Inspire Me Thursday--Green Bug

This week's challenge at IMT is green, so I'm sharing a photo of a green bug that I made the other day. I've always wanted a bug, but not necessarily green. :)

IMT Challenge-Ghost

Two small fiery lights glared at her from the deserted Rabbit Hop Cafe. At least she thought it was deserted. It had been abandoned years ago when all the patrons were scared off by the large cats that took over the grounds.

The fading words spelling out the name on the painted top were barely visible in the pouring rain as she looked out the window.

A ghostly apparition appeared from the right as multiple orbs of light danced around the old Cafe in the dark cloudiness of the day. Nobody in the house believed her as she described what she was seeing.

The image of a coyote sat howling up toward the eerie lights. Shivers ran down her spine as the lights looked directly back at her, then bounced down and across the yard.

She was glad to be safely inside the house. It was real. The proof was in the pictures.

After all, pictures don't lie...or do they? *

Photo (no photoshop) and story by SP Pope

IMT Challenge--I AM...

The IMT challenge this week is to finish the sentence "I am..." with one word describing myself. This a page in my sketchbook using inktense pencils and water on a doodle sketch.

I do sleep a lot, but I dream whether I'm asleep or not. Colorful dreams. I love daydreaming while sipping coffee and watching the animals in the back yard. It's like a circus out there and sometimes I join in. :)

Hope she makes you smile!

IMT Challenge-Swirls

The challenge for this week at Inspire Me Thursday is Swirls. I did these pages in my Moleskine sketchbook while listening to Guns and Roses' version of "Knockin on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan. I didn't know at the time that the theme was swirls. I closed my eyes and just let my pencil move as I listened, then I went over the lines with a black sharpie, filling in some spaces, and adding a face. The way the light was hitting the page added to the effect.

CED Journey For The Week, IMT, & Artygirlz

Come go with me on this past week's creative journey as I share some of my goings on with you for the Creative Every Day, Inspire Me Thursday (Moon this week), and Artygirlz (Butterflies) challenges. I hope you enjoy the trip. :)

Note: I have learned a new doodle technique this week from Melissa Langer, who has a cute blog with her creations using this technique. So when I refer to the drawings as Judi doodles, they are the ones where I drew shapes with my eyes closed, not thinking about what I was drawing, then let the image emerge. When I refer to them as Melissa doodles I drew an image I had in my mind, only I drew with my eyes closed.


Fly Me To The Moon...And Back--Inspire Me Thursday
Monday--I played with my mp3 player and danced with Cher, and drew the above Judi doodle sketch in the Moly wc book. The words, Fly Me To The Moon...And Back!, were digitally added.


Tissue Carnation
Tuesday--I played on Facebook some, then set up the above still life of a tissue carnation in an old Vick's Salve glass jar and practiced drawing and shading for a change, using a regular old pencil. It wouldn't make really dark darks. I drew in my Moly sketchbook. I wrote a long group note to my regular email buddies and sent it, just to let them know I was still living. Then I painted yesterday's moon rabbit doodle with wc/pencils/white gouache and added digital words to it.



Little Blue Elephant
Wednesday--Played on Facebook some more, then drew and shaded the little elephant figurine above from both sides in the Moly sketchbook. The white gouache hi-lites didn't help anything. I also touched up the rabbit painting again.

Seashells

Kibbles Marie
Thursday--Played on Facebook again. Got out a couple of seashells. I bought a bowl of them at a yard sale for almost nothing. I have some that I've picked up myself, but these were different. Anyway, I drew them and shaded them from two different angles in my Handbook sketchbook. I added a pale pink wash to the top one just to see how it would look.

Then I decided to try a Melissa doodle, so I closed my eyes and pictured my Pekingese dog-baby, Kibbles Marie, and started drawing. She has been gone for over eleven years and I still miss her every day. I was surprised at how well I did. Color was added with wc/pencils. This was also in the Handbook sketchbook. I also listened to good music by several of my favorites and spent time with Jim and his dad.

The Handbook is ok for just drawing, but the pages are thin, so they buckle with even a light wash and sharpies show right through, so you can't use the backs of pages. I much prefer the Moleskine books.



Mardi Gras Butterfly-Artygirlz


Kibbles-Bored


Kibbles doing what she loved best.
Friday--More Facebook playing (it's new to me), but I also did two Melissa doodles of Kibbles and colored them with wc/pencils/snippet of white gouache and black sharpie words. Again in the Handbook sketchbook. They are meant to make you smile/laugh. Kibbles loved to play ball, but she was nowhere near that skinny. She actually had very long hair all over. I meant to post a photo of her, but forgot to get one out.

