More doodling!

Days 6 and 7 of my Creative Doodling class are for getting caught up. I wasn't behind so I am using the time to just play.

First, using color on black, I went with our alphabet practice and did my initial (C).
Then, that not being enough, I did my whole name lol I decided to shade everything with a black pencil...along the lines of zentangle. I can't decide which side is up, I just keep flipping it around and around.

We are also supposed to be gathering images, photos, words...that inspire us. This is one of my inspiration photos. These are the tulips that are blooming right now in my back yard. I love their gorgeous red color and something about the shape of tulips is very inspiring to me.

And here is the doodle they inspired. :-) I just couldn't stop working on it...and may not be done even yet! lol I am thinking I might make some photocopies of this one so that I can play with color on it.

Day 4 & 5

We played some more with doodling over colored pages which is a lot of fun! But then we added more color! WooHoooo!

I chose to work on the page I previously turned in the scared child and monster....just to make sure I really am not nuts lol

I doodled with various black pens. And once done, I added more color with pencils. This page was VERY bright so I used my pencils to actually tone down a lot of the areas....not that you can tell lol

Although bright colors are not usually my thing, I really like this! Hubby says I am still nuts. HaHa
And today we doodled the alphabet on black paper. So, here is my alphabet before I added color.

And now.....ta da! Color!!!!

I have to say, normally you stick a pen or brush in my hand and I am a happy camper but this is beyond fun! No one is expecting perfection (well except maybe me lol). Who expects doodles to actually look like anything?! I am hoping this freeness (is that a word) will carry over into my other art projects. :-)

Day 3 continued

I am really having fun with this!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a vintage/rustic/antiqued style girl so doodling like this is sooooo outside my box that I can no longer see the box! lol

But I am having a blast!
I added a white Prismacolor pencil over the black background (because I don't own any white pens.....they always seem to dry up and frustrate me)

Day 3

Day 3 of my Creative Doodles class!

I won't bore you with my random doodling exercises lol

I tackled yesterday's "What do you see?" challenge again. I just sat back, squinted my eyes and waited. Slowly a mermaid tail appeared so, not to be unkind, I gave her a body lol And then the bottom of a treasure chest so of course, I had to add the top. :-)

Then, just like seeing images in clouds, fish began appearing everywhere. And then columns, as if she lived in Atlantis!
We have 4 more pages of 'what do you see?' today. I have only completed 2 so far but figured, since I was diddling around on the computer, I would go ahead and share.

My first was pretty straight forward. The images were blatantly obvious...flowers. I tried to doodle them up a bit and then I came back in with my trusty black pencil to add a bit of depth.

This next one called out to me as soon as I saw it.....I saw a poor little girl, just awakened by a horrible monster! So, what would a psychiatrist read into this? Probably that I spend way too much time alone, I have a warped sense of humor (because I find this picture very funny) or I am nuts....or maybe all three! lol But I like it!

I'm taking a class!

But before I get to that....here is the last of my 3 ATCs for April. I know the colors don't seem very spring-like but it depicts spring for me...at least this year! lol It is has been rainy and dreary since Feb 1! I think we have only seen the sun a total of 5 days since then!!!!!
And now, for the class. I am taking Traci Bautista's Creative Doodles class! It is an online, work at your own pace deal....which is what I need with my crazy work hours and back pain issues lol

Not only is this the first online class I have ever taken but I decided to move way outside my comfort zone and go big (well big for me). I am using an 8.5 x 11 journal. I normally work very small....I used to drive my teachers and professors up a wall! lol They wanted 36" or 48" canvases and I was working at around 8"-10". haha

So, here is Day 1. We have 'prompts' like 'draw circles' and we doodle. Being a real control freak, it is hard for me to just let go....my doodling has always been very controlled lol As you can see, nothing wild and crazy here! haha And I have to say, it drives me nuts that my squares are not perfectly square! lol

Day 2....More prompts. I tried to be freer, not sure I succeeded...how to do you force yourself to let go and not be your normal, tense, uptight self? lol Notice, no squares so no distress about that issue. Ha!

