Halloween Happenings

I love Halloween.
(You may have noticed I've already started decorating!)

If you love Halloween too, won't you please join me...

at A Fanciful Twist's Halloween Party...

and The Harrington Manor Halloween Event hosted by Sophia at Blue Chair Diary.

October 16th is sure to be a spooktacular day!

Creative Tuesday: Taking Flight!

My friend the gnome is "taking flight"!  (You may remember him from this Sunday Sketch)  Conveniently, "taking flight" is also the theme for Creative Tuesday.

My Sketchbook Project may not have pages inside yet (I still have to sew it back together again), but at least the cover is finished!

This is the front and back of my moleskine... It's time to get out my needle and thread so I can start working on the inside!  (Be sure to check back for more Sketchbook Project updates.)

And, stop by Mr. Toast's blog to see what other artists are "Taking Flight"!

Meet Me On Monday

Another round of this quick and fun Q&A...

1.  How many TV’s do you have in your home?

3

2.  What is on your bedside table (nightstand)?

An alarm clock, a glass of water, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, a deck of cards, a vanilla scented candle, a remote (for one of the above-mentioned tv's), a pencil and 2 micron pens (01 & 05), an orange crayon, note paper, a couple of receipts and a handful of change.

(I guess it's time to clean off my nightstand!)

3.  How many pairs of shoes do you own?

I'm not sure of the exact number...  But, I guess you could call me the Imelda Marcos of Converse sneakers.  (I even wore white ones with my wedding dress!)

4.  Can you change a flat tire?

Well, I suppose I probably could (with directions)...  Do I ever want to? No.

5.  Do you prefer sweet treats or salty treats?

I enjoy salty treats followed by sweet ones!

(Or salty and sweet ones together - I love chocolate covered pretzels.)

Do you want to play too?  Head on over to:



What, no remote?!?

This week's Sunday Sketch is a mixed media drawing I created for Illustration Friday's 'old-fashioned' theme.

Be sure to stop by Sophia's blog to see what other Sunday Sketchers have been up to!

Sharing Some Blog Love

This post is dedicated to ewe, and ewe... and ewe!

When I started this blog I wondered if anyone would read it, if anyone would be interested in what I had to say, or interested in my art... I have since discovered that by putting myself out there I have entered into a wonderfully welcoming community. 

I am amazed at all of the support and encouragement I have received since starting my online journey. I feel truly blessed and am so grateful for all of the new friends I have made. I love reading all of your fabulous comments and with each new 'follower' I feel as if the size of my heart has increased.

In addition to all of the love that you guys show me here, I have also discovered so many creative and inspiring blogs... It seems like everyday I find a new treasure! I love to read about the experiences of other creative people (like you, and you, and you).

So, to all of you I say:

Thank you for your support
Thank you for your encouragement
Thank you for your kindness
and
Thank you for your endless sources of inspiration!

You may remember me mentioning that I received an award - here it is. Thank you again to Carol the Gardener! 
In the interest of sharing the blog love and "paying it forward", I would like to highlight some blogs you may or may not have heard of.  I think you'll find them as fun, interesting, and inspirational as I do...

Day 16 of 365 Still Life w/ Tomatoes and Plate 14x11 oil on canvas by Kate Boone

Art Everyday - 365 Quickies and Other Work by Kate Boone

Kate Boone has taken on the monumental task of creating a painting every day for 365 days. For those of you that paint, you know what a challenge that will be (I know that for me, there are some days when it just isn't happening)! I find Kate's blog fascinating because not only is she sharing her beautiful art with us, she is sharing her feelings about her creations and the creating itself. I think Kate is very brave for being so open and honest with her readers... Her daily paintings and musings are definitely something to look forward to each day.

 

 The Kat Eye View of the World

I have a confession to make... I live vicariously through Kat of "The Kat Eye View of the World". Kat travels the world, camera in hand, and posts (at least) one of her beautiful photos every day. While sitting at my computer in my little corner of the world, I am able to travel the globe through the lens of Kat's camera. She pairs her amazing photographs with wonderful writing (and sometimes she includes photo tips).  In addition to her blog, you can visit her flickr page to get a glimpse of her world.

  Today's Splotchmonster: 360 by Steve Loya

a splotchmonster a day

...keeps creative boredom away! Every day at Steve Loya's blog, two new splotchmonsters are posted. One of the monsters has already "come to life" at the creative hand of Steve, and the other is left blank so anyone who chooses can download the image and play along. You all know how much I love silly, so I can't help but be drawn to a blog that places it front and center!

