Day 46: Washi tape jewelry dresser

I have this junk jewelry dresser that I've had for like 10 years. The print is very girly and I have wanted to change its look for a long time. 

There is a lot of pink. All shades of pink. 

I am very slowly trying to improve the feeling of our bedroom. We recently received our first headboard for our bed and that classes things up a lot. Now I am considering what colors to use for new bedding,  which we have also never purchased for our married selves. With that comes ideas for improving existing furniture, removing culture, adding art and custom charming elements.

But first, improving this existing jewelry box that functions well and I like.

I have recently heard of washi tape and found a good deal for some at Costco. I realized I would need to reprint some items, so I jazzed up the holder and will do the drawers tomorrow. 

What do you think? I went for some modern colored flying geese-esque pattern with a fun banner pattern on top.

Materials: washi tape (6 styles, a few feet each color), vintage jewelry box, scissors, exacto knife

Time: 1 hour

Day 45 Bonus: Wacom tablet take 1

Kevin let me borrow his Wacom tablet for me to play around more with PaintBrush on my Mac laptop. The prior trial was an app on the computer. This program does allow you to block in the color, but I didn't for this sketch of Sugar, who is napping on my chest right now.

Also, here was a quick sketch of Kevin. I like the head with it's personality and the Homer-esque hair, but not the body.

Day 45: our maps

For Christmas I received a copy of Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work and in Your Studio, a book by Noah Scalin, who dig his own art 365 project called Skull365. One task was to create something called a Memory Map. This could be done in lots of ways, and there is no "wrong way" to do this. Just take paper and pen and write down what you can from memory. This might be a map of your childhood home, your neighborhood, your old school, etc. The book prompted you to draw the USA in two minutes (!!!) and label as many states, landmarks, cities as you could. I decided to make it more difficult for us and have us draw the world! On Buzzfeed, they did a humorous version of this where they asked Brits to label the US states in a pre-drawn map. Check It Out for a few giggles :) I thought it would be fun to ask Kevin to do this one too :) This was a large challenge to get him on board.

Some rules needed to be made: We each had 25 minutes, one pen, one pencil, various markers and one sheet 11x17 marker paper. No peeking at "real" maps. You could use a straight edge (which I ignored). 

Time: 25 minutes timed, no more, no less.

Karla: I started with England because I knew that was in the middle. I then skipped from Russia to Japan and back to France, therefore leaving myself a gross misunderstanding of the Middle East. "My South America is all screwed up, but at least the countries are in the correct order from South to North. Also my polar bear in the Arctic is pretty cute."

Kevin: "I didn't want to draw the entire world. That involves projections. The round Earth creates a distortion on a flat map." Note: He decided to do a Robinson projection: the one you got in school's geography lessons. He asked this information be included for posterity. He said that  he started with Africa and worked his way out from there, "Unfortunately, this meant my Pacific Ocean kind of vanished."

Day 44: Vancouver sparkle

Ooooooo tinsel. Last day in Vancouver and we are celebrating with a romantic dinner. :) cranberry vodka not pictured ;)

 

Blouse: LOFT

Sequined Skirt: LOFT

Leather Handbag: mom's

Boots: Aerosoles 

Necklace: hand-made in Venice

Earrings: pounded silver drops of my mom's

Bracelet: pearls, gift from dad & Deborah

Note: I know it's a fashion faux pas to wear an outfit all by the same designer; however, in this case I couldn't resist.

Day 43: UBC Museum of Anthroplogy

Saw this frog food dish in the First Nation collection during our Vancouver visit. 

Time: 15 minutes

Materials: paint app & finger

Day 42: Paint app

Allie Brosch from hyperbole and a half.

I couldn't figure out how to block in the color, any suggestions?

Day 41: train sketch

Time: 15 minutes

Materials: ink, .3

On the Amtrak train outside of Seattle heading to Vancouver, British Columbia with Kevin for a four-day visit.

7:03 pm window seat :)

Day 40: rocking chair

Merry Christmas!
Kev and I had a wonderful visit with his parents at their home. Grandparents also came and we enjoyed a delicious roast beast :)

Materials: ink .1, .3 pens
Time: 10 minutes (at most)

Day 39: wimpy snowflakes

Time: 2 minutes for snowflakes, 3 minutes for text. 

Materials: ink

If you can't read the text here it is again: 

The first time I saw "real" snowflakes was in Leavenworth in January 2013 with Kevin. You could see the different shapes with your naked eye! And read "Snowflake Bentley" by Jacqueline B. Martin.

