Rabbits, Balloons and A Feather

You will be seeing a lot of rabbits and bunnies from me this year!

Carla Sonheim’s year-long online class is The Year of the Rabbit.

It is my goal to spend 10 minutes each day, drawing a rabbit!

Hot Air Balloons:

I recently completed this 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. I just love how colorful it is!

A feather I doodled with black Micron pens:

I kind of messed up on the top so I glued a piece of paper over it! Ha! And drew on top of the paper.

I like how the pencil shading adds dimension:

Do you have any creative goals this year? I hope you will share them with me!

Happy Wednesday!

Cheers! 😃

Spring Has Sprung!

The sun has been shining in the Pacific Northwest where I live and the birds have returned to sing!

Spring has sprung!

The rhubarb has sprouted, always a sure sign that Spring is on its way, hooray!

I printed my background and the paper for my weird birds all on the Gelli-Plate.

Below is my background without my birds:

If you are interested in learning more about Gelli-Plate printing, Carla Sonheim is teaching a live, ZOOM class this Saturday, March 27th. She will be focusing on landscapes. The 3-hour class is only $45.

For more information, you can watch a short video at CarlaSonheim.com and go to “online classes.”

I hope you will be joining me in the class… It will be a blast!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

A Dog and Bird Show

I bet you were thinking a dog and pony show, huh?

Well, since it is weird bird Wednesday, I need to include a couple of birds!

But first, this Marshmallow dog showed up in my art journal last week:

It was Kid’s Art Week at CarlaSonheim.com Each day a new video for kids of all ages. And the best part it is free! (You can still sign-up if you are interested).

This year the lessons were finding imaginary creatures in sidewalk cracks. I was at the lake so I drew my animals by looking at the sidewalk cracks in the videos. I “colored” mine with watercolors and added shading with pencil and other details with a Micron black pen.

Sidewalk cracks are a lot like finding animals in clouds, like these puffy cotton ball ones at the lake:

It was an usually hot day so the lake water was very refreshing!

I must have had sun hats on my mind when creating this weird bird:

Who knew birds had teeth?

I don’t think my show is complete without this photo of a lovely lake sunset…

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

I Spy… Collage!

As many of you know, I LOVE taking online art classes!!

When Carla Sonheim announced her year-long class for 2019 would be Collage, I had to sign up! 🙂  You can find out more about it at CarlaSonheim.com or CarlaSonheim.wordpress.com

I introduced myself on the private Facebook group by cutting out letters to my name from a color copy of this collage I showed you here:  And That’s How…  I really enjoy the wonderful community of artists who take Carla’s online classes.

Carla will be teaching along with two other fabulous artists:  Lynn Whipple and Anne Marie Grgich.  Class starts today!  Hoorah!

Below is a collage I created with paper scraps in my art journal:

I spy…

A bird,

A dictionary word,

Two pages from a shorthand book,

And some fish lure hooks,

A child wearing a blue coat,

And three scraps of music notes,

There is more to find, like #441,

Collage is fun for everyone!

Can you find all these items in my collage?

I hope you will consider joining me in this FUN online class!

Cheers! 🙂

So Noted…

I have discovered two fabulous ways to get one’s creative juices flowing as warm-up exercises in art making.

I learned these ideas from Anita Lehmann in her online class, Translating Landscapes, hosted by Carla Sonheim.

The first idea involves creating marks with a variety of art mediums and tools.  One “natural” tool was a stick!  I had so much fun dipping a stick into ink and “making marks” with it… And using a variety of materials to create this piece:

The second idea was making marks while listening to music.  I created this piece while listening to Eva Cassidy and Natalie Merchant:

I enjoyed both exercises.

So noted, my favorite was the one with the music!

I encourage you to turn up the music and create!

Cheers! 🙂

Gelli-Plate Prints

Many of you know how much I LOVE to print with my Gelli-Plate!

When Carla Sonheim announced that she was going to teach a NEW online class on How to use more of your Gelli-Plate, I immediately signed up!  🙂

The class starts today, so if you want to learn more about it, check out her online class at CarlaSonheim.com

I’d been wanting to purchase the larger 9 x 12 inch size Gelli-Plate so I splurged when Dick Blick Art Supplies was having a recent sale.

I decided to do a test drive (so to speak) of my new Gelli-Plate so I made these prints using Golden fluid acrylic paints, stencils, leaves and household items:

I have A LOT more prints but these were a few of my favorites.

Which one do you like best?

Cheers! 🙂

A Nature Study

Last Friday, I had a little time to create one of Carla Sonheim’s assignments from the year long online class I’m taking from her.

We were to collect some items from nature and arrange them in a pleasing manner:

I collected the above items from my yard.  🙂

Next, I drew them quickly with pencil:

I added oil pastels to my pencil sketch by starting with a light color and layering a darker color on top.  I added details by scratching into the oil pastels with a wooden pencil.

I wasn’t totally liking the oil pastels so I scraped white acrylic paint over it:

I like the muted look better… I’d like to try my nature study in watercolor too!

Happy Monday!  I hope your day is blossoming into a good week…

Cheers! 🙂

February’s Square Project

Perhaps you remember, January’s Square Project?  I am adding a section of paper collaged squares and circles each month to complete a challenge I made for myself.

Well, I had to add a little stitching to January’s section with my sewing machine, not sure that it helps but it was super fun to stitch on paper:

February’s section is less busy… phew! 😉

I used two methods I learned from Carla Sonheim’s 365 class, the scraping paint technique and text collage.  I like to take her instructions as a starting point and then take them a step further to make them my own.

Below are my notes in my art journal (please excuse the chicken scratch and word misspellings):

My completed section for February:

I think it looks so pretty, how about you?

What I liked about February’s experiments:

I haven’t had much time to pursue creating fabrics with my designs… life has been busy.  I still want to do this but looks like it will be later in the year.

I am excited to see what ideas will inspire me for March.

Cheers! 🙂

Flowers And Trees

I inherited my mom’s journal with 40 years of flowers and trees she planted in the yard where I grew up as a child.

I love that it is in her handwriting…

 

I treasure it too because it connects us together… we both love flowers and trees.

I’m taking an online class from Lendon Noe hosted by Carla Sonheim called, Inspired By Lives and Letters, which gave me the inspiration to create this piece:

I made a copy of watercolor painting I did last year and a copy of mom’s journal page from the year I was born… to connect our past and present together as a remembrance.

It is a way for me to have a lovely conversation with my past…

A way for me to say, “Happy Birthday,” to my mom whose birthday is approaching in early March even though she is no longer with us.

I’d like to think she would treasure it.

Cheers! 🙂

Read Any Good Fiction Books?

I always enjoy hearing what fiction books YOU are reading!

• What is your past favorite book as a child?
• What did you read recently?
• And perhaps… What you just started! 🙂

Below are my answers to these questions (highlighted):

And my goals for reading books this year – I hope to read at least one book a month:

I enjoyed this assignment from Carla Sonheim in the 365 Daily Creative Practice online class.  It made me pay attention to the first sentence of a book of fiction.

After all, I do believe it IS that first sentence that truly grabs my attention!

Happy Reading!

Cheers! 🙂