Light up your life... Chinese Style!!

Due to a resent bout with the flu, I haven't been able to keep up with creating new posts for my loyal followers... Sorry for my absence,  the good news is that I'm finally getting back to a somewhat normal routine!!

Today's Show & Tell is all about showcasing a little excursion that I [finally] went on a few days ago... The Washington State Chinese Lantern Festival had been scheduled for Spokane as an outdoor fall event. I had made plans to attend when my travel companion became ill resulting in our original plans being cancelled... our second attempt to go became futile when I came down with the aforementioned pesky flu bug... soooo, third time's the charm? Finally, travel day arrived...  I started the morning by opening the drapes, only to be shocked at seeing snowflakes the size of silver dollars falling to the ground! I was definitely not prepared for a 2 hour drive with winter road conditions, especially since my snow tires had not yet been installed, nor was a prepared to walk around in the cold night air to see snow covered displays!! What to do?... cancel again (it would be the last chance before it ends) or hope for the best & hit the road! Well... luckily the forecast was that the snow would just be a morning fluke that would clear by noon... all roads were clear and good to go!

In my opinion, The Chinese Lantern Festival was definitely worth waiting for. It covered several acres of Riverfront Park which was the original site of the 1974 Worlds Fair. All the displays were bigger than life... handmade metal frameworks covered in silk... beautifully lit, colorful works of art!! 

I have decided to spread pictures out into two separate posts... 

(the next post will feature the Animal Lanterns.) 

Below: photos of Part One of the Chinese Lantern Festival... 

they certainly don't do them justice.

Dragon

Dragon - 160 ft long - showing this pic with person to compare it's size!

Chinese Wedding at Temple

Life-Size Animated Wedding Characters from center stage above

It's hard to judge just how big these are... approx. 25 ft. wide

Approx. 15 to 20 ft. tall

 Each Kid is about 6ft. while sitting

Approx. 20ft. wide & tall

Approx. 30 ft. tall

Approx. 20 ft.tall

Festival Gate  (people pictured in front help to shows it's size)

Approx. 30 ft.wide & 25 ft. tall

Each flower is aprox. 5-6 ft. tall and lined a walkway about 40 ft. long

Walkway about 50 ft. long with these lanterns on both sides - the flowers twirled

Hope you enjoyed this first installment of my journey to 

The Chinese Lantern Festival... 

Stop by for Part Two when I feature wonderful life-sized

Animal Lantern displays, until then... Ciao!!

No insurance or tracking number needed!!

"Return of the Weirdy Mail"... (no this is not the title of the latest spooky movie for the Halloween season!) Back in February I posted about the "Envie Addicts Unite" group that I'm a part of on ATC's for All. A couple of times during the year instead of sending "arted up" envelopes to our partners we shake things up by sending what is affectionately called Weirdy Mail. The rule of thumb here is that there are no rules (the weirder the better), the main challenge is getting your post office to accept the item for delivery! My local post office is a bit conservative, after talking to our Postmaster I decided to be safe and that I would do what I call Semi-Weirdy. Nevertheless, I do think I managed to come up with a creative project that was still in the spirit of the weirdy challenge!

Below are photos of my "Weirdy"... I started with an empty potato chip container, I wanted something that not only could be arted up on the outside but could also be a vessel for an artful surprise inside!

My Inspiration

When I started I assumed that there were plenty of surface areas to be used as a canvas for my artwork. I first covered the entire can with tissue paper... before starting my artwork I went to the post office to find out where they would have to place the postage, I did not want any of the design to be covered. I'm glad that I checked, I found out that I had less room than needed for a design that I had planned. I still had time to make changes & in the end, much less frustration!

Below are photos of both ends as well as the side with my finished design, unfortunately I have no pic of the opposite side of the can where the address lettering and postage appeared.

"Weirdy" Bottom

"Weirdy" Top

"Halloween in Creepyville"

Below is a photo of the "Surprise Inside"... remember how fun it was when we were kids, anxiously tearing into our favorite cereal boxes to see what we got!! 

I started with a 4 foot length of garland that I found at the Dollar Store, then I attached individual letters & decorations created from watercolor paper. 

(I arranged it in a circle for the photo but it was created to be hung as a swag)

Halloween "Surprise" Garland

Hope you've been inspired to put a little weirdness into 

your life today... Have a Creative & Fun Halloween!!

Tag, you're it... catch me if you can!

