2012 Art Project

Every year I assign myself an art project to work on.

Mainly I do this assignment to keep myself out of trouble (idle hands are the devil's somethingorother) and to provide a break from writing while still exercising my creative muscles.

This year, in the spirit of the journal that I've always kept, I'm going to assign myself a project using a particular product.

I've heard about SMASH journals for a couple of years now. For a while they were so hot you couldn't find them anywhere because they were always sold out and the back orders were six months behind. They are touted as the "unscrapbook", where messy is beautiful and heck of a lot more representative of a person's real life. The journal comes with a variety of paper and a pen that is inky on one end and gluey on the other for quick, just-smash-it-in options. 

Now, I'm not sure exactly how this is going to be a different experience from me just using a Moleskine as my art journal, but several people I trust have sworn by them. Does it seems counterproductive to be "creative" using a bunch of pre-package products? Wouldn't it be more creative to start out with a completely blank slate and not be hampered by the use of specifically designed, SMASH-trademarked bits and bobs?

Guess I'll find out. I'm not going to invest a whole bunch of cash though. I'm going to buy the journal, and take a pass on the extras like little SMASH pockets, SMASH sticky notes, SMASH tabs and SMASH clips. Seems a bit of a racket. 

More Fun with Mustaches

Brought to you by Bored Holly

Write or DIE

I love this guy. Dr. Wicked is the inventor of the program, Write or Die. He has taken this difficult thing - getting words out - and made it more fun. Which is essentially what NaNoWriMo is about, too. Now I want him to create a program called Butt in Chair, which will actually force you into a chair in front of your computer where you will launch Write or Die in order to hammer out your novel.

My illustration. His quote.

I Am the Anti-Fashionista

Lately I've been working on a few simple drawings in a series of my favorite things.

I would never be classifed as a shoe maven. To me, shoes are practical items meant to protect your feet from pointy rocks, stickers, and spiders that need smooshing. It's the one thing that I am practical about.

Though when I find a pair of shoes I like, it's true love. The forever kind of love. Love through thick and thin, weathering every storm.

Recently a friend had to stage an intervention to get me to throw away a pair of shoes that I had worn so long that they had been reduced to flip flops. (They started out as patent leather mary-jane flats.)

I wore them almost every day.

I wore them until water seeped through the holes.

I wore them until the soles tore away from the uppers.

Then I wore them some more.

I wore them until my friend said, "Holybabyjebus, I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!! You look like a hobo! Give me those stupid, stinky, pathetic shoes. I can't stand to hear you shwip-shwopping around this place anymore. They've had their time and now they've gotta go."

When I turned to try and run/shuffle away as quickly as possible with my shoes shwip-shwopping, they tackled me around the knees, forcibly removed the shoes, and threw them in the garbage.

I'm not ashamed to say there were a few tears shed.

Now I've found a new pair of shoes to love.

Unfortunately, they are so expensive that I will only ever own the one pair. That's alright though. When it's true love, who needs others?

The Owl - A Moleskine Doodle

Seeing a Harry Potter movie always inspires me to doodle owls.

The Tree - A Moleskine Doodle

Reminds me of the book "The Giving Tree".

Birds in the Backyard - A Moleskine Doodle

NahNahNah I'm Not Listening - A Moleskine Doodle

Any resemblance to an actual person, living or dead, is coincidental. That's my story, in case the lawyer asks.

Serious Lack of Motivation - A Moleskine Doodle

I'm so not feeling it today. I should've stayed home.

I See... - A Moleskine Doodle

Inspiration courtesy of my six-year old nephew who just learned this educational ditty.

Are You Lion to Me? - A Moleskine Doodle

Scribble... scribble... scribble... lion




He's looking a little surly.

 

Arty - A Moleskine Doodle

Artemis. She's a bad-ass.

Done as a semi-blind sketch using my Living Room Muse as a model.

My Crew - A Moleskine Doodle

They are a quiet bunch, but don't think they won't cut you.

I call them Pete and Repeat.



Does Someone Have A Case of The Mondays? - A Moleskine Doodle

A sketch of me by me.



