Time To Make A Decision

I'll finish this journal this week and while I have had fun doing the tackdowns, it isn't going to be my 100 Day Project,  I still don't know what it's going to be; I'm not ruling out collage but tackdown requires having an iron and that isn't something I want to have to use every day.  Some days I may be away during the 200 days and I may not have an iron handy.

So what will it be... I have to decide this week so I can be ready to start next week.  Collage and Watermedia sketches are in the running.  If I do a collage every day or a watercolor sketch every day I want every day to be the same size so I have 200 to choose from at the end of the project. Hopefully some will be worth mounting or framing.  

Another option is an art journal that is based on a daily devotional.  That could lead to something totally unexpected, who knows.  

I'll be thinking about this all week... it's crunch time.

Hello Spring!

I paint with a group every Tuesday morning.  Earlier in the week I was gifted with a pot of daffodils so I took them along to the friends house where we were painting... thinking Spring.  I normally like Winter but this one was not a good one so I am looking forward to sunshine, green grass and spring flowers!

This morning I started the day with a tackdown collage in my Tackdown Sketchbook.  The book is almost full.  

I'm trying to decide.... do I start another Tackdown Sketchbook or do I start actually making Tackdown Art pieces?  

A Little Something To Teach My Class

I teach a creativity class at our church.  It's open to anyone who would like to join us and I try to have them do something a little different every week just to get them thinking about how they might do some things they didn't realize they could do, like this gesso resist painting of a tulip.

The process is quite easy.  First choose something that isn't too intricate to draw, then paint gesso everywhere except over the lines you've drawn.  Wait for it to dry completely and then the scary part, paint black permanent ink over the whole piece and let it dry completely.  Once it's dry, go to the sink and scrub off the ink.  There's no need to worry about how many scribbles it takes to get the drawing done because those lines will be covered with either black ink or gesso.

Something Different and Dolls?

I didn't post last week because what I wanted to share is new work and it was for a new exhibit at the Gallery Uptown.  These are some new pieces that are in the March Music Exhibit in the Walburg Section of the gallery.

There's one more but evidently I forgot to photograph it.

So now I'm taking a short break from  painting and playing with dolls.  I didn't play with dolls as a girl.  I remember a doll house but no dolls.  When my youngest cousin Melissa was little and had a Barbie I made cloths for her Barbie.  I was a young married and she was 5.

That was the extent of my doll playing until a couple friends invited me to join an art doll collaborative a few years back.  Both of those friends have since died; however, I got the bug and it became my hobby, still art but different.  Elzabeth was the first one... that collaborative doll and all I can take credit for is the head, hair and body.  Everything else is done by other artists.  What a fun project that was and what interesting dolls everyone came up with.  I wish I had the photo handy to post.  I do have mine and here she is....

Now I'm working on a pattern that I got over at Doll Street Dreamers.  Her name is Abundance and she's been in process for some time.  I only work on dolls when I need to take a break from everything else... I'm having trouble with her head.  I have made three, this is the last one and I didn't like the color once I had her features in so gesso covered everything but the mouth.  I will start again. I do love her coat and I'm working on a 2nd coat.  I have no idea when I will finish her but I'll post when I do.

And here are a few others that I've made since I started this journey.

A Valentine, Taking A Break, and Discovering

From my Valentine

I've been working on pieces for an exhibit at the Gallery Uptown in March.  Two of the pieces are almost done, the third one is giving me fits  This isn't it but it's similar in that the exterior part of the pieces acts as a mat for the 2"x2" piece in the center.  The 2"x2" piece for the other one is done, it's the rest of it that is giving me fits.

So I decided to take a break and go back to clearing clutter.  "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."  A. A. Milne  That quote hangs on my bulletin board because it's truth.  And this session of sorting was no exception.  I found another collage sketchbook that I had started back in October..  Just practicing design like the one I'm working in now but with some parameters.

Value....

Variety of sizes

 The blue one was in the sketchbook, this one I added yesterday

Use a photo for reference

And work out a design from a portion of an image in a magazine

So now I have two to play in, maybe alternate my dailies.... but right now, one more day of sorting, then back to work on that last piece for the exhibit.

What Grabs Your Attention?

Texture always gets mine.  On this mornings walk I was intrigued by patterns in the snow made by our neighbor's snowblower….

With just a slight adjustment of color saturation and turning the first one 90 degrees using Photoshop you get this... Are you surprised that there is that much color in snow?

Some others I've saved; a cliff wall in Stanley Park, Vancouver 

A stone wall in South Beach, Florida

And closer to home, a stone wall at Central School...

I think I may use these last two as a reference for some pieces I'm working on for a show coming up in March.

And Some Sketching

This is a first in a very long time.  There was a time when I wouldn't miss the weekend drawing event over at wetcanvas.  I'm not sure why I haven't been there lately, just busy doing other things I guess.  This weekend I played around with three of the images our host, Mick Beckett posted.

This first one was a lot of experimenting with watercolor, gesso, acrylic glaze and walnut ink.  What I was trying for didn't work but I had fun playing anyway.

That little tomato in the upper right corner was done this weekend.  The rest of this page is from 2017.  I've been sorting and getting rid of some things.  In the process I'm finding old sketchbooks that still have room for more sketching in them.

This last one was another of those...."I wonder if I can do …. with …." Among other things I found while sorting, the Walnut ink used on the giraffe and an old fountain pen.  This is done in my black and white journal but I think the Walnut ink is close enough to black.  I'm pleased with how this one came out.  

I like all of them but for different reasons.  I also liked spending the day playing with images one of my friends over on wetcanvas posted.