Creative Dawn

It is the last day of May and after today I have three months left in my posting goal.  I will continue to post on this blog, but after August it won't be every day.  So, yesterday we had a very small family gathering at my house.  My niece Kyra was the only kid and asked if I had anything for her to paint.  Of course I did!  She had three things to work on and was extremely content painting while the adults chatted.  I had to post her finished work they are so fun and she was so proud what she did.  Kids don't have any limitations and just do whatever. My other niece is a dancer and I drew this picture for her as a birthday gift.  It was fun to draw the ballet shoes, but they looked so plain so the dots were added.  The endless ribbon designs was fun to do as well they gave the picture more interest.  

First, a big thanks to all of our military on this Memorial Day.  There are not enough ways to let you all know how much you are all truly appreciated. I should have done a more patriotic theme post but there was nothing that came to mind to do so here is a fun pillow.  Geometric designs are some of my favorites, I love them.  This was actually inspired by another pillow that I saw in a store.  The design concept is simple but the results are very cool.  The back is just a bunch of felt strips but once it was finished it I like the results and had to post a picture of it.  This design that could be made with regular fabric and fusible web.  You could use fun patterns as contrasts.  That may be another project for me to do soon!

This is something that I have had for a while and had forgotten about it.  It was from the Goodwill originally and it was gold.  I had painted it last fall or summer and stuck it in a cupboard.  This is one of those projects that didn't turn out to my liking at first.  The purple, blue and gold are a great combination, but it just did not look right.  A few nights ago I rediscovered the tray and painted it in this beautiful powder blue shade.  The color for the edge was just an experiment, but it really complimented the blue.  The final design element was the patterns that are painted in white.  It is very simple but pretty.  It is now on my bathroom counter displaying lotion, soap and other miscellaneous objects.

I found another wooden napkin holder only this time it's just plain square.  Still not sure what to do with this one, maybe it can be used as a file holder.  Deciding on the color was the hardest part, I painted this first in white, then tan and finally brown.  The first idea for the design was more of a painted mosaic but for some reason the large and pin point dots seemed to fit.  It doesn't take as long as you would think to paint the tiny spots because you get into a rhythm once you start.  I think a real pointillist design is something to work on in the near future.  Seurat is my absolute favorite artist so it is only natural to want to paint in his style.  If I do try his style I wouldn't paint anything quite as large as what he did, that would take A LOT of patience.  Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist. -  George Seurat

On Wednesday, I posted a drawing that was a bit like Miro's style.  I really liked the drawing a lot so today, I painted something similar to it.  This is an 8 x 10 canvas that was .99 from the Goodwill.  If you have kept up with my blog, you know that interesting shapes and fun colors are preferrences of mine and this picture is exactly that.  After looking at it, there are some similarities also to Keith Haring.  Loved all of his work, so vibrant and exciting to look at. When it is working, you completely go into another place, you're tapping into things that are totally universal, completely beyond your ego and your own self. - Keith Haring

I am the oldest of 26 cousins.  When it comes to gender, we girls out number the boys by a lot!  Including my brother, there are five boys.  Because of this, I have become an expert on Wedding and baby showers.  At a past job and at events such as these, I am the game queen.  I LOVE coming up with new and interesting games and it is a necessity when you have been involved in so many showers.  In the future I may post a few more ideas, but today am going to limit it to five.  Really, I should write a book on showers.  Some of these ideas may be things you have heard of but it's nice to have a quick reference.  1.  Rice & Safety Pins This is a tricky one and better in smaller showers because it can take a while.  In a bowl put about a cup and a half to two cups of uncooked rice and add a small package of safety pins.  Blindfold your guest and see how many pins they can find in a minutes time.  It is trickier than it sounds. 2.  It's All White You will need flour, sug

Another day of blogging!  Soon, I will be down to three monthes left!  There are so many new ideas and styles that have come from this experience.  I love the fact that even after so many years of being an artist I can still learn and grow.  I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music. - Joan Miro Doodling creates the most interesting designs.  This particular picture reminds me of the artist Joan Miro.  The shapes are similar to his style.  I really like this drawing because to me it is both simple and complex.  What I would like to do is to recreate this or something like it in a large painting.  I can picture the finish project in my head. 

With every decade there are trends in decorating.  In the nineties there was southwestern, cows, pigs, apples and my mom's favorite white geese.  She had just about everything you could imagine with a geese theme and the color that was associated with them was a cornflower blue.  Seriously it looked like the theme exploded in her house.  She even had sheets and a bedspread with the goose motif.  This was is a mail holder that I got from her, it was in the basement collecting dust and I decided to do my magic on it and update it.  This is once again a project that I painted in a different color before settling on the brown.  I love accenting brown with light blue because it looks great together.  I am not sure if the original purpose of this piece still works.  With the color scheme it would look nice in my small bathroom and maybe useful for something other than mail.  We will see what becomes of it, but it really looks more modern without the geese.