BAH!



Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesday 1.18.11

Here is this week's doodle. The theme was "scarf".

Check out all the Creative Tuesday fun first-hand at Hot Toast and Tea.

Portait of Old Bearded Dude in PanPastels

I'm sort of a newbie to the whole "art scene" and I haven't had much experience working in different mediums outside of a little bit of watercolor, pen and Copic marker. In October I attended Journalfest, a four day art journaling retreat at Fort Worden in  Port Townsend, Washington. (I cannot recommend this retreat highly enough. It was an one of the more amazing artistic experiences I've had, but that is a subject for a whole other post.) In the three days of classes with various instructors, I had a chance to experiment with other medium and I fell in luuuurve with PanPastels.

On My X-mas Wish List

Up until then, I hadn't been a big fan of pastels. I didn't like the dust, the muss, the lack of detail (probably a lack of skill on my part). But I got a chance to use a brand called PanPastels in two of the classes and was immediately captivated. The big difference between regular stick pastels and PanPastels, is that PanPastels come in a pan. Go figure. They blend and apply like paint, and they're super soft, almost creamy to the touch, but I've found they are less likely to smear once they're down on the paper. (You still have to use fixative though.) They also erase very cleanly.

The downside is the cost - which seems pricey to me. But then so are Copic  markers. The manufacturer claims that PanPastels last a lot longer though, so the price is justifiable. I received a full-sized freebie in my Journalfest swag bag (SCORE!), and I ordered a set of 10 paint colors online as an early Christmas present to myself. I don't use the fancy applicators. I mostly use my fingers, which is waaaay more fun.

Here's a portrait I did using the PanPastels, my fingers, and a pencil erasure.



The Old Bearded Dude - I Call Him Mr. Wisenheimer



Someone looked over my shoulder as I was working and said, "Very German Impressionist". My intelligent response: "Uhhh... what's that?"

Holiday - Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesdays

Here's my first submission to Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesdays. The theme was "Holiday".

Initially I did the Santa as a blind drawing from memory, which means I put my pen on the paper and, while gazing out the window, put a general shape down without looking at what I was drawing. I went back touched up and filled in a bit with a black Sharpie pen and put in the lettering. Then using Copic markers and a white paint Sharpie, I went back and added the color. It's a mini; a 3.5"x4.75" on watercolor paper.

I like the innocent, whimsical nature the blind drawings have. If you have a hard time getting started on a big scary blank page, using the "blind" technique and a tiny canvas alleviates the pressure of possibly screwing things up beyond repair. Then if it turns out like crap you can always say "Well, what do you expect when you can't look at what you're doing?" and toss it in the garbage without any guilt.

Check out Mr. Toast's blog, Hot Toast and Jam, here.

The Sketchbook Project

Art House Co-op started with the idea of bringing art to the masses by creating "massive, international art projects that tie thousands of artists together - and anyone can participate."

Not that they're ambitious or anything.

Their most popular project is The Sketchbook Project. Participants sign up, select their theme (or roll the dice and have a theme assigned to them), pay their $25, and are given a Moleskine (my favorite!) Cahier sketchbook and a deadline. Participants take their notebook and assigned theme and create an artistic masterpiece using whatever medium, creative juices, and flattened muses they wish - as long as it fits in the sketchbook.

Completed sketchbooks must be postmarked by Jan. 15th, 2011, and sent back to them. Then in March the sketchbooks go on tour to be exhibited in galleries and museums all over the country. "It's like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks." When tour is complete, they go into the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Art Library where they can be checked out to the public. Brilliant, right?

While I was out of town, I missed the Oct. 31st deadline to sign up for this year, but due to overwhelming demand they extended the deadline until Nov. 15th. YAY!! I signed up today and will hopefully have the sketchbook in hand within the week. My theme: "This is not a sketchbook". I debated between that and "A record year for rainfall", "And then there were none", and "happy thoughts". I might still do a happy thoughts page in my sketchbook because I did a neato piece on that subject using some hand-carved stamps.

I can't wait to get started.