#2885 I am an artiste (teehee)

Happy Wednesday! Tonight I'd like to share some of the little art projects I have done in the past month. It makes me feel happy to express my creativity in these wee doodles and watercolor pieces.

This first pic is a collage of some little doodles that I sketched in my work notebook. Typically, I'll have a couple of minutes when a report is generating, or if I'm waiting for an online meeting to start. I'll open Pinterest and sketch whatever pops up that catches my eye. The doodle of the child with the dog and the little person in the lower right corner are based on art by Jane Massey. Her illustrations are so cute!

These next five pieces are watercolors that were in response to prompts by Jill the Artist.

In this first painting, the prompt was that it was raining, but not rain. I decided it was raining chocolate chip cookies, and similar to how dust-bowl folks set out rain barrels to catch water, I set out a giant cookie jar to catch cookies. I wanted to make the sky sort of cotton candy-ish colors. This was fun, and I didn't even have to go to Pinterest to get an idea about what I wanted.

The prompt for this one was "floating."  I had a few different ideas, then I referred to Pinterest and saw similar art, and fell for this idea. I thought it would be fun to do and it was! I like the colors of the water and the brave little paper boat with a wee orange flag. I also like the stars. The white pen is quite fun to use!

Jill's prompt for this next one was to choose an object from a cartoon movie and do it however seems fun. I immediately thought of Aladdin's lamp, and dutifully hummed Friend Like Me while drawing and painting. I was hoping for kind of a cubism look; I don't know if that's what I achieved, but I like the way it looks and I had a blast doing it!

The next prompt was a still life. MT and I were in Winnemucca, NV having dinner at a Mexican restaurant near the hotel. I had a beer, chips, salsa, and beans while waiting for the entrée, and I thought it would make a fun still life. To add to the fun factor, I drew it all with my left hand, though I painted it with my right hand. No, I didn't draw and paint it right there at the dinner table. I took a photo, then used it to do the drawing back in the room. 

The prompt for the next painting was Hershey's kiss. I thought it would be fun to kinda model Picasso's dove carrying a kiss instead of an olive branch. I drew this with my right hand, but in a technique Jill calls "partial blind." Basically, you just look at whatever you are drawing from and only rarely glance at the page. I like my chonky little dove! I'm also a big fan of just smearing some paint on the page for interest and movement.

A couple more...

I wanted to make a co-worker a birthday card with a plant on it, but I couldn't really figure out exactly what I wanted to do. I get my mind going, I pulled out my sketchbook, divided the page in four spaces with some washi tape, and started having fun. The plant on the top left I sketched first, then painted. The rest of them were just straight paint. The one in the bottom right started with flicks of paint. I wet my brush and started pulling it through the paint to make petals. I'm still working on technique and learning what I like. I actually think the flowers in the pink pot were done the same way. It's just fun!

Here is the card that I gave my friend. I painted first, but it seemed kinda flat and lifeless, so I set it aside to maybe cut up for a different project in the future. Then I was writing or reading, and I kept glancing over at the little card. What if I took my pen and sort of zazzed it up a bit? I did that, then set it aside again. I kept looking at it, and I thought that I would be happy if someone gave me that card. I drew the box around it and called it good. 

I say this all the time...I am always surprised and delighted by how much pleasure and joy I get from making these little paintings and doodles. Similar to my journals and planners, the painting and drawing makes me happy now, and isn't it a blessing to find something that makes one feel fulfilled  and creative? I am so thankful to Lizzie for suggesting the trip to Greece for the creativity retreat with Jill, and to Jill herself for the fun prompts. Her Underground group is amazing in their support and kind words. 

xoxo