The Sketchbook Project" Doodleheads

This blog was created by Sophia at Blue Chair Diary (of Sunday Sketches fame) as a place where Sketchbook Project participants can 'meet' and share their pages and their thoughts.  As an artist, I know how lonely the creative process can become cooped up in a studio with only your own opinions...  Which is why I think this blog is brilliant!

Kindness Girl

I believe that really good things are worth repeating, which is why I can't help but share some more inspiration from Patience Salgado's blog!  (When you watch the video you'll see what I mean) You may remember me talking about her "guerrilla goodness" in this post last month.  In case you missed it or you haven't visited her site yet, be sure to head over there - you're sure to be inspired.  It's never too late to share some kindness!


And, one final piece of blog love:
Make sure you stop by Kelly Berkey's blog  - she posted the finished pieces for "Stretching to Sketch"  (they're fantastic!) and the new challenge photo... Come join the fun! 

Stretching to Sketch: Revealed

The drawings above were created for "Stretching to Sketch" - the great new challenge hosted by Kelly Berkey. You may remember the start to these drawings that I posted for Sunday Sketches....

My friend Mr. Toast requested a closer view of the hands.

While working on the mixed-media drawing, I started thinking about the loving gesture of the hands, the vulnerability of the pose, and how Kelly is revealing herself to all of us through her beautiful photos. Then I remembered that this week's Theme Thursday prompt is "reveal"... All of the thoughts I had seemed to mesh together (I love it when that happens).

Unfortunately, not everything in my studio is falling into place... I am sorry to say that my moleskine is still in pieces on the table. Taking it apart has turned out to be a bigger undertaking than I originally thought... But, I continue to remain hopeful that it will all work out in the end.

On a lighter and happier note (I certainly wouldn't want to end this post with my sketchbook woes), my new friend Carol the gardener has given me an award. She likes my painting paired with my silly... Cool. Since I'm new to all of this (and have never received one before) I am shocked and flattered all at the same time. Thank you so much Carol!

Meet Me On Monday

Potato Chip Love

While travelling through the blogosphere this morning I came across a very cool blog that hosts a quick and fun Q&A every Monday. It seems like a good way for all of you to get to know the gal behind the art, so I think I'll play along...

1. What is your favorite all time movie?

Amelie

2. How often do you go over the speed limit?

Can I plead the fifth on this one?!? While driving I like to channel my inner Mario Andretti! (Well, I used to - now that I have a son I'm much more cautious.)

3. What really gives you the creeps?

Big hairy spiders. Big bald spiders. Small hairy spiders. Small bald spiders.

Spiders.

4. What is your favorite snack?

I love potato chips (specifically Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream potato chips). As you can see in the photo above, they love me too! hee hee

(Oh, and I have a pretty serious doughnut addiction.)

5. Would you rather be a dog named Killer or a cat named Fluffy?

Hmmm... this is a tough one. I do like to be pampered, so I might have to say Fluffy... But, on the other hand, how can you deny the sheer coolness of being named "Killer"... Maybe I could split the difference and be a fluffy cat named Killer?

Do you want to play too? Head on over to:

Sunday Sketches

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you already know that I love all things silly. What you might not know, is that I also try to regularly exercise my drawing muscles by sketching more realistically. The pages above are a couple of drawings I just started to give myself a "workout".

Kelly Berkey, an artist and dancer, has generously started to post pictures of herself in a variety of beautiful poses for "Stretching to Sketch" - a wonderful new challenge. If you're interested in some creative calisthenics be sure to check it out!

Flying + Donkey = Flurro

You didn't think you could leave my blog without seeing something silly did you?!? This is my latest worksheet for Carla Sonheim's Silly 2 Class (Connect the dots has never been so much fun!)

Don't forget to stop by Sophia's blog to check out more Sunday Sketches.

From Silly to Downright Nuts

Let the silliness continue...

Look out Tippi Hedren... Here come the birds!!!

Welcome to Upside-Down Land (where the sky is green & the grass is blue). For this exercise we had to draw upside-down in permanent marker - no erasing! It was actually much more difficult than I thought it would be... Lots of concentration involved.

There is still time to join in the fun!

In other news, I am having a bit of a humpty-dumpty moment in my creative space this week. After reading about all of the struggles with the paper in the moleskines for the sketchbook project, I decided to take mine apart and replace the pages with some Arches hot press watercolor paper I had lying around.