The butterfly above Kibbles is a Judi doodle sketch in the Moly pocket wc book and is colored with wc/pencils/white gouache/fluid acrylics, and a black sharpie. Then I took a creative nap. :)

Kibbles in a predicament


Purple cat gestures
Saturday--More Facebook playing and blog reading. I have to stay inspired you know. I also touched up two paintings and did a page of cat gesture drawing studies in the Moly sketchbook with a purple uniball pen. The words are digital.

On the other side of the spread is another Melissa doodle of Kibbles colored with wc/pencils. She looks like she's sliding backwards and can't stop, but I did have my eyes closed afterall. :) These are fun to do. Thanks Melissa for inspiring them.

I chatted with some friends on Facebook, then Jim and I ate minute steak sandwiches and popcorn while we watched two movies on TV together, 10,000 BC (not very good) and Shutter (good).

Tree Snow


Sammidog in motion always-Loving the snow
Sunday--I know a lot of you are sick of snow, but this is our first one this winter, aside from a little dusting way back. So I'm only sharing a couple of pictures out of the many that I made this morning. As you can see, Sammidog was having a blast.

So far today, taking pictures and uploading them and working on this post has been my creative endeavor for the day. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I did a little writing for the One Minute Writer challenge and posted it on my other blog and spent time drinking coffee and chatting with a friend.

I made pictures of some other things besides the snow this morning, but I'll save those for another time. I've also spent quality time with Mama every day, and I've had some very creative colorful dreams this week. I wish I had written them down before they slipped away.

Anyway, I hope something on here made you smile and put a little bright spot in your day.



Have a wonderful, creative week. I plan to. :)

ATCs & Peeling Paint

This week's challenge at Artygirlz is to make an atc. I'm sharing three. These two are watercolor/wc pencils, pencil, and ultra fine black sharpie on wc paper in a Moleskine wc pocket book. They are some of my doodle drawings painted.

I am late with the Inspire Me Thursday challenge for last week, which is peeling paint. Below are two inchies and an atc, which have the peeling paint technique applied to them in acrylics. The atc has four layers of paint, which was very bright, so I stamped on a piece of rice paper and glued on top to tone it down. The words are written in a fine black sharpie.

The inchies are done in copper and blue, then coated with acrylic medium, which is making them look kind of milky looking. They also have copper glitter embedded in the medium. They are backgrounds ready for something to be added. All are laying on a postcard sized piece of acrylic coated wc paper.

Close up of ATC

I missed participating in both challenges for a week or two. It's good to back back. Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy. 8:)

3 Challenges in 1 + A Prison Escape

This double journal page is my entry for 3 challenges this week. Arty Girlz' challenge is "anything but a card". Inspire Me Thursday's challenge is "fuse". So I'm sharing journal pages, on which I'm "fusing" my art and writing together. I plan to write a little story around the words on the page to go with the picture, which I will then share on my writing blog Scribbles From Rabbit Hop. It's also one of the four double journal pages I've done this week for the Creative Every Day 2009 challenge.

It's a quirky journal sketch in my Moleskine sketchbook, done in ultra fine black sharpie, wc/pencils, and a touch of white gouashe. I was going for a dreamy feel. The letters were added digitally.

I wish the colors were better. The lady's hat is really purple. I couldn't get it adjusted. Maybe the colors don't look too garish on your pc. I promise it looks better in reality. I have to find a better place to make my photos. My dining room light is flourescent with a yellow cast and my walls are kind of a paprika color. Not too good for art pictures. :)

It's pouring rain here, and they called me early this morning that they've had a prison escape. They've never done that before. They usually catch them pretty quick, and often a female guard has helped them escape. The prison is about four miles from us and it houses murderers, rapists, etc. They didn't say which direction they thought he/they went.

Hubby left Wed. and I haven't checked the cows since then, so I really need to do so today, which is a little scary, since I have to ride through woods and fields. Maybe they will catch him/them pronto. Maybe I'll just stay in with the doors locked. This is another one of those times when the Be Brave challenge applies (see button on side for link). Makes me glad Sammidog adopted us, although he'd come nearer loving them to death than attacking. He's still mostly pup. Like I said, not too many dull moments around here. :)

Hope my sleepflyer makes you smile. Have a great, creative weekend!

