WIPs for December

These little birds will be part of a bigger piece eventually. 'Birdies' are my default creative project, if I don't know what to do I make a bird, I love making them. No two are ever alike, little wings, big beaks, fanciful tails or funky 'hair', there is a 'family' resemblance, but they each have their own personality and they make me laugh.

'Gear Head' side

'Gear Head' front

'Honker' front

'Honker' side

'Lockes' front

'Lockes' side

'Springy' side

'Springy' front

It's starting to feel like Winter

 

712am Fireworks

The sky is deceptive and beautiful. It was 31 degrees this morning with a cold NW wind.

Fall

Well, it's been a trying late Summer/early Fall. First Fern went broody (wanted only to sit on eggs all day) and then, sad to say, in early October Miss Ivy passed away. I still don't know what from, but she went down hill very quickly and Fern was fine. So, there I was with one lonely broody chicken and I couldn't have that. My wonderful neighbor Robert (who has a flock of Silkies) knew a lady out of town who was selling pullets at a very reasonable rate. I now have a beautiful Rhode Island Red named Miss Iris. She's a little smaller than Fern and is quick to follow Fern's bossy lead. I'm also happy to report that Miss Iris was just the competition Fern needed to get off the nest and back to laying properly! I have been collecting between 9-12 eggs per week since Miss Iris arrived, it's wonderful! The next plan of action is to set up winter quarters for the girls. My garage is too small for my truck, but would make a wonderful coop/garden shed, so that's the plan for now. Hope you are having a wonderful Fall!

Miss Iris

Miss Fern eats soup

9 days harvest

possible winter quarters

Art Everyday for a Month

Once again Leah Piken Kolidas - Creative Every Day - is challenging people to make 'art' everyday in November. 

As Leah says in her blog: 

"Your daily creations can be anything you desire (from painting to drawing to photography to writing, etc...) You can work with a theme or do something different every day. It's entirely up to you! Make it doable.

I'm a low-pressure type person, so I encourage everyone to join in, even if you don't complete something every day. Even just giving yourself the challenge and creating more than you usually would is a beautiful thing. But if you can create something every day for 30 days, I highly recommend it! I've learned and grown so much through doing it each year. And the community that develops is always amazing."

I tried to do this last year and while I didn't manage everyday I did create more that month than I had all year. This year for me has been somewhat sparse in creative endeavors (if you don't count the chickens) so, I'm jumping in again with the hope that it will re-start my creative juices and get me rockin' and rollin' and 'making stuff' again. 

So what do you say? Are you willing to take the plunge and spend 30 days working on...writing, painting, sculpting, gardening (if you're in a warm place) photography, sketching, anything, something? If so, then click the pic and read about a fun filled month of creativity, learning and making art every day!

We can do so much better than 'Eh'!

A friend of mine sent me this quote and it just said "YES!" to my soul. I did a Google search to try to find the author, but I really couldn't determine where it originated from, but if anyone knows please let me know so I can credit the author. I have linked it to an Etsy site - The Ink Society - that sells it as a beautiful poster in many color choices. In the meantime, keep making art because I don't want to live in a world that is just 'Eh', do you?!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but somedays it feels like it!

Summer has been a busy time for me, not the least of which is yard work on top of regular work and house work - ok, maybe not that much house work, but still a lot of things have been keeping me away from writing.

New in my world are Fern and Ivy, two of the most wonderful chickens I've ever had the pleasure to know. They are Sussex (Coronation Sussex to be fancy) chickens. I've never raised chickens before, and didn't want to deal with chicks and all their care needs, so purchased two grown and laying hens. In the short time I've had them they have just been a delight to watch and interact with. The only advantage to starting with chicks is that they can be trained for picking up and cuddling, once I catch Fern or Ivy they settle in quite nicely, cuddle and burble at me, but catching them is the challenge, they can move FAST!

I've been wanting chickens for some time now and to finally have them is just wonderful. I was blessed to have a friend build me this wonderful coop/chicken tractor for the girls to live in. Most of the day they wander my backyard eating bugs and chasing snakes, but at night they snuggle down in their comfy cosy coop.

Where does your inspiration come from?

Hubcap art by Keri Joy Colestock

Part of what I love about this art piece is how the hubcap makes such a wonderful base and contrast for all these great faces. It inspires me to find different ways to use faces, other than as part of a figurative sculpture.

Where do you find your inspiration? 

Do images form in your mind while reading a good book or listening to music? Does walking or working in nature conjure up ideas? Activities like these can spark whole avalanches of new thoughts and ideas for me.

What about viewing other people’s art online? This is another great venue for inspiration. Whether it’s photos on Flickr or belonging to a group that focuses on a medium, or style of art, you're interested in – be it painting, collage, altered books, pen & ink, writing or, one of my interests, sculpting the human face - hence the above photo.

The advantages of belonging to a group are many. You can explore how various artists express a 'theme' through different mediums, share your thoughts on a particular craft/art, ask questions about technical problems or share your 'know how' with others. Seeing how other artists approach a topic helps you see/think out side the box. Then there is seeing just how wide the interpretation of an art/medium can be translated and expressed.

'Hubcap Art', by Keri Joy Colestock, is just one example of some of the amazing work being created and shared online. What can be more inspiring than seeing how a person takes an object, or medium, in a new direction? For me that can inspire all kinds of thoughts! I am particularly creatively challenged by people who take unusual objects, mix them with their own special flare and just run with it, creating a 'series' or body of work that follows a process through many transformations. You can see how the germ of an idea (expressed in her hubcap) moves through several of Keri's pieces on her Etsy site.

 Where has inspiration led your art?

