Swim Time

As you can see, I’m still on my birdie kick! And being that I am really desiring Spring or better yet Summer weather, I just had to create some of my sunshine.

I have not had good results doing hair with markers, so off I went to grab my watercolor pencils to do her hair in the only way that I know how. By lightly sketching the strands of hair, then using a small brush that I dip in water and apply to the watercolor pencil marks. Quite fun really! I do enjoy this technique so I’ve got to make a note to self to do more of it! LOL!!

And since my little birds can’t live their lives fully without a name. I named her too!

I thought this name appropriate because all my DH and I have been talking about when we mention travel, is Australia! Don’t know when that’ll happen but just laying the groundwork….laying the groundwork.

Hope you all are getting some nicer weather and can move yourselves and projects outdoors to get some much needed vitamin D.

If anyone is interested in a 4x6 print of a name or word. Contact me at elg921(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Feeling much better……thank you

Olga- the sick bird….Even though she feels awful, she still wants to color-coordinate. She tries to keep up with her responsibilities until she can fall into bed a little earlier than usual.

I have almost gone 18 months without a cold. Then whoa!! I got hit! So, to celebrate my 18 month victory against the rhinovirus monster, I drew another little birdie. She’s holding a kleenex (even though it looks like a piece of paper. Note To Self: must work on droopy paper drawings).

So, I laid real low yesterday! Tried not to talk much. Why is it every cold I get goes directly into my voice-box? Granted I get a lot of sympathy because I sound “just awful”. Really, I sound much worse than I feel.

And Spring is here! Finally! So I’m going to send a little shout out to you all to keep yourselves Healthy & Happy!!

Art inspires

I’m having one of those days. A day that I really don’t want to try too hard! I want to watch, I want to feed my visual monster! I just want to gaze upon the works of others and make sense of it. I wonder how they did that? What makes this piece more interesting than the other piece? Is it the colors used? The white space inherent in the picture? The idiosyncrasy, the breaking of the rules that I follow?

Art!!! It really can’t be boxed in, can it? It is before us, with us and beyond us. It inspires and moves us! It works with the senses, mainly the visual and the hearing as in music. But also the mind and emotions as in good writing. It needs to have it’s place in our life or we wouldn’t feel complete. Imagine not seeing anything of beauty, hearing anything that moves you to Tears or to Dance. Or even tickles your funny bone. I think without Art we’d be robots, just merely a walking p.c.! How Utterly Horrid! I think Art inspires us to be better people! It resonates with our human-ness. I also think there is ART in love. We remember it most clearly in new love. Be it a love relationship or new baby. But isn’t there a certain ART to showing you care, to your spouse? Your family? Your friends? People you just plain like for no known reason.

How does Art manifest in your life that you didn't expect?

Charity Cardinal……..done!

I talked about this back in January in this post. My son has an auction for his university/fraternity in April. He’s one of the organizers, so when he gets excited about something, well….. then I get excited about it, too. He’s a contagious sort of kid young man.

I was unsure of what I wanted to do with my embroidered cardinal. I was thinking I’d make a little quilt, for a small bed or even a wall-hanging. Well, before I knew it…. January turned into February, and I hadn’t done anything with the quilt. Stuck, i was. And then project avoidance set in due to my indecision. I finally just settled on stapling the Cardinal quilt to a 24 x 24 artist’s Canvas Board. The nice thing about this option is I don’t have to actually quilt anything…..I can just do quilt tops, which is what I like to make anyway!! Only wish I knew then what I would end of doing cuz I would’ve sized up my squares for that dimension….. Ahhhh, c’est la vie!

If I can pull it off, I’ll embroider another cardinal and do another one similar to this by April 18th. Heck, I’ve got material left, even some squared rows! We’ll see……

As you can see from this picture, the way I stapled this piece to the board has made a little sway in my fabric! Ugh, must try and remedy. If any of you have any suggestions as to unswaying the left side, please post! I’m thinking I should dampen it and adjust it wet, but I don’t want to induce any wrinkles either!!

My Bird Friends

Billie Jean- The Tomboy Bird…..todays woman, no one is going to tell this bird she’s not included and she can’t do something because she’s a girl. No one! Cuz she’s smart and has lots of talent! You girls, know what I mean don’t ya?

