room a number of times over the last few days with the intention of working on art... only to find myself distracted by organising or tidying the room.
Maybe it's easier for me to create when things feel settled around me.
The room is a big mess still.  It had been full of boxes and I'm slowly sorting through them - finding all sorts of things I was keeping 'in case' I wanted to use them in art 'some day'.  I have boxes and boxes of those 'some day' items!
I'd like to pare down but have a hard time deciding what to let go.

What a mess!
yes, that is a snake skin on the wall :-)  a wonderful snake I met this summer shed and left it fresh in the sun for me!

What is 'Home' to me?

I'm having fun working with this month's Creative Every Day theme of Home.

Have drawn a background, still have to glue on all the words and then plan to paint over everything with watercolours.  May add more words or ink after that.  I will post another picture of it when it's done :-)

February CED Theme 'Home'

The monthly CED theme for February is 'Home'.

I love this theme and got started on it by creating this blog as a place to be my online 'Home' for being creative.

Part of my creating involved choosing a blog template I liked and learning how to edit it, making sidebars more narrow, content wider, things like that.  There's still some work to do before it feels like 'Home' but it's getting there and the process of learning how to make changes was a good challenge for my brain.

In my non-internet life, the 'Home' theme is very fitting.
I've been living in this house for 3 years now and have only just begun making a room entirely mine in the last few days.  Until then the only space I had was shared space - there was nowhere for me to spread out and be totally 'me' without considering how I impacted others.
I am so excited to have a room I can decorate exactly how I want, leave creative projects around partly finished and expand energetically.

Much tidying and sorting is involved (not entirely fun), repotting a number of plants... the cats will not be allowed in this room so I can have plants without them getting eaten.  I love potting plants - it feels very nourishing.

Soon I will cover the walls with things I have created, with possibly some of others' art that inspires me.

A house is not a home to me without plants

I'm Joining The Creative Every Day Challenge 2010!

I've decided to participate in this neat creativity challenge.
I love the art of the woman who runs CED and have been following her blog for many months, feeling inspired each time I read.  Her name is Leah Piken Kolidas and she provides monthly themes to help creative juices flow. 
It's a very laid back 'challenge' and basically any participant can take part in whatever way feels right to them.
I love it!

Since I've been thinking, for a while now, of how much I'd like to have more positive focuses in my life, I decided to take the plunge and join CED.

I know how much healthier and happier I feel when I am creative and I think being part of this will motivate me to do it more often.

☺

Possibilities

 

I'm not quite sure what is going on with this playful piece.  I think I will add more layers to it as inspiration hits.  Right now the big empty spaces feel... well.. empty.

The background feels messy - I miss my acrylics SO MUCH.  I can't use them due to reactions to chemicals. I was trying to create a look of texture with just markers and watercolours on flat paper.  Not working... yet.

I rarely plan what comes out - I just go with the flow.

The words that came were 'possibilities... fill the silver seas'.

The huge red egg feels like something exciting about to hatch soon.

The grinning, tiny whale felt very fun even though the logical part of me thought it was ridiculous.  :-)