Quick Break

It's summer!

I'll be back in a few weeks and I'll be checking in from time to time.

Thank you for all of your comments and positive feedback, you guys are amazing!

A few posts are in store, just a few.

Index-Card-a-Day continues, with a fresh new index card each day in the ICAD section. That is where you will find the weekly prompts, themes and more. 

Keep creating!

Daisy Yellow Zine issues 1-7 are available through my Etsy shop for digital download. The rest of the shop is on holiday!

Linketh Loveth

Doodling from my watercolor moleskine digitally mixed with a painted background.

The mission continues! Help me SHARE THE LINK LOVE by posting a list of 5 blogs on Fridays June and July; I'll host the challenge again starting in August.

Even one Friday a month forwards the cause. 

--------> Diane of CraftyPod will be leading the link-love mission every Friday in June and July! So to add your URL to the link-round-up ----> over at CraftyPod!

Grab a retro pastel orange LINK LOVE badge and read the intro to the MISSION. Linking to creative blogs you've just discovered, blogs that you adore, blogs you've read for a long time but might not be well known. Consider smaller blogs, and blogs with a fresh perspective that sparks your creativity.

Just start this Friday.

My post from the first week. Another week.

1. A blog I want to investigate further, a little lime.
2. Amy Hood's series about doing art together is wonderful. Drawing From Photographs looks like good fun.
3. Sarah shared an inspiring photograph of her index-card-a-day design wall at the end of the challenge last year and was I amazed to see ICADs like this!
4. Tracey Fletcher King is painting mugs every day for her ICAD project this month.
5. A is for Anika shares her marvelous pattern-a-day project work from March, April and May. I did the challenge in December and it was a blast.

Looking for the Mister Linky Thingamajingy? Pop over to CraftyPod!!

Looking for Index-Card-a-Day?

Sewing Girls!

Stitched this girl on cotton burlap by putting the fabric in an embroidery hoop to keep it stretched in place. I had to remove the sewing foot to get the edge of the hoop through. I put on the free-motion foot and set the stitch measurements to zero. Then dropped the feed dogs, baby! 

watercolor paper, approx 6 x 9"

I drew this girl with pencil first, then with thread. I attempted to follow the pencil lines but that is easier said than done. You can't really make out the pencil lines in the photo. Definitely found it hard to stay on any sort of track.

I "drew" this girl with a straight stitch and the machine set at the standard stitch width and length. 

To draw with thread it helps to work with a subject that you have drawn many times in pencil or ink. That way, you can imagine your pencil moving in certain ways and work intuitively. For all of these, I used the free-motion foot and feed dogs down. 

Why stitch girls? 

Why not?

More...

♥ Open up your art journal and play! There's a fresh new post in my series about art journaling at Create Mixed Media blog.

♥ Issue #4 of Featuring Magazine is available for pre-order. I've got an article tucked inside, a piece about creativity. The magazine is published/printed in The Netherlands and is available only by mail order. I interviewed founder Marit here: http://daisyyellowart.com/vividlife/the-interview-series-marit-barentsen.html.

Index Cards are Simple Things

{my card for day 3 of ICAD 2013}

Enjoy the simplicity.

It is a cheap-o, tiny canvas.

It's pretty flimsy.

What could you learn from 61 tiny cards?

Don't psych yourself out.

Or overwhelm yourself with "rules."

Start with intention.

But.

Let yourself to follow the creative winds.

61 little cards "could" cement a good creative habit into your days. 

Join the index-card-a-day challenge!

365 Somethings #147-153

“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

"world's symbolic canvas"

espresso circles, fabric, washi tape, colored pencil doodles, cardstock, found text

one of my all-time favorites

"you won't be the same person"

acrylic gelatin prints, watercolored papers, found text

"no sense of time"

gelatin prints in acrylic, found text

"delicious taste of real fruit"

hand-painted papers, doodles, acrylic gelatin prints, fabric, found text, neocolors

"to dance"

acrylic gelatin prints, found text

"we dreamed of the storm"

gelatin prints {learn how to make authentic gelatin prints},  found text

"watching TV dramas"

gelatin prints, found text

3x5" index cards, stitched

You can see all of the collages to date in this Flickr set and read all of the posts about my 365 Somethings project. 

