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Tag: Art 2011

Update
sun 9 jan 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110109.html
Entry #1 on this page (tagged: art, )


oof! First week of the year: wow! :)

Internet-free
Yeah. It wasn't really a conscious decision, but this past week I have mostly stayed off the computer. And this weekend I have been a bit overwhelmed with everything I need to catch up with... I owe everyone a few emails, plus I missed a birthday! (so sorry!) But I did get some reading done, so that's kinda good.

If I decide to do that again... just shoot me, okay? Not really worth it!

Intermediate Copic Certification
*big eyes* YES!! I am mostly certified! :) The Intermediate Copic Certification on the 6th of January was a small class taught by Sherrie Siemens and Debbie Olson, and I was able to attend all but the last hour or so!

It was a basic art class, which did not require any drawing, but focused on colouring shadows (and all that is involved with that) and some design skills.

Having taken a few art classes, I already knew everything that was taught. But it's good to return to the basics every once in a while. Got me thinking about art again.

Scanner
I installed my new Epson Perfection V300 Photo scanner. Yep. it's a scanner. I am not impressed. But. I'm not disappointed either. so: it's good!

If you have this scanner: do NOT use the "full auto mode"... the scans are horrendous! Go to "professional mode", unclick the "unsharp mask" and click the "backlight correction" at low. That'll be a good scan!

Journal Classes
I'm taking the free Visual Journal Strathmore Workshops. The first workshop (1st of 3), running during January, is focused on collage... which I am not a big fan of. But it's free, ya know?!

I'm actually waiting for the third workshop, which is also about collage, but will include sketching and artsy observing.

thing is: I didn't realize that the classes would be based on videos... and I'm still on dial-up. Not really working for me!

(waiting patiently for faster Internet. Maybe next weekend?)





Art Links
sat 22 jan 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110122_.html
Entry #2 on this page (tagged: art, )


Want to mention a few things that I'm thinking about...

  Daily Doodle
A fundraising project by a professional illustrator, raising money for the British charity, Shelter.

Oh my gosh! Her little doodle creatures are Soooo! Terribly! Cute! My Favorites: 290 sleeping demon robot, 250 rat, 244 pig, 193 snail, 108 patchwork elephant, 85 giraffes, 74 star machine, 33 abstract fish. (But actually I love all the little creatures!)

I wish I could make drawings like hers! of course, that might actually have to involve some drawing time. Which is currently at Nada. *shakes head*

  Creative Every Day: full wolf moon...
huh. a DreamBoard?
A dreamboard is a collection of words and images of what you want to invite into your life; it can be done in any way with any thing. It can be simple or complicated. It's up to you.
Why?
Putting our intentions into tangible form helps both us and the Universe get really clear on what it is that we want. The Universe responds to what we put energy into. Let's put our energy into our dreams!
*** from Full Moon Dreamboards FAQ

And speaking of dreams, a link from the day job...

  An Awesome Book
You can read it online... And also read the Awesome Book of Thanks. :)

Dream Big.

Dreams of me, making art every day?
This is my Big Dream.
But it scares me...
and I don't do it.

sighs.





daily project #1
sun 30 jan 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110130.html
Entry #3 on this page (tagged: art, )


Okay! Excellent! Time-Sensitive Project #2, xmas Thank You cards: Done and in the mail! And Time-Sensitive Project #3, Mom's handmade bday present: Started and moving forward!

So! Here is my idea for Daily Project #1...
100 Daily Drawings.

Yes. 100.

In the past, I have done daily drawings for a month, several times over. At the end of the month, I think, "Oh, I'm tired of drawing. I will take a break for a few days. and then I'll get back to drawing. Because drawing is cool after all." And then I never actually get back to the drawing.

So, I've decided on 100 daily drawings.

I started today.

Deciding what to draw is always a problem when you're staring at the blank page. "Draw what's right in front of you!" But I've drawn my stuffed animals a million times. heh.