Elephants and Playing

The Inspire Me Thursday challenge this week is elephant, so I'm sharing a small watercolor painting that I did. It came out of one of my quirky doodle sketches. I was "playing" with colors intuitively. Playing also ties in with the creative every day theme for January.


The little guy below was half of a salt/pepper set. He was in a box of "stuff" that my dad bought at an auction. I confiscated him to give to a friend who collects elephants, but he didn't want to leave my house, so I had to find her another elephant at a flea market, which she seemed to like.

He's been sitting on the window sill over my kitchen sink for years now. The cork stopper is gone and he has 10 cents marked in black on the bottom. Somehow or other his toes have gotten chipped off since he's been here. There's just something about him that endears him to me. What can I say?
I've gotten off to a slow start creatively so far this year, but I'll eventually get back on track. So far I've written a page in my 14 x 17 sketchbook and collaged another page, played with the mp3 player that Santa brought me, designed a new banner for this blog, taken some pictures, and done quite a bit of creative thinking.

I'm thinking that I'm going to have to clean off my work area (see previous post...only it looks worse now) before I can get much done though. Things are piled up so high that they're beginning to slide off. I bought some of the large red storage envelopes from Dick Blick to hold my drawings, paper paintings, etc. I just haven't put them to use yet.

I didn't make any resolutions this year. I make the same ones every year and I never do them, so I didn't bother this time. I am making a list of goals that I would like to achieve creatively though, even though Jim is retiring in Feb, and our lives will change drastically again. We'll see how it goes. :)

IMT Challenge-Dress

For this week's dress challenge on IMT I thought I'd share one of my favorite dresses ever.

It probably looks like it needs throwing away to you guys, but I wore this little dress when I was about a year old, and it is well worn. I feel very loved when I look at this little dress. It's about 58 years old and after I outgrew it mama put it in the cedar chest with some other baby dresses, which were a little fancier and more delicate, but this one is dearest to me. She gave them all to me a few months ago when she was cleaning out things. I only wish she had saved the ones she made for me.

My paternal grandmother, whom I adored, made this little dress, just for me, out of a cotton flour sack. I had many little flour sack dresses and diapers, but this is the only one I still have. It was made on her old treadle sewing machine, I'm sure without a pattern. Faded from the many times mama carried water, washed it on a rub board, and ironed it, it's now also yellowed with age, torn under both arms and has a few loose stitches from much wear. The little placket opening in the back never had a button and was held together with a safety pin.

It may not look like much to anyone else, but to me, it represents a lot of love. And, yes, I was a chubby baby. :)

Inspire Me Thurs & Tissue Carnation

The challenge for this week at inspire me Thursday was a handmade gift. I'm running a bit late on it. I was dressing an art doll to share, but ran out of time.

Yesterday, I got to thinking about my grandmother teaching me to make paper flowers when I was little (I'm going to write an article on my other blog about it soon), and wondered if I could still make them. I didn't have any crepe paper or colored tissues, so I used a white tissue, dipped in wc and let dry, then folded, cut, tied, and seperated into this little carnation. I used a wire bread tie, because that is what I had handy, and I put it in an old glass Vicks Salve jar. It just may turn up ON someone's gift at Christmas. :)

Have a great day!

IMT-Tables

The Inspire Me Thursday challenge this time is Tables, so I thought I'd share my art/writing/dining table with you. It's a little messy, but that's how I like it. It looks really good in this picture compared to what it looks like right now. :) I usually do my computer stuff and writing on one side of the table, my art stuff on the other, and other necessary "stuff" gets mixed together in the middle. :)

On second thought, I'll show you what it looks like right now (the bottom two pictures-sorry about the quality). Should I be ashamed? LOL

Needless to say, we do very little dining on this table. :)

IMT Challenge

This week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge is to use an Einstein quote. I chose "The most precious things in life are not those one gets for money" and digitally placed it on a favorite photo that I took through the dining room window one day. The photo quality is not great, but the scene kind of fit the quote, and it's true, the best things in life can not be bought. A noon day siesta in the shade with a loved one is one of those things. :)

I couldn't help but smile when I looked out the window and saw Tigger Top and Greybo spooning on the concrete rabbit bench in the shade. Yes, there are two cats on the bench if you look closely. The one behind is a light gray. :)

Inspire Me Thursday-Coffee Break

Entertaining myself in a 4th floor motel room in Paducah, KY while Jim (hubby) was attending classes for his job, I was doing one of my favorite things; drinking coffee while looking out the window daydreaming. :)


Anyway, I started playing around with my camera, my hand, my coffee cup, and the morning light. I came up with several interesting, at least to me, photos. I like the first one the best, but the silouhette in the second one is kind of interesting too, even if it's not a particularly good photo.

