Toucan Dan Can

Toucan Dan can balance a can bowl with a fish while spinning a dish…

And riding a squishy “Ish”!

May your balancing act (life) be full of happy surprises…

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

That’s Nonsense!

I think creating from my imagination is the most fun!  I hope you enjoy my ridiculous creatures:

I started each creature with a scrap of gelli-printed paper and then made up the rest of my animal, adding details with a black pen and color pencils.

And yesterday I created this silly Martian and told his story with this Limerick:

May it inspire the child in you to have fun and play in your art!

Cheers!  🙂

Ribbons Of Paint

Sometimes I just like to swirl my paintbrush around with watercolor in my art journal. No thinking involved… just playing with color:

Yesterday, I didn’t have much time but I still wanted to DO something! So I created this haiku over my ribbons of paint:

I remember using scissors to create ribbons for wrapped gifts before store bought bows became popular.  “Zip!!” And curls appeared like magic!

Wishing you a day with happy memories!

Cheers!  🙂

A Wild Beast?

I was learning a new art technique yesterday and this wild beast showed up!!

It reminded me of one of my favorite childhood books, “Where The Wild Things Are,” by Maurice Sendak.

This technique is called a Notan which is about blocking out shapes in black and white in order to master shape recognition.  It  can help an artist learn composition in design.

I watched a YouTube video on how to make a Notan if you are interested in learning more about it.

Cheers!  🙂

Fake Mustache Day!

I was surprised to learn that yesterday was “International” Fake Mustache Day!  😉

So I created this collage in honor of the day:

And of course, I had to try putting a fake mustache on a silly bird… perhaps you remember Bob?  If not, you can find an earlier version of him here.

Well, if you are still wanting to join in on the FUN, no worries!  “National” Fake Mustache Day is February 24th!

Cheers!! 🙂

Seeing Red

As many of you know, I LOVE color!  And red is one of my favorite colors…

So when Carla Sonheim gave the assignment to take 7 photos of the color red yesterday, I was thrilled! ❤

Here is a collage of the color red I did with my own photos using the (free) App called Layout:

Description, Left to right –

Top row: seed beads, earrings I made, red raspberries for breakfast! Yum!

Middle row: cat ornament, quilt wall hanging my mom made, red wine collage I did

Bottom row: cross-stitch w/ beads I made for my grandma (she loved to sew), flower painting  I did last year, hat I wore as a child

Do you have a favorite color?  I’d love to hear about it!

Cheers Friends!  🙂

My New Year Cheer!

My wish for YOU is that 2017 –

SHAPES UP to be a CREATIVE

and COLORFUL New Year!!

HAPPY New Year everyone!!

Cheers!!  🙂

P.S. I’ve decided to take a little blogging break… I will see you on Wednesday, January 4th!!

Sugary Sweets

Perhaps this stickybeaked bird has been dive bombing into too many sugary sweets lately?!

Word of the day:  stickybeak (noun) Australian slang – a busybody; meddler

How many sugary treats have you consumed today? 😉  Frankly, I’m not counting…

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!!

Hope your day is extra sweet!  Cheers!  🙂

Do You See What I See?

I started this watercolor abstract in my art journal last week, you can see it here.

I wanted to experiment and add texture so I drew several circles with a black pen.  Next, I added clear gesso to the middles of my circles.  I finished by drawing around the color changes within my circles  with a white charcoal pencil.

I think it now looks like torn pieces of paper in a collage.  It is fun to look at it from different angles:

Right side up and upside down:

And sideways – one:

And two:

I see fish and mountains…

Do you see what I see?

Happy Monday!  🙂

Wild Things

Sometimes the holidays throw me a little off balance…like these imaginary creatures:

These creatures started as watercolor blobs of paint in my art journal:

Pencil and color pencils helped them spring to life – these Wild Things!!

Hope this gives you a smile today!  Happy Friday!!!

Cheers!  🙂