I like nature, I should draw some nature. But I have stared out my bedroom window quite enough, thank you very much. But I do have some house plants...

oh hey. My favorite, the Nerve plant... I could put a cutting in some water and bring it to my room so I could sketch in a familiar environment. And also find out if nerve plants will propagate via cuttings.

okay. the cutting is in some water on the window sill! me with my lap desk! pencils sharpened! 4x6 index card ready!

omg. can I do this?
*deep breath*
*make first line*
look at cutting and the jar of water.
realize my line is COMPLETELY WRONG!!!
erase.
Repeat

*laughs*

Eventually...

nerve plant drawing

copic colours: G12 Sea Green, YG67 Moss, C1 and C3 cool grey, B95 Light Grayish Cobalt

99 more...





art thoughts
sat 5 feb 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110205.html
Entry #4 on this page (tagged: art, )


Goal:
100 Daily Drawings

Tools:
Pack of 100, 6x4 Index Cards
Hard Pencil (4H) and Soft Pencil (6B)
White, Vinyl eraser
a decent Purple pencil sharpener
Approximately 80 Copic Markers
A few multiliners of various widths
an excellent lap desk
Scrap paper for testing marker colours and protecting the excellent lap desk!

#4

Five days, five drawings! Most of my drawings have been pencil sketches with no extra colouring. But abstract and non-objective art fascinates me! I'm not terribly good at this kind of art, but with 100 drawings, I think I can get some practice in!

I am also quite interested in trying out some Chinese Brush Painting. Not with a brush and watercolours, but with my copic markers...

You see, the brush nibs on copics are entirely bendable. You can squish them all you want, and they always pop back into their normal shape. Yet another awesome thing about copic markers!

I'm thinking that the brush nib is about the same as the brush they use for chinese brush paintings. Or close enough to play with, anyway.

And then, too: the brushes used for chinese paintings are made out of animal hair, all kinds of animals... yuck! and extremely NOT VEGAN!

The "formula" to make Copic nibs is a closely guarded secret... but it's entirely man-made materials. Yay Vegan!

So: Action Plan...
  Pull out my Chinese Brush Painting kits.
  Find that book about abstract forms in nature.

And keep working on Time-Sensitive Projects #1, 3, 4 and
  Time #5: Letter writing explosion on SendSomething.net! Write back to everyone.





new copic colours
sat 19 feb 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110219.html
Entry #5 on this page (tagged: art, )


my new copic sketch markers

Yay! The top nine markers in the photo are some of the brand new copic colours, which arrived in North America this week! Day Job Perk: I got to be the first person on the continent to buy and have these copics! haha!

(New copic colours I didn't buy are E23 Hazelnut, E81 Ivory, YR30 Macadamia. I think I have enough browns and tans at the moment, that's all!)

I'll have to go count, but I think I'm approaching 100 copics! There are currently 346 sketch colours.

I am very happy to now have a partial set of the warm greys. I have the same partial set of cool greys. And I think I'm done buying greys for a while since I'm not interested in the toner greys or neutral greys.

I played with the markers a bit last night. The only new colour I'm disappointed with is the BG70 Ocean Mist. It is way too pale. But I had to have it because the other BGs in that colour group are some of my favorite colours!

Daily Drawing Update
I continue. I have missed a few days, tho. I seem to lose my momentum over the weekend and then it's really hard to get back to it on monday. eh.

Okay, much to do this weekend... guess I'd better get at it!





Saturday Art Project
sat 9 apr 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110409.html
Entry #6 on this page (tagged: art, )


The other day, Significant Other and I watched an Oregon Public Broadcast show that featured artist Ginberry. The show made me happy, the art by Ginberry delighted me... and most incredible of all, she gives her art away for free to anyone who gives her their address!

  Ginberry Artitude "Over the years Jen has sent out at least fifteen hundred peices of art and brightened countless lives."

I have not joined her site. I do want to, but I'm sure she's inundated with art requests now that she's a famous artist and all. *grin* Well. Maybe I'll join later.

Anyway. On the show, she is making this card that looks like a net, cutting out a stencil and putting coloured papers behind it. I'm all: huh. that looks kinda fun!

So, yep. That's today's art project...

paper cutting dragonfly

I picked out the stencil from a Dover book... I went for something simple. Printed it up on cardstock then cut out the design with an X-acto knife.

I did not stay perfectly within the "lines" when I was cutting, leaving quite a bit of printer ink on my stencil. (hey: it's hard, okay?!) I covered it up by colouring the whole page with my black Copic marker. Looking at it now, I think it would have been much more interesting if I had coloured it a dark blue or a dark green.

eh, live and learn!

I took a separate sheet of cardstock and scribbled with some of my lighter coloured copics. Then I "painted" the back of my black stencil with elmers white glue (it's vegan!) and stuck them together.

