Another Art Doll

I made this little dancer for my husband's cousin's graduation party this past weekend. Katie graduated from a local performing arts high school and is going on to college to major in dance. She has been dancing since she was six! I decided to add a small card on the doll's back to make her into a greeting card. I may play around with the card idea since I enjoy making these dolls.

This doll has a hand painted face done in fluid acrylics. Her outfit is out of scrapbook paper with floral trim accents and her legs are from opera sheet music that I bought at the local library's monthly book sale.

Inchie Challenge (7/4)

Here is my entry at Small World of Inchies for the challenge entitled "By the Sea." The image is from last year's trip to the Caribbean. This is Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. one of the most beautiful beaches I have been to. While there were no palm trees or hammocks on this beach, I thought that would make a perfect addition to the blue water and tropical breezes. My daughter is playing in the sand in the bottom right corner of the inchie.


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Anime/Manga

This is my first attempt at the Japanese style of animation know as Anime or Manga. One of the main characteristics of Anime is big eyes. If doing a full figure, the bodies are drawn out of proportion with the torso being shorter and the legs longer. I did these cards in colored pencil and Pitt super fine marker. I may play around with creating a character since I prefer drawing simplified images (kid's illustrations). These girls are for an upcoming swap.

New Swap for Third Grade - Fun in the Sun

O-k kids, here is the next swap - Fun in the Sun. You can do whatever comes to mind: fishing, a picnic, amusement park, swimming. However you have fun on a warm, sunny summer day. I chose the beach since my family and I just returned. It is an altered photo. I printed out a photo on copy paper, added colored pencil and drew the pail, bucket and blanket on separate paper and glued onto the photo.

If you need a re-cap of supplies, scroll down to last month's entry. Two cards will be due to me by July 22. Please include a postage stamp to cover the cost of me returning cards to you. As always, invite siblings, friends and family to play.

Inchie Challenge (6/20)

This week's theme on Small World of Inchies is "Me and My Pet." My entry is my 3 month old black kitten - Mu Shu. He is our foster kitten from the PSPCA that didn't get adopted. He now has a home with us. I didn't want big cat Noah to feel left out, so I did another inchie featuring him. Both were done in watercolor, Pitt fine point marker and photo image.
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Faced in Fluid Acrylics

I am in love with my fluid acrylics! I didn't know they existed until I started the round robin art journal project. Since I didn't know a whole lot about art journaling, I started doing research and watching You Tube videos on different techniques. The fluids kept coming up. After getting over the price shock, I bought a set of ten paints and have been having fun playing! They remind me of watercolors because I can alter the consistency of the paint intensity with water.

I painted these three, slightly, unrealistic faces with the fluids. The features are exaggerated and not true portrait placement (like I taught my students), but I was going for this type of look. I sketched the faces in charcoal first, then worked on blending different skin tones to give some strong shading.

Another Altered Altoid Tin

Here is another altered Altoid tin done for a swap on Altered Visions and Dreams. I did a similar fairy door for another swap earlier in the year and had started this one because I really liked it. When this swap was announced, I decided to use the tin already started, but changed the inside. My partner already received it and was very happy! I have been hung up on fairies lately and really need to work on a new theme!

Inchie Challenge (6/13)

This is my first time entry in the weekly inchie challenge on Small World of Inchies. The theme was black and white with a touch of red. The site owner lists a new challenge each Saturday. It is interesting trying to leave a comment because the instructions are in German. Not sure what I am to do with all these inchies. Maybe I will work them into a collage at some point. For now, it is challenging trying to fit a design in a 1" square.

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June ATC Swap for 3rd Grade

Welcome to our first swap of the summer! The theme for swap one is: STARS AND STRIPES. You can interpret this any way you like and use whatever colors you like. In my examples, I was thinking patriotic. I used a rubber stamp for the stars and a paint marker and gel pen for the stripes and details. The cards will be due to me by JUNE 30. Remember to include a first class postage stamp for the cards I will be mailing back to you.




Now to recap our materials. You need a firm paper like Bristol or card stock (white or colors). You can get Bristol paper in pad form at Michaels, AC Moore and Wal Mart (craft section) for under $5. You will get over 100 cards from a pad. You can even recycle food boxes and glue computer paper on it. As for mediums, crayons, markers, colored pencils, watercolor, poster paint, acrylics, oil pastels. You can use rubber stamps, images from magazines, photos, hand drawn, scrapbook papers. You guys are all creative, so I know you will come up with some great cards. ATCs must be 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" so measure carefully!

Remember you can invite your brothers and sisters, (younger and older), cousins, friends, moms and dads and other relatives to play. The more players the better! The cool thing about ATCs is there is no age barriers! To sign up, I added an email link to my profile page to contact me or if your parents have a blogger account, you can leave your first name in the comment section under this posting saying you want to play. I look forward to seeing everyones cards!

Zentangles

I didn't know complex doodling had a name, but it does. Zentangles. I have been doing a version of this for years in notebooks, on napkins, on my church bulletin (during the message)... Now I can show it off as an art form. Here are three ATCs for an upcoming swap. All were done in super fine PITT markers. Grab a pen and try one, it is addictive!