Fun with paint, an abstract

I like to think of this as "Planets out of Alignment". Just playing around with some acrylics and some different techniques, having fun and experimenting. I think it's kind of neat. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but it gives you the general idea. I started by tracing some plates and bowls and cups from the kitchen, having been inspired by some artwork with random circle patterns at the Oklahoma Art Festival. My daughter loves to paint so she helped me paint the circles, then I did another coat in a contrasting color, lifting the paint off with plastic wrap to give it texture. You can see it better in person than you can in the painting. Then I tried the old paint on bubble wrap trick, I like the texture it gives it. Then to brighten it up and give some sparkle I outlined in gold paint. All in all I enjoyed the experience and I liked the result.

Altered Book Poetry Pg 1

I recently learned about a really neat creative outlet, Altered Book Poetry. I've been familiar with altered books for awhile now but never been brave enough to try one. Seeing the altered book poetry, I decided I wanted to bite the bullet, besides organizing a poem out of the words on the page gave me a theme or concept to work with instead of just my blank imagination, which isn't always that productive on visual arts.

I just happened to have two copies of Janet Evanovich's "Lean Mean Thirteen" from her Stephanie Plum series, so I decided it was time to bite the bullet and alter a book.

In case you aren't familiar with the art form, to make altered book poetry first you select a book that you can alter (a book you own, not someone else's and DEFINITELY not a library book). You open it to a page, select random words from the page that spell out your own message or poem (these are abstract and loose, doesn't have to have perfect form or rhyme). You circle the words you have selected, then apply white gesso to the rest of the page, creating a perfect canvas to add your own paint and art to to illustrate your poem. Here is my first completed page, with the poem below in case you can't make it out in the picture:



"I'd been debating whether to do something
I knew I shouldn't do
Feeling the unusual Truth
you don't know until you jump in,
right?"

ATC First try, Squirrel Nuts

This is my first attempt at an ATC (Artist Trading Card). It sucks, but I was mainly playing with the size limitation and not exactly attempting to be horribly creative. I keep getting these flyers from my phone company encouraging me to sign up for dish network (I don't watch television but sure, why NOT spend an extra $80 a month so I have 300 channels to not watch instead of just the 15 or whatever I'm not watching now?). These ads have these squirrels all over them, because it's a "nutty deal". The squirrel cracks me up so one day I just cut one of them out and he fit on the card so I thought why not. The nut is a scrap of packing paper from work. The comment is just the truth about my life sometimes. So not terribly creative or brilliant but it was a fun exercise in pulling found materials into a tiny project. Now if I could just get a hold of my creative muse and try something that is actually artistic!

EDM Draw a Glass of Juice

EDM Draw a Toe

EDM Draw a Totebag

Playing with Pastels, a Jar of Pushpins

I also bought some new pastels today, both chalk and oil. I decided I wanted to play with a still life to try them. I happened to have a baby food jar filled with pushpins handy so I drew it. The real jar had a lot more pushpins but I got tired of drawing them so I stopped here. I used the chalk pastels to color it. Not exactly an inspiring drawing, but it was a fun exercise and I enjoyed working with the mediums.

A tree, saved from the circular file

I bought some new art supplies today and I was playing around with them. One of the drawing kids I bought had a charcoal stick so I just started trying to freehand sketch a tree. I finished it out with a rough idea of a lake, some bushes, another tree, etc. Then I pulled out my new watercolors and painted the tree. I thought it came out pretty good!! Then I tried to paint the lake and I messed up. I couldn't figure out how to capture the feel of water, and I was painting on drawing paper so the more I tried to work with the paint the more the paper fibers lifted and balled across the page so finally I gave up.

But I loved that tree. I thought it came out pretty good. It made me feel like I had accomplished something, like I had been artistic and actually good at it for a moment.

So I cut it out. I couldn't throw it away with the rest of the screwed up picture, I decided to save it and glue it into another project later. So here it is, scanned for you to see. The blue along the sides is leak over from the lake I was trying to paint, but that's okay. I don't need perfect. I like my tree.

Trixie, my old cat, in Chinese Watercolor

EDM Draw Something Sticky

EDM Draw a Screw

Gold Star Dreams

Edited to add that they appreciate me all the time where I work now, so this one is kind of obsolete now.

On the Darkest Days

Snake Hero

What if I Miss it?

Birthday Secret

Drawing Secret (One of many, I'm sure)

Where does my time go?

My Driving Secret

My Beautiful Mess

Yes, I know I'm still spotty on the other blog but I joined a Yahoo group for drawing and I decided to be brave and load up my drawings as well as my Post Secret postcards. Just a few things to keep in mind though.

1. I'm not an artist. I have dreams of being artistic, I have urges to draw and paint and so forth, but I have no artistic training and I'll admit, most of my stuff looks like a five year old drew it. That's okay!! It's the expression that's important, and it's not like this stuff is hanging in the Louvre or whatever. I enjoy creating it, and that's the important part!!

2. The Post Secret stuff is secrets, deep, dark, sometimes ugly secrets. I might not feel that way all the time, but at the moment I created that card, I was feeling that way and needed to get it out. I don't really hate people or wish ill will on people, and generally I'm very well balanced, but occasionally I'm sad, occasionally I'm hurt, occasionally I'm angry, and occasionally I draw that stuff out. It's healthy to express feelings, and you wouldn't believe how much better it makes you feel.

3. I'm a writer, so most of my "art" tends to involve words, or chatty comments along with the picture. Apparently it's part of my process. I wouldn't say I'm being a writer when draw, but clearly the words show up on the page whether I intend them to or not.

4. These are my beautiful messes, and part of my self exploration is giving myself permission to make mistakes and try new things and fail. Yes, sometimes there is a line that shouldn't be there, or a paint technique that went awry, but it's okay. Learning to accept the mistakes and find the joy in the exploration is my goal, not creating wall worthy art.

If you want to comment on anything, please feel free to post a comment or send me an email.

Now, wish me good luck and send a token of bravery. I've never shown these things before, and I'm a little nervous.