A few minutes to set under the books I'm currently reading, and it's _Real_Live_Art_ in thirty minutes or less!

ha!

Paging through my Dover book -- Nature Stencil Designs -- there are several, more complicated stencils I'd love to do. Also, some skinny and long stencils that would make wonderful bookmarks! And it's so fun and easy...





art project cont
sun 10 apr 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110410.html
Entry #7 on this page (tagged: art, )


sea turtle bookmark

I really like a project that I can finish in one sitting! This was more complicated than my first one, and took about 1.5hrs.

I accidently "X-actoed" through a couple of my support bridges... most disappointingly on the turtle's head! But I was able to repair the damage when I glued the two pieces together! Yay!

The top colour is BG78 Bronze... the BG70's are my favorite group of Copic colours. The background colours are primarily BV13 Hydrangea Blue, BG13 Mint Green and new colour BG53 Ice Mint.

If this keeps up, I will have to go looking for another book of stencils!





tuesday
tues 19 apr 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110419.html
Entry #8 on this page (tagged: art, )


I got to play on a new artsy social network today. Sorry, I can't tell you about it because it's still in alpha testing.

Anyway. I uploaded the couple of cut out thingees that I did the other weekend... the dragonfly and the sea turtle.

And. What? Is that All? Don't I have more art to show? (Photos aren't included in this particular instance.)

Well, I did go through that phase in February where I was going to make 100 drawings. I got to #21.

I always want to do more drawings and artsy stuff and creative stuff. But I always fizzle out. Until I find the next thing! And than that fizzles out.

Kinda flaky, aren't I?





another bookmark
sun 8 may 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110508.html
Entry #9 on this page (tagged: art, )


sea horse bookmark!

Every time I open up my book, Vegan's Daily Companion, I am delighted by the sea turtle bookmark that I made.

So I made another happy bookmark for myself! Isn't it awesome?!

Only trouble is, finding a book worthy of it! *laguhs*





Projects
sun 29 may 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110529.html
Entry #10 on this page (tagged: art, , )


DrawingDay.org

Yes! A day of drawing! Next Saturday, June 4th.

Was also happy to see Serif sponsoring the web site... They are promoting their drawing software, of course, but I love them for their desktop publishing software, PagePlus.


Swap-Bot.com

Swap-Bot? Really? You know, I never had any desire to join a swap... but then I saw a trade for copying one of your art journal pages onto a postcard! What?! That's awesome!

Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I've done any "art" journaling. And even pages with art are partially private stuff. I won't join the trade until I've found a suitable journal page to copy. I still have a couple days to sign up. Meantime: looking through old journals is weird, and updating my new profile is fun.

Of course, it's silly of me to consider joining new mailing projects when I haven't even started my usual mailing projects. I have a bunch of postcard replies to make, but more specifically; my May postcards.

*exasperated sigh* I have considered a few photos for the May postcard... but nothing really grabs me like I want it to! And it's been all cold and rainy outside, so there aren't many photos to choose from. And I really want to get out to the Rhododendron Garden, but I've felt so lazy about that.

more *exasperated sighs*





day job
fri 2 sept 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/110902.html
Entry #11 on this page (tagged: art, , )


My coworker, Marianne visited the warehouse today... yes, that Marianne. ;)

"Homemade bees wax lip balm, made by my sister!!" she announces, holding a handful of decorated tubes.

"Not Vegan!" I announce.

ha. We have a chat and it turns out, Marianne's sister keeps her own bees... and lets them die every winter. ugh!

And that is why I am vegan. Vegan's don't consume animal products, and bees are in the animal kingdom. Bees make honey so that they can survive through the winter. It is absolutely despicable that humans think that stealing food is okay.

Anyway! Later in the day, as a peace offering... Or maybe Marianne's just awesome... she gave me a charcoal pencil set. Which includes a most interesting white charcoal pencil. White.

oh my. I am already playing with the set, normal black charcoal pencils included... but it's the white that I may have fallen in love with. It feels like normal charcoal... but it is so very WHITE. whoa. (of course, I am marking on a purple sheet of paper.) (hm, I think I might need some royal blue paper?)





projects
wed 9 nov 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/111109.html
Entry #12 on this page (tagged: art, )


Okay, yay. You noticed I got my One Sentence Journal done last night. I just got done double checking it; there's one little continuity problem, but I doubt anyone but me would notice it. (I've never been a professional editor, but dang, I should be! :)

So, it'll be in the mail to Germany tomorrow.

