Purple and Orange - Inspire Me Thursday

The current challenge at Inspire Me Thursday is purple and orange. No orange here, but this is one of my favorite botanical photos, mainly because of the purple edges on the leaves (a little hard to see at this resolution). I think coneflowers are at their best in this stage of their development - so many interesting textures!

Reduce Reuse Recycle

I've been saving this orange polka dot magazine ad for months, not really knowing what to do with it, but knowing that inspiration would come to me eventually. When I discovered a used cd in my pile of magazine tearouts, I thought it might make a good base for my polka dots. So I chopped up my ad, added some black strips cut from another magazine page, and here you have... well, a cd with orange spots. This might become a cover for a round book.

Visit my other blog to see how I've started repurposing old clothing.

Inspire Me Thursday - It's Hip To Be Square

Square is the prompt this week at Inspire Me Thursday. I love to use squares in my artwork, both as my format and as individual elements, but they are usually perfectly square. This time, I chose to use a rectangular "canvas" and add not-so-perfect squares to the mix. It's hard for me to not measure everything precisely, but I'm working at getting out of my comfort zone. Pictured above is a small quilt (approx. 12 x 9-1/2 inches) made from some more of my hand-dyed fabric. As usual, the pieces are fused to the background with Wonder-Under instead of stitched, then quilted by machine. I will probably do some more quilting on the background, then add a binding and prepare it for hanging. I had some scraps left over, so I made an ATC, below. Thanks to Judy Scott for inspiring me to get out my sewing machine again!

Inspire Me Thursday - Artist Trading Cards

This week's challenge at Inspire Me Thursday is ATCs, or artist trading cards, which are tiny works of art measuring 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches. I've only been making ATCs for a couple of weeks, but I've rapidly become addicted to them. They're quick and easy (usually!), can be made with bits and pieces of whatever you have on hand, and they're fun to flip through when you need a little inspiration.

I believe I've mentioned that I hand-dye my own fabric for some of my sewing projects. When you've put in the effort to dye the fabric yourself, it's hard to throw away the scraps. The card at left was made with tiny scraps I had saved from a small art quilt. The pieces were already fused with Wonder-Under, so construction was as simple as ironing everything together and quickly finishing off the layers with the sewing machine.

For the second ATC, I cut the leaf shapes from a piece of Hoffman Bali batik, then fused them with Wonder-Under to another piece of hand-dyed fabric, and again quickly stitched everything together by machine.

The third ATC is made with scraps of scrapbooking paper, newsprint, and stamped cardstock. The embellishment is a piece of matboard, covered with ultra-thick embossing enamel and impressed with a rubber stamp while still hot.

Inspire Me Thursday - Limited Palette

I'm having some Famous Artist ATC fun today, using a limited palette of blue and gold for this week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge. I've always loved Vermeer's The Girl with the Pearl Earring, so here she is on a background I made a couple of weeks ago by dropping ink onto a wet piece of glossy cardstock, then pressing it against another sheet of cardstock while still wet. I probably need to give this butterfly some antennae, if I can manage to keep them from tickling the girl's chin.

I tend to make a lot of backgrounds, but then I don't want to cut up my favorites, so they never get used. Today, I bravely chopped them up to save them from a life of boxed-up boredom.

For the second ATC, I used a map of Amsterdam, which just happened to show the location of the Van Gogh Museum. How convenient! Of course, I couldn't resist the sunflower or the tiny piece of Starry Night. Here, I've used some of the same blue and gold background as above.

I'm finding that, more and more, I'm using recycled bits of stuff in my art, such as magazine images, silk flowers, and maps. Junk mail comes in handy as well. When your art supply budget shrinks, you can't beat free materials!

