Day 77: A knight

Kitty knight! Ready to do battle.

Materials: ink, colored pencil

Time: 30 minutes

Day 76: A snow cone

I'm already dreaming of summer...

Materials: ink, colored pencil

Time: 20 minutes

Art365 update: 75 day check point

When I last checked in with you, I'd been doing the project for 50 days. At that time I wanted to "just get better at art in general. To figure out what I liked and try to pick up skills with practice." Well, I'm feeling a little confused about that statement. How does a person get better at art, when they aren't really putting in the countless hours of time to practice something? Sure, taking 10 minutes to do a sketch is better than not drawing at all. But, I'm not improving any skills or becoming better at art in general. Sometimes I don't draw something because I know it would take me several hours to even do a good pencil sketch. Things that are complicated and good take time. There is SKETCHING, and then there is drawing. I love The Bird King: An Artist's Notebook and Shaun Tan said most of his drawings in that book took two hours or less. Creating art is like writing, which is also a form of art don't get me wrong. You have to brainstorm, outline, draft, edit and revise to get something that is really excellent. Do all those steps need to happen with fine art too?

But part of me doesn't want to take several hours on a drawing of something I don't really care about. Something I don't even want to hang on the wall or give away to someone. I know it's supposed to be about the journey and not the finished project. But I like creating something that I'm proud of or want to share with others. But those things that you can sell or giveaway takes hours of refinement and drafting. I didn't really want Art365 to be about that. But yet, I do. I feel like I need to be plugged in to the Matrix and receive a boost of artistic talent beamed directly in to my brain. All the skills but none of that hard work. How naive and foolish of me. But hard work is rewarding and I should start incorporating fewer, nicer projects. Maybe the projects span multiple days and I take pictures of the creative process too? All great options to consider when thinking about the upcoming months.

Day 75: Mandela for School

Next week will be the beginning of a new semester where I teach. As a "get to know you" activity, I'm having my students create personal mandelas. A mandela is a circle that uses symbols instead of words to represent a person.

In the center of my circle is my family: my husband and my cat. I drew a sun to show that we are happy when we are together. On the left side of the circle is a book and an apple which represents my career as a teacher. On the top part of the circle is a green tent like what I had in my childhood and a roaring campfire. This represents my passion for going camping and the outdoors in general. On the right hand side is a paint brush and a simple work of art. That represents my love of the arts and creating things with my hands. On the bottom is a car on a road which represents my deeply engrained passion for traveling.

Materials: pencil, ink, colored pencils, crayons
Time: 30 minutes

Day 74: stipled paw print

Whoops, screwed this up. Took the eraser to it too early and smeared it. Also, the pen was the wrong choice. I had a .5 and next time it should be a smaller ball point.

Materials: pen

Time: 20 minutes

Day 73: swirly

This marks a few things: today is the fourth anniversary of mom's passing. It's also my dad's birthday. This was inspired by the book "Extinction Point" by Paul Anthony Jones that has 'blood rain.' Thus the tear drops.

Materials: pen

Time: 15 minutes

Day 72: favorite Sesame Street character

Stylized Big Bird from the internet :) artist unknown. One of Jim Henson's sketches perhaps?

 

Materials: ink

Time: 15 minutes

Day 71: Anakin

I think I am starting to get a little bored of a daily drawing. This one shows. It's the 70 day hump in the road. Part of me just wants to try something fun and creative each day, the other side wants me to work HARD on that daily drawing and have each one be something I'm proud to share. I'm a little confused of what I want to get out of this project in the end...

Materials: ink

Time: 10 minutes

Day 70: Mogwai

Don't get me wet!

