Summer of Color - Blue

My printer is driving me NUTS!  It's obviously PMS and not speaking to my computer--no way, no how.  Since my printer is an "all in one" it's now an "all in one FAIL".  I now have to scan to a flash drive and then download the picture onto my computer.  Grrrr...  Because I am not big on taking that much time to do anything technical, I have not been posting my art lately.  Said art has consisted almost exclusively of zentangle swaps.  I LOVE to zentangle--there is a finished project quick!  Just my style.

When Kristin at Twinkle Twinkle blog announced she was hosting a "Summer of Color"  I knew I had to jump in.  A push was needed!  Every monday she gives us "the color" and the sky's the limit from there--at least that's my interpretation.  Any sort of art, any sort of medium.  And the bonus of it all is that there are prizes (I LOVE prizes!!!) in the form of art supplies (I LOVE art supplies!!!).

It's free to join in the fun!

The first weeks color was blue.  Hmmmm.... not a color I usually choose to work in.  Oh yea, the "push", right.  Hey there's that blue page in the journal that I made--sounds like a great place to start.

There are stacks of ephemera in my studio that I don't ever use because "I really should get it color copied"--that way I could use it in multiple pieces of art, right?  Well, having put the PRO in procrastination, it never gets copied or put into art.  "Push".  I opened up one of those children's books with such amazing bright colors and cut right in.  What a rush!  A sense of freedom!  Scary!

Paint, glue, papers, stencils, markers, glitter & dirty hands.  So much fun.  Thank you to Kristin at Twinkle Twinkle blog for the push.  I'm looking forward to 9 more weeks of COLOR.

Chunky French House

One of the swaps I joined was for a "chunky house".  These are sturdy little houses decorated for a particular theme.  As I was getting a bit bored with ATC's, I thought this would be a fun challenge.  It was a challenge for sure!  The cardboard I used was very curly and I had a hard time keeping it flat even with medium/paint/gesso on both sides.  We were asked to do 2 French Themed houses for one partner.  I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be linked together, but I like them that way.

The little doors and windows open to an interior scene.

Swap Bot Gnomeo Journal Page

This page cracks me up--so easily amused!  A movie star riding their moped becomes Gnomeo riding a moped--so silly.  I'm obviously into Dr. Seuss quotes these days.

More Teesha style collage...

The two pieces I had started in Teesha's class are finished.  Yea!  Now what to do with them??? There are quite a few art journal pages floating around the studio and I have been thinking of ways to bind them into a journal.  Anyway, here are the completed pages from class.

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At Swap Bot I'm hosting a collage swap--my first time to host!  We are swapping art journal pages with favorite quotes.  Here is the one I have done-ish -- feels like it's still calling for something...

Teesha Moore's Collage Class!!!

WOW!!! What a great day at Teesha's Art Annex in Seattle.  I am so inspired to do more collage.  Teesha's art is so fun and whimsical with lots to explore in each piece.  She had us moving from the moment we stepped in the door.  She loosened us up with some round-robin style collage with our table mates.  Then a simple collage scene.  She taught us some great techniques and explained to us what her favorite tools are and why.  Teesha also shared some of her own collage pages and some fun imagery for us to use in our own art.  Do I sound enthusiastic?  I am!

Here are a couple of the projects that I worked on while at the class.  I have not filled in the journaling part--that will happen another day.

Under the Sea ATC Swap

This was so fun to do.  I love working with watercolors!  The gal I was sending to really likes whales, especially Orca's.  But, all the ones I drew looked goofier than my turtle--Mr. Long Arms!

Re-use, Recycle, Re-Purpose ATC swap

 Even though this wasn't an actual Valentine swap, it is that time of the year!
Given the swap theme, I just had to put all those shiny little foil wrappers to good use.  Here's the run down:

• background (stripe) is the inside of an envelope (from a bill, of course!) painted red
• foil and "Kisses" banner is pretty obvious :-)
• the little cherub girl is a copy of my Great Aunt Ora's Valentine stash--i'm guessing from the 1930's
• The hearts are made from some old book pages painted and tied on with pearl cotton

Here's the link to Swap-Bot