Spreading JOY

I am so proud of my nephew, Jerred Mace!

He is a design student at University of Washington and has created coffee sleeves with positive messages to spread JOY!

Check out his website: wjoyproject.com

Jerred is a very talented young man. He wrote a book of poetry that he self-published in High School. You can purchase a copy of it if you are interested, on his website.

If you are ever in Edmonds, WA on a Wednesday, please stop by Walnut Street Coffee for a cup of JOY!

Cheers! 🙂

An Amazing Day

I have been enjoying the free online art class:

“The Layered Page” with Kellee Wynne Studios! I discovered it on Instagram. You can find it at KelleeWynneStudios.com

I have been creating larger pages with acrylic paint and stencils that will become mini books. Kellee shows you how to do this in her videos.

This led to experimenting in my sketchbook with marks and bubble wrap:

And creating smaller cards that are 5.5 x 3.5 inches:

I decided to make positive affirmation cards with some of the smaller cards:

And I created my own layered pages with paper collage in my art journal:

Perhaps my art will inspire you to create art you enjoy!

I hope you have an amazing day!

Cheers! 🙂

P.S. I have decided to take a blogging break so I can focus on creating art. There are some awesome free online art classes right now that I want to take advantage of!

If you are needing some additional creative inspiration, Carla Sonheim is offering a free pdf with 22 artists sharing their ideas. You can find it at CarlaSonheim.com Great ideas for all ages!

Have fun and stay safe! 🙂

A Beetle Doodle

I have been sorting through closets and cupboards in my home this past weekend.

It feels good to get things better organized. I have discovered that I have too many hobbies however… and I need to get rid of a few as they are cluttering my mind.

Any suggestions? How do YOU get rid of art supplies you are no longer using?

In the evenings, I have been working on a beetle doodle:

I am using gold pen in addition to black ink. I noticed that REAL beetles tend to have an iridescent shine.

I cannot remember ever working on a symmetrical pattern. It is a bit more challenging. 😉

What did YOU do this past weekend? I hope you share it with me.

Cheers! 🙂

P.S. I will show you my finished beetle doodle when it is complete!

A Sentimental Season

Do you still mail holiday cards to friends and family?

I do!

But I must confess, I struggle with throwing out the ones I receive…

The cards are so beautiful and I enjoy the family photos…

It is a sentimental season for me. How about you?

What do you do with all the cards and photos at the end of the season?

I look forward to your creative ideas!

Happy Holidays! 🙂

No Time For Art?

Some days (or weekends) life gets busy and it feels like there is no time for art.

This happened to me over the weekend… I’m not exactly sure where the time went! 😉

Instead of worrying about it, I did some brainstorming in my art journal about what nature is to me:

Brainstorming is a fun exercise. I like to write quickly without judgment. These ideas I can use in my art making when I have a little more time.

Plus it gives me some ideas to think about for my next project.

How do you use brainstorming in your art making?

Cheers! 🙂

More Fun With Fungus!

After my exploration of collage and drawing a pair of Rosy Bonnet mushrooms on Monday, I decided to try an ink doodle with Micron pens:

Next, I made a stencil of the mushroom from my pencil drawing. I wanted to use it in my Gelli-plate printing.

I decided to make a stencil of each shape with card stock and a plastic material (it is made for creating quilt patterns but I thought it might work):

Both worked for these fungus prints but I liked the results with the card stock the best. It was less slippery on the Gelli-plate and left less lines around the stencil on the prints:

It was fun trying both positive and negative shapes on deli paper and vellum paper:

I can even use the leftover card stock stencil in my art journal…

But that is fun with fungus for another day!

I hope I inspired you to explore mixed media in a subject you enjoy.

Cheers! 🙂

Rosy Bonnets

One of nature’s art subjects I enjoy drawing and painting…

Mushrooms!

Paper collage using Gelli-plate prints from old books:

When Pete Hillman recently posted a photo of Rosy Bonnet mushrooms…

I had to try drawing them in pencil and color pencils in my art journal:

Paper collage came next (first photo) and tomorrow, I hope to try watercolor!

I’m having fun exploring this mushroom in different art mediums…

Thanks Pete for the inspiration with your awesome photos!!

What art subjects from nature grab your attention?

Cheers! 🙂

Animal Sketches

I challenged myself recently to learn to draw different animals.

I started with collage paper scraps as hats in different shapes to keep it fun:

It helped me to start with animals that I was familiar from my imagination like the pig, cat and dog.

When I started with the gorilla, I used a real image online as inspiration.

I used pencil so I could erase if needed and I erased A LOT!

When I got frustrated, I drew a face of a girl! 😉 It took me several nights to complete.

It helped me to remember to use basic shapes like the circles in my rabbit’s face below:

I think my animal sketches have character! Do you have a favorite?

Happy sketching!

Cheers! 🙂

Primary Fun

I’m enjoying the assignments from my online class, Creating Simple Characters with Nelleke Verhoeff.

It was primary fun to color these characters with yellow, red and blue color pencils:

I encourage you to draw characters as things from your imagination!

Cheers! 🙂

Petals Fade

We had a sunny day mixed with rain yesterday. I took this photo of a rose bush in my yard.

I thought it was beautiful how the rain droplet was held within its petals like arms holding onto the end of summer.

It inspired me to write a haiku:

Last bloom before frost?

Petals fade but one remains…

Unfolding with hope.

May you find hope in the beauty that surrounds you.

Cheers! 🙂