Switching Gears

Lately, I haven’t had much time for creative play…

And when I do, I seem to have difficulty switching gears in my brain from work to art!

I really liked this quote from Audrey Hepburn; when life feels overwhelming or impossible, I need to switch gears in my thinking…

How about you, how do you get past the impossible to the I’m possible?

Cheers!  🙂

A Keeldeer Bird

Perhaps you have seen a “Killdeer Bird” on a sandy beach?

Well, here is its cousin, a Keeldeer Bird…

The Keeldeer is also a shoreline bird but a bit shy.  Its beak is the shape of a boat “keel” hence its name.

Let me know if you see one at the beach this summer…

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday! 

Cheers!  🙂

A First Layer

I was able to get a first layer of collage images glued to my canvas on Saturday for the online art class I’m taking from Anne Marie Grgich, that I shared with you in my last post.

The canvas is 18 x 24 inches:

This is the first of MANY layers glued with liquid matte gel medium.

I used an old credit card to smooth my papers down but still got several air bubbles…

So I decided to try a second collage on cradled wood board, this one is 11 x 14 inches:

The air bubbles still showed up but drying overnight helped many of them to disappear.  The rest of the bubbles I will need to pop with an exacto knife and add more glue and smooth with my fingers.  

I learned that the first layer of glue needs to be completely dry BEFORE adding the gel medium on top of my papers.

I did like working on the surface of the cradled wood board better than the canvas as  the surface was more even.

Someone in the class recommended “Yes” glue as it has less water in it than the gel medium.  I think I will try this in the future.

I will show you my collages as they progress…

Hope your Monday has very few wrinkles or crinkles (as in crinkly foreheads…)

Cheers! 🙂

P.S. Thank you all for your concern about my right eye.  It has almost completely healed, yay! 👀

 

 

A Poke In The Eye

Somehow I irritated my right eye…

I don’t know if I got something in it or if I scratched my eyeball.  I’m going to an eye doctor this morning to find out.

It just reminds me how wonderful it is to SEE colors and EVERYTHING!  I am so blessed.

I’m very excited about this new online class I just started, hosted by Carla Sonheim – go to CarlaSonheim.com to learn more about the online art classes she offers.

The name of this class is The College Techniques of Anne Marie Grgich.

Check out Anne Marie’s art on Pinterest  if you’d like to see her AMAZING detailed collages!

I found a few more books at a different thrift store yesterday to add to my collection and I got the Senior Discount!  Yes, there is a plus to being 55 years old and older! Lol! 🤣

I figure what images I don’t use in collage, I could use as references to paint! ☺️

Sorry to report, I did not see any Nancy Drew mystery books at this store but I did find a great book on container gardening for only $1.00 – YAY!

Anne Marie Grgich’s collages are very detailed with MANY layers of images.  One of the things that inspired me to take this class was to learn how to create more transparent layers in my own collages.  Plus, what a bonus to watch videos of another artist’s process!  I’m learning so much and the class has just started!

So back to the process of cutting and sorting images by color for this class…

It is much more fun than a poke in the eye!

Cheers! 🙂

A Smiley Face

When someone smiles at me, I can’t help but return a smile, how about you?

I didn’t know that Harvey Ross Ball was the creator of THE smiley face, did you?

Amazing how such a simple image can bring so much sunshine to others! 🙂

I created this circle fun in my art journal in January and was saving it for the right time to post it…

Today seems like a perfect day!

Cheers! 🙂

 

A Cinch

This weird bird was A Cinch to make:

According to Wikipedia, Cinch is an American trick-taking card game primarily played by four players.  Developed in Denver, Colorado in the 1880’s the card game went out of fashion with the rise of Auction Bridge.

The word, cinch has several meanings in the dictionary, such as easy and having a tight grip.

I thought it made the perfect subject for today’s weird bird!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

 

Three Spring Chicks

Since Spring is supposed to be here where I live in the Pacific Northwest…

I created these three Spring Chicks:

Maybe you’d like to see my creative process for today’s weird Wednesday birds.

I started with a watercolor background and pulled out some of its colors with paint sample cards.  The name of the paint sample for yellow was “Forsythia” which gave me the idea of Spring flowers!  And since Easter was last Sunday… I thought of baby chicks!

 

I looked up baby chicks on the internet for a reference.  Then I tore scrapbook paper for their bodies, cut old painted maps for their beaks and used three of the paint sample cards for their Spring hats.  I drew their feet with pencils.

I added some pencil shading, black pen for their eyes with white highlights and Posca paint pens for dots on their hats.  I used music notes for patches of flowers.

As I was writing, Happy Spring… I misspelled the word, “Spring” so I just cut the word out of the background and added the word, “Day!” (No reason to fuss…)

I created a few “Spring” flowers with more paint sample cards to complete my piece.  And added a sprinkle of buttons:

HAPPY DAY to you, no matter the weather or season!

Cheers! 🙂

Have Your Cake And…

My MIL turned 85 years old yesterday! 😃  WOWZA!

So I thought I would repost this Diva bird since I’m taking a little break from blogging this week…

And be sure to eat a slice of cake! 🍰

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

Letter “B” Is For…

Birds!!!  Of course! 😉

This Brown-Headed Bridge bird was caught with its hand beak in the bark butter again!

Kathy at Backyard Bird Nerd is a big believer of feeding bark butter to the bazillion birds that flock to her yard!

I hope you check out Kathy’s blog if you too want a treat of beautifully photographed birds (and butterflies in the summer too!)

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

A Phrase Drill

Sometimes during a Phrase Drill the geese forgot which way to fly…

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!!

I hope you “fly” in the right direction today…

Cheers! 🙂