Sharing the Love {Links}

The mission continues! Help me SHARE THE LINK LOVE by posting a list of 5 blogs on Fridays in April, May, June & July. Participate as many Fridays as you wish. Bonus points for linking to a particular post and describing what you like or why you are intrigued. 

free hand mandalas, digital background 

Happy announcement! Diane of CraftyPod will be leading the link-love mission every Friday in June and July while I'm immersed in index-card-a-day. I'll participate in the mission of course, but you'll find the linky at Diane's blog. So to add your URL to the link-round-up every Friday in June and July starting June 7 over at CraftyPod! I'll take over the reins again in August.

Even one Friday per month helps the cause! 

Grab a retro pastel orange LINK LOVE badge and read the intro to the MISSION. Linking to creative blogs you've just discovered, blogs that you adore, blogs you've read for a long time but might not be well known. Consider smaller blogs, and blogs with a fresh perspective that sparks your creativity.

This week, a special thanks to those who have blogged about index-card-a-day 2013, which starts tomorrow at Daisy Yellow!

1. Sea Sky Stone
2. Define Your Joy
3. I am Rushmore
4. Once Upon a Time, Again
5. Thirty One 13
6. My Creative Wanderlust
7. Lost Coast Post
8. Fiber Musings
9. A Creative Dream
10. Adrienne Rose
11. Taylor Maide
12. Magenta Matters
13. Tracey Fletcher King
14. Spirit Uncaged
15. Jogatheringwild
16. Girl Unwinding
17. Annie Hamman Art
18. Sarathings
19. Dandelion Homemaker
20. Olivia Cleans Green
21. Artsyville
22. Live Grow Nourish Create
23. Pixie Dust
24. Twisty Lane
25. Art and Sole
26. Heart Fire & Soul Passion
27. Aloquin
28. Cinnamon Pink

If you are participating in SHARE the LINK LOVE, please add the URL to your blog post in the Mister Linky below. Links to your home page or links not about our MISSION will be deleted. Thanks!

Everything about ICAD is here in the Index-Card-a-Day FAQ.

Sharing Work from my Watercolor Playground Workshop #2

In my watercolor workshop at 21 Secrets we are splashing about in a sea of vivid color, where paint flows and colors and doodles intermingle. Pop over here to see a short video introduction to Watercolor Playground.

I wanted to share with you more the gorgeous artwork posted in the discussion group and facebook group for the workshop. Find the first set of pages from the workshop here. 

Please note that this work is shared with permission from the artists. 

 

Julie O created a wonderland of lush color, with psychedelic paths to explore. What beautiful brush work and blending!

All of Cat Storey's pages are gorgeous, bright and cheerful. I especially love Cat's use of dark colors and purples in the edging and background of her bubbles. Purple can be tricky and this just rocks.

Molly of Molly Lolly Loo added a wavy twist to this technique with happy and playful stripes.

 

Artist Kelly Kono painted this multi-faceted playground. The depth of color is amazing!

In Kelly's words, "I have so much fun doing this technique, and find it so relaxing. It takes me days to finish because I just do a little bit at a time, but that's part of the reason why I love the watercolor playground because it gives me a place to be creative for a little bit, even if only for minutes, each day! I can spend as much or as little time as I have, and each time step away feeling fulfilled."

Lynn Holland brings her love of textile art to the page with doodle stitching and watercolor playing together in harmony.

In Lynn's words, "Even though I have only done the first lesson so far I know I am going to enjoy the rest. It's your unique way of putting it across. Previously I've always associated watercolours with painting landscapes and it all being a bit wishywashy. You have made it a contemporary art form for us all. Can't wait for my new paints and brushes to arrive. Thank you Tammy you are turning a none painter into an excited trier.'

Doodlicious rainbow love from Elhenfr, who is working through 21 Secrets with creative flair!

 

Susan Smith's waves of rainbowy goodness and hand lettering make me smile!

Some comments from the workshop discussion group:

"Tammy, you created such a delightful and fun class for us to learn in and I now have a new "love"!!! Thanks so much for sharing your passion with us all!! It has been so refreshing."

"I've been intimidated by watercolors since I picked up art journaling a couple of years ago (largely thanks to you and your wonderful web site!) but you did a fabulous job of demystifying watercolor techniques!"

"Wonderful class that I will do over and over in my art journals!"

"I have gone watercolour mad! Since your workshop I have used it in my journaling, tried my hand at still life painting, used it on a greetings card and customized some gift wrap."

"Great Class; detailed techniques; really liked it."