Sites to see

Here are some of the blogs I have been lead to recently that have been very uplifting, informative and great reminders that the world is only as beautiful as we see it. The blogs deal with some of my 'phobias' - Failure, Mistakes, Change, Self Worth...(maybe some of yours too?). 

Spirit Moves Dance Meg has written a very moving article on failure.

Scoutie Girl has a great guest article by Liz Kalloch called 'Living with - not by - Our Mistakes 

Amy Oscar's guest post by Jenn Gibson: 'The Wisdom of Going Home' deals with change.

On the blog Kind Over Matter's: Being a Force for Good with Amanda Fall A Guest Post by Amanda Fall for the Kind Kindred series.

 

And one more for good measure, (the Editor and Chief of Scoutie Girl) Tara Gentile's article "Are you in love with your own Potential?' 

There are so many more wonderful blogs out there that can inspire, move your heart and teach.What are some of your favorites?

   

Where does the time go?!

WOW, I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. Well, if your days seem to fly right by I know how you feel! I have been busy though working in the garden - when the rain has stopped and the mosquitoes aren't out - and creating 'stuff' and reading about cooking, creating and gardening.
I have several art projects in the works, such as painting on tiles:

Repainting a little blue gnome a friend gave me:

The color of the base is the color the whole gnome was

Some owl ATC's for a swap in May:

A mandala I designed in a class:

it's getting there!

which is taking a while because I can't decide quite what colors I should use and you can only color it once!

I'm currently working on sculpted figure, 'The White Queen' from Through the Looking Glass, but since this is for a swap I can't post any pictures yet.
I've also been taking lots of photos of my yard, various plants and shrubs, and of the cats:

periwinkle iris

elderberry blossom

fancy columbine

grape vine gone crazy

fur kids in the yard

Teasel in the tub with flowers

  And to think it's June already...

Flower Faces

Here are some faces I've been working on. I've just arranged their petals to see if I like the direction they are going before I glue it all down. They will be a gift for friend. The faces are about 2 1/4" across, sculpted with paperclay and painted with acrylics. Once they are all glued I'll stick them back on their stems and add some other flowers for a bouquet.

I need the Courage to Let GO!

This is a painting that’s currently in progress and on which I have reached an impasse. My idea was that it would be loose and flowing and have all sort of texture and layers and once I painted in the faces I balked at working over them, not that they are that spectacular faces – though I do think they are nice faces.

sharpie sketch on gesso

first washes of color

flesh color added

shading and some details added

more face details

There is something about once something has a face or eyes, it’s a done sort of thing for me, but I KNOW this is far from done and I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and just continue on…regardless…even though it means painting over the faces…I can do it, because this isn’t what I envisioned!

The Path of Change is...(pick your word)

As a person who likes to make things, I’m always looking for new and interesting techniques to expand my creative horizons. At the same time, after learning these new and wonderful techniques, I find myself almost always reverting back to the same mediums and symbols that feel most like ‘me’. Occasionally part of a technique or a new medium will work its way into a project, but it’s a slow process. 
 

With the thought of trying to move past my reserve in implementing changes in my art I took a "Free-Frawl" painting class from my friend Susan Brasch.  She is a very talented visual artist, writer and mediator, who teaches at her home studio and through Art&Soul, here in Lincoln. 

Here is one of the pieces I completed in her class. I call it ‘Sleeping Heart’. It's worked on a piece of smooth paper, 24"x36", in acrylics and soft pastel.

She's a little crinkly from the color washes

I really like the colors.

While it has some spontaneity to it I think I still fell back into one of my art patterns, women and hearts, BUT it is looser and wilder in many ways, so that’ a start! I don’t think I will ever stop exploring the possibilities, but I know what I like to do, so isn’t that what I should do? I don’t think it’s a ‘fear’ thing exactly, but this quote is a good one for me to keep in mind then next time I start to explore a new idea:
 

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” —Marianne Williamson

Pony girl has gone Anime'!

After several attempts to get her eyes the way I wanted, a more realistic size, I had a hissy fit and painted out the whole area white. The more I looked at those large white eyes the more I thought 'what if...'? So, throwing caution to the wind, I made her eyes HUGE. My mentor loves how they look, I'm still a little unsure - I mean I think she looks cute but...it's so hard to break out our routines and predilections, isn't it? I'm just going to continue on and learn to love her as she is. Next on the agenda...CLOTHES! With that face I can get really funky if I want, but I probably won't...dang change is hard!

Sorry for the lag time

Hello all!
I apologize for the lag time in posts. I've been trying to make them, at the least, weekly, but sadly I've had some health issues and surgery has put me behind. I hope to be back in form starting next week!
Thank you all for following me in my adventure!
Deanna

process

So here is a little blog about my process. The theme for March Monthly art on Willowing was 'bunnies'. Well, this just played into my hands, bunnies are one of my most favorite animals. (The Velveteen Rabbit is still one of my favorites stories). So, anyway, I doodled some bunnies while eating KFC - because I am such a healthy eater and the back of the paper place-mat was there and blank - I liked the faces but the bunny at the bottom of the page was the one I thought would work best, it's about 2" x 2.5" in size. I scanned it, cropped it and printed it on a 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper.

I then took the enlarged copy and used modge podge and glued it to a 7" x 9" mason board.

When it was dry I trimmed off the excess paper and put a layer of modge podge across the top and let it dry again. This gave a nice surface to work on and kept the paper from pilling when I painted it. You can see that the other doodles are still showing on the page. From there I took thinned acrylics and painted in the base colors.

And finally I just added more paint and then went in with colored pencils to add more depth and texture. This is the finished piece.