Inspire Me Thursday - Fun and Games

The prompt this week at Inspire Me Thursday is Fun and Games, and I've been agonizing over what to do for this challenge. Should I go with a board game theme? Maybe a favorite childhood game? No, all my favorite games were simply games of my imagination. Was there something that had always been fun for me, and was still fun? Well, there's art, and photography, and music... of course, music! Music has always been a part of my life, but became especially important at the age of eleven, when I received my first flute and instantly became obsessed. Everything about it was fun to me -- symphonic band, marching band, pit orchestra, and even competitions (and believe me, I was fiercely competitive!). I still play my flute, though not as often as I used to, and I still live in a house full of music, because my husband plays trumpet, tenor saxophone, flute, and guitar.

Pictured above is a photograph of my flute, resting on one of my favorite pieces of music, Chaminade's Concertino. I used a graphic pen filter in Photoshop to achieve the pen and ink effect.

Inspire Me Thursday - Watercolor

Sunflowers, 6 x 8.5 inches, watercolor and ink

OK, so I'm cheating a little bit. This isn't "new" art. But the prompt today at Inspire Me Thursday is "watercolor," and this piece, which I had forgotten about and recently rediscovered, just happened to be propped up on my desk. I had planned on further developing my watercolor skills after I had completed a class a few years ago, but lots of things got in the way and it just never happened.

Now that I'm rediscovering my creative self, I've been digging through all my stuff, and a few surprises have been waiting for me, in the form of materials, completed art, and some sketches that I'd now like to further develop. The little painting pictured here was among those surprises. It isn't quite what you're used to seeing from me (in terms of both style and size), so that's why I'm posting it, and I wanted to show you that I don't always work with colored pencils! It made me feel happy as well, and isn't that what it's all about anyway? Actually, this piece motivated me to take out my nice, new, clean John Pike watercolor palette, and to think about how I want to lay out my paints (although I haven't opened any of the tubes yet!). So I promise, I really will post a new watercolor soon.

Inspire Me Thursday - DNA

5 x 5 inches, Prismacolor pencils, Pigma Micron pen, Sharpie marker

"DNA" is the prompt this week at Inspire Me Thursday, and after admiring the entries that have already been posted, I thought I might pass on this one. But instead, I decided to offer up a simplified double helix and a few random doodles to represent the creative, colorful, and fun life I'm seeking to live.

Unfortunately, my favorite Pigma pen gave up the battle in the middle of this, and I had to resort to using a Sharpie, which I'm not entirely comfortable with. Hmm, my green pencils are getting a little short, too -- I may be forced to shop for some new supplies. Oh my!

Inspire Me Thursday - Dear Diary

I'm coming to the table a bit late with my Inspire Me Thursday submission, but I didn't really expect to post anything this week. That's because the prompt is "Dear Diary" and I don't keep a diary. Never have. Sure, I've had diaries before, the kind with the leatherette cover and the tiny lock and key, but I never actually wrote in any of them. Maybe I was always afraid someone would read what I had written, and I would be exposed, and vulnerable. I was also expecting to skip this week because I've not been feeling myself the past few days. On Saturday I cleaned up my desk and my studio space so I could actually find things, but I still haven't been able to get motivated. There are just too many other things going on, and they're wearing me out. But when I finally arrived home last night from one of my usual evening activities (I really need to stay home more), I sat at my desk looking at my stack of lists, and was struck by the idea that, in a way, my list-making is a form of diary-keeping. You see, I make lists for everything -- creative ideas, things I need to do, websites to visit -- you name it, I probably have a list for it. All my lists are on scraps of paper, and they tend to get mixed up, or used for jotting down something else, and I end up rewriting that list. So, I remembered these tiny composition books (3.5 x 4.5 inches) I found at WalMart. And why not turn some of my collage and image transfer failures, which of course I had saved, into covers for my little books? You already know that I like to work small, and I enjoy making things to fix up my work area. Well, in less than 30 minutes I had completed two little "list diaries" and I think I've recovered my creative mojo. Sometimes, a little glue and some metal leaf will work wonders, and will help you get organized as well!

Rockin' Girl Blogger!