"I loved this class and this exercise. Thank you so much for introducing me to watercolor, I'm a convert. I think my playground is a little too chaotic so next time I'll make bigger boxes. And I'd like to do more of the flowers and other non-abstract type things. So many ideas running through my head. I am just so enthused by this."

"Oh, Tammy, what fun you have brought us!!! I am a complete novice with watercolors and your techniques are so easy that even I could do them and achieve good results. "

"Thank you so much for your detailed instruction it was so fun to watch you paint!"

"Your class was like no other I've taken. Maybe because I was so keen on learning how to paint with watercolors, and you really instructed us! I learned so much."

So if you are curious about watercolor, and art journaling, register for 21 Secrets! This link will take you to Dirty Footprints Studio, where you can register. 

Please note that the art work in this post is shared with permission from the artists.

Lines. Letters. Lines.

Hand-drawn letters.

I like a good constraint when I draw. It challenges me to push myself creatively. The constraint here was to design each letter in a unique font from my imagination. I tried to create interesting shapes and depth with darker and lighter lines.

Drawn on the gridded background of Dawn DeVries Sokol's Art Doodle Love, a book-journal designed specifically for doodling. This page is in Hi-Tec and Slicci pens. The background grid looked especially intriguing to me, a numbers nerd at heart.

how to trick your inner perfectionist {and become an art journalist}

"If you’re going to be a writer,
the first essential is just to write.
Do not wait for an idea.
Start writing something
and the ideas will come.
You have to turn the faucet on
before the water starts to flow."
Louis L’Amour

5x8" moleskine, watercolor, pitt pen

[originally posted january 2010] 

A variety of wicked tricks to psych out your inner perfectionist so you can spend more time creating art. Trust that with practice and experimentation you will become more confident and comfy about your art journal work.

Try one or more of these ideas to break through the fear of the blank page.

1. Start with a simple, inexpensive journal rather than the gorgeous leather-bound, monogrammed italian journal you received as a gift.
2. Get out some acrylic paint, smear some on the page and doodle in the paint by scraping lines with a dull pencil, palette knife or edge of an old credit card. Just play.
3. Consider your journal a place for experimentation. Call it a test or practice journal.
4. Mix your mediums. Draw circles in ink and paint over them with watercolor and watch the ink run. Stitch a photograph to your page. Finger paint plaid stripes on your page with heavy body acrylics. 
5. Find inspiration in your day-to-day world. Draw a backgammon board with neocolors. 
6. Print a quote or lyrics and staple them to your page. Draw a frame around your words with a Sharpie.
7. Hide a page you want to destroy. Revisit your decision in a week.
8. Instead of a bound "art journal" use loose sheets of watercolor paper (i.e. Faded Blue), cardboard (i.e. Sunflower Kaleidoscope) or drawing paper (i.e. Art Journal: Summer). You can face a single page even if you get all wound up about "ruining" a pristine journal.
9. Use an art journal prompt to get started. Let this be a constraint that you must work within.
10. Use some journal pages to document your art materials. Paint a sample of each color of paint and label with the name or code number and brand. You can do this with colored pencils, neocolor wax crayons, pastels, watercolors and even fonts.
11. Let kids design your background!
12. Try creative experiments to venture beyond your comfort zone.
13. Create art on an index card each day for a month or two. 
14. Try the Prompt6ix prompts with a focus on including all of the quirky prompts in one piece.

Grab some info on Art Journaling Materials and pop over to Art Journaling 101 for the basics on art journaling and there's even Art Journaling 101 for Kids/Teens and Other Beginners!

Art journaling is dangerously, wickedly, wonderfuly addictive.

Double Discovery

“I am sure it is everyone’s experience, as it has been mine, that any discovery we make about ourselves or the meaning of life is never, like a scientific discovery, a coming upon something entirely new and unsuspected; it is rather, the coming to conscious recognition of something, which we really knew all the time but, because we were unwilling to formulate it correctly, we did not hitherto know we knew.”
W.H. Auden

 My camera has a lot of settings. I try a lot of different things and google other things. But yesterday I discovered "double exposure" and I'm telling you this is HUGE. It's like layering a painting with translucent photos. It's like layering in Photoshop, but with a random unplanned, uncontrolled twist. Shot with a Nikon D90 with my absolute favorite lens, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 prime.

And I'll add that the chimes are also a recent discovery. I was digging through some boxes of miscellaneous stuff and found these chimes. The bottom of one of the pieces of glass is chipped, but that doesn't impact the musical sound of the glass in the wind. I am in love with them! 

What have you recently discovered?