I started drawing these little birds about 6 months ago. I love that I have complete control over the drawings. Only limited by my abilities. I find they really like to be drawn and then tell me something. Some words of wisdom, if you will! They each tend to have their own personality. I can just see people I’ve known in my life coming out through them.

Cleopatra- the Jeweled Bird….This one reminds me of a lot of teens today. Wearing all the glitter and never having earned a penny of their own. Possibly a little bored with their life as well!

Andre- the Sporting Bird….Kind of a cocky know-it-all bird. Can’t you just see he’s monitoring the game and setting the guidelines and the rules. But keeping things fair….things must be kept fair!

Suzie- the Baby Bird…..Ahhh, the happy go lucky baby bird. Just wants to be included and do what everyone else does. Listens so well too! Can’t you just hear her asking all those “why” questions?

Martha- the Dutiful Bird…….This bird cracks me up, can’t you just see that she’s doing everything she’s told to do and she can hardly smile because she’s too busy attending to everyone else’s needs.

Renee- the Eclectic Bird….this bird has opinions and isn’t afraid to express them. She’s not afraid to strut her stuff or go against the main stream. God love her!!

One of my favorite features on these birds is their little bony knees! You see, I’ve never had skinny legs, so it’s extra fun infusing them with characteristics I long for.

I think each one of these birds is really an aspect of me….who I was at certain periods in my life. Now….I’m just trying to be Renee!! LOL!!

How about you? Can you relate to any of these birds?

Mail Sketch part 2

It takes Courage to

grow-up and Become

who YOU really are.

-e.e. cummings

I am growing to love these little birdies. They each have a personality of their own. I needed to do 2 more pages in the Sketch Mail Journal, and I didn’t feel inspired to do anything, NOTHING!

Yesterday I came across this quote which I’ve always loved. I thought, maybe just maybe I could dress up a little birdie and have her speaking the quote. So, I got to drawing…..luckily aprons aren’t too difficult to draw. Boots seemed to be pretty easy as well. I was unsure what kind of hat to put on her. Initially I would’ve loved to draw a floppy little cotton floral hat, but thought it may look more like a hat if I just stick to a standard version. Added a watch on the wing and a flower off the hat…..and TA-DA! Done!

I am gonna miss this little greeny-girl bird with attitude! Cuz I think she’s what I want to be! You can see I even un-knowly dressed myself in the same color this morning! My new favorite color is this green, would that be “chartruese”? Anyone know?

Here’s the up-close version of my new Bird with the quote. Why are we so afraid to wear a little color? Is it cuz it will draw attention to ourselves? And then what? Do we have to have something clever/funny/or cute to say then? Ahhh, whatever…..I say just do what you like, wear that shirt with the colors you adore in it!! And when people look……just Smile and Wave!!!

And here is one of the reasons I adore Photoshop!! The quote bubble here makes much more of a statement than the white version, don’t ya think?

And Janet, if you’re out there….I should get this in the mail to you by tomorrow, hopefully :D

Mail Sketch 2010

A couple of weeks ago I received this adorable package in the mail. This is the first hand-made envelope I have ever seen in my whole life. Much less received!!! Isn’t it the cutest thing ever!!! I have never known that we could send stuff in the mail this way……Well, actually I’ve heard of people decorating envelopes but this is so over the top! Tammy at Daisy Yellow made it! I love it, don’t you??

Inside the envelope was this tiny little red book.

Since I’ve never participated in something like this, a Mail Art Swap, I had no idea what to do for my pages!!!

So, it sat……. and sat…..and sat…..

Then last night, I had an idea! I ran up to my studio (where not much happens) and came down with colored paper and letter stencils. I grabbed my handy-dandy pen bag and doodled away. Then, since this is a journal I really wanted to do some line journaling, you know “real writing”. But, I didn’t want to mess it up and do the journaling on the original. So, I cut a piece of cute scrapbook paper to the size of the page and journaled on that. Then I glued everything inside the book.

Since it’s too small to read from here, I’ll tell you what the journaling says:

“This is how I see me and art. If I live to be 90, I will be the little old lady taking the shuttle to the art store….Why? Because it makes me happy & young at heart. Plus between you & me- I hate to cook.”

Now, I just need to do 2 more pages and then send it on. I have an idea of what to do, lets see if I can pull it off!