This was an idea from a craft book that I got some time ago.  The pencils were from the dollar bins at Target and cost $2 for all of them.  The colors were bright and fun, perfect for this project.  The frame is from Michael's and was a $1.  I left frame unpainted because it was getting covered up anyways.  Using a wire cutter, I scored the pencils in the middle and then broke them in half.  The part that drove my husband crazy was when it came time to sharpen all of them using an electric sharpener.  The pencils were hot glued in place and lined up towards the center of the frame.  This would also be a fun thing for kids to do using regular glue.  I wouldn't want to have them burn their fingers using a glue gun.  Have a great day and don't forget to live life creatively!

It was a dark and stormy night...it was really, we had storms all night and it has been thundering and lightning today as well with a few tornado warnings and watches mixed in.  Welcome to spring in Minnesota!  I can't complain because I actually like watching storms, the sky turns such interesting colors.  Right now there is rain but you can see the sunlight through the cloud cover and it is getting brighter by the minute.  Yes, I will complain when it is 100 degrees and July and -10 in January but the change of seasons and weather patterns are a few of the things that I love about this state. My post for today is kind of a stylized cutout rose picture.  I drew flower with white pencil on the brown cardstock and then using my small scissors cut out the design.  This one took a while because it was more complex and I also was trying to be careful not to snip through any of the thin 'borders' of the pattern.  The easy part was attaching the colored paper to the back.  

When I was a kid, my mom used to take ceramic classes, it was a popular thing to do in the seventies.  This type of statue called the smiley were everywhere and came in every theme possible.  Most of the statues were of a sports theme and people painted them for high school grads and for sports fans in the appropriate team colors.  There were also ones depicting different professions or hobbies.  This statue is a housewife and definitely not a modern portrayal of women now days.  This one I found at the Goodwill awhile ago partially painted.  Originally I was going to just paint it in normal colors but the other day a better idea came to mind.  The idea was to paint it in a random pattern but I wasn't sure what would work.  After painting it in a solid color, I decided to use Van Gogh type of brush strokes.  It is very different and I don't think that anyone in the seventies would have come up with this for their smiley.  

A quick post because I am currently working on about three or four different things at the same time.  This is common when I paint because of the drying time.  If there are more than one project that is in progress, then waiting for the paint to dry isn't as big of a deal.  This was a bargain frame that just needed a bit more fun added to it.  A coat of black paint was the first order of business and then the idea of adding polka dots just seemed to fit.  This is something that anyone can do and is a quick update to an old frame.  The silhouette picture was a last minute idea.  I wasn't sure what to do with the frame, but the picture was the perfect addition.

I thought this was a fun title for my post today.  I have never watched the painting show, but know the gist of it.  I was admiring all of the blossoming trees on a recent drive home and that was my inspiration. The tree is cut out of a patterned scrapbook paper because the design is fun.  It was then placed against a blue patterned background.  This is one that took way longer to cut out than it did to draw.  The swirling style is definitely a trademark element of mine if you haven't noticed by now. 

 BEFORE AFTER This was a Goodwill find for 3.99 and I love the size and shape of the picture.  Of coarse I had to paint over it, but it was not an original anyways.  The frame is not changed because the white really looked good with the colors of the painting.  It started with a coat of green paint and then once it was dry I taped off two different 'borders'.   The outer design is just dots that were created by dipping the end of a brush into the paint and then adding the dots in a random design.  The next design is a pretty shade of moss green and has kind of a mosaic quality to it.  The inner most design is just lines and for some reason reminds me of Eddie Van Halen's guitar.  This painting is about 12x36 and fits perfect on a small side wall in my dining area.  It is so fun adding things to the decor of my home at a fraction of the cost most people pay and also not needing to shop around for a specific design, I just make it!

This chair was given to me by my mother-in-law.  She wanted me to paint a Vikings theme for my stepson on it.  It is a great idea but this chair is a bit too dilapidated for anyone to sit on.  I am going to use it as a plant stand so I just painted it in a fun and random style.  When the chair came into my possession it already had paint spots and splatters all over it.  I added the swoops in green, black and pink and then decided that more splotched and spots would look even better.  This is the final result and now I have an interesting plant stand.

