Happy New Year!

I hope 2023 will be a good year for us all!

I’d like to start your first Wednesday of the new year with a smile 😃

May this weird bird inspire YOU to be your BEST!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers!

Featherstitched Wings

Today’s weird bird is rather dazzling! At least I think it is…

I recently took an online class with Kelli May-Krenz called, “Winged Wonders.”

My little bird has featherstitched wings and lots of hand stitching and BEADS!

I love beads!

My little bird has a gold painted beak and a vintage bead for an eye.

I sewed a pin on its back so I could wear it…

But I kind of like it on the top of my little Christmas tree!

It was a fun project to do last week when I was sick with a cold. I find beading and hand stitching very meditative.

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

May you find joy in creating or doing something out of the ordinary this December.

Cheers!

Signs Of Spring

I saw a Quail in my yard the other day poking around underneath a fir tree.

Our snow is melting and lately we are having warmer temperatures in the 40’s. It felt like signs of Spring and inspired me to create this mixed media collage in my sketchbook:

I know the male Quail has the top plume but I couldn’t resist giving him a dress! I drew the Quail’s head and feet.

I was also inspired by the collage artist, Katherine Streeter. I hope you check out her art at KatherineStreeter.com She is also on Instagram. She has a playful style that I really enjoy. She helped me “think outside the box.”

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

May you be inspired to create something different today!

Cheers! 😃

Spring Forward

In the United States, we spring forward on March 14 which means we get to set our clocks ahead an hour, gaining more daylight. Hoorah!

In preparation, this weird bird was trying on several Spring outfits in a very lighthearted way…

She is even wearing eyeglasses like mine! Lol!

The Spring bouquet is from my sweet husband for my birthday last week.

The sun is shining and we are having Spring like weather this week in the Pacific Northwest. Time to celebrate!

Happy Spring and Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

A Snowbird?

During a recent snow storm…

A weird bird of a different flock showed up…

A Snowbird!

Not the typical snowbird that goes to warmer weather during the winter…

It was a good day to complete another jigsaw puzzle:

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Stay warm! 😃

A Quilted Quince

High winds today where I live…

A good day to stay bundled up in a warm quilt!

These two words, quilt and quince were next to each other in my children’s dictionary. I thought they sounded like a good weird bird!

A Quilted Quince Bird

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Stay warm! 🙂

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 Tintinnabulum

Today’s weird bird has a ring to it…

Tintinnabulum – (N) a small, tinkling bell or set of bells playing in succession.

This bird gives new meaning to a “wingding!” Lol!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

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! 🙂