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! 😃

Collage Grids

There is something wonderful about creating collage in grids…

Maybe it is like a box of chocolates…

Knowing that each space is filled with something delicious!

Or maybe it is finding that one unexpected surprise!

Or perhaps, it is a uniform and consistent result:

That brings you a feeling of comfort…

What collage grid do you like?  How does it make you feel?

I hope you share it with me!

Cheers! 🙂

Black And White

The theme for this week’s collage challenge from Randel Plowman’s book, “The Collage Workbook,” is black and white.  You can find out more about this art challenge, here: White Out

My first collage is 9×9 inches; I combined old book pages, magazine images, my own doodles, postage stamps, a fortune from a fortune cookie and two leaves from scrapbook paper:

Any ideas for titles?

My second collage is 4×6 inches.  I used images from an art magazine:

I had fun creating these collages yesterday evening.  What a great way to relax!

Happy Friday!

Cheers! 🙂

A Little Silly Fun…

I needed a gift for a “white elephant gift exchange.”  I’m not quite sure where this terminology came from as it has nothing to do with elephants! 😉

To me, it means to re-gift something I received and don’t need or perhaps, give something “creative.”

I decided on a little silly fun this year and created this one-of-a-kind gift!

A “Caroler” in a former life that I purchased at a thrift store years ago, I made him into a quirky guy that loves the lake!

It was super fun to create a poem to go with him… I will get to that later in this post.

This silly guy actually moves – his head slowly turns in circles and his right arm moves up and down when he is plugged in to an outlet.  A little weird, I must say!

I started by giving him an old cup for a hat and taped a bird on top.  The bird house came next.  On the back, I added this “key” message (from a candy wrapper):

He needed a beach towel, so I cut-up an old wash cloth and sewed the outside edges. I used a paper napkin to represent “happy hour” where friends gather to share an appetizer and a drink as you can see in my first photo.

Below, I created a fishing pole from an old paint brush and beads – including a bead for a fish:

He needed a little summer outfit so I sewed some fabric to give him some pizzazz and cover up that ugly green outfit he was wearing – who says men can’t wear skirts!! Hahaha!

I finished him, by adding a Christmas ornament of a chair, a rubber stamp image of an image in the woods and writing a message on the base:

Below is one of the stanzas I wrote for my poem to the song, “Over The River And Through The Woods.”

 

Over the river and through the woods

We look forward to each year…

The memories we make

At this beautiful lake

Are the treasures we hold dear.

I look forward to seeing who receives my creative surprise… I encourage you to “think outside the box” when you give a gift!

Cheers! 🙂

A Rare Sighting

We interrupt this scheduled post to announce a rare bird sighting… or maybe it’s a creature feature?!

A Splodge was spotted in Oaxaca, Mexico with his female partner, Splotch and their 3 offspring:  Blot, Botch and Spot…

One has to have an eagle eye and creative mind in order to spot such a rare find:

It also helps to have the very, talented Hannah at HannahBanana Crafts to mention the word, “Splodge,” in a comment to me on her blog.  This word led me to Splotch which Dictionary.com states is perhaps an origin of spot, blot and botch…

Thank you Hannah for the inspiration for my crazy birds!  😉

Happy Creating!

Switching Gears

After my color experiments yesterday, I decided to try the deli paper texture with acrylic paints.  The results take my breath away!

Here are just a couple I did:

I like how the acrylic paints adhere to the deli paper so I can use them in my collages too!

I then remembered a couple people mention the Spirograph in my blog post last Sunday so I dug out my set – it is from 1967.  It still looks in pretty good shape, wouldn’t you agree?

I decided to switch gears and give it a try once more!  But I had difficulty getting the outside circle to move properly.  So I did the next best thing – I covered it with paint!

I then got the idea to try printing with the circles – they look a little like gears, don’t you think?

I finished by adding more paint and texture with the deli paper.

I bet you didn’t expect me to do this, huh?  I challenge you to think outside the box too!

Happy Creating!  🙂