new favorites!

suede 35

above and below (pages 35 and 36) are 2 of my new favorites. i'm liking using straight lines with imperfect and unbalanced forms, it feels strong...and who doesn't adore pomegranates? truly one of the prettiest and most delicious fruits in existence...

this mandala is my fave because i went askew and used colors asymmetrically. i think it makes the whole thing move just a little, it has an energy. it's off in a few places, but that's because it's human...lol...have i said i love mandalas? ♥

 

suede 36

 

reality

suede 23

mandalas have a sort of rule: 

you start in the middle and go around, adding, and making it grow - that satifies and centers me. it gives me the freedom to make the same details over and over and around, leaving me to just come up with colors and a way to finish it off. it's like following the lines of a street. i stick to the edge, working one layer at a time. it gives me a way to channel my obsessive need to control. i like to make off-center mandalas like this, to allow a peak at the surrounding atmospheres....

suede 22 and 20

paisleys give me very small areas to fill. boundaries are all important in my drawings: outlines and limits. i believe this need is a fight against my brain trying to control me. i turn on it and try to show i'm stronger. :)

suede 18

i have loved sugar skulls since the first time i saw them, and think that drawing them has even made me fear death a little less. (well, that and my newfound freedom from religion, which partially came about as a rebirth of my love and adoration for science). funny thing, though, i thought i would be more grounded in reality...turns out my mind doesn't play well with reality....

 

lettering and layers

 page 49

even mandalas are layered! :)

pages 47,46

the writing on the left is actually journaling, intentionally difficult to read, for my eyes only. still, using journaling in your artwork is a way to both detail a background and include the most personal part of yourself. the best part is you can be sloppy if, like me, you are extremely OCD about your handwriting....

pages 50, 48

these two pages are side-by-side so you can see my layering obsession. layering in organic lines as opposed to straight lines takes away the pressure of perfection. i do it more because i love the lines nature uses in almost all of it's creations. i would love to go on and on about things like fractals and chaos and other mathematical sequences that are universal, but as much as i love science, i know nothing about any of it, except that i have seen examples and admire the beauty of it all.

little challenges (pages 26-30)

 page 28

this was a challenge to not repeat

 pages 26 and 29

these were challenges to leave a white background,

then to use no black outlines

 

 pages 27 and 30

a challenge to not fill-in the whole page,

and to mandala the whole page using at least one pattern i'm not fond of 

(in this case the leaf skeletons)

inspired!

 

 

so, here it is. my last post as someone trying to come off as a happy, well-adjusted "artist" type person. i can't live anymore without making art.  it takes a large part of my time.  most of that time i like to be alone or not bothered. my kids and husband and family suffer, if you call not having me in their face "suffering" (i call it a blessing!)...

here are my first two collages since i made the conscious decision to start making them again. i have been inspired by scrapiteria, fantasyrooms, and craftydogma TO JUST NAME THREE!!!  actually, here is my flickriver box and link-mania where you can spend the rest of your week dreamily gazing at some of the most awesome artists' work....THANK YOU to all of those who so willingly put their hearts out there to share talent we would have never seen if it wasn't for this thing we call the INTERNET (loud deep voice with slight echo).

ps: for more descriptive anecdotes about these pieces, please jump over to my flickr. thanks for stopping by!

new direction, kinda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

so since i think my drawings are getting boring, i decided to try harder to add some dimension or substance. i feel ok that these are an improvement, and am newly refreshed and addicted to ACEO-sized pieces. i will even try a bit larger size, postcard or even a few of my vintage book boards. i'm laughing because i would like to do a few ACEOs horizontally, but my OCD is preventing it. i assume ahead of time that it won't work, that it will be odd due to the standard-ness of the trading card.

as far as color, i think it's amusing that "my" colors are really all muted, natural tones. you can't find red or orange anywhere in my house.              

ok.  i'm lying. right this instant i am wearing a red t-shirt. it has paint on it, though, so it isn't official enough to count. i prefer the serenity of earth tones and the peace they bring to my mind. tonight i will use my new colored pencils. i made sure, even though it was unsettling, that i picked some bright colors. i like the brightness of my pieces, so having the option to work in more muted or blended tones will be interesting.  

see? i'm already obsessing.

 

 

  

one more mandala and a 2 x 2 incher. i reeeally like how the greys turned out.  i used my bics and sharpies, including the new cafe colors (latte?) i don't do coffee, but i loove these new shades. i have enjoyed some of the monotone detail drawings i have found on flickr, i wonder what it would do to my system to work in one shade for the whole piece...

OH, WAIT!

i forgot to mention that i worked on my my FLICKR page, and now have all the things i have posted here (art-wise) on my FLICKR page so that whoever doesn't want to read stuff can go there to view everything together.  the colors actually look better here, because if you watch the slideshow version of FLICKR, the black is nice, but the size reduces the clarity too much.

but i have to say, that i am COMPLETELY HOOKED on FLICKR and have been trying to soak up as much art and photography as possible, building up my favorites list.  i will be posting both my FLICKR and ETSY favorite sellers badges here on my site, prolly on the LINK page. (i'm not overusing the word FLICKR anymore).

more ACEOs and mandalas

  

  

i'm stuck on making these little things.  they are the perfect size for my attention span.  i wish there were more colors in fine tip markers to work with, at least ones i can afford! more hues and shades of the same colors would be fine. someone at bic and sharpie should get on that.  

i have also been setting up my flickr sets, so if anyone comes and wants to read, they can, or they can go straight to the colored stuff. i made tags, and i have a nice favorites collection, and again, i have trouble leaving when i start looking through others' collections...i drown in all the awesome art and photographs.  i am going to set up a FLICKR badge to show off my favorite items by other flickr members. i also have to put up an ETSY favorites badge....and then there's the ETSY store i promised myself...

so, since i can't seem to get past this phase, i will try to make myself do something new. i'd like to pull out an old bookboard and alter it with my new caran d'ache neocolor IIs.  or should i try the oil pencils....

inchies.....group 3

 

 

 

these i made just because i am addicted to inch-work.  it's amazing therapy...tuning out excessive thought and focusing on minutia.  some of them are on bazzill cardstock, thus the texture, which dries my pens out quite rapidly!  the top sacred hearts are on recycled cardboard packaging (uh, yes, tissue boxes rule, ashley!).  while i do love the textured bazzill, it's too hard for me to work with on this scale, and i want my pens to last longer than one inch.... 

thanks for viewing.

ACEO batch 2

 

 

 

~these are my most recent ACEOs.

i made a few mandala-style designs and tried using my prismacolor blender to haze some of the backgrounds, and i really like how it looks next to the non-blended hard lines.

i sooo wish bic would make more new colors - more light colors. the sharpies seem too heavy, i think the bics have a nice clear color.

i have been trying to gather opinions and suggestions for some new markers. of course, cost is an issue, but i might just buy single prismacolors in the lighter shades i don't have, using my hobby lobby coupons. i love the tips on my microns, and the control i have with ink flow. i did just purchase 2 pitts, fine and superfine, after reading about them on blogs/flickrs....can't wait to crack those open!   any recommendations on markers would be appreciated.

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