Materials: ink

Time: 10 minutes

Day 69: tire swing

This reminds me of Forrest Gump for some reason. Maybe it's just the thing to do as you are growing up :)

Materials: ink

Time: 15 minutes

Day 68: origami crane

Evidently I never made an origami crane growing up because I had some trouble figuring out the pattern. I really enjoyed making it and think I could really make a fun decoration idea from several of these bad boys. I imagine I would get faster over time :)

Materials: origami paper (standard size)

Time: 20 minutes

Day 67: Egg Flower Soup + creative cooking impulse

 

Today's creative endeavor centered around food. I wanted to write about it for my creative Art365, because today I consciously selected ingredients, and made the food pleasant. I made egg flower soup, but added bamboo spears and water chestnuts (delicious!). I also spiced up white rice by adding corn and some spices. They were both delicious!

Time: 1 hour (with grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning)

 

Day 66: Nanoblock kitty

For Christmas this year, my dad and stepmother got us these adorable Nanoblock kits. They are super fun and remind me of minature Lego kits. This is of a kitty. Size is about three inches high! I have to build them from a pie pan, so I don't inadvertently lose pieces. :)

Time: 30 minutes

Materials: Nanoblock American Shorthair kit

Day 65: quilting

Had a wonderful girl's night at my friend's house. We watched Downtown Abbey and I quilted while we worked on some baby burp clothes. We had a great time :))

Materials: cotton batik fabrics, Block of the Month pattern from Quilting Delights (2013)
Time: 4+ hours tonight

Day 64: slinky

Slow Saturday day. It was a beautiful winter day: sunny, crisp, about 50. 

Materials: ink

Time: 15 minutes

Here is a drawing Kevin did tonight. He did a great job too!

Day 63: wombat

Wombats are so cute! 

Materials: ink

Time: 10 minutes

Day 62: blues

Jelly

After El Indio fajitas...

Materials: marker

Time: 1 minute

Zzzzzzzzzxxxxxx

Day 61: remember me?

I never really got in to these little guys...

Ahh the troll. I really had a hard time getting motivated tonight. It's 10:10 and I want to go to bed. But, I drew anyway, which is awesome. Now I just need to be as motivated with my exercise, guitar playing and Japanese language practice. I haven't eaten any fast food or packaged meals since the beginning of the year...amazing!

Materials: pen

Time: 10 minutes

Day 60: sad Rilakkuma

Kawaii!

Materials: art markers, pencil

Time: 20 minutes

Day 59: evil duck

Save us from evil duck!

Haha, nice :)

Materials: carpenter pencil

Time: 15 minutes

Day 58: taffy

I know it's lame but I'm watching the Golden Globes :)

Day 57: Kevin's gig night

Kevin had a late gig tonight at Dublin Pub. Here was my cute outfit for the evening.

Dress: Anthropologie
Sweater: LOFT
Shoes: Clarks
Necklace: hand-me-down from mom's time teaching on the Indian Reservation
Drink: Mai Tai

Day 56: photo album for dad

Since my dad doesn't have Facebook, I'm confident that me telling about today's art project won't ruin any surprises. I made my dad a photo album of lots of childhood pictures. When I was living in NYC, my Aunt Lynne offered me some of the pictures that were left over from my Grampy's passing. Lots of them were of my great grandparents, my grandparents and my dad's youth. I'm excited to give it to him at the end of the month!

Materials: The album is black leather with black pages. Family information will be written with white pen. Everything is acid free.

Time: 5 hours

Day 55: outfit

Joined friends for an evening of laughs at a comedy club :) Sorry about the cheesy selfie but I forgot to have my friends take a picture of me.

Dress: Carmen Marc Valvo

Belt: express

Jewelry: Bath glass drops

Boots: Aerosoles

Day 54: Six Word Memoir

Today's art was all about writing. The Six Word Memoir as a means of doing some soul searching and creative practice. I was wondering about the difference between a memoir and an autobiography. A memoir is about an event or snapshot of a person's life, whereas an autobiography chronicles their entire life.

