Artistic Block? Let your muse out to play!!

Whenever I find myself focusing on two dimensional projects for any length of time, my muse starts feeling restless and deprived while continually longing for her first love... 3-Dimensional Art!! Time has come to release my creative juices and shift my artistic gears from seeing flat to feeling form!! 

I've had a project idea resting in the wings, waiting for that urge to follow through and give it a try! In recent months, I have acquired a real appreciation for Assemblage Art... it's a wonderful way to justify all of the collecting that I do before someone starts to label me a hoarder!! A few months ago I found some old used children's wooden blocks at a junk sale and scooped them up for less than a dollar. I had just finished an AFA swap making Domino Dolls so I was inspired by the idea that Block Buddies would also be a fun challenge... and as you can imagine, I believe that I was 100% correct!! 

Starting out, I knew the main component to create a Block Buddy would of course be a body made from a wooden block. The next component needed to bring life to your Buddy would be it's head, vital to creating it's own unique personality!! In previous posts, I introduced everyone to my collection of Deadheads (for those who don't know...through the years I have saved the heads off of broken or unsuccessful sculptures that I created, I keep them in a box until I find a new project for them to become a part of!) I was successful in finding two very endearing characters in my stash and they were soon "born again" as Block Buddies!

Wooden Blocks for Buddy Bodies

Box of Deadheads - each hoping to live again!

From this point on, anything goes... Assemble your Block Buddy with a variety of supplies and found objects. The only thing between you and a truly unique work of art full of character, is your imagination. 

Below are my first two Block Buddies... they both stand on their own two feet!

"J" is for Jester aka "Dunceton"

"T" is for Termite aka "Chewy Louie"

 I don't know about you but they just make me smile!?

Thank you for stopping by...
Until next time, Happy Creating!!

Finally... the Chunkier it is, the better it is!!

I recently was gifted some art supplies as a prize in a contest that I participated in. Among those items was a package of blank "chunky pages" that are used to create an aptly named Chunky Book. I had never given much thought to creating a chunky book, the only thing that I knew of them was that their dimensions were a 4"X4" square. Since receiving the blank pages, I set out to find some additional info on what was expected when putting my Chunky together. I saw some wonderful examples by some very talented artists and the main thing that I learned was, just about anything goes!!  The beauty of a chunky book is that it lends itself to any style or medium you choose, it's the perfect mixed media project with embellishments totally welcomed!! 

I decided to jump in and begin to create my very first Chunky Book. After a few mis-starts with me thinking that I needed to create something chunky & stuffed full of mixed media pages, I stepped back to regroup!! I resigned myself to the reality that my first attempt needed to reflect me and my own unique style and so, Janoodle Chunky was started!!

As mentioned in my previous post, my first two chunky pages were created from my ice dyeing project. I decided to use them for the front and back covers of my book. My plan is to keep creating and adding more pages so I decided to use steel rings for binding which will enable me to make it as big as the rings will allow!! (I guess I could even get bigger rings?!)

Front Cover

Back Cover

Bound with Steel Rings that open

Below are photos of my first six inside pages for my Janoodle Chunky. I'm really looking forward to continuing to add pages to this book and hopefully creating another chunky book by experimenting with some new mixed media techniques along the way. 

 

Heat Wave

Breezy

Good? Jinn

Lady Wellington

At a Snails Pace!

Wild Royalty

Below is one last photo showing the Chunky as it opens!

Hope you have gotten inspired to create a Chunky Book 

to showcase your own unique style of artwork... 

 They make wonderful presents, give a gift of your ART!! 

Until next time, Blessings!!

Success or failure... can be in the eye of the beholder!

I'm always game for trying new ideas and experimenting with art techniques. To be perfectly honest,  I admit that I seldom follow any instructions without altering them for my own purposes or visions of "what if I do this?" running through my head. I was recently introduced to some video tutorials on Ice Dyeing Fabric. The results are very interesting, kind of a mix between a watercolor wash and tie-dye. I normally don't use fabric in my style of artwork, so my brain immediately went to thinking of using paper as a substitution... "What if I could Ice Dye paper and use it for Janoodling?" And so, the fun began! 

I began by using 140# watercolor paper. I placed the paper on a wire rack in a shallow pan that would hold the water as the ice melted away. In the original fabric instructions, powdered dyes were sprinkled onto the ice. Since I didn't have any of them on hand (and in my quest for instant gratification), I decided to use the Jacquard liquid dyes that I typically use in my artwork. I sprinkled a few colors on the ice in separate areas in hopes that they would create interesting patterns as they mingled in the melting process! 

Below is a photo of the ice and dye covered paper, awaiting success!