Just a quickie Show & Tell for today... it's been awhile since I signed up for a  swap on AFA requiring the work to be HD/HP (hand drawn/hand painted), my focus has been elsewhere on a variety of 3-D projects. I came across the notice for a "Tag Swap" that was starting, it caught my attention immediately and I just couldn't resist! It took me a bit more time to shift gears back to a flat piece of paper than usual, I think my muse went on a holiday... luckily, I managed to track her down and finally found some inspiration to begin! 

Below is a photo of my finished tags... I chose to use a solid black tag in hopes of creating a stark contrast to the vibrant colors of the drawings and multi colored ribbons... I am very happy with the end results, I hope you'll agree. 

(I just hope that someday I will figure out how to take a photo that does artwork justice!)

 

Fish gotta swim, Birds gotta fly, Cats gotta control & Lizards are just cool!!

Thanks for stopping by...

Happy ARTing & Blessings to you all!

October has many more treats than tricks!!

October is undoubtedly my favorite month of the year! Not only are the days filled with mild temperatures and the beautiful colors of the changing season, it just happens to be my Birthday month. Through the years I have always chosen to celebrate with a trip of some kind... whether it is to distant locales or just a fun excursion close to home, I always look forward to this present to myself! Unfortunately, my travel plans for this year have been sidelined by unresolved issues with my knee injury as well as a couple of new issues (albeit, just minor & frustratingly irritating!!!) Before month's end, I do plan to come up with a few alternative outings to pacify my wanderlust even if just a little...where there's a will there's a way!!

I do have a quickie Show & Tell to share with you today... As usual, when nothing else works, I regain my peace of mind with ART!! 

Below are postcards that I have created in my classic Janoodle style. I recently ordered a fresh supply of Jacquard Dyes that included some new colors to add to my arsenal of creative weapons!! (In person, they are very vibrant with fabulous depth of color!)

Postcard - 4 1/2" X 6"

Postcard - 4 1/2" X 6"

Postcard - 4 1/2" X 6"

Postcard - 5" X 7"

Postcard - 5" X 7"

Postcard -  4 1/2" X 6"

Just for fun... Uninvited Guest - ATC

Glad you popped in... 

I hope you've been inspired (even in some small way)

to "Art it Up" & feed your creative self... Ciao!!

Can you really teach an old dog new tricks?

As I've mentioned on previous posts, I have really been enjoying an introduction to "assemblage art"!  Through signing up for some fun swaps on the AFA website, I've had such challenges as creating mixed media 3-D Birds, Fish, Domino Dolls & Books and Cats. Needless to say, I'm hooked and hoping for more of these swaps in my future!!

Today's Show and Tell will be showcasing my maiden voyage into larger scale assemblage. I became inspired when making my small projects and as they say, I ran with it!!  

My first love in the Land of Art will always be creating with porcelain clay. I have been a clay artist for more years than I care to reveal! ( I'm in denial about all this gray hair, not to mention... now, what was I talking about?! You get the idea...) The main components of this assemblage project were made out of porcelain with only one kiln firing. Since the piece is intended to be decorative and not functional, I chose to do the finish work in acrylic paint instead of glazing. This is actually the first time I have ever done this process of painting clay, I must admit I am of the "old school"... clay is supposed to be glazed!! I have been very reluctant to change my ways, even if acrylic painting has become very popular & acceptable in recent years!! So, I stepped out of my comfort zone and gave it a try... for this project, I do like the results that I got but I did miss my airbrush!!

Below: bisque fired porcelain components for my assemblage.

Below are photos of my finished piece. 

(it measures 30 inches top to bottom and approximately 6 inches wide) 

The Foliage Queen

Close up of The Foliage Queen

Component Close-up (a nightlight is in the box behind the fan of leaves) 

As always, I'm glad you stopped by to see what I've been up to...

 Until next time, Happy Creating!!

Cooler days ahead... please!!

With Summer on it's way out, I am anxiously awaiting the beginning of my favorite season, Autumn! I have never looked so forward to a season change than I do this year. Week after week of record breaking temperatures (as well as being surrounded by wildfires and smoke), has left me longing for much cooler days! 11 days and counting... but I will endure to enjoy the crisp cool days ahead,  even if today is still going to be in the 90's!!

A while back I posted about my maiden voyage into the world of Chunky Pages, At that time I started a Janoodle Chunky with plans to continue adding pages from time to time. Today's Show & Tell showcases the latest additions to my chunky book... In celebration of Autumn, I created a few Janoodles of fall leaves! I love to watch the different stages of their journey as they make their way from "tree to ground"... with the variety of shapes and changing colors, one can't help but be artistically inspired! 

