How To Sneak Up On A Mouse

Grizzle, the old tomcat, is intent in his endeavors to catch that pesky mouse that's been toting off his Meow Mix. The evidence is in the crumbs strewn across the floor to a small crevice in the wall by the kitchen cabinet.

He often sits for hours staring at the crevice. He has seen the mouse dart into it several times. He's determined to catch him and eat him for supper this time.

Grizzle is wearing his most ferocious look and is in pounce position. He can still move fast when he has to, and plans to sit there as long as it takes. After all, he has nothing else to do...and that little rascal has to come out sometime!

More doodle characters in WC in my sketchbook.
Hope they made you smile! Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Buttons---Theme Thursday & CED

The theme over at Theme Thursday this week is buttons, so I thought of the buttons on Anna's coat. I'm also posting it for the Creative Every Day challenge.




"Why are you looking at my buttons, dear?" Anna couldn't imagine that people would stare at her more than generous thumbs.

Another character doodle on a double page in my Moleskine sketchbook in watercolors/pencils. This is actually an art journal entry that I haven't come up with just the right words yet. They'll come to me eventually though.

Hope she made you smile! :)

Marissa's Bubble Gum Egg

Marissa's friends are on her case constantly about chewing bubble gum and blowing bubbles, but she doesn't listen. On this day she blew one too many. When she blew, the bubble expanded out of her mouth, turned into an egg, and sprouted a flower. It is stuck to her lips. She wishes she had listened to her friends. Now what's Marissa to do?...What does a bubble gum egg hatch anyway? More bubble gum?

And what's with that hair? Maybe I should have called her Medusa! :)

Another character born of my quirky doodles in the Handbook sketchbook with watercolor/ink pencils. I think she's fun and she will figure things out eventually.

I've now completed 2 more sketchbooks with quirky doodles, some painted and some not. I have about 12 books full now and have just started 2 more, a Moleskine sketchbook and a WC book.

I 've missed a few days drawing/painting this week. I think I'm beginning to want to do something else now, but it's fun and I won't completely stop, maybe just mix something else in.

For instance, I have an oil portrait of my beloved little Pekingese that I started about 12 yrs ago, right after she had to be euthanized. I got it almost finished, and couldn't bear to complete her eyes and muzzle. I have uncovered it and hung it where I can see it, and I'm ready to finish it now. I will post a picture as soon as I do. :)

I also want to start a book with my doodle characters and their stories, and I want to do some linoleum block carving and printing as soon as I can clear a space in my art nest. Anybody else have an art nest? LOL

Anyway, those are three immediate projects that I want to start working on. I will share pictures as I do them. :)

Hope Marissa made you smile! :)

PS-I apologize that the paragraphs are all run together. I've tried everything and can't get them to seperate. It's perfect where I compose it, but when I put it on preview or publish, they all run together. I've tried re-spaceing and moving things around.

Shoe--Theme Thurs.

This week's Theme at Theme Thursday is Shoe. I happened to have pulled a quirky shoe image out of my doodles the other day, so thought I would play. WC in Handbook sketchbook. Sorry the paper wrinkled some. That's why I prefer Moleskine sketchbooks. :)

This may, or may not, be the shoe Cinderella left behind. I'm just saying...

Alice's Doors - 3 Muses Challenge

Alice has stumbled upon three doors into the unknown, the first of which resembles a black cat. Each door is larger than the one before, and each leads to a different place or experience. One could possibly head down the proverbial rabbit hole...she's a little afraid of that, having read "Alice In Wonderland". However, she can not resist the temptation of opening at least one to see what is behind it. Wonder what she will find.?

Alice was born out of a doodle that turned into a quirky sketch, painted with watercolor in my Handbook sketchbook. I was originally going to use it for the Amusing Muses challenge "Doors" a couple of weeks ago, but didn't get it uploaded in time. Oh, well, next time!

Hope it made you smile! :)

PS-Since I didn't get it uploaded for the Doors challenge at The Three Muses, I'm entering it in this weeks challenge, which is Journey, because opening any one of the 3 doors will definitely take Alice on a journey.

The Rolled Cotton Experiment and CED

This post is for the Creative Every Day Challenge. I wanted to share a cool way to make atc backgrounds, or other backgrounds for that matter, that I discovered. I had been thinking about this for a while and decided to try it finally.

A few days ago I was playing with my watercolors and wanted to experiment, so I found a couple of Playtex tampons (sorry guys), which, after all, is just rolled up cotton. I pushed the end out just a little, dipped it in water (it doesn't take much), then dipped each side into different watercolor and had a blast learning and seeing what I could do with it.

You have to work quickly, because as the water absorbs toward the center the cotton swells out of the tube and the colors get very light and weak. But that's not a problem. It just makes the colors more pastel.

All of these were made in my Moleskine pocket sized watercolor book. Each page will make 2 atcs on wc paper, or several inchies, with a small strip left over. I think these designs would be great backgrounds, or maybe little paintings. I used the same 4 colors on all of them and completed my book. I will go back and add more to them sometime, probably, but for the time being, I like them this way.

Following are 6 photos of different designs made in various stages of the cotton expanding.

This one was made after the cotton was fully "blossomed". I pressed the whole thing straight down each time, rotating the cotton so the colors would be more varied. I only used one layer on all of these, but you could add more layers with different colors if you wanted to.

This one was made by turning the fully "blossomed" cotton over to the string side and pressing it straight down. See the white lines in the middles?

This one was with the cotton tip out of the tube just a little. I pressed it straight down and twisted it to make these circles. Each side of the cotton had a different color on it.

The cotton was fully absorbed. I flattened it out and pressed one strip flat down on the paper, applying pressure to the whole strip.

Both strips flattened and pressed straight down on the paper, applying pressure on the ends. The center was added with an end tip. I cropped the paper to make it square.

This one was done by twirling the partially "blossomed" cotton around over the paper. I saw a face with hair peering from amidst the colors, so I added eyes, nose, and mouth. The hair and cheek color were already there.

Who would have thought it? I guess that's why experimenting is so much fun. You never know what you will discover. I want to try it on a bigger sheet of paper or maybe with oil/acrylic on canvas or something, but the size is just right for atc backgrounds. I just had fun with it, and added another technique to my stash. :)

If you try it, I'd love to see your designs. Have fun! :)

PS-Sorry if the last 3 paragraphs are run together. I couldn't get them to seperate. :/

Birdie's New Glasses, 2 yr. Anniversary, & 100th Post!

Birdie has been wanting to say hello for a while. She just couldn't get me to make her picture until yesterday. She wanted to show you her new glasses. She's had some trouble getting used to them, and now that she can see better, she's wondering why the heck SOMEBODY didn't tell her just how pink her hair REALLY was.

Birdie also now thinks she looks a little like one of Betty Boop's long lost crazy relatives. What do you think? :)

Another character born out of one of my doodle sketches in the Handbook sketchbook painted with watercolor/pencils. Hope she made you smile! :)

PS-I just realized that July is the second anniversary of my Moxie Blue Blog and that Birdie is my 100th post! I want to thank you all for all the wonderful support and comments on my blog over the last two years. Your words and encouragement have meant so much to me!