The photo above is how my sketchbook project looks right now... Which makes me wonder if I've graduated from silly to just plain crazy. I don't have all the king's horses or all the king's men, so will I be able to put my sketchbook together again?!?

Stay tuned to see if there is a method to my madness... And don't forget to check out Kirsty's blog to see what other creative folks are up to!

Today I Feel...

I'm so excited! I've signed up for a new class...

Who couldn't use a little more silly in their life?!? Come join the fun!

Carla sent us a pre-class "work"sheet that said, "Write a story about this bird guy".

I don't know if it was the John Travolta (circa 1977) hair or what, but I immediately had the urge to draw a white leisure suit on him & send him disco dancing!

I have a feeling this class is going to be LOTS of fun.

So do you feel silly too?

Sunday Sketches: Birthday Edition

The background in this mixed media piece was created by cropping & manipulating this photo by Crystl in the Creative Commons on Flickr.

I created the following pieces with Creative Tuesday in mind. Guess what the theme is... Birthday!!! (The serendipity continues.) Balloons (in stages)A Birthday Banner And a little something I'm working on for The Sketchbook Project
cupcake line drawings for this week's "dessert" theme over at Illustration Friday. (Isn't it funny how things work out?!?)

This week I celebrated my birthday and even though I wasn't able to spend very much time in the studio, I did manage to play with color, texture & pattern in my sketchbook.

What would a birthday be without cake? Well, I created

Make sure you take some time to stop by Sophia's blog to check out more Sunday Sketches. Better yet, why not play along and show us what you've been working on this week!

A Peek Inside My Studio

Here is a glimpse of what my creative space looks like today:

I'm working on a couple of ideas in my sketchbook...

And I'm very happy to announce that my moleskine for The Sketchbook Project 2011 has arrived!

I experienced a moment of serendipity this week. On Saturday night I was "surfing" and discovered Tiffany's (a.k.a. Rena's daughter) inspirational blog - it's a wonderful space that pays tribute to her mother and reminds us all to live our lives to the fullest.

Saturday was Tiffany's birthday & she was offering a giveaway to celebrate. (It's such a generous thing to do - but once you read her blog you'll understand that's the sort of kindhearted person she is.) It just so happens that my birthday is tomorrow, so I was very excited to find someone (especially such a nice someone) who was born the same week I was. Well, wouldn’t you know it… I won her giveaway! Not only am I the proud new owner of a gorgeous handmade scarf (and other goodies), I made a wonderful new friend.

(Bonus: The photo she took to announce my win was so fabulous I printed it out and hung it up on my studio wall – it’s a fantastic reminder of how very lucky I truly am.)

Make sure you stop by Kirsty’s blog to check out what other artists have going on in their creative spaces today!

A Sweet Little Post

I created these "sweet" little line drawings for Illustration Friday's "dessert" theme.

Sunday Sketches

In my sketchbook this week...

I drew butterflies and a "butter-fly" ,

and played with monkeys!

Don't forget to check out Sophia's Blog to see what's happening inside other artists' sketchbooks!

Color Challenge: Final Color & Wrap Up

This is the last week of Louise Gale's Creative Color Challenge. I have to say, this challenge has been more fun than a barrel of monkeys...

With that in mind, I created the lavender purple mixed media monkey painting above.

To celebrate the completion of the challenge I thought it might be fun to have a look at the entire series:

Week 1: Sunflower Yellow, Week 2: Raspberry Red

Celebrate Color!, Week 3: Turquoise Blue

Week 4: Sea Green, Week 5: Lavender Purple

Lots to Do and Lots to Post

"Butter-fly", 8x10 acrylic on canvas

I created this "punny" little painting for the Lots to Do Challenge, "Butterflies and or Insects". I just can't seem to help myself with the wordplay!

As of this post, I have officially been blogging for one month! Starting this blog has proven, so far, to be one of the best creative decisions I have made - It's hard to believe I was so nervous to start.

Not only has this blog helped keep me on track with my art making, it has led me to an online community of artists that keep me inspired and energized. I have 'met' so many wonderful people since starting this blog, I'm actually giddy! I can't help but get a big ol' goofy grin thinking about all of the support and encouragement I have received from my new friends. Bob keeps saying to me, "You have that look again." And it's true, I can't contain the joy I feel & it's written all over my face!

So to all of you, my friends, I offer you my heartfelt thanks for making my first month of blogging so wonderful. I'm looking forward to many more...

p.s. I just discovered a very cool blog where artists post what's been going on in their creative spaces... be sure to check it out!