Below are photos of my Autumn Leaf Chunkies... It is a bit early, they are just starting to change, this warm weather makes for more subtle colors than usual! Hopefully, by next month there will be plenty of leafy eye candy on the mountainsides! 

( I'm not sure why but my scans really don't do them justice... the color layers appear to be washed out... in person you can see a lot of depth... Really... Oh well, you get the idea! )

I'm glad you stopped by...

Until next time, Blessings to One & All!!

Challenge your "creative" self, I dare you!!

A few months ago I presented myself with an art challenge to shake up my creative comfort zone, I have aptly named it "5 Minutes to Completion" ... I have a tendency to primarily use a great deal of time consuming details in my artwork while using the background painting as the secondary element; however, in this challenge I attempt to reverse those elements by minimizing the details and relying on the paint colors to take on more importance in the overall composition. Sometimes I find this easier said than done, the time restraints seem to be the hardest part of the challenge for me but I do feel that I'm making some headway!  The allotted 5 minutes breakdown with 2 minutes for painting and 3 minutes for finishing details.

Today's challenge theme was Trees... they are one of my favorite all time things to draw and paint. I absolutely love to get lost in creating the intricate details of the wood & leaves, hence the challenge! Below are photos of the three finished ATC's... I limited my details to the tree's trunks and left the painting to carry the load of representing the foliage ( truth be known, I'm dying to go back with my pen and keep going... No, I will be strong and walk away!! )

Stand Tall

Old Guard

Flaming Glory

Do you possibly have something about your creative self that you'd like to work on? 

If so, try an art challenge of your own... shake things up and have some FUN!!

  

Just remember, ARTING each day keeps the doctor away!! 

Assemblage is the Cat's Meow!

Just a quickie Show & Tell for you today...  The latest art swap on AFA that has caught my eye is all about Cats, they must be created in mixed media as well as hang like an ornament... how could I resist?! 

Below are photos of my finished  Alley Cat Gang... (Heads are sculpted out of polymer clay, bodies are made of aluminum from soda cans & covered in tissue paper, paws are mini erasers... all components are assembled with twisted wire)

 Tange                                 Satch

Rusty                                  Smokey

Short & Sweet... Thanks for taking a peek!

Until next time, Keep Creating!!

Let the Dominoes fall where they may...

I've always enjoyed a good fast paced game of Dominoes (truth be known, I am the reigning "Domino Queen" in my social circle)... little did I know what a versatile art supply that I had stashed away in the game closet for all these years!! A few months ago was my first exposure in using dominoes when I participated in a Domino Dolls Swap (check out "March 24th" post). I had so much fun that when I saw the sign-ups for a Domino Books Swap, I just couldn't resist joining in once again! After this project I have to admit that I am hooked for good... just say the word "Domino" and I'll come running to make whatever you ask for!!

Domino Books consist of 2 dominoes as the front & back covers of the book with accordion folded pages attached inside. The sky is the limit on how you choose to decorate your dominoes as well as what the pages will be like! The main ingredients here are imagination & FUN!!!

Below is a picture of my finished books. (I covered my dominoes with layers of brightly colored tissue paper collage and ink details, a ribbon is attached to the back to enable the book to be tied closed.) 

  

Completed Domino Books

Below is a picture of the "accordion" pages that I created in my trusty Janoodle style for the inside of my books (this pic really doesn't do them justice, even if I do say so myself!)

"Accordion" pages inside Domino Books

As always, thank you for popping in to see what I've been up to!

Until next time... Happy Creating!!

In the Good ol' Summertime... it's Fair Time!

August means "Fair Time" in Northeast Washington State! For several years, I have been privileged to be the Judge for the Kid's Fine Arts Division. After spending most of yesterday fulfilling my duties, I found myself leaving the pavilion a bit frustrated for the first time. I try my best to be more supportive than critical when awarding the ribbons and I always take the time to write positive remarks on each entry form. I have tried to explain to the Kid's Pavilion Superintendent the need to separate the age divisions when hanging the show (I come in after they are hung and do the judging) so that a senior teen's work (age 13-17) isn't hung next to a junior's (age 8-12) or even next to a primary (age 2-7). I take into consideration the age of each artist when judging. As the judge, I can see the age code but others don't see the age of the artist. I may give a 10 yr. old a Blue ribbon for their effort and a 17 yr. old only a Red ribbon for theirs, when hung side by side it appears not to make sense to the viewer. Sometimes even the kids question "why" when comparing their work to others. I was told by the powers to be that they would give my request some thought for the future but the show is hung and ready to go for this year... Hence , the reason for my aforementioned frustration. Oh well, it's not about me... it's all about the kids!!

