ICAD: Day 16

Way back on Day 16 of the ICAD challenge I did another steampunk drawing, which I'm just now sharing here. The prompt for that day was greeting card, so here's how I went with that:

Mail call!

I'm trying to decide what names to give my steampunk animal crew, and I have yet to come up with any that I like. If you have any suggestions, feel free to shout them out!

ICAD: Day 13

The prompt for Day 13 of the 2015 ICAD challenge was blueberry and plum. I used this primarily as inspiration for my color scheme, in a drawing yet again set in my little steampunk world of animals...

I hope you like it!

And remember, if you want to see my mixed media index cards, visit my Trash to Treasures Art blog by clicking on the tab at the top of this page!

ICAD meets Steampunk, again.

For Day #9 of the ICAD challenge, I created another steampunk, animal-lover's drawing. The prompts this week have been primarily based on color and/or food. For Day #9 the prompt was carrot and lemon. By good fortune, the cat and dog starring in my steampunk drawings are orange and yellow. Regardless, I also vaguely incorporated actual carrots and lemons into my Day #9 drawing, as you'll see here:

Can you hit the bullseye?

This piece ended up a little busier than I intended. I guess I was just having so much fun that I went a little crazy!

Happy Friday, bloggers!

ICAD: Day 6

I had some more drawing fun back on the sixth day of the ICAD challenge. The prompt was taxi, and I took a small bit of liberty with this one, as you'll see here:

All aboard!

Ever since the second day of the ICAD challenge I seem to have fallen into an animal-loving steampunk frenzy with my drawings. I created this world of steampunk animals on a whim on Day 2 of ICAD, with the prompt carnival. Remember this one?

The carnival where it all began...

Now I keep going back to that concept. In fact, I will be using today's prompt of carrot and lemon to create another drawing in this new steampunk world of mine. So, stay tuned!

ICAD #2

If you read my other blog, Trash to Treasures Art, you know that I am partaking in the 2015 ICAD (Index Card a Day) challenge for the first time this year. It started on Monday, June 1st, and I've so far managed to get a card done all of the first three days. The first day was more of a mixed media piece, so I posted it to my other blog (if you want to visit my mixed media art blog to see and read about my first index card, just click on that handy tab at the top of this blog). For the second day, I used the prompt given on the Daisy Yellow ICAD Challenge blog, and that was carnival.

After a relatively lengthy staring contest with a blank index card, an idea finally began to form in my mind. This was the result:

Welcome to the Critters' Carnival of Steampunk Fun!

It was nice to just sit down and draw for that one. I had a ton of fun with it.

I also used the prompt for the third day, yesterday, and that was to draw a map. This one was also more or less based on my drawing, but also a bit of other media. So, I'll post it here as well as on my other blog as soon as I get a decent picture of it.

If you aren't already, I recommend you give the ICAD challenge a try! It's fun fun fun!

Web store news!

I'm excited to announce that I have opened a second Etsy shop, this one dedicated to my mixed media art! I am of course still maintaining my MissAdventureArt Etsy shop, which contains my drawings, but after some deliberation I ultimately decided that I wanted to manage my mixed media art and my drawings in separate Etsy stores.

My new shop's name is TrashToTreasuresArt. I chose this shop name because my philosophy in creating my mixed media art is to largely use recycled and upcycled goods, such as scrap cardboard and old books that are otherwise not being put to use. I am working on stocking up this new shop as quickly as possible, but these three art tags are already available at TrashToTreasuresArt:

"You make my heart tick."

"You're my cup of tea."

"You're the cat's meow."

To visit either of my Etsy shops, just click on the links at the top of this very blog of mine!

Good night!