Day 38: snail tales

Or "tails," if you prefer :)

Time: 10 minutes
Materials: black ink, brown ink (felt tip)
I didn't look at anything for this, but I seem to remember some slug book from my childhood where they had stalks to hold their eyes up.

Day 37: bonsai tree

It's a bonsai tree.

Time: 5 minutes
Materials: ink

I really have no idea how many cacti I had to throw away today, but I felt like commemorating the death squad by drawing a bonsai, one of my favorite plants to purchase only to kill a few months later. It's not that I'm a terrible plant person, but after about a year I just forget that they are alive. 

Day 36: Huber's dinner

Had a nice holiday dinner with my dad, step mom and step brother at Huber's, the oldest restaurant in Portland. I ordered a Spanish Coffee (which is the drink the place is known for) and it came with some pomp and flair that was pretty fun to witness. Fabulous turkey and ham dishes!

Shirt: Old Navy
Top: Banana Republic
Pants: Nordstrom
Leather purse: hand-made up in the Andes of Equador (gift from Kevin)
Necklace: hand-made in Venice (gift for myself) :)

Day 35: Dinner with Friends

Can anyone say "Holiday dinner party?"

We had a wonderful evening with friends eating delicious gluten-free pizza and drinking some nice holiday beverages. Look at their lovely tree with origami crane decorations? Just enchanting :)




Skirt: Anne Taylor LOFT
Top: Vintage
Belt: Vintage
Necklace: Ship's Control Wheel pendant (a la Titanic)
Shoes: Naturalizer
Eye Candy: Hubby ;)

Day 34: Christmas Door Contest

I have three Teacher's Assistants and at my high school, there is an annual Holiday door decorating contest. I designed the door and my students executed my idea. I decided to go for an "under the sea" theme but then a TA suggested putting Santa hats on the fish and I was like YESSSS!

Here is the sketch of my original plan.

... and the student's interpretation of my instructions. What do you think?

I really like it :)

Sadly we didn't win, place or show because we didn't resort to (what I consider) cheap gimmicks like a rotating Christmas tree or a television plugged in playing classic holiday reruns.

Still, our's was pretty creative. I think I could improve on this theme for next year and make it better. Like having a GIANT octopus / kraken beast around the door (with a Santa hat) that my students have to walk through.

Today was the second to last day of school and boy, students are getting ready to be finished. Frankly, so are most of the teachers too!

Day 33: goggles for Sugar

Thanks to Sugar for being a good model :)

Day 32: Departure Lounge

I wanted to go for something maybe a little more funky then I would normally go for.

My friend Sarah runs her own personal style and consulting business called Cable Car Couture and while she was down visiting us with her husband for Thanksgiving, she and I talked fashion and shopping. Not only does this girl have amazing taste but the girl can SHOP! She has an eye for quality and good deals. We really got along.

Anyway, Sarah can really wear anything. She can go glam. She can go funky. She can go professional.   I am SURE she can go to much more then that too, but that versatility of image was refreshing to me. Also versatility of the items that you purchase. I feel like I have two levels of dressing: comfort and "teacher" which can be defined as hip/stylish or dumpy depending on the day. When I lived in NYC, I took time with my look and I miss that. I've improved a lot since I got rid of half my wardrobe. I downloaded the app StyleBook to help me manage my wardrobe, which helps me visualize how to use my wardrobe. It's time consuming uploading all the pics, but I have been taking it in baby steps and that seems to help.

Anyway, here is tonight's wardrobe:

Coat: Vintage
Pants: Jone's of New York
Shirt: Vintage
Sweater: gift from mom
Mittens: gift from Kevin
Shoes: gift from Laura
Hat: Kevin's :)

Day 31: pretzel?

Whomp whomp

One of my students stole another student's iPod, there was a fight during lunch at school and I don't feel well...

Meh...

Day 30: Kevin sketch

Perspective is challenging...

Materials: ink

Time: 5 minutes

Of course when one only takes 5 minutes, how good could it be?

Day 29: A Brave Little Toaster (for Kevin)

Almost one month finished with the Art365 project. It's been rewarding so far. One comment I should make is that I have been getting away with is usually a nightly drawing that takes less then 20 minutes to complete. If I truly want to get better at something I'm going to have to focus a LOT more of my free time to developing myself as an artist. That's not saying ALL my free time but I'm still spending more time then I would like sitting on the couch not doing anything productive accept resting after a hard day.

