WIP: Experimental Fun

I've been branching out more than usual lately and taking on some new techniques and projects. A lot of these new undertakings of mine revolve around mixed media art, which I've come to really enjoy. Although I prefer to keep my mixed media art relatively simple, I've found that it allows me to incorporate a little of everything I love doing. It doesn't get much better than that!

My latest project is something I'm creating for my sister (in other words, I'm using her as a guinea pig for a new series I'll be starting soon). This piece is still in the works, and I'm more or less experimenting as I go, which I find is a great way to learn new things and to get my creative juices flowing. Here are a couple of shots to show you what I've been up to with this piece today:

I finished drawing the background of this piece last night. The next step was to adhere the little pieces of the quasi-collage portion of it.

Mission accomplished!

This piece is not yet complete. I have some definite plans for it yet, as well as some potential experimentation to put it through. I love creating little mini drawings to incorporate into pieces such as this. I also like to collect pretty Kleenex boxes, magazine clippings, and mailings and use the pictures and designs they offer in my little quasi-collages such as this one. Fun!

I hope all you bloggers out there are having a wonderful weekend!

My Furry Family: Blue Steel

The sixth -- second to last! -- piece in my My Furry Family series is complete. This one is based on a young feline who is handsome and he knows it. He is brother to my little runt kitten but belongs to my parents, just like the Batman kitty I introduced to you a couple posts ago.

Without further ado, here is my rendition of this handsome fella:

I call this piece "Blue Steel", after the male model pose in the Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander.

My family has referred to this little guy as a male model since the day we met him. He likes to pose for us, and he likes to squint his eyes at cameras, making for some dashingly sultry shots. As mentioned above, this little kitty's classic pose is much like the squinty-eyed model pose called Blue Steel in the movie Zoolander. Therefore, in honor of this little guy's natural model skills, I call this piece "Blue Steel".

I have only one furry member of the family left to draw! I can't wait to work on this final piece and therefore more or less close out this fun series of drawings.

More Mixed Media Mania

I'm having a blast with my newfound love of mixed media art. Thus far I've kept my mixed media art simple, and I personally like it that way. I like to choose some magazine clippings, select and arrange a quote that I believe matches the clippings, do a little original drawing to tie it all together, and then Mod Podge it all together. This allows me to do a little bit of just about everything I like doing best, all to one common artistic end.

I've got plenty of these mixed media pieces in the works, but for now I'll just share some shots of the one I've most recently completed:

I'm calling this one "Dance in the Rain".

For this piece I used one of my favorite quotes: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain." I tore the edges of the paper to age it a bit, and then I splattered the strips with dilute blue food dye for a cloudy, rainy effect. (A little fact about me: I used food dye because, quite honestly, I do not currently own any paint. Although I wish this were not the case, I have never personally found much joy in painting.)

I used my favorite art pens to draw this colorful little girl wearing her rain coat and rain boots and holding an umbrella.

I am far from perfect in creating this mixed media art. But, that's one of the great things about art -- since it's not possible for any one artist or technique to be the same as another, there really is no such thing as "perfect" art.

In other news, I hope to finish my last two My Furry Family pieces soon. I also have some more InspirACEOns in the planning stages, as well as tons of other pieces and projects I hope to get to soon. As usual, I'll share them as I make progress with them.

Happy Sunday!

Midnight Dreary

I finished my first mixed media art piece. In my last post I showed you which of my mixed media works in progress was my favorite, and of course that's the one I completed first. Here's the finished product:

I'm calling this piece "Midnight Dreary".

I started with pictures from old magazines. After I found clippings I liked -- these particular ones all containing some quaint architectural elements -- I used Mod Podge to adhere them all to my base cardstock. Then, once I had that initial canvas, I had to decide what to do with it.

Although I love to read, I've never been a big fan of poetry. That being said, though, I do enjoy the eerie poems of Edgar Allan Poe. My favorite Poe poem is "The Raven", which is what inspired my final touches of this mixed media art piece. I decided to add two of my favorite lines from the poem -- "Once upon a midnight dreary" and "Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore.' " -- to this piece of mine. I wanted the paper on which the quotes were printed to look aged, so I tore them so that the edges would be frayed, and then I stained the paper slips with coffee. And, I drew a little raven on cardstock paper to add to the mix. Then I pulled the Mod Podge back out and adhered the quotes and raven drawing, and applied a final coating of Mod Podge over the whole thing.

I prefer to use glossy Mod Podge, as I like the sheen and texture it gives the final product. However, being a novice photographer at best, I find it difficult to capture just the right picture of my glossy Mod Podged pieces. Nevertheless, I tried various angles and lighting in order to capture the gloss and texture of the Mod Podge finish I used. So, here's another picture of my "Midnight Dreary" piece, this one giving a little indication of the textured, glossy finish:

I hope you like it!