Lately, I have been wanting to do larger paintings and drawings but was unable to find anything budget friendly in a large scale.  I started looking around my home for anything that would work and then realized that the perfect piece was my nightstand table top.  This was purchased at Ikea a few years ago and is the removable top to small dresser that I use as a bedside table.  The design influence is obvious, definitely one of my favorites, Pablo Picasso.  It started from doodling my initial 'D' and grew from there.  If you look at the eyes you may be able to see a letter 'D'.  As the doodle grew, it started to resemble something in the Picasso style so I went with it.  This is a great piece to add to my decor and I am excited about it.  Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions - Pablo Picasso

I thought that it might be fun to draw nail polish bottles.  The shapes can vary and the possibilities are endless.  I created five different designs and think they are kind of fun.  The pictures are smaller so the addition of the blue mats was necessary.  They will look great displayed over my vanity table once they are framed.  At times when looking at my own work an idea comes to mind, these would be great in a large scale at a beauty salon.  That would be another career idea for me, custom art for businesses.  If anyone is out there, let me know!

I was looking at a magazine and started to doodle because of a picture that inspired me.  It was a peacock design with a seventies style and it was really cool.  I tried different techniques but ended up using some of my standby design element.  The green paper really enhanced the picture and after adding the white then paisley borders it stood out even more.  It is in a way complex but so simple.  In the back of my mind there are a few more ideas involving this type of bird design.  Maybe in felt...hmm...  Just kidding about the felt, but I just had to mention it.  LOL Side note for the day, being in the state of hockey, Minnesota, it was sad when I heard the news about Derek Boogaard.  It was fun to watch him when he was with the Wild and will be greatly missed.  Thanks for the memories.

This is the official post for 5/13.  I am glad that blogger only was delayed for a day.  I cannot imagine catching up on a weeks worth of posts if that had happened. I had the idea a while back to put bookmarks randomly at the library and here is my felt version of one.  This will probably be put in a kids book because it is bright and fun.  For a bit more weight to this and to cover up the stitching on the back, there are two pieces of felt sewed together.  It is a simple project and would be good for kids to do as well.  It would work great for church groups or girl scouts.  There's another fun idea, I should find away to teach kids crafts.  I may have to look into that.  Kids can be so much more creative than adults because they are more free in their thinking.  Definitely need to check out my options soon.  

Today I have to create two posts because I was unable to do any yesterday with blogger having issues.  It was a bit frustrating, but things like this happen and are beyond our control.  This post and the one that follows today are involving felt.  Remember, the new book?  I promise that after today the posts will not be about felt for a bit.  This is a fun bright pillowcase/pillow sham.  I don't know if this is something that I would want to sleep on because it is more decorative.  It is so bright and cheery to look at.  Some of the great things about working with felt are that you can do anything with it, cut it in any shape and there are so many colors available.  It even can be purchased by the yard for larger projects such as Christmas tree skirts or wall hangings.  I know, I am a felt nerd what can I say, but it is something that is never boring to work with.  Yes, rambling on, sorry!  Maybe I should right my own book and then my blog wouldn't be overrun by felt crafts

Every creative endeavor is not always successful.  I have had this idea for a while and have been trying to figure out how to do it.  I wanted to make a lampshade with playing cards.  There was finally a lampshade that seemed to be perfect but after I made this, it didn't work out as well as I would have wanted.  My post today was in theory a good idea, but the final product wasn't great.   I used packing tape to hold the cards together and used jewelry jump rings to attach them to the top of the shade.  It doesn't hang right and is a bit odd right now.  What that means is there will at sometime in the future be another post with a successful card lampshade. It's like experimenting in science, you try different combinations and have varying results until you get it right.

It is storming in parts of Minnesota now, there are fabulous light shows, thunder and hail all around us.  Welcome to spring!  It was sunny and warm today finally and now the storms are rolling in.  While I don't want to be out in this weather, it is interesting to check out the skies from the safety of my home.  The sunset with the dark clouds was a brilliant orange and absolutely beautiful tonight.  So, yesterday I told you about my new book of felt ideas, beware, it is getting addictive for me so there may be a few posts in a row of felt.  This is a fun little pillow that I made with a butterfly.  There was no pattern, I just started cutting until the shapes looked right.  It is really small so I may add a ribbon so that it can hang from a door or hook.  It is just adorable and fun for spring. :)

On a recent trip to my local Goodwill store, I found a small book on felt crafts for a dollar.  There are some great ideas and it was exciting for me to find it.  Idea number one is a book cover that has a cute kitty on it.  It definitely has a retro feel to it.  Couldn't you picture it on a fifties style skirt?  What I decided to do was to make a book cover for a small photo album that I had.  There is a pattern in the book for the cat, but I just made my own pattern freehand using the picture as a guide.  This would also make a cute pillow, you could make the cats in different colors and backgrounds then sew them together.  Hm...future idea! Look for a few more ideas from my newly found felt book soon!  I cannot wait to make the projects in it.  :)