Well, much to my chagrin, I am not always successful in accomplishing the desired results of my visions! In this case I didn't factor in just how much water that the ice would create as it melted. In hind sight I would have realized that the liquid dyes would dilute greatly with that amount of water (I'm used to the vibrant colors they produce in my usual work!). In the end, I was not completely satisfied with the results, which is why I [forgot] to take a photo of the papers. The longer I looked at the results, I saw some areas that I found quite interesting and decided they needed to be salvaged! There were areas that had been totally washed out from the extreme amounts of melted ice water. After the paper was completely dry I came back to just those sections and reworked them with my familiar wash techniques. I am very happy with the results and feel the combining the two techniques created a very desirable effect. I am not discouraged, I have already come up with a few ideas to "tweak" my technique for obtaining more successful results!

Below is a photo of the final results. I ended up using the paper to create "chunky pages" (for a project to be seen in the near future). Please note, the darker outside edges of color, they were created by the ice with the washed out area caused from the excess water. I wish you could see it in person, the high concentration of color on the edge created a marvelous effect!

 Hope this has inspired you to do an experiment, maybe there's a technique you've been wanting to try... go ahead, jump in and make it your own!!

Until next time... Blessings to you all!!

 

Does size really matter?

I just have a quick Show & Tell for you today... I've recently had the opportunity to work in a much larger format than I've become accustomed to when creating ATCs. I successfully ventured out to try my hand at Janoodling on 4"X6" postcards and now I have decided to raise the bar even higher by advancing to an 11"X14" sheet of paper!

Below is a photo to show the size comparison of an ATC Janoodle (top rt.) to a Postcard Super-Size Janoodle (bottom rt.) to my new Mega-Size Janoodle! (left) 
 

3 sizes of Janoodles

Below is a solo view of my latest work, Mega-Size Janoodle... I enjoyed working in this larger format, it presented a challenge to step out of my comfort zone!

"Wild Garden"  Janoodle Style

Detail view of a small area (bottom right corner) 

Soooo Glad you stopped by... Until next time, Ciao!!

Art & History walking hand in hand!

From May through September each year, I am a volunteer and board member of our local Kettle Falls Historical Center. Located along the Columbia River, our interpretive exhibit "People of the Falls" celebrates the rich history of the Colville Confederated Tribes as well as the Hudson Bay Company along with the pioneers, trappers and military personnel that settled into this region.

I do enjoy history, but if anyone knows me, they know that ART is what makes me the happiest. So, it's no surprise that the best role for me to take on at the Center would be to spearhead marketing, advertising and ART related exhibits!

This brings me to today's Historic Show & Tell... we have started an annual marketing competition for the participation of local artists. This is a theme related competition to celebrate a part of history and life along the river. The winning entry will be used as a marketing and advertising tool throughout the next season, such as posters, postcards and advertisements. As a board member, I am exempt from competing for the prize money but I am still able to participate in the accompanying Art Exhibit .

The theme this year is "Salmon". The salmon rich waters of the Columbia River provided a vital food source for Native Americans. With the long winter season of the region, the salmon were dried to provide the needed nourishment to see the tribes through until spring of each year. The Native Americans would prepare huge "Salmon Feasts" in celebration and gratitude for the bounty that the river provided.

It's been awhile since I've created anything much larger than in an ATC sized format, so I did find this a bit of a challenge. The minimum size requirement was 11"X14" so that's what I decided to do. My artwork was inspired by Native American Salish Art, the style represents similar drawings found in this region. Of course, I did take artistic license and made it my own. (Once a Janoodler, always a Janoodler!!)

Below are photos of my original design and of the finished work.

Basic Ink Design

Salmon "Janoodle Style"

Until next time... Happy Creating!!

Welcome to the neighborhood!

One of my favorite things about life in my neck of the woods is living side by side with a variety of critters.  For many years I lived out of town on a small lake, this was an ideal place to observe wildlife as they came down from the treeline in search of water. I never tired of them or lost my enthusiasm to see them as they strolled through my property on their way to the water's edge. Late spring and early summer was a particularly exciting time because of all the critter babies being born. They soon became frequent visitors with their mothers and as the months passed by, there was the added fun of watching how much they grew! Moving into town was very bittersweet for me. For many reasons it was time for the change, but my daily visits from my four-legged neighbors felt like quite a loss. Well, a few years have passed and living in town now feels like home. Much to my surprise and of great joy, I still have four-legged neighbors that come to visit regularly. We have a herd of deer that we affectionately call Townies. I must admit not everyone enjoys having them around, they are a constant source of debate at City Council meetings and no one seems to agree on what can be done to make either side happy!! I suppose if my prize winning roses were being eaten off their stems or my vegetable garden was raided in the night, I too would consider them unwanted pests! I have chosen to just enjoy them and leave the griping to others!!

