Day 31

Wow the days pass by quickly at the end of a trip.  I'm very thankful for the prep I did before I left.  More painted Instagram photos for ya.

M

Day 30

Happy birthday to my good friend DJ!

I love this one because you can still see the woman in the photo before I painted over her.  Am I allowed to pick favorites??

M

Day 29

Having a fun time with my niece and nephew.  Not anytime leftover to create so I'm glad I made up a bunch of things before I left home that I could post.

M

Day 28

Got a lot accomplished today.  Donations donated, groceries purchased, hardware sourced, and more things moved and cleaned up.  Moving always seems like it will take forever to finish!!

Day 27

I'm away this week, so I'm relying on things I created before I left to keep up with this 365 thing.  The only thing I created today was a well organized pantry for my sister who just moved.

Day 26

Better late than never.  The day was filled with foggy weather and canceled flights, so the only creating I got around to was this photo at the beginning of my day of travel, and a bunch of driving and flying to make it down to my sister's place.

Day 25

Ever work in the Oil & Gas industry in Alberta? 

If not, then you might want to check out this link for more information on W6
(that's "West of the 6th Meridian").  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Land_Survey

 

A left over sticker for a WellFile for a location somewhere West of the 6th from when I designed Access Databases for Records Management, and here we have today's offering. 

Hope it looks a bit like oil and other minerals.  At least, that's what I see.

 

»Michelle

Day 24

 

Look beneath the surface. 

There's a lot more going on that's not visible on the surface of daily life.

 

take a look

 

dive deeper

 

»M

 

 

Day 23

I read a book a while ago, Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals by Carla Sonheim. http://www.carlasonheim.com/drawing-and-painting-imaginary-animals/ 

It's pretty awesome.

 

On a trip, I packed up my wee book, pencils and pens, water colour pencils and a brush.  The book had one bit where you looked a cracks in sidewalks and made animals from the shapes.  Since I was on a plane, there weren't many sidewalks to look at, so I looked at some of my abstract painting for odd shapes.  And then I kept on making new animals.

 

Here we have a dog-sheep wolf-poodle who is sad, and not even his bright red shoes can cheer him up.  Poor guy.  Maybe, by the end of his walk around he will have found something to be thankful for, and will be a bit less sad, perhaps even hopeful. 

 

»Michelle

 

Day 22

I could use a cuppa tea while reading some art books.  Just deleted some photos from the Gallery and I can't seem to retrieve them.  Whoopsies.

Day 21

You never know what a box of old old paint is going to do. 

 

Chunky chunky paint.  I put the red down first, and then the blue once it had dried.  Then I sanded the blue off the high points of the red, added some white to the tops portions of the red, and presto!  Love it!!

 

»Michelle

 

Day 20

A nice day traveling around checking out old stuff, then crafty stuff and a bit of a photography lesson from a couple masters.

Not bad for a Tuesday.

>>M

Day 19

This one was a lot of fun...black and red swirls with silver overlaid in a haze.  

And it makes me want to sing "Don't stop believing...hold on to the bitter end!"

Day 18

I loved my friend

(S)he went away from me

There's nothing more to say

The poem ends

Soft as it began -

I loved my friend.

 

»Langston Hughes

 

Day 17

I'm in love with the Marg Simpson hair on these ladies I see inside the past couple pieces I've painted.  While I make no claim on being able to draw fussy things like hands or real-life faces, I can do a kimono with pockets for her hands and curly hair.  A beautiful day here on Vancouver Island. 

Time for a walk.

»Michelle

 

Day 16

Sorry, this will be an ear worm, but once you read the words on this piece, you're going to be singing the song.  Sorry.  But the sky looked like sun rays, and I found the little clock, and then...well, the song popped up and there was really no fighting it.

»Michelle

 

Day 15

Doing new art, for me, includes drawing...and this is a type of drawing.  I saw a woman in the shadows of paints and thought I would just outline her and play up what I saw.