Mixed Media Art Tags

A couple of posts ago I showed you the first ever mixed media art tag that I completed. Since then I've been experimenting with a few new products and techniques, and with these I've created some more art tags. I had a lot of fun in the process, and here are the results of that fun:

I think I've truly found a new love in creating these mixed media art tags. They allow me to create fun little drawings and experiment with fun collage techniques. What's more, I'm happy to be practicing a lot of recycling/upcycling with these, using scrap cardboard that I cut into the size and shape of tags. And the paper onto which I drew the images is simply from the pages of old books I've had sitting around for ages. Even the little decorative dots you see on the tags are recycled/upcycled, as I acquired these using nothing but my trusty hole puncher and some empty yet pretty Kleenex boxes.

I hope you like my art tags so far! I've got plenty more of them in the works, so stay tuned!

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

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!

Weekend InspirACEOn

I just finished another ACEO card in my InspirACEOns series and thought I'd start off the weekend by sharing it.

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

I hope everyone has a nice, safe weekend!

InspirACEOnal Sneak Peek

I've been having a blast designing and creating inspirational ACEO cards for my InspirACEOns series. Here's a sneak peek of the newest additions to this series:

And here's a group shot of all the pieces in this ever-growing InspirACEOns series of mine:

I'll be making these original ACEOs available in my Etsy shop soon, and I'll let you know when that happens.

I hope everyone's had a great first half of the week! The weekend is just around the corner!

Fresh Week, Fresh Start

My journal and I are ready for another week!

I hope you all have a great week! And stay tuned for pictures and other news on some of my latest My Furry Family and InspirACEOns pieces!

InspirACEOns

I have started on another new artistic endeavor, amongst all of my others I have in the works. I've had some ACEO cards sitting around just collecting dust for quite some time now, and for this new project I decided to put them to use. In short, my new art project involves creating inspirational ACEO cards, or what I like to call InspirACEOns.

I have thus far created two pieces in my InspirACEOns series.

For this one, as you can see, I just drew a miniature version of another piece that I recently shared. I think I like this miniature drawing better. "When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go." -Carol Burnett

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

I already have a more or less tome's worth of quotes that I would like to illustrate, so this will certainly be a large, continual series. What I really like about these particular pieces is that they are not only fun but also relatively quick to create. ACEO cards are 2.5" x 3.5", so it doesn't take long to fill this canvas. And since I apparently enjoy having a multitude of projects started at once, it's nice to have pieces that I can have fun drawing in just one sitting.

I anticipate that most if not all of these will be pen drawings. What's more, I plan on selling the originals of these InspirACEOns in my Etsy shop. So stay tuned for news on their arrival in my shop!

Have a wonderful day, bloggers!

Hold on to Your Dreams

In between My Furry Family pieces I stumbled upon a beautiful, inspirational quote, and so I drew this:

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

Here's a close-up of the little bear who helped me illustrate this beautiful quote.

I wanted to add a simple, subtle background. I sort of like how this turned out, although I'm not sure I'm 100% there yet.

Another close-up of Mr. Bear.

I hope you like it! And don't forget to hold on to your dreams!

New Year Post-it Notes

As I waited for the clock to strike midnight on New Year's Eve, I worked on a couple more pieces of Post-it art. I'm just having so much fun with these, but I also have an inkling to return to the drawings that I have started both on paper and in my head. If only there was more time in the day to get more done!

Anyway, here are my most recent pieces of Post-it art (this time with the beautiful sun as a light source):

This is my so far untitled pink kitty.

 I again used cardstock folded in accordion style to raise the cat and one of the clouds to the forefront.

I am currently calling this one "Dragon Fire".

Again, I raised the dragon up off the paper with accordion folded cardstock.

So, here is my current collection of Post-it art, which, given how much fun I'm having, is sure to grow very fast:

Happy New Year!

Post-it art is fun!

I made another piece of Post-it art today. I yet again had a lot of fun making this piece, and therefore I'm sure I'll be making much more Post-it art in the days and weeks to come.

Without further ado, here's my newest piece of Post-it art (again, I apologize for the less than ideal picture quality):

I'm calling this piece "The Howling".

For this piece I elevated the wolf and the moon by attaching them to pieces of cardstock that I folded in an accordion style. I wanted this to give the illusion that the wolf and moon are in the forefront while the stars are in the background.