I am so pleased and honored to have been nominated by Pattie Mosca as a Rockin' Girl Blogger! Thank you Pattie, not only for the award, but for your continued inspiration and motivation. I continue to be amazed by the generosity of my fellow blogging artists, especially all those who contribute to Inspire Me Thursday. I consider this group of talented, inspirational, and genuinely caring souls to be my friends, although I've never actually "met" any of you! Thanks, all of you!

I think I'm supposed to nominate 5 other Rockin' Girl Bloggers, but I will need to think about it for a little longer than the minute I have. Unfortunately, I'm in the midst of changing my e-mail address in all the dozens of places where it matters. I'm afraid I have the distinction of having received over 200 scam e-mails in the last 5 days, all of them variations of the Nigerian scam. Apparently, I have quite a few rich, deceased relatives who have left me their fortunes. I've also won the Irish Lottery multiple times, and have received many job offers, contingent upon me revealing my bank account numbers. I don't know how I made the list, but I'm sure the FTC will be glad when I stop forwarding notes to their spam account. My advice to everyone -- be very careful with your e-mail address!

Inspire Me Thursday - I Have Something to Say

I've never been much of a talker. Words always escape me, or I think of the right thing to say when the opportunity is past. Maybe it has something to do with growing up in a family where I never could get in a word edgewise. Or maybe it's because I thought nobody was listening to me anyway. I've always, always struggled to express myself verbally. Shyness is one of my demons! So in recent weeks, as I've admired the submissions over at Inspire Me Thursday, I've noticed that so many of the artists there are able to express themselves so beautifully, not only with their visual art, but with their words as well. Pattie, Cheryl, Royce, Leah, and many others have such a gift for words! Suddenly, I found myself thinking, "I have nothing to say! Everyone but me can speak!" Then I realized that I do have something to say, a LOT to say, it's just that I have to say most of it visually. And I know that my art cyber-friends can hear what I'm saying, even if I'm not writing about it! I'm so thankful for all of you who speak my language!

Anyway --it's "Open Topic" at Inspire Me Thursday this week, so I thought I'd share some more of my "tiny works". I'm still using these little Prismacolor pencil drawings for motivation and inspiration. These are all 1-3/4" square. Here's how it works: I keep small pieces of bristol board on hand, and when a design pops into my head (which can happen at any moment - while reading, watching HGTV, playing with the cats -- you know how it goes), I grab one of these squares, quickly sketch my idea in pencil, then immediately make it permanent with a Micron pen. Then I color it with Prismacolor pencils, trying not to think too much about what colors I use. I may (or may not!) use these squares in a larger piece. Some of these may be combined with the background pictured here, which is acrylic paint on watercolor paper. Who knows?

Inspire Me Thursday - Goddess

Goddess of My Imagination

6 x 6 inches, Prismacolor pencils and ink on bristol board

The creative prompt this week over at Inspire Me Thursday is "Goddess". I wanted to think about this for a couple of days, so I spent most of the weekend immersed in Harry Potter (yes, I finished it, and all I will say right now is "Wow!" - don't want to spoil it for anyone). Every now and then I took a break from reading to get some gardening done, go to Erin's birthday party, and to contemplate art. So when I visited the IMT website earlier today, I was left speechless by all the beautiful goddesses everyone has been working on.

This is the Goddess of My Imagination, who sees color, movement, and life all around her. She started as a doodle in my sketchbook, and was supposed to be a quick, simple sketch, but became more complex as I worked with her. I think I may have also been influenced by all the violets I've been making in my cake decorating class!

I do love working with colored pencils. I think it's the child in me, who has always loved coloring books and big boxes of crayons. They're portable as well, so I can take them just about anywhere I might want to draw.

Inspire Me Thursday - Bold (Tiny Works - Part 1)

The prompt this week at Inspire Me Thursday is "bold". Instead of a new creative interpretation of the prompt, I decided this time to offer what has become part of my creative process in recent months. This tiny (3 in. x 3 in.) Prismacolor pencil drawing of bold color and movement is actually part of my journey back to art after a long creative famine. I'll try to keep the story short!

