Art Every Day Month

I've decided to stop numbering the days because if I miss a day of doing art, the numbers draw attention to that fact, and that stresses me out! So, we know that this month is Art Every Day Month, and we're just gonna DO it and post it when we can :)

The children slept in this morning (WHY couldn't I?), so I decided we'd devote the rest of the morning to art. Here's my crazy little nose-ring girl getting ready:

And here is some of the work we produced . . . DD8's collage on canvas:

DS11's clay figures:

My water colour painting featuring -- what else -- a tree!

My butterfly made from more of those leaves I pressed last year. I did a brush-over with gel medium to help preserve them as well as give them a shine:

I'm all geared up! What other art could I create today????????????

Art Every Day - Day 2

I wasn't sure I'd get much art work done today, so when we went for our Morning Glories Walk this morning, I took along the camera thinking I might work on the fine art of photography while we were out and about on a beautiful day.

As you can see, I've still got trees on my mind . . .

There just seemed to be so much colour and texture concentrated in this one spot:

I've gone back to using our old camera, with which I find it much easier to take pix with a focal point and a blurred background. Here are a few things that just caught my eye:

This evening I had a chance to just sit and chat with DD13, and since it's sometimes easier to talk while your hands and eyes are occupied, we both set about using our sketch books -- she to look through old drawings, and I to try capturing a concept I'm repeatedly telling my children, and my husband reminded of me today.

I scanned this one instead of taking a picture of it, but it still turned out dingy, for which I apologize.

Any tips for my faces? They frustrate me! (But I'm not going to camp out on that frustration ;-)

Art Every Day - Day 1

While it couldn't come at a worse time in terms of craziness of life, Art Every Day Month couldn't come at a better time in terms of craziness of life! I'm not going to stress over doing art every day; I'm going to use it to de-stress. If there are days I don't get any art done this month -- that's OK. But I sure am going to enjoy doing what I do! :)

I was so keen to get started, that I began a day early! I've been noticing the changing trees lately, and trying to make use of my observational skills. I never seem to have my sketchbook with me when I'm out in front of a tree, though, so I drew this tree from the details I tried to imprint on my memory while I was sitting for a moment studying a tree that had almost lost all its leaves:

Of course, it doesn't capture what I saw, but that's OK. I actually wish I'd had some paint with me when I was studying that tree. It was night time, and the sky had that distinct fall heaviness to it, the clouds weighted with winter on its way.

When I was tired of trying to improve my fall tree, I moved on to playing with designs for other kinds of trees. I don't know what it is with me and trees these days -- I'm just fascintated by the different ways they can be prepresented in art.

Then I tried some blind contour drawings:

I apologize for the lousy photo quality of these pix!



I've decided that on the days I'm not inspired to do something different this month, I will  use Carla Sonheim's Drawing Lab book to accomplish my art every day. I'm a little uptight about doing things in order, but I may have to let that go and just do the ones that are convenient for any given day. So here is Lab 3, entitled, "My Pet Project." I didn't pay attention to the instructions when I was drawing Caspian draped on the arm chair -- I wasn't supposed to go for any details. The goal was to draw your pet in action with loose sketches, but the lazy beast was just hanging out. Of course he left before I could get too much done anyway. The drawing in the bottom left corner is an attempt to capture Nikita grooming her tummy. Ya. Not so much.

Have any of you decided to join me and the others doing Art Every Day? I do hope so! I look forward to seeing what others are up to!

Monday Musings on the Creator in Me

Colour Your World

One of the things I love about fall is the vast array of colours with which nature is painted. Enjoying them this season has got me to thinking about how important colour is to me. When we first moved into our home, ALL the walls were WHITE. Now, I rather like the look of an all-white room in certain contexts. But given the fact that most of our furniture is dark, the white walls made everything seem far too stark and institutional. We thought we would tolerate that until the following summer, when we would have more time for decorating. However, we found that we just -- couldn't -- live -- with white walls! They felt so cold and un-homey. When you live in a cold and un-homey environment, you never feel -- well -- at home. So putting some colour on the walls soon became a top priority.

Here are some other ways we have tried to bring colour into our home . . .

Garlands laced with mini lights and seasonal colours above the sliding doors in the kitchen:

(Eeeewwww that's a spider web up in the corner there. Didn't notice it until I'd already uploaded the picture -- which takes forever or I'd re-edit and change it! Sorry to gross you out -- window cleaning is not my forte :{)


Throws and quilts over neutral coloured furniture (I love this quilt, made by my dear friend, Susan.):

Vases, clippings from nature, and knick-knacks:

Door mats: 

Candles and table garlands:

Pretty plates:

Flowers and dangly things on ugly chandeliers:



Other ways include tablecloths, placemats, napkins, pictures . . .

What are some of YOUR favourite ways of bringing colour into your world? I'd love to hear about them! Please leave a comment below :)