Art Every Day - Last Day!

Here's a bit of fancy tree trimming for ya.

I love scissors • I love paper • I love snipping paper into designs.
I could do this all day.

I remember reading that Hans Christian Anderson used to cut paper to illustrate his stories.
My kinda guy!

Art Every Day - Vingt-Sept

In a land, long ago and far, far away - people used to go Christmas shopping downtown,

where the storefronts might be full of shiny bikes and dollhouses.

We still do that in our local podunk of a town, where we also have a Christmas Tree lighting

in the park, an town-wide open house featuring homemade cookies and

vintage 60's decorations on the light poles.

(Mind you, this is a place where you can still get canned peas on your plate at the diner.)

Today I am practicing the FINE ART of browsing online for Christmassy fabric.

So, yeah - this is fudging a bit on the "Art Every Day" theme.

I love this happy pattern by Alexander Henry and who knows,

it may just show up on the shelves of our tiny quilt shop!

Art Every Day - Vingt-quatre • Vingt-cinque • Vingt-six

The Christmas Holidays have come skating around the corner today.

Let the crafting begin!

I created these for Jillayne's Christmas swap,

and have a small tutorial here,

in case you feel inspired to make one for yourself.

The base for this piece is a 5x5 canvas, flipped over.

I found these at Michael's in the dollar spot. They are actually coloring canvasses for kids,

but since it is all getting covered up, they work just fine.

First, cut a square bit of cardstock.

Double stick tape around the perimeter.

Top it off with a sqaure of red velvet, trimmmed to size.

Top wooden stretcher bars with decorative tape (this is Tim Holtz tissue tape)

or use strips of printed paper. Glue inside the square opening and top with velvet square.

Tuck in edges of velvet fabric under the wood, all the way around.

Ok now, here's the fun part.

Embellish as you please!

After adding the main image, which is a hand-colored print out that's been

pulled around a block of thick chipboard, then wrapped it in netting,

I topped it with a tiny paper fan made from book pages.

Then, I used Magenta foil tapes, lace, ribbons, metalic yarn, buttons, netting, tiny paper flowers, rhinestones and MM metal file labels, to spruce things up.

The last step was to finish off the back with some vintage book pages.

I chose a holiday story about Father Christmas from an old reader,

just to keep things jolly!

Art Every Day - Vingt Trois

It's a Snow Day! That means we are all home and catching up.

I decided to start catching up on some very old scrapbooking projects.

Going for very simple today and getting these pictures in a book.

Art Every Day - Vingt et Un • Vingt Deux

Here you will find some over-the-top mushroom inspired

(of the culinary variety) doodling inside the back cover of my

Fall Art Journal.

This weekend we went and gathered up the rest of the Chantrelles

from the woods. These will be the last of the freshies for the season,

but I do have quite a few in the freezer. That should to last us a while.

We also came across a few other lovely fungi

and they all lived happily ever after in a scrumptious cream soup.

Perfect for a chilly autumn day!

Art Every Day - Vingt

Art Every Day - Dix-neuf

Remember leaf-rubbings from grammer school art class?

This started out as one of those, using a simple crayon to get the outlines in.

From there, this leaf rubbing made it's way through my sketch/doodle process,

using Prismacolors and Pentel Markers.

This is the facing page and the first in the journal to have windows.

I created openings in a stack of ten pages with a square punch, so you could see down into the pages. I have since lined one of them with some netting.

You can see a Halloween page peeking though here.

Fall Art Journal

Art Every Day - Dix-huit

Home Sweet Home

Yeah, I know. A lot is two words.

Art Every Day - Dix-sept

This little birdie

is perched in my Fall Art Journal

right across from these tags.

Art Every Day - Seize

This little old tricycle has been kicking around forever and I had this nice pile of moss fresh from the shed roof, so decided to combine the two for a great Pacific Northwest yard ornament.

Recipe for a moss-covered trike:

• 1 old tricycle

• 1 wheel barrow full of moss

• 1 roll drywall mesh

• 1 roll fishing line

Cover the tricycle with the mesh and upholster with the moss,

using the fishing line to secure it here and there.

Water when done - or if you live in the NW, just put it outside -

it will be soaked in no time.

Now I've got my eye on a little toy dump truck that has been

half-buried in the sandbox for the last ten years.

What's next?

Art Every Day - Quinze

Page Number Seven

from

~ 13 Autumn Tales ~

Art Every Day - Quatorze

This is the inside cover - a work in progress still - of my Fall Art Journal.

~ 13 Autumn Tales ~

Someone asked me about this journal.

It is a sketch book I use to doodle in, try out shape combos, different mediums, colorways -

a testing ground for processes and products that I take on to other, larger projects.

Art Every Coupla Days - Onze • Douze • Treize

So much for that grand, hopeful plan of :

Art Every Day.

See what this has begun to devolve into?

Art Every Coupla Days.

It might look like laziness, but really, we are busy painting the guest room

this weekend and we've gone into overtime. (Surprise.)

Well, it IS technically painting, after all.

Have to get back to watching the paint dry.

More later...including art.

Ok, Here ya go!

Works in progress - Fall Art Journal

~ 13 Autumn Tales ~

Art Every Day - Dix

Art Every Day - Neuf

Fall Art Journal

from

~ 13 Autumn Tales ~

This page is still in progress!

Art Every Day - Huit

Fall Art Journal

pages from

~ 13 Autumn Tales ~

Art Every Day - Sept

Here's a page from my Fall Art Journal

~ 13 Autumn Tales ~

detailing my favorite things about fall.

I just pick it up and doodle in it randomly

each night, while sitting by the fire.

So relaxing...ahhh.

Art Every Day - Six

Mom forgot to post a piece of artwork today, so I'm posting this one for her without her knowing, hopefully she won't be mad. She could either walk up to me tomorrow and say:

"[My name], thank you so much for saving me by posting that picture on my blog! It was beautiful and everyone absolutely loved it! I will now reward you with a delightful trip to the ice cream shop!"

or

"[My name]! What were you doing on my blog?! You had no right to go on it and post things that I did not approve of! I will now punish you by dragging you through an hour-long trip to Joann's where I will wander down each-and-every isle for at least seven minutes."

I'm really hoping it'll be the former.

Anyway, this is a hummingbird that flew in our house one time. Logically, like any other decent person, I grabbed the camera instead of the butterfly net. When people ask me what I've titled this picture I tell them it's called Eager for Freedom, because we all long for freedom in at least one form or another.

...Plus it makes me sound deep and emotional, when in fact I think of myself as quite boring and shallow.

-The Author's Son

(P.S. You're welcome Mom.)

Art Every Day - Cinq

The last of the season.

Art Every Day - Quatre

Just like the butterfly

I too

will awaken

in my

own

time.

The beginnings of a book made for Guriana in Poland.

Art Every Day - Trois

Art Every Day ~ Deux

This is a printmaking plate I made with a piece of illustration board and white glue. The figure was drawn on the board, carved out with a craft knife and then sealed with glue. To create the swirly background bits, I twirled the tip of the glue bottle in the wet medium and let it dry overnight, before inking and printing.

The resulting print was created on etching paper with a sepia ink.

~ Detail ~

I love how the soft paper molds into the crevices of the plate, allowing the ink to fill in the shadows.

Art Every Day ~ Un

Art Journal Page