In 2005 we were living on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi when Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. We were very lucky (didn't even have to file an insurance claim!), but I was shocked by the devastation in my community and in my neighborhood. I had already been struggling creatively, but suddenly I was paralyzed by the pain of my neighbors and friends, and by the stories of suffering that I heard first-hand every day. So I went to work, or waited in long lines to buy groceries, or drove along the beach looking for familiar places that no longer existed, but didn't make art. Many people find this sort of event creatively stimulating, but I simply could not pick up a pencil or a paintbrush, or even take out my sewing machine. I struggled even harder than before, trying to find a way to put something to paper or canvas, and several months later, after moving back to Alabama, I pulled myself together and decided that I would have to tackle this problem one small step at a time. So every day my goal was to make a tiny piece of art, no matter how simple, and what you see here is my very first attempt. After that, even if I just painted a bold square of color on a scrap of canvas, that was enough. And although I still struggle with ideas more often than not, I at least have a process that lets my mind get in the right place for making art. Now I really enjoy making small things, such as little drawings or itty-bitty craft projects, some of which I may be sharing in a few days.

Oh, and by the way, staying home during a powerful hurricane when you live only a couple of miles from the beach? Really bad idea.

Inspire Me Thursday - Seven

Here's a quick digital collage for Inspire Me Thursday, where the prompt this week was "seven". Here, there are seven butterflies on a background text of sevens, such as "seven deadly sins", seven virtues", and "seventh son of a seventh son". I can never get the colors here to match my original Photoshop file, so they're a little bit off (probably need to calibrate my monitor). While thinking about what I would do for this challenge, it has been interesting to read about the historical, mythological, and superstitious use of the number seven.

Inspire Me Thursday - Light

This week's prompt for Inspire Me Thursday is light. I didn't expect to participate this week, but last night I was noticing how bright the moon was, and I was thinking about all the things that happen by the light of the moon, right here in my own yard. Like the armadillo who comes out occasionally, only to scurry off when she realizes I'm watching her; the frog who sits by my front door, as if watching for it to open; the night calls of birds all about the neighborhood; my fat cat Charley carefully patting the grass, trying to capture something; and the sounds of the nocturnal insects. So much artistic inspiration, but where do I start? Then I remembered a bland, boring photo of the moon I had snapped a while back, and decided to have a go at it in Photoshop. The result -- my digital painting of the moon.

Inspire Me Thursday - World Traveler

The prompt this week for Inspire Me Thursday was "world traveler". As a child, I traveled the world for free. Books took me anywhere I wanted to go. I can recall often trying to hide a book in my lap at the dinner table, because I just couldn't put it down! Even today, I can travel through time and across continents by reading. Since I enjoyed Typography so much in art school, I thought I'd take a typographic approach this week.

Inspire Me Thursday - Copycats

This week's prompt for Inspire Me Thursday is "copycats". I've been experimenting with image transfers, so I thought I'd share a couple of examples. For these transfers I used art from Dover, which I printed on plain paper on my laser printer, and applied it with Golden Gel Medium to some formica sample chips I found at a local home improvement store. Most of the color you see here is the formica showing through, although I added some Prismacolor pencil accents and some rubber-stamped crackling to the one on the right. I had planned on adding some gold leaf to both, but after an extensive search of my supplies, I couldn't find my metal leaf. After I seal these I'll probably use them as tags for collage.

Circles

This is my very first submission for Inspire Me Thursday. The creative prompt this week is circles. I love circles, so I thought this was the perfect time to join this challenge. This is a photo collage of two images -- a huge,industrial sculpture I saw on a roadside in Pensacola, and coreopsis from my garden. I liked the idea of combining nature with a hard, man-made surface. I may have to take this natural vs. industrial concept a little further.