It would be nice to take a rest after all that work. But I can't! I have Swap-Bot postcards due. My poor pen pal in the Netherlands, all she ever wanted was a letter from me and I've procrastinated that to ridiculous. All the house cleaning projects are still hanging over my head. The web site needs some work, too.

On the other hand, finishing such a big project is like having a weight lifted. And my brain is starting to look around for new things to think about and do!

Like some photography...

sun set

A few months ago, I discovered the Auto Bracket for the exposure.

I'm totally all about point and shoot. I can never remember which way I'm supposed to go with the aperture. And all those other settings don't even do anything! (I'm kidding.) (Kind of.)

But this auto bracket thing!! I set it up, the camera takes three photos, and then I get to choose which one I like! I don't have to worry about which way I'm supposed to go with the manual settings! yay!

heh.

Anyway. I took the above picture today, on my way home from the day job. I really like how it turned out!





11.11 Happy 2011.11.11
fri 11 nov 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/111111.html
Entry #13 on this page (tagged: art, )


Out with my camera again...

sky

yay weekend!





art
sun 13 nov 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/111113.html
Entry #14 on this page (tagged: art, )


oof, chores getting done this weekend, and so many little things which have piled up over the last month or two. The list is ridiculously long, but I'm getting through it. and I'm sure you don't want to hear about it!! :)

When the mundanities drive me crazy, of course I turn to art as my resting point. Some of my favorite web sites:

  Sketching In Nature
Award winning group blog and the art is just stunning! I love the fact that it's very International as well... Maree posts from South Africa, and her current spring/summer drawings are a delightful contrast to the fall/winter drawings from the northern hemisphere!

  Artists' Journal Workshop
A group blog which is the basis of the above blog, with contributers from the book (which I also enjoy).

  The Intangible Blog
Blog entries are drawn every single day! Donovan is a snail mail enthusiast who makes up a part of the Letter Writer's Alliance. Yay Mail!

  Creative Every Day
The home of the Art Every Day Month Challenge. Leah has awesome art, and the AEDM links can be delightful!


Yep! Art is good. Many times I have said that I want to buy art... to make my tiny townhouse beautiful, and to support artists...

Occasionally, I print up my own art and nail it to my bedroom wall. But I get bored of it quickly. Which is what worries me about buying art! So I've not actually bought any art yet...

But, Artist's Journal Workshop has a post by an artist who intrigues me... Sandy Williams. Her art is colourful and wonderful to me! Her prints are 65$, which is within my price range... I'm thinking about buying one as a xmas present for myself!





making things
sat 26 nov 2011

Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2011/111126.html
Entry #15 on this page (tagged: art, )


I am having a happy day making things... but certain circumstances seem to be thwarting me!

I started the day by making another handful of "october" postcards. I was just able to get them in the mailbox before my wonderful postman arrived.

But that handful of postcards was all I was able to manage because my poor printer is having a nervous breakdown. All the ink cartridges have ink in them, but the colour being printed is horribly OFF!

arg. Well, hopefully it will sort itself out...

I spent about an hour working on my cable scarf. And then I looked at the front, and realized I had made a terrible mistake two and a half cable rounds ago. It takes about 25 mins to crochet a single cable round.

I had to rip out about an hours worth of crocheting!

*shakes head*

And yet, I still have happiness for my projects. These minor setbacks do not get me down!

I also made a copy of my October One Sentence Journal, a Swap-Bot project. I had so much fun making my little book! And I wanted to share it with my co-workers, and with my family when I go to see them at winter break.

Amazingly, this project went without a hitch! Printed out great, cut it out great, and then punched out the binding perfectly! yay, there is hope for the future!

I wanted to work on one more project today... But it would have involved an X-acto knife. I decided not to push my luck! ha.

You remember this?

dragonfly stencil art

I had made a couple of bookmarks in this style... cutting out the design, then colouring the background page and the stencil itself and gluing them together. Very fun.

But, non-organized person that I am, I misplaced my pretty bookmarks. huh. But then I was moving my piles around the other day, and I found the big dragonfly and two of my bookmarks! Yay!

And now I want to make some more!

eh, maybe tomorrow...





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