A Puzzler

I love to experiment with color and patterns, as you may already know! I find it very meditating.

I recently completed this doodle:

One of the things I did differently with this doodle was I added three flowers on top of my doodle that I printed on deli paper using my Gelli plate and a stencil.

What is really fun about printing on deli paper with fluid acrylics is that the pattern is transparent when you glue it down to your paper. You don’t see the deli paper. I printed my flowers in a light red color.

This time I took my experiment a step further and glued it over my doodle (with a glue stick). I next added further details with Copic markers and color pencils on top of the deli printed flowers. I didn’t know I could do that!

I also experimented creating patterns with color pencils in my doodle and coloring Copic markers over them.

Another great thing about creating a colorful doodle is making copies to use as collage. The colors came out exceptionally bright with the Copic markers.

And behold! I found a rabbit:

And a bird (think swan–like):

The journal is for my online class I’m taking with Carla Sonheim, The Year of the Rabbit. I added some postage stamps from other countries to add interest to my pages.

I hope you have fun doing some art experiments today! I’d love to hear what you are working on.

Happy Wednesday!

Cheers! 😃

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! 😃

Lazy Susan

Susan always served the best appetizers for her feather friends…

She would sit down with a plate on her belly and slowly spin the plate around so everyone could sample the seeds…

This is why she was nicknamed, Lazy Susan.

One never knows what will inspire a silly weird bird!

I drew this pattern with Copic markers yesterday evening:

Earlier in the day, I painted these papers:

It was to create this project:

I hope you let your imagination soar!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

P.S. I’m posting a little late today… feeling kind of lazy I guess! 😉

Waiting Game

I have been preparing for a total hip replacement surgery on my right hip in less than 2 weeks…

Making extra meals for the freezer and creating easy recipes for my hubby. I am trying to tidy up the house too. 😉

It feels like a waiting game so in order to relax I have been doing more doodling:

I started each one with Copic Markers:

Adding black Micron pen on top:

It has been fun experimenting with color and patterns. I will make copies and use these patterns in my collages.

What do YOU do to pass time when you are waiting?

Cheers! 🙂

P.S. I will be taking a short blogging break and posting only on Instagram for awhile. You can find me at art_jill_kuhn on Instagram.

Earmarked

I finished my beetle doodle that I started recently. I enjoyed working on it in the evenings.

I enjoyed adding gold ink in addition to black ink:

I started another story in my art journal. Perhaps you remember; Meet Linda and Bob – Part 2

This one is earmarked for more word play! I am using a thesaurus for my story prompts this time.

I plan to show my completed journal page this Friday… I hope you will earmark this post!

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 Bird Shape?

I tried to paint a Hummingbird in watercolor for today’s post but it ended up in the trash! Oh, don’t worry, this happens sometimes. 😉

So I went back to the basics – painting patterns in watercolor and getting comfortable with my brushes and trying different color combinations:

And look! A bird shape showed up!

When I haven’t painted in watercolor for awhile, I have to slow down and just PAINT without thinking about outcome.

I added pen on top of my watercolor in black Micron pen with a little white and gold gel pens. I like how the ink gives it some pizzazz!

I now have a page of patterns I can color copy and use in my collages.

What do YOU do when your art takes a different turn than you envisioned?

Happy Friday!

Cheers! 🙂

October Square-A-Day Project

As I wait for the doorbell to ring and costume-clothed kiddos arrive with pillow cases or plastic buckets to be filled with sweet treats, I review my October square-a-day project.

This month I tried to stick to a theme. Nature was my inspiration. Simple squares. Gelli-plate printed backgrounds. What do you think of having a nature theme?

I left my 5×7 inch Gelli-plate out on my art table for the entire month of October. This led to some wonderful explorations with acrylic ink and fluid acrylics. I also enjoyed printing on old book pages.

Below are some of my favorite squares:

I believe I am now supplied with as many prints as the kids whose buckets were overflowing with Halloween candy! 😉 Sweet!!

I look forward to hearing which squares you like!

Happy November! Cheers! 🙂

A Square-A-Day Project for June

I am still enjoying my square-a-day project, can you believe it has been 6 months?

I gave myself a theme for June. Can you guess what it is? Of course, many of you already know from my sneak peak earlier in the month.

I thought it was interesting how the 4th vertical row shares a similar color value when I lined them up yesterday.

What doodles and patterns stand out for you? I hope you share them with me!

Cheers! 🙂

Planting Patterns

I have declared the month of June to be doodle month for my Square-A-Day project.  I look forward to showing you all my squares at the end of this month… but here is a sneak preview:

Drawing doodles or patterns is something I find calming and relaxing.  I did this one in my art journal with color pencils recently:

It looks like I am planting patterns like rows of flowers or vegetables in a garden!

Patterns and inspiration are everywhere… 

Like this photo I took recently at the lake.  The moon was almost full!

There are patterns in the water, the trees and the sky!

I hope you will be inspired by the patterns in your world!

Cheers! 🙂