Slacking off But Still Doing...

Recently I have been slacking off on the doing of art and more just looking at art. I don't know what is up with me. Maybe it is the season change. Anyways, to try to get myself back into the swing of things I have been beginning projects left, right and centre. Here are a few:

Acrylic background on stretched canvas.

Acrylics on subscription flyers from magazines.

Paper mache with cardboard, newspapers and masking tape.

I have also taken to pulling out all the old editions of Craft, Paper, Scissors for inspiration and new tricks.

I have been diligently sketching new ideas out in my sketch book as often as possible as well as drawing a few little inchies to get the creative juices flowing! Soon I will return to full creativity! :) Watch out me! :)

Update...

I haven't really had the energy, drive and time to update my blog lately. So here is some art fun to tide you over! :) I hope to be back into it soon.

Zentangle-ing!

For those who know me, know my art or have just searched through the bowels of my Flickr site - they will already know of my great love of all things Zentangle. The mindless and very calming path of the controlled doodle (or in some cases not so controlled.) I love the final results and the various uses and techniques to use.

I started off little. I had a book of blank water colour postcards I got given to me for Xmas along with some dollar store gel pens. I put the pens to paper and came up with some great patterns and designs. I never stopped. I carried it with me everywhwere I went. The great things about zentanges is you can draw them basically on anything with anything you like and still get the design out. Here are some of my examples:

These are all ATCs (2.5"x3.5") done either on water colour paper or card stock with pens. Notice the variety of patterns and textures and colour. It is really up to you.

Now some people think zentangles should be done in a manner using certain tools and supplies. I do not follow this same thought process. I have even done some zentangles in full colour with sharpies and they ended up turning out more like doodles. But what are zentangles really other than a doodle?

I have also taken my love of zentangles to a smaller format and came out with some inchies (1"x1"):

Give it a try! They really are quite easy and fun! Especially after a hard day! Also visit: www.zentangle.com for more info on this unique art form.

Phone Book Series

As previously promised I would like to share my phone book series mixed media paintings with you all.

Now how this all began - I was bored and flipping through a older copy of Cloth, Paper, Scissors one night and stumbled upon an article regarding figure drawings. (I'm sorry I can't find the magazine and tell you more - but I have moved since then and I am still patrially packed!) UPDATE: It was Katie Kendrick in the Winter 2006 (issue 9) of Craft, Paper, Scissors!

So I decided it was the perfect time to try this out. Now, I have never been one to draw or paint figures as I didn't feel I had the ability to. I also didn't really paint anything at that time. Most of the art I was creating at the time was collaged ATCs and a few sharpie or gel pen doodles.

The start of my attempt: I decided the perfect paper was an old phone book I had kicking around, so I sat at my coffee table with my whole phone book, black acrylic paint, 1 paint brush and my pastels.

These are some of the results:

8 x 10. Mixed Media on phone book pages. Acrylics and pastels. Not sealed.

Now these are just a very few of the total amount I ended up making that night. I made about 30 in total. The process: I painted on the black outline - tossed it onto the floor to dry - and then continued onto the next one. Always painting it directly onto the phone book paper while still in the book and ripping it out to toss on the floor. After they were dry, I pulled out the pastels and coloured them all in.

Now some of them I LOVE, some of them I like, and some of them I'm not too thrilled about. It could be by line work, my colour choices, anything. Overall, they make a pretty impressive collection all together.

I have a few postcard prints of a few of them that I freely send away (message me for a free postcard), but I don't think I would ever part with the originals of this series. In fact as soon as I buy frames and paint my walls - I am finally going to hang them all. They have been living in a file folder in the file cabinet for the last few years. Poor neglected art! :)

Different Strokes Challenge

Last night I was floating around the internet and came upon this blog: http://www.differentstrokesfromdifferentfolks.blogspot.com/. I was instantly fascinated by all this and the process. Every 2 weeks the blog curator (sounds so important, huh? ;) uploads a photo for the artists who participate in the challenge to paint. At the end of the 2 weeks all the photos are submitted and posted to the blog. Challenges can collect anywhere up to 90-100 artists in one session. It is fascinating to see all the different methods and styles of painting one photo.

I decided now was the perfect time for me to give it a try. The photo at the time is a photo of a bunch of mannequins and wigs in a shop window. Perfect for my style of recent girlie paintings. Here is the original:

I would like to take a moment to say: this photo is the property of Different Strokes From Different Folks and does in no part belong to me. Nor have I altered it in any way.

At first it seemed daunting to me. So much going on all in one photo. Then I started to simplify it to fit my style. I decided I was only going to use the main grouping on the right side of the photo. Here is my rough paint sketch and out line work I came up with after staring at the photo for a bit:

Not too bad. You can see the general idea of the photo. Next, I decided I was going to turn this into a gathering or crowd of women instead of a window display. So on went the colour:

Looking quite good in my opinion. On I went and this is the final product:

"Gathering" - 5 x 7 canvas board. Mixed media - acrylics and papers. Sealed in Krylon finish.

I am thrilled with the results and loved how my vision turned out. Could I have made it more in depth and comlicated? Yes, but that isn't what my aim was. I aimed for simplicity in the chaos of the photo. I think I acheived it in my own way. :)

Furniture Redo

My husband and I recently purchased our very first house! Yeah! As soon as we moved in I was determined to finally make it my own. Too many years of living in an apartment I wasn't permitted to paint had put it's strain on me. So on a determined day, I bought some paint and decided I was going to paint some of the furniture!

What better to paint than a dresser we picked up out of the trash at the apartment that needed a new lease on life!

The first step: sanding it. Now here was the complication: it was December. It was cold and snowy out. The only sander we owned did not collect the shavings at all, so I couldn't sand inside the house. After some careful eyelash batting and "please!" I finally convinced my loving husband to sand the dresser in the garage. In he went and out he came an hour later. "It's ready!" he declared. So off to the store we went.

Now I have recently begun my love of bright colours. It has slowly been creeping up on me over the years. I have now such a love for colour I have no ability to choose just one. So after 45 mins standing in front of paint chips I finally chose a colour for the base coat: Rapture!

I had my paint, so back home we went. The first coat went on and then the second and we stood back in amazement. Now, it would be a great time to mention to you all that the reason I skipped the important step of priming the dresser is due to the fact that this dresser had already seen a coat of primer, paint and varnish in its life time. When we sanded it, we made sure to only sand it as far as the primer. Thus deleting one important step in the process.

After that paint dried the fun began! The acrylics came out and I got to work painting the dresser! Here are my results:

"Celebration Dresser" - Latex, acrylics and varnish sealant.

Jewels tried, tested and safe!

I loved the process and the finished product. I will definitely be painting more furniture, but I think I will wait until the warm weather comes. It would make the process SO much easier!