And here are "The Way of Wizards" and "The Howling" together:

This is why it's great to try new things -- because you never know when you'll discover something that you love! I still need a lot of practice, of course, but I nevertheless see myself creating quite a collection of Post-it art.

I hope you like them!

Good night!

Trying new things.

Over the past few months I have managed to stumble upon numerous examples of artists using Post-it notes to create amazing pieces of art. Not only does that sound and look like a lot of fun, but I also want to continue growing as an artist by trying new things. Therefore, I have decided to try my hand at creating Post-it art.

I created my first piece of Post-it art this evening. This first attempt did not, admittedly, turn out as I really wanted it to. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun and I plan on practicing by creating more pieces of Post-it art (as in, I already have a number of other ideas that I would gladly start now, if it wasn't for the fact that I should probably get some shut-eye).

Here is my first piece of Post-it art, for which I decided to use Post-its for both the canvas and the media:

I am tentatively calling this Post-it piece "The Way of Wizards".

Let me take this time to apologize for the poor lighting of the photo. As usual, my photo shoot took place after dark and I therefore lacked any decent, natural lighting. I'll try to get a better picture during the daytime soon.

As the title suggests, the above piece is intended to portray a wizard wielding his magical wand amidst a starry sky. I love all things whimsical and fantastical. I also love all things animal, so, unsurprisingly, a lot of my future ideas for Post-it art involves animals. I would have started with one of those animal ideas, but to be honest I did not want to butcher any animals in my first attempt at Post-it art.

I hope to complete at least one more piece of Post-it art tomorrow. I'll post pictures of my new Post-it pieces as I complete them. I'm also working on another pencil piece (another furry animal of course), and I'll post either a WIP or final shot soon. I'll also soon post some pictures of last week's now completed entries in my sketchbook scrapbook journal, as well as a sneak peek of this week's entries.

Until next time!

New art prints on Etsy!

There are three new prints available in my Etsy shop! "Grizzly Gus" and "Hang the Moon", both in my animal nursery art series, are now available as prints. The third one available is "Queen Anne's Lace", which belongs to my fantasy garden series. You've seen images of the originals of all three of these here on this blog, but now they're available as prints on Etsy!

"Grizzly Gus"

"Hang the Moon"

"Queen Anne's Lace"

Visit my Etsy shop to see these and more of my available prints!

Percy the Polar Bear and The Fauna and the Fairy Ring on Etsy!

My pieces "Percy the Polar Bear" and "The Fauna and the Fairy Ring" are now available as prints in my Etsy shop!

Both of these are included in my Animal Nursery Art deals on Etsy. These deals include buying one and getting one half off, buying three for the price of two, and buying four for the price of three.

I hope to see you over at my Etsy shop!

Hang the Moon

I finally finished my latest piece of animal nursery art! Here it is:

"Hang the Moon" (tentative title)

I had a lot of fun with this whimsical feline piece. I love cats, and I also enjoy all things whimsical. So this piece was a great combo for me.

The night sky background took me a good chunk of time to finish. That is in large part my own fault, as I prefer to use fine pens, even when filling in large areas; therefore, such large areas can take me awhile to complete.

Now, do you want to know a little fun fact about me? As a young child, my first two cats were a sister and brother, a calico girl and black and white boy. They were the inspiration for the two little kitties hanging the moon and stars in this piece. And do you want another fun fact? Although the sweet black and white boy passed away years ago, I still have the calico girl cat that I acquired as a child. She is 21 years old.

This piece will be available in my Redbubble and Society 6 shops tomorrow morning, so if you like it check it out there! And be sure to stay tuned to find out when it is available in my Etsy shop!

Fantastical Feline Fun

I wanted to share a quick work-in-progress shot of my current animal nursery art piece. This one stars two little felines and a bit of whimsy.

I'm having a lot fun with this one and cannot wait to see it finished. There are a couple of details (color choices, etc.) that I'm still trying to decide on, but I figured I would sleep on it and pick it back up tomorrow.

Good night!