Speaking of visitors, today Blossom and I were lucky enough to have a new mother and baby resting in the shade of our side yard, they found a refuge from the scorching sun and it's 104 degree temperatures! Below are a few photos that I snapped... Mama never took her eyes off of me or Blossom,  just in case we meant any harm to her little one! 

Nothing compares to Mother's Love!!

Awwwww, all babies are just plain cute!!

Chow Time!

 Until next time, Blessings to you all!

It's official, Summer has arrived!!

Alright everyone, it's time for a little Summertime sing-a-long...

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer!

 

  Then again, there's nothin' better than singin' the blues in the still of a sultry summer night...

 

 Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good-lookin'
So hush little baby, Don't you cry

 

(don't you just love the sound of that sax?)

 

 During our intermission, we have a little Postie Show & Tell...

Most of you know that I love to Janoodle, so I thought that I would expand on the size and move from atc's to posties... voila, New Super-Sized Janoodles!! 

Below: photo of backgrounds using Jacquard Dyes, before detail inking

 

Below: photos of 4"X6" Postcard "Super-Sized Janoodles"

 

 

Soooo, this summer when it's a little too hot outside, pour yourself a 

tall glass of iced [whatever] and chill out with your favorite arting project... and don't forget to keep on singin' along the way!!!

 

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city...

 

And babe, don't you know it's a pity
That the days can't be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city!!

 

 

Until the next time...Enjoy your Summer!

Blessings to you all!! 

Put some new life into old ideas!

Today we have a Mail Art Show & Tell... I'm always looking for something new to create as Mail Art. There are soooo many wonderful artists on the internet generously sharing their techniques and talents, I really do enjoy seeing their work, undoubtedly it inspires me to stretch myself a little farther to experiment more! Whether it's a postcard or an envelope I still want it to reflect my style of art and in the end, I want the recipient of what I send out to receive a little piece of me when they open their mailbox! 

I recently went through some old Janoodles that had not been traded so I removed them from my gallery pages on AFA. I thought I'd repurpose them into a mail art envelope. I started with a template of an envelope that I cut out of a sheet of 140# watercolor paper. My plan was to create a basic patchwork pattern using the cards. I used a small amount of glue to attach the cards, just enough to keep them in place as I made the pattern. 

Below is a photo of cards & how I laid them out on the envie.

 Cards laid out in a patchwork pattern on top of envie template

I'm definitely not a seamstress, this is one thing in my life that tested my patience and won hands down!! That being said, I decided to sew the pieces to the template to create the patchwork quilt look that I had envisioned. When my mother passed away, I inherited her beloved sewing machine. She would be beyond livid to know that all I've ever used it for was sewing paper or cardboard, not to mention that I've managed to mess up the tension with no knowledge of fixing the problem. (To be perfectly honest, I actually like the irregular stitch effect!)

Below are photos of the cards after being stitched down to the envie.

Cards attached with a simple Zig Zag stitch

Section close-up to show stitches

Below are photos of the assembled envie, ready for mailing!

Envie Front

Envie Back

 Send someone "a little piece of yourself" with Mail Art!!

Until next time ... Blessings to you all! 

It's never too hot for ART... who wants lemonade?

Northeast Washington State is supposed to have idyllic weather this time of the year, moving through late Spring with temperatures in the high 70's and maybe peaking at 80. I can't help but remember that I moved here from the Southwest seeking a much cooler and greener environment.... so what's happening? Can we finally agree that global warming is a "real thing" as we venture out into our record breaking heatwave. Today marks another day of 95+ degrees topping out yesterday at 101, previous records have been in place as far back as 1918. Oh well, I suppose this too will pass... until then, I will use this as an excuse to stay in and do ART ( as if I really needed an excuse!).

Today's Show & Tell  is inspired by one of America's favorite summertime pastimes, Goin' Fishing! Of course, my personal favorite pastime is ART, so what could be better than ART FISH!! 

I recently joined a swap at ATC's for All called "Art Fish Frenzy" for 3-D interpretations of any style fish... right up my alley, I love creating in 3-D and I love fish art... so, I cast out my line into creative waters and managed to reel in my fresh catch of the day!  

The fish bodies are made of papier mache using tissue paper, aluminum & wire... there heads are made from polymer clay... they are assembled with findings that encourages movement while they hang.   

Below photos: Unique "one of a kind" designs of undocumented & unknown species of fish!

 First 3 of 6 

Second 3 of 6

Hanging View

 Thanks for stopping by, Until next time...

Happy Creating!!

Drop that pen and back away from the table...

Today I decided to shake things up and give myself a creative challenge! 