Soooo, speaking of Art that is about me... I have never participated by entering any of my own artwork in the Fair's Adult Division, this year I thought it would be interesting to join in the fun! I created a Mega-sized Janoodle that I decided would be my entry. I wasn't sure how my colorful abstract work would be received but I went ahead and delivered my entry in time for judging. 

Below is a photo of my award winning "Wild Garden"... Much to my surprise and pleasure, I received a Blue Ribbon and a Purple Judge's "Special Award" for my effort! 

"Wild Garden" @ Northeast Washington Fair

Thanks for stopping by... Until next time, Ciao!!

Come fly with me!

Welcome to today's Show & Tell... I'm currently on an art assemblage kick, I love that "A little bit of this and a little bit of that" is the only rule of thumb (along with your own unique imagination) for a successful creation. Today's post showcases my efforts from another AFA swap for Mixed Media Birds. The only requirements were that the birds needed to be three-dimensional and be able to hang in the style of an ornament.

Below are pictures of four different species of "Northwestern Corkies" ... 

(the heads are created from polymer clay and the body from a bottle cork with additional supplies of wire, aluminum can, tissue paper and assorted fibers)

NW "Twist Beak" Corky

NW "Vulture" Corky

NW "Canary" Corky

NW "Red Crowned" Corky

  

Thanks for popping in, I hope that you stop by again soon!!

Until next time, Blessings to All!!

 

Now you see me, now you don't!

As far back as I can remember, I have always loved a challenge... especially an ART related challenge!  Today's Show & Tell is from a swap that I recently signed up for on the ATC's for All website. The swap challenge here is to create an "ATC Fan" that when closed, it will fit into a 2 1/2" X 3 1/2" sleeve as well as conceal a hidden treasure! I have participated in Fan swaps in the past and I have always enjoyed myself. What's not to like?... designing, cutting, painting, assembling... some times it works, sometimes it doesn't ... but, in the end... fun, fun, fun!!! 

Below are some photos of my Fan Swap efforts... the first pic shows all of the "closed" fans as they appear when stored in their sleeves. The next two pics show the "surprises" that are revealed when the fans are opened!

Closed Fans - "Garden Hideouts"

#1  Dragonfly     -     #2  Caterpillar

#3  Snail      -     #4 Hatchling

  

Hope you feel inspired to create some ART today!?

As always, Thanks for stopping by ... Until next time, Ciao!!

 

 

Forget those apples... a bit of Art & a Chuckle a day keeps the doctor away!!

Just a quicky Show & Tell for you today... I was going through some of my art supplies on a quest for a specific item that I could not find, after quite some time I became frustrated and gave up the hunt. Unfortunately, I ended up with a bigger mess than I started with! While trying to find places to return items to, I came across a colorful stack of tissue paper that I have been saving from past projects. Needless to say, the tissue paper was taken to my work table! I just simply love tissue paper, the colors are so vibrant and even when they get wet the colors remain in tact without fading or bleeding! They are the perfect medium for adding color to collages or creating backgrounds for other projects.  When the different colors are layered on top of another color, the variations are endless. Depending on the project, tissue can create added texture where desired by creasing & overlapping as you apply the glue.

Below are postcards that I created tissue paper backgrounds for. I chose not to have too much texture so that I could do detail work to finish; otherwise, my fine tipped rapidograph pen would snag on the paper folds preventing the clean lines that I prefer! The cards are very bright & vibrant in person as well as finished with a semi-gloss surface.

    

Postcards - tissue paper, hand carved stamps & ink - approx. 6"x 9"

So, if you're looking for a quick & easy project on a lazy summer day...

Take it from me, "nothing says fun like tissue paper & glue!!"

I have a little extra for your viewing pleasure... I took a ride outside of town the other day, much to my surprise I came upon a sight that at first glance had me slamming on the breaks for an urgent stop. In my defense, at second glance I did realize that I had fallen for a cleaver prank! (The sun was also in my eyes, really!)  Below is a photo of my sighting, keep in mind that with a telephoto lens it doesn't look as lifelike as it did as I came around the bend in the distance!

Help!!

Hope you had a chuckle or two, (even at my expense!)

Until next time, Blessings to you all!!

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!!