EDM 235 Flutterby

When I told my husband the theme of the drawing for this week, he said he wished I had said something BEFORE he washed his truck. Evidently he had a fairly intact butterfly smushed on his windshield. I guess I really wasn't in the mood to sit on the hood of his truck or inside the cab to draw anyway.

I really struggled with this drawing. I tried a Monarch (Minnesota's state butterfly) in two different wing positions. Both of those attempts are in the recycling bin. The wing markings were much too intense for me. I also had trouble with the idea of doing one in black and white... except for some very gorgeous black and white ones that I did find on the internet. I liked the blue on this one (I think it's actually called a Karner Blue

Butterfly that used to be common in Ohio). I have some new colored pencils that I thought I would try for this one. I used a Micron pen for the initial drawing and then did the colored pencil. 

It actually looks a little better on the screen than it does in my sketchbook. 

EDM #234 - Something that Belongs to Someone Else

I looked and looked.... trying to figure out what to draw that was someone else's. There it was right in front of my nose - or rather my chair in the TV room. This is one of my husband's leather slippers.

This was done with pencil. I want to get comfortable with drawing again before I try charcoal or ink.

Again, still working on proportion, but still not unhappy with the results.

Elmer's Glue and a Silk Scarf

I finally got around to trying the mock batik technique that I learned in a class at the Textile Center of Minnesota. This time I used a 36" x 36" silk scarf. I found that the Elmer's Blue Gel Glue spread a bit more on the silk than it did on cotton so the white spaces are a little larger than I anticipated. Overall, I am pleased with it though.

This is a gift for a friend (my husband's ex-wife actually) who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her hair is pretty much gone, so I thought she might like a little something to wear out in the sun or to the benefit they are throwing for her at the VFW that she has been working at. If she doesn't want to wear it, I figured I could put it in the silent auction at the benefit. 

Next project is to make a set of a dozen greeting cards for the same silent auction. And somewhere in there, I am also trying to gather all the supplies for the classes I am teaching at Lakamaga Conference - a Girl Scout leader enrichment weekend. I'm teaching simple, no stitch bookmaking and Simple Crafts for Daisies and Brownies. I think I have everything.... it's just all in piles in my living room.

Once again, not enough hours in the day.

Everyday Matters - My Favorite Drink

As I've said before, my intention with this blog was to continue on with Thing-a-Day, but switch to a thing-a-week. It's kind of been a thing-every-other-week or thing-a-month instead. So I finally bit the bullet and joined an online drawing Yahoo group called Everyday Matters. Some of you already know about it, but for those of you who don't.... they post an idea each week for people to draw and then you can post your drawing or link to the drawing... along with links to your other artwork or blog. 

So now I will be trying to do a sketch a week... amongst all of the other art I am trying to create. This is my first drawing.... my favorite drink. The proportions are not quite on, but for a first attempt at drawing in quite a while, I'm not too unhappy...

Right now, that other art would include another attempt at the mock-batik I did during Thing-a-Day. This time I am doing a silk scarf for a friend who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She shaved her head last weekend and I want to give her something fun to wear if she doesn't want to get sunburned. I also have a couple more pieces in process for the show in May. I got some inspiration from an art fair I volunteered at yesterday. 

Now if I could only find more than 24 hours in a day.

 

Not exactly how I was going to spend the weekend....

Weekends, or at least part of them, are supposed to be spent working on pieces for my May showing..... 

I spent most of today helping my daughter clean up stuff she and her husband left behind when they moved out in May. Between finishing her masters degree and taking her youth group on a mission trip, she hadn't gotten around to consolidating stuff that was still here. They live in a very small apartment so Mom and Dad have saved some space for them to store stuff... just not in every room in the basement. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Our basement kind of looks like the TV show Clean Sweep. 

Somehow during the day, Mom has been commissioned to work on a piece of art for their bedroom. No charge, of course. Maybe I can borrow it to use in my showing in May. Hm-mmmm....

Last night, and again over the last couple of hours, I did play with a little bit of illustrating on my computer. I help out at three different encampments for Girl Scouts.... Prairie Flower in May each year, Western Skies and Piper Valley in September. This is a new silk screen design for Piper Valley, the only encampment I haven't done one for this year. It's now in for approval by the women who run the encampment.

The screen may not be able to go into the show in May, but at least I accomplished some art in amongst all of the disarray.

May 2010

It's not a gallery, but my local public library does month long displays of local artist's works. Newspaper interview and all. I can put price tags on them too! They have agreed to show some of my work in May 2010. Depending on the size of the pieces, I could display 25-30 pieces. I have about half that many. So... now I have an excuse to bury myself in my studio (aka the storeroom in the basement).

This is one of a couple things I have in the works. It's tissue paper, used tea bags and image transfer using matte medium. Each piece is 4" x 6". I have another tin can garden in the works too.

Revitalized

My husband and I spent a recent weekend in Mineral Point, WI for our 25th anniversary. It's an adorable town in southwestern Wisconsin that was settled by Cornish miners. Lots of cute cottages and lots and lots of art galleries. We stayed in an inn that was also a restaurant and microbrewery. Totally charming. We stopped in every one of those galleries in town. Even picked up a little piece for my garden.

 

At one of the galleries, I actually talked with one of the owners. Showed him pictures of a couple of my pieces. He actually didn't laugh at me which is encouraging. Gave me a couple of pointers even. Between that, the restful weekend, good food, and the gorgeous drive on the back roads in that area, I came back revitalized. I have so many ideas going thru my head now.... and of course, 60 things getting in the way of my going into my studio. I need to try and get into the habit of doing something everyday again... even if it is only for 15 minutes. We'll see what I can do.

I did cross one of those 60 things off my list today. I got a baby quilt finished. I know it may seem strange to do black for a baby quilt, but I have made about half a dozen of them so far. Stripes, rectangles, and squares. Various bold colors and arrangements. I love the contrast. Works for the Amish quilters... 

Wish me luck on getting some work done in the studio..........