With that being said, I understand that I could be doing more but I could be doing a whole lot LESS too. I've drawn some things that without this project I would not have made the time to draw before. This month my favorites were the watercolor penguin, the oil pastel landscape and the Sugar inspired scratchboard. I've already come a little way down the road of improving myself as an artist and a little further in adding a little more creativity to my daily existence. It has opened my eyes to try and see the world around me a little more clearly.

It's hard to not judge myself more harshly then I would judge others.

In any event, here is tonight's sketch inspired by Kevin's childhood :)

Materials: ink

Time: 15 minutes

Day 28: Vespa and a vase

Quick sketches :)

Materials: ink

Time: 20 minutes

Day 27: Rum Club

Tonight Kevin and I decided to go on a date to celebrate Thursday :) Nothing special, but just a night to go out and revel in the fact that we have no kids to need a babysitter.

Rum Club is this mixology bar off of Burnside. It does very nice mixed drinks and the bartenders are always very friendly.


Notes about the garment choices:
I was a little apprehensive in buying animal patterned anything. But I liked the snow leopard print with the red velveteen pants :)

Red Velveteen Pants: Jone's of New York
Snow Leopard Blouse: Jone's of New York
Necklace: "The Happy One" custom-made necklace by local Portland artist (purchased from Saturday Market)
Black Belt: Vintage
Shoes: Clark's

Day 26: gumball machine

Drawn with a lovely tamarine wood pencil Laura got me for Christmas :)

Materials: pencil

Time: 5 minutes

Day 25: migraine 1

I had a migraine today, thus my dark inspired sketch.

Materials: Sharpie

Time: 10 minutes

Ouch. Bed by 7:30 fml

Day 24: wooly mammoth study

For a prompt I found the word "extinction" and instantly thought of a wooly mammoth. Not my best art but a good study on the animal.

Materials: ink

Time: 30 minutes

Day 23: Oregon Coast Aquarium pufferfish

Newport's Oregon Coast Aquarium had a marketing campaign a few years ago called "Odd Water." This pufferfish was inspired by a postcard Kevin bought me because the slogan AND the cartoon were so adorable. It has even a staple in our bathroom display ever since. Now I file it away where I keep all my postcards :)

Materials: colored pencil, ink

Time: 20 minutes

P.s. The font was inspired by my sixth grade teacher Mr. Faber's bubble writing.

Day 22: skating penguin

We went with two friends up to Timberline Lodge for the weekend and had a wonderful time. This penguin was inspired by my pajamas.

Materials: ink, colored pencil

Time: 10 minutes

Day 21: Remembering Shel

From Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree"

Materials: ink

Time: 10 minutes

But I don't like the writing so I will play with that. This version is much better:

Or these ones

"Hi Sugar!"

Day 20: Scratchboard attempt #1

Sugar sleeping holding heart toy :) Not bad for my very first try!

Materials: Ampersand scratchboard 5x7, scratch tool, tracing paper, watercolour
Time: About an hour (went faster then I thought...a better strategy would be to learn how to slow down so you don't scratch more off then you envision)

Wow, it looks a lot better than the trace I did (see Day 19). I just did the heart on the fly but it turned out. The challenge with scratchboard is to not "draw" it first by scratching it in. I had a challenge with leaving enough black space at first. So, a board this size with a subject like this was a great place to start!

Day 19: Trace for scratch board

I really enjoyed the scratch board illustrations from the book "The House in the Night" by Marie Swanson with pictures by Beth Krommes. In order to learn how to make scratch board art, I decided to use an artist's piece instead of my own to try and figure out light and shadow.

Here's the original:

And my trace with the cat on the bed and the bear as a bunny and the girl with longer hair:

But that's HUGE so I will practice with this smaller image on a 5 x 7 board:

And my trace, adjusted for a cat :)

Day 18: Domo

Kevin won me a domo doll at a claw arcade game tonight. So together, Kevin and I made "domo speak" :)

Materials: brush pen, ink

Time: 1 hour

Day 17: pastel landscape

Materials: oil pastels, orange pastel paper

Time: 2 hours

Day 16: Garfield inspired

Materials: ink

Time: 15 minutes

Anyone recognize this present from a famous cartoon Christmas special? I'm in the holiday mood already after decorating the house for the holidays :)

Bonus drawing:

Time: under 10 minutes

I just thought of this common chocolate Easter bunny joke and had to draw it when I saw the prompt.