I lay in bed tossing and turning and wondering how I could describe myself in six words. I some how did it in five. Suddenly these words popped in to my head and I scrambled for my journal, penning these down hastily and in darkness. They are both strangely comforting and insightful about my current state of being:

lonely unhappy teacher kicks ass

It's positive and negative. I'm so hard on myself on a daily basis and I am my biggest critic. Yet, I totally know I rock and I'm proud of the obstacles I have overcome and achievements I have earned. It's a pretty big pendulum swing back and forth, back and forth between self-criticism and self-congratulation.

So, that's today's artistic pursuit.

Time: 1 hour (going back and forth about how best to write this post)
Materials: Brain, laptop :)

Day 53: homage to Monster's Inc

mike Wazowsky!

(Sugar's shadow in photo)

Materials: pen

Time: 10 minutes

Day 52: three blind mice

It's not cheerful, but this design and prompt spoke to me today...

Three Blind Mice indeed

Materials: ink

Time: 15 min

Bonus drawing: Sugar

New year's resolutions

Habit loops to break:

1.) stop eating fast food all together (and eat more "real food")

2.) not exercising

3.) being cruel/impatient/frustrated/angry with myself

4.) being short/frustrated with others

5.) worry less, take action more

6.) better word my questions so they aren't passive aggressive or manipulative

Go 2014!

Art365 update : 50 day check point

Wow, 50 days done and more than 300 to go! Most of the people who do these projects for a year have a specific skill or subject matter that they are exploring. But when I invisioned this project it was just "just get better" at art in general. To figure out what I liked and try to pick up skills with practice.

Haven't missed a day even if there have been some days where I have posted my entry the following day. 

Day 51: an inspired comet

When I was in Sweden this summer, I was introduced to beloved Finnish children's book author, Tove Jannson. Her character, Moomintroll is a fun hippo/bear creature. She had a very Bohemian world view and reading the tales of the whimsical Moomintroll family adventures makes me covet that free lifestyle. 

A comet inspired by the first Moomintroll book, Comet in Moominland. From one ofTove Jannson's wood block prints.

Materials: recreated with pen (colored pencil too)

Time: 20 minutes

Close up with color added

Day 50: Ansel Adams scratch art

Ansel Adams photography is such a wonderful artist. I decided to create a lady sitting on a rock on his Early Morning at Merced River in Yosemite National Park.

The figure is a woman in profile. She has her hair pulled back loosely in a pony tail and her arms are crossed in front of her. Her left arm (mostly white from reflective light) is coming up to smooth her hair away from tickling her face. She is relaxing with her feet propped up on the edge of the stone.

Close up

Materials: Ansel Adams calendar pics, bent paper clip, red pen, and white out

Time: 1 hour

Day 49: claw footed bathtub

It's a Friday night and I got drunk with friends...

...here's a bathtub for you!

Time: 3 minutes

Materials: sanguine art pen

Day 48: Photo corners paper sculpture

Kevin and I framed some of his black and white photographs of our various trips to hang in our bedroom. While we were doing that, I noticed the fun shapes of the protective cardboard photo corners they put on their frames. I thought: "I could do something fun with that!"

Materials: IKEA photo frame picture corners, markers, mirror

Time: 2 hours

Original photo corners

P.S. I understand seeing my art from the perspective of my living room carpet isn't the best. Daylight is fleeting in the Pacific Northwest. Here are some fun artistic representations of the same corners.

Photo #1: Adjusted levels and other shenanigans in Adobe Photoshop. I like the grittiness.

Photo #2: Opaque green layer

Day 47: "wreck this journal" page

This was a humorous "do it dirty," nitty gritty book about how to play around with traditional art forms and ways of looking at traditional books. Wreck This Journal has some fun ideas and some purely ridiculous ideas as well. As a self proclaimed book lover, destroying a perfectly functional book is a mental challenge. That's why playing around with resources like these can be so helpful in pushing the boundaries of what I consider to be art.

Task: Fill this page with circles.

Materials: Tri-colored pencils.

Note: I used these pencils for the first time. They are chunky and fun :)

Watching "Easy Rider" and drawing circles

Time: 30 minutes

What would it look like after an HOUR of drawing circles?