Prompt #27 plus studio organizing

The prompt yesterday was to draw a layout of a room.  I ended up thinking about the house I grew up in.  I ended up posting it on my FB page which drew a lot of interest among family and friends.  And other folks checking in with what they remember about where the grew up as well.  Tender memories.  

It's amazing that I haven't lived in that house for 66 years but I can still remember where we put the Christmas tree, where the wasp stung me in the kitchen one summer, and how the morning glories looked climbing up the house near the kitchen window.  I remember the upstairs window overlooking the croquet games in the evening, where mother kept the box of our curls tied in ribbons that were our first haircuts, sitting on the stoop with our trading cards... the smell of the apple blossoms in the orchard next door, the sound of the corn rustling in dad's garden, the picket fence by the lilac bush, the sidewalk where we chalked the hop scotch and the driveway where we put our handprints in the cement one summer day and all those elm trees that later died and had to be replanted due to Dutch elm disease.  I could go on and on.  What a great prompt.    

This little sketch is done in my studio here in Florida of some of the materials I am putting together for a drawing class I am taking this summer in Wisconsin.  I believe "in making plans" and having things to look forward to.  Keeps the juices flowing.  The materials needed are simple...some different kinds of leads with varying hardnesses and a good eraser, a fine book of instruction, and good paper.  The classes start in June.  

I decided on a little inventory of some of the various pencils I already own include some charcoal pencils of various hardnesses and some carbon pencils which are almost as dark!  I am reminded that I own a few water soluble graphite pencils as well.  

Colored pencils are a whole other ballgame and not part of this class but as long as I was on a binge of pencils...I decided to inventory some of the "watercolor" pencils and crayons I own.  And that is not even touching the regular colored pencils (for another day).  

I am reminded of a little bit I saw in the internet recently which appears to apply here...

30 Day Challenge Day 17: Valentines

Gingham, Rosé, Heart-rope, Crescent Moon, Poke root (variation) Striping, Laces

This is a directly creative plagiarism of Margaret Bremner's Valentines in her blog post.  Click here for that.  She is so amazing, of course.

I did try out the tangle called Rosé for the first time as I had not used that tangle before.  But I added Heart-rope myself  and re-arranged things differently. Still, it was her inspiration.  AND it is time to start thinking Valentines too!  I did this on a 5 x 7" note card from Cheap Joe's Goof Proof Card set.  

Margaret used red Micron pens in her tangles.  Since I do not have any red pens...my red was added with Inktense WC pencils and then I used a tiny watercolor brush to wet the color and make it permanent.  The cool thing about Inktense is that the  wc pencil turns into a sort of acrylic when you wet it. Completely permanent.   

Believe me I won't spend this amount of time on all my Valentines!!!!  This one is special for my hubby.  But I am inspired to try some simpler ones now for the grandchildren!  

Christmas is 3 months from today....

This is an "almost" done version of the fractured wc piece that I did as our Christmas card and as a demo for the class last week. 

This is a close up of the right bottom side. 

This is a close up of the left bottom side. 

Here is the painting.
16 x 20 watercolor and multi-media on canvas.

Tangling a Snowflake

Footlights, Checkerboard, Verve, Paradox, Annee

 Well, before I tangled a snowflake I did one more "card".  So this is bigger than 3.5...more like 3.5 x 5.5 or something like that.  

The color is Inktense Poppy Red WC pencil (with a little water added to it. Inktense has knock out colors and they are permanent when you went them.  So it is sort of an acrylic pencil after it is wet and then dry.  Very cool.   

This is a wonky snowflake.
I saw one like it somewhere online that gave me the inspiration.  But...this is all my tangles (I am NOT going to list them all) and just lots and lots of fun!  I used an #.005 pen for a lot on this one.  

If I find the one that got me started I will come back and list who it was...probably Sandy Bartholomew as she has such cool ideas but it could have been Margaret Bremmer too.  I am on their blog sites all the time.

Gridding

ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) are 2.5 x 3.5" big. As most of you know, it's kind of a fun phenomenon that has come into it's own.

At my senior residential park in central Florida, the art group has found them to be good practice and not take too much of a commitment of time.

We bring them to our monthly meetings to trade. The chair of it, suggests a theme each month.

This month we are making copies in miniature of great masterpieces. As everyone explores the idea, I suggested they try "gridding" which is normally used to "enlarge" things.

Here is my sample. The colors are not very true because I chose to use InkTense watercolor pencils and white acrylic ink and one only has so many choices of colors.

Am hoping to get out into en plein air again this week if I can find a free morning or afternoon. Temps are in the mid 80s here now and so mornings are best.

ATCs: S-l-o-w-l-y Getting Brushes Wet Again

The world of ATCs (or Artist Trading Cards has fascinated me for some time. When I was at Cheap Joe's I found this little packets of pre-cut cards in many different papers for about $2.00. They sat in my art drawer over the summer. This fall, as I unpacked from the summer slowly and put aside my journals temporarily for some studio work....I found myself running my hands gently over this little package again. I read a little about the cards history...In 1997, M. Vanci Stirnemann, a Swiss artist, created 1200 cards by hand as part of an exhibit. On the last day, he invited others to create their own cards and trade with him during the closing reception. The movement took off, and today, there are ATC swaps in almost every major city around the world. There are also many online swaps. and smiled to myself at how these things sometimes start!

The size of 2.5" x 3.5" seems to be the only requirement. And I think that the whole thing brings back nostalgia of when I used to have trading cards as a child. Did you? I remember many a happy hour sitting on the front "stoop" of our house in Des Plaines, IL trading "horses" for " gardens" or "flowers" or much-prized "dog" cards. These were dutifully kept in old cigar boxes and sorted by the photo on the front. "I'll give you 3 flowers for that golden retriever" or something like that. Sometimes we brought them to school and traded or just admired them at recess or lunch hour. This may have been a regional tradition as some people give me an odd look. This would have been in about 1949.

So now I am reading a little about the how-to's which of course are totally open ended. I went to the Strathmore site...and found some how to's there. And I went to a WikiHow site for some info as well. The latter even had a short video of someone making one with collage materials. Anything goes. These little doodling ones to start with were done with the idea that they might be fun for a "starter" project for our Fine Arts open house this Friday. I used watercolor pencils (Derwent), watercolors, permanent ink pens. We could start our own trade here in my park in FL or we could find other artists to trade with. If anyone has a good spot to go for trading let me know.