In my usual style of artwork I believe that I am known to focus on my finish work using considerable detail. My favorite tool for this job is my finely tipped Rapidograph Pen which lends itself to accomplishing my goals. As you can imagine, this process can be very time consuming but to me the end results make it all worthwhile. This is where I find my artistic comfort! So, here comes the aforementioned challenge... Create two ATC sized cards using my usual medium of Jacquard Dyes & Ink but with a time limit and minimal details to bring it to life! Here's the breakdown... painting the backgrounds must be limited to 1 minute each and after they are dry enough to finish, an additional 4 minutes each is allowed for the inking... a total of 5 minutes each. To some, this may not seem creatively restricting but to me, it felt dauntingly impossible! Well, I did meet the challenge and stayed within the rules... I also managed to have some fun to boot!!

Below, you will see the end results... I must confess that I am dying to go back and continue to work on them  (especially the sun) but I have vowed to just let them go, that will actually be the real challenge!

Guster

Heatwave

Thank you for dropping in... 

Happy Creating and Blessings to All!!

Tip Toe Through the Tulips... oops, wrong blooms!

Welcome to today's Show & Tell... 

In my neck of the woods, Columbines are in bloom everywhere! They are one of my favorite springtime flowers so when I found out that a fellow postcard trader requested them on a postcard, I was happy to oblige!! In the end I made two different postcards featuring a few of my favorite color combos... I hope their recipients like my choices... we'll see, they are on their way?!

Purple & Fuschia w/White

Fuschia w/Yellow

It's been quite some time since I have traded any ATC's (I have been focused on mail art projects of late)... so, today after admiring some wonderful cards that were posted Available for Trade, I decided that I'd better get to work in hopes of coming up with some Janoodles that might tempt someone into a trade with me! I have my fingers crossed that someone will see something that they just gotta have!

"Branch Out"

"Dinner for Two"

"Dream Garden"

"Wine Fruit"

 

I'm sooooooo glad that you stopped by... thank you!!

Until next time, Happy Creating!!

Come Out , Come Out, Wherever You Are...

I'm not going to waste your time with excuses and I'm not going to blabber on with boring details and updates on this ongoing drama of my knee injury... it has taken far too much attention from what I want to be doing, ART!! It seems that my Muse got so sick and tired of all of the hullabaloo that she retreated into exile... I have managed to coax her back just enough to get started on a few new projects with the promise that I'll stop whining!!

We recently had a fund raising live auction at our local Historical Center where I am a volunteer. I'm usually far too busy working to participate with bidding on any items but when an item came up that wasn't getting any takers I decided it must come home with me... of course, once I showed interest others started to bid against me... undaunted, I managed to win out in the end, trying to remember that it was for a good cause! My prize was a "Bundle of Art Supplies" for sketching. (Pictured below)

All of the items in the bundle will definitely be put to good use but I quickly became enamored by the wooden "mini" mannequin. Once he was removed from the box, I couldn't keep my hands off of him, just too cute & fun... even my cat, Blossom tried to kidnap him!!

 

Naked Manny

I decided that if he was going to live in my artspace that he needed some color, he was far too pale for my liking, so I broke out the paints... now, he is Stylin'!!

Mr. Manny Mannequin

As always, Thanks for stopping by... 

(I promise to not be gone for so long next time!!)

Something OLD, Something NEW...

Today's Show & Tell... a couple of my latest creative endeavors!

One of the newest swap sensations at AFA is all about Pocket Letters... it is created using a 9 pocket clear plastic page protector, the ones used for trading card collections. The idea is to fill each pocket with creative and fun items that your selected swap partner would enjoy receiving... the possibilities are endless, a perfect showcase for your style and imagination to shine through! Since the page is made of clear plastic, a separate work of art can be created to be viewed from the back side of the individual pockets.

Below are photos of the one and only Pocket Letter that I have created. It was a challenging project to do and I'm glad that I joined in the fun but I'm not so sure it's something I want to do on a regular basis... well, for now anyway! (We all do have our favorites , don't we?!) 

Sorry that the photos aren't better... the plastic surface & the 

lighting just weren't working for me...Oh well, you get the idea !

Front - Handmade Goodies for My Partner

Back - Number "Janoodles" for each Pocket

I have been a bit limited on my "creative time" since my knee injury but I have discovered that I enjoy making Postcards the most... it takes me a few different sessions between "ice-packs" but I have found starting & stopping is easily accomplished and in this larger format I can actually do some of the finish work with my leg elevated... Where there's a will, there's a way! 

Below are a couple 4" X 6" Postcards that I have recently sent out!

Thanks for taking the time to check things out...

Until next time, Ciao!!