For this week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge I'm sharing my quiet time with you.





"Coffee Dreams"-Photos

IMT Challenge-Open Topic

This week's challenge at Inspire Me Thursday is open to anything creative that you want to share, so I thought I'd share this little painting of a girl and her bow that I did last week. I like her and I hope you do too. :)

"The Bow's Not My Only Problem"-art journal sketch/ptg-watercolor on wc paper, black sharpie -She was born of another one of my doodle sketches and she's about postcard size. The background is actually more of a minty green. I couldn't get it adjusted, but maybe she doesn't look too bad.

Perhaps that's why the frown. She's afraid she doesn't look her best. :)

Inspire Me Thursday Challenge-Nervous

"The Great Rabbitini"-art journal sketch in Moleskine journal-pencil & watercolor

This week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge is "Nervous." I thought this sketch might qualify. I would definitely be nervous in her shoes. :) This is my first time to participate in this challenge. The writing on the box is actually red. Don't know why it looks black.

I am also still participating in the Be Brave (click on button to the right) challenge by being brave about showing my sketches. This is the second challenge I've taken part in today. I'm proud of myself. It's a little scary. :)

Over The Slump

Well, I did kind of get over my creative slump finally. I wrote a three and a half page piece which has nothing at all to do with my writing assignment which is due in nine days and I've barely started (the second chapter of my novel). I just can't seem to get focused on it.

That's probably because I've been focused more on art the last few days. I have an art doll pattern cut out and the face drawn on (she's standing nearby glaring at me), but since she refused to be made out of the fabric I had in mind, I'm still looking for something to suit her.

I've also been re-working some artist trading cards that I wasn't happy with, plus I started a couple of new ones with my new face stamp. Love it! And I love my new alphabet stamps. I'll post some pics when I get the atc's finished.

This month's mojoart challenge is "Dreaming of Fall". I'm beginning to have an inkling of an idea for it. I have written a haiku poem, now I have to come up with a background collage for it. Only have a few more days though, so I'm going to have to work fast.

I read an article in the last Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine about making paper beads that I just had to try. They were gorgeous and really easy to make...and addictive. I made a dozen in just a few minutes. I just made the basic ones, but the article showed how to dip the basic ones in powders, tiny beads, etc, to make them even prettier. You can also cut really small strips of words, really thin wire or fiber, etc and wrap around the basic bead for decoration to make them more interesting. They're pretty sturdy too. A great way to use up pretty scrap paper. I plan to use mine for decorative purposes on altered art, journals, whatever, but they make pretty jewelry too.

For the basic bead you cut a triangle (1-1/2"x around 7" or 1/2"x 7") out of decorative paper, magazine pages, etc., wrap the wide end around a straw, knitting needle, etc a couple of times, put glue (I used gloss acrylic gel medium) on the back of the rest of the strip, and roll it on, trying to keep the point centered. You can rub a small amount of olive oil on the straw every so often to keep the beads from sticking to it. I also put a coat of gel medium all over the outside of the bead before drying. Hang on a string, wire, or I used a wooden skewer laid across something to dry. The gel medium makes them relatively hard, so they don't crush easily. You can also make them out of rectangle strips the same size. The thinner the paper the longer the strips should be, and the thicker the shorter. No two are exactly alike. Once dry they make pretty jewelry or decorative beads for art projects.

Plus, I did a simple design of three pears on a thin piece of linoleum and cut it out, which left a positive and negative pear trio design. Then I made prints of on various papers and in my sketchbook. Very simple design, but I like it. Thought I could use some of the prints for cards, collage, etc. I have several sizes of linoleum pieces cut out, ready to draw the design on and carve out. I just love making prints.

Also printed some in an altered book on printed pages, a work in progress, which looks cool, and a couple of hot pink ones in the sketchbook (my red ink wasn't handy, besides it's oil-based and would have taken forever to dry.

Sketchbook

pages.

I always have a bunch of things going at once. Sometimes I wish I could focus on one thing and get to be really good at it instead of being kind of good in so many different things. I want to try every new art technique or media I see, so I dabble in a little bit of everything. But sticking to one thing wouldn't be me, and I would get really bored, so I will continue to be a dabbler, or a Jill of all trades, I guess. :) Have a happy, creative day!