We also had to do this "what do you see" page. Obviously, I see a mess lol I made another print of the page so I will try this again tomorrow....and the day after... until I see something I like. :-)

You can check out Traci's classes here. And there is still time to join! Classes continue until July.

Spring has Sprung!

I work from home which is great except when the sun is shining and I can see the trees blooming outside my window. Then it becomes very hard to concentrate! Last week I snapped several shots of our flowering plum and this week, some of those shots are doubling as cherry blossoms. :-) I need to get my 3 ATCs done for the monthly swap so first up is Cherry Blossom Time. The woman is from Stone House Stamps. They have the most gorgeous Asian stamps I have ever seen! Next we have April in Paris. The Eiffel Tower stamp is from Postmodern Design and is huge! As you can see, I only used a portion of the stamp. The can-can dancer is one I carved about 15 years ago for a RubberStampMadness submission (and it was published. Yay!)

For both of these ATCs, I colored the women with watercolor pencils.

Even though our temperatures have not been overly warm this past week AND we had some serious snow and hail, the goldfinches are coming into full color. They are just so cute and a beautiful bright flash of color on these cold and dreary days!

This was a slow moment at the feeder. I have actually looked out and not been able to see the mesh at times with so many birds crowded together enjoying the feast. And Minnie loves to watch her birds...she makes sure to let us all know when the feeders are active with her squeals of delight. lol

Isn't he a handsome fellow?! He is almost done molting into his bright yellow feathers!

More than just art!

I thought I would share a bit about my other hobbies for a change! I collect lots of different things but really love old kitchen gadgets and cast iron. This hand mixer fit into both of those catagories! It has such a cool look. I had never seen one made of iron before and just the look of it...well, I couldn't leave it behind! It has a very sculptural look....at least to me. I just love it!

I also love photography. I am snapping pics of just about everything...all the time! And I seem to live in macro mode! LOL The closer the better!

The other day, our work system was down so I grabbed my camera and ran out in the front yard....the ornamental cherry is blooming! And it was the first sunny day we have had in 6 weeks! Definitely a reason to capture this moment!

Just a little update

I promised a while ago I would add some photos of recent projects...well, I then proceeded to catch a nasty cold which was quickly followed by a lovely sinus/inner ear infection. Yeah, it has been very fun at my house! haha But, at last, I finally feel better AND have some time to get on here! On this first journal page I wanted to play with masking tape. I covered the page with tape strips then painted the whole thing with acrylics. Then I got the idea of adding some Distress crackle paint (antique linen). Am I alone in not liking to wait for this stuff to dry? I blasted it with my heatgun (hoping my other acrylics didn't melt or my tape peel up!) And finally rubbed the whole thing with antiquing gel to bring out those cracks. I love this! It has such a cool 'leather' feel! I then had the daunting task of deciding what to do with it! I was sitting in the living room and then I saw my subject....my most recent purchase (at that time), an antique child's rocking chair. Have I ever mentioned I collect antique child chairs? No clue why but something about them calls to me. Unfortunately, we have a fairly small house so they are all sitting in the middle of the living room. I am up to 6 but always looking for more (to the chagrin of my poor hubby lol) So, using acrylics, I painted my latest rocker onto the 'leather'. I also got the idea that I need to learn Chinese ink painting so I am teaching myself. Here is my first attempt....bamboo. I won't bore you with my other early attempts LOL Just know that I do not do things in a normal order and jumped from bamboo to chickadees to flowers LOL I will say that I LOVE the feel of the ink and the rich black! I really need to find some time to get good at this!

Being a dragonfly lover, I added one to a journal page using Chinese ink.

And of course, my all time favorite subject, my baby Tucker. And yes, he had huge yellow/green eyes!

I think it is so cool how so many shades of black and gray can be obtained with just one ink!

Weird! blogger won't show my text in paragraphs! it shows that way in the html but not on the blog. I really wonder about this thing sometimes, it has some very strange issues! Hopefully the text will align correctly later on.