Hello Dahlia!

My neighbor grows the most beautiful Dahlia flowers…

She recently gave me a bouquet and I wanted to share them with you!

The colors, shapes and patterns are just dazzling, aren’t they?!

Perhaps you may also enjoy these imaginary flowers that I created in my large handmade journal:

I created them in a variety of art mediums; such as paper collage, ink pens and watercolor crayons.

May ALL these flowers inspire YOU in your art or just brighten your day!

Cheers! 😃

A Bibliopole Bird

Today’s weird bird is collaged with old books.

So I thought a fitting title is a Bibliopole bird:

The dictionary definition for Bibliopole (bib-lee-uh-pohl) – a bookseller, especially a dealer in rare or used books.

I enjoy reading during summer…

Have you read any good books lately?

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

A Scribble Bird

I learned this technique from Carla Sonheim.

You start with a scribble…

And then you try to find something to create out of it. It kind of looks like a bunny, doesn’t it?

Of course I found a weird bird in it!

I added a few more lines to create my Scribble bird. Next, I colored it with Copic markers:

Then added color pencils and pencil shading:

Here is a mouse I did previously in my art journal:

I challenge you to find an animal or bird in a simple scribble!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

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 Game Changer

I am very excited about Carla Sonheim’s year-long online class for 2020!

It is called, “Words and Pictures.”

For the first assignment, I used the phrase, “This might be impossible to read but it was fun to make,” using a game theme:

I am hoping this class will be a game changer for me and help me write a children’s book!

If you are interested in Carla’s class, you can watch a 3 minute intro video at CarlaSonheim.com

Cheers! 🙂

Meet Linda and Bob – Part 2

Below is the beginning of my art journal page from my last post:

And the completed page, focusing on using words with the letter “P”!

First, I drew a body for Linda and Bob, coloring them with color pencils.

I wanted to find an unusual last name for my characters, starting with the letter, “P” so I consulted this old book, “Cyclopedia of Names,” from 1911.

Here I found the name, “Pumbelchook.” The name’s description fit well into this section of my journal. (A bonus was many words starting with the letter, P!):

The part about mathematical problems, led me to a graph from an old book on Engineering Drawings to collage to my page. I liked the “patterns” and colored them with color pencils. I also created a few patterns of my own in ink.

Next, I gave myself some word prompts starting with the letter, “P” to generate ideas. I will share how I did this in a future post.

The title from an old paperback book, “Trouble in the Park” gave me a subject idea. It was a bit challenging to fit my story into the space provided so I printed it on my computer.

I changed the spelling of the last name slightly to “Pumblechook” for Linda and Bob:

I cut out the square drawing of the dog (Paprika) from December’s square-a-day project and glued it into the space under the story. I found the words, “peach pie” in an old cookbook. I created my pie slice image from a Gelli-print.

I really enjoyed the challenge of creating this way… What story would you give Linda and Bob?

I encourage you to add a story from your imagination to your art journal!

Cheers! 🙂

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! 🙂

Art Journal Prompts – Part 2

I wanted to show you the page in my art journal that I completed from Monday’s post:

Below is the photo from Monday of my unfinished page Art Journal Prompts:

I enjoyed a trip down “memory lane” and found this photo of me ice skating with my dad when I was almost 5 years old. (Notice the old cars in the background!)

I encourage you to create your own art journal prompts! I hope you share with me what you do!

Cheers! 🙂

Art Journal Prompts

I like to give myself art challenges.

Yesterday, I had a few minutes to experiment in my 9 x 12 inch Canson mixed media art journal.

I started by writing the date and drawing some random shaped boxes on my paper:

Next, I worked quickly so I wouldn’t overthink things.

I added paper collage, doodles and creative prompts to work on later such as a dictionary word and paint sample name:

I will show you my completed journal page later this week! I encourage you to create your own art journal prompts to get your creative juices flowing!

Cheers! 🙂