Experimental Fun

This weekend I experimented with a new project involving recycling/upcycling pictures from old magazines and using some mixed media techniques. Although this project is still a work in progress and I don't want to give away too much until I've completed a bit more and know if it will turn out well, I'll go ahead and give you a little sneak peek...

This one is my favorite so far, and I have some plans for it:

Until this weekend I had not done any semblance of mixed media art in years. But I now remember how fun it is, so I guess that means I'll just expand my art "to do" list even more.

I hope everyone survived Monday, and have a great week!

My Furry Family: Batman!

My newest My Furry Family installment is finished! This one is based on my little girl kitten's brother, although he belongs to my parents. This little guy's facial markings earned him the nickname Batman early on. I like to call him my little hero.

So, here's Batman (or, perhaps more appropriately, Catman):

I hope you like it! Only two more My Furry Family pieces to go!

Journal Catch-Up

I've been keeping up with my sketchbook scrapbook journal. In fact, it's actually come to serve as my primary daily planner. But, I've failed to keep up on sharing the drawings in my journal with the blogger world. To remedy that, here are some sneak peeks of the last two weeks' drawings in my journal.

This is part of last week's journal pages, drawn in honor of the frigid, snowy winter we've been having.

I drew these two love birds for this week's journal pages in celebration of Valentine's Day!

Every time the weekend rolls around, I start getting excited about planning and creating my journal pages for the next week. Oh, the simple pleasures!

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

Monday Night InspirACEOn

As we all know, sometimes life is difficult. So, here's a little InspirACEOn to pick you up:

"Life is like photography. You need the negatives to develop."

I came across this quote the other day, and I fell in love with it immediately. I hope you like it, too!

Have a great week, bloggers!

Failed Attempt

After a weekend without internet and a date today with the internet provider technician, I finally completed a new card in my InspirACEOns series and was very excited to post it. However, upon completion I noticed an error in it -- a small error, but I'll admit that when it comes to my artwork I am a bit of a perfectionist, and so this small error is bothering me more than it probably should.

Here is the ACEO card in question:

This InspirACEOn card reads: All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. -J.R.R. Tolkien

I am one of Tolkien's biggest fans, and the quote I chose to illustrate is one of my favorites from his The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, the version I ended up scrawling as seen above is instead the one from the movie based off of Tolkien's books. The version of the quote from the book, the version I intended to use, reads: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." The movie version, though, as I erroneously wrote on my ACEO cards, says "given to us" at the end of it. I know, I know, it's a miniscule error involving one miniscule little word. However, in my unfortunate perfectionist's mind this means that I did not truly quote Tolkien.

I'll probably end up recreating this InspirACEOns piece in the very near future, to appease my mind. I'll put that correct version in my Etsy shop as soon as it's finished.

Have a good night, bloggers!

The Night Owl

This weekend is my sister's birthday, and as part of her birthday gift I am completing a pencil drawing for her. My sister loves owls, and I have drawn them for her in the past. Apparently she likes my owl drawings, because she recently asked me to draw her another one for her collection, and she gave me some loose ideas as to what she's hoping for. So, I've been working long and hard on getting this owl just right. I hope it turns out to her liking.

Here's a close-up WIP shot of my sister's birthday owl:

I'm tentatively calling this little guy "The Night Owl".

Although I'm enjoying creating this pencil owl, I'm also eager to start my next My Furry Family piece as well as more of my InspirACEOns pieces. So many ideas, so little time!

Good night!

My Furry Family: The Belly Roll

The fourth completed piece in my My Furry Family series is based on my little runt kitten. I adopted this adorable little girl after my grandmother found her and her three brothers abandoned. At the time the kittens were only about three weeks old, and this little runt girl of mine didn't even weigh half a pound.

Well, my little kitty is now 9 months old and 9.5 lbs. Not really a runt anymore, but still adorable.

My little kitty likes to do what I call The Belly Roll.

I have three more pieces to complete in this My Furry Family series. And those three pieces will be based on my little kitty's three brothers, because they also stayed in the family -- my parents kept two, and my sister kept the third. So stay tuned for more feline cuteness!

I hope you're enjoying My Furry Family so far!

InspirACEOns on Etsy!

The original illustrated ACEO cards in my InspirACEOns series are now available in my Etsy shop!

"When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go." -Carol Burnett

"Courage, dear heart." -C.S. Lewis

"Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit." -Kahlil Gibran

"Love conquers all."

"Know thyself."

"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil." -Psalm 23:4

Just click on the Etsy link at the top of my blog to visit my shop!

The above pieces are just the current six original ACEO cards available in this series of mine. I will be creating many pieces in my InspirACEOns series, so stay tuned for more!

Have a great week, bloggers!