»Michelle

 

Day 14

 “They wore blouses with buttons down the front that suggested the possibilities of the word undone. These women could be undone; or not. They seemed to be able to choose. ”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale

 



a great big button

 

 

like, as in, it's really really big!

Day 13

I don't listen to the news.

I don't read the news.

I don't watch the news.

I don't talk about the news.

 

So when news reaches me, it's pretty big news.

And usually, it's pretty awful news.

Which I can do nothing about.

 

And so, I create.

At least I can do that.

»M

 

 

Day 12

I see the moon and the moon sees me.

I don't have a lot of people wonder how I do what I do, but there are a few. 

First things first - it's acrylic paint. 
Second things second - I try to remain unattached to any one part until it's whole.

There is a large gap between starting and knowing when a piece is done.  Sometimes, things come together quickly and boom! it's done.  Other times, there are so many layers of paint on the piece because I've painted over failed attempts at awesomeness.  And then...

And then, there's a crest of a mountain.  And a moon.  And the decision to be made.  Stop, and let it be.  Or continue and see what else is there (and mess up what is currently there). 

This time, I stopped.  Sometimes I don't.
»M

Day 11

I'm quite interested in going farther than just paint on a substrate.  I drool over art journaling and thought "hey, I have stamps...I could use some stamps, right?"  So I did.

 

One thing you've not been able to tell with these posts is the depth of the material I'm working on.  Well, I'll tell you something funny.  I'm painting on photographs.  Mainly Instagram photos, but since I've just located a stash of other sized photos (below is 3.5x5) I'll be breaking out of the square box while I work my way through them. 

 

It's fun to see what, if any, of the photograph underneath remains.

 

»Michelle

 

 

Day 10

I could show you the large pile of accounting papers I have on my studio floor...but what fun would that be?  Instead, how about we take a look at something with colours similar to yesterday's piece? 

That seems like much more fun than accounting.

»Michelle

Day 9

I'd like to be

under the sea

in an octopus's garden

with you

Day 8

I could maybe post a photo of what I made today in the kitchen...but I've eaten most of the tray of Rice Krispy Squares, so it would be a bit of a let down.  :)

 

Here is today's offering. 

The other day in the photography club's meeting, they put up a slideshow with "Memories" playing while we looked at photos of flowers in a state of dying - it was very weird.

 

So when I saw this word in my stash of words, I had to use it!

»Michelle

 



Day 7

Everyday, this little owl shows up on my screens. 

So yes, I'm continuing on with my theme of stealing from people.  This one is by Il Sung Na (www.ilsungna.com) and is part of a background package for Microsoft.  However...this is my version of the owl.  Not really the same as Il Sung Na, but I had a lot of fun with it.  As you can see from the name I gave to this portrait - Aunt Flo.  I giggled.

Day 6

I do like a good set of words strung together.  Combined with colour and movement, and I like it even more.  I don't always see something in my paintings, as they are abstract and don't really have to have anything recognizable in them, but this time I see something.  Do you?

 

 

Day 5

 

Looks like I'm into stealing this week. 

Today's snippet of stolen goodness is a few words from Brene Brown.  If you haven't heard about her TEDtalk, I presume you have been living under a rock.  If that is the case, or in case you just want to view it again, here's the talk, in all its glory.  http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability?language=en

 

»Michelle

 

Day 4

I've always been fascinated with cows in art.  So common place they seem out of place as a subject.  But if a bowl of oranges can be art, why not a cow?  I've cheated here, as I've lifted the image from someone's painting.  But as I don't draw (ever) I'm going to go with this is OK since I'm on a learning curve.  Maybe by the end of the year (or before?) I'll be able to draw something without looking to someone else's.  Not bad, but my cow's face is considerable slimmer than it should be.

»Michelle

 

Day 3

I've recently made a bunch of napkins for my niece, and I wanted to see if I could edge them with embroidery floss, so I made this mini napkin, complete with mitered corners, and crocheted an edge onto a zigzag stitch right along the edge.  I'm quite happy with this mini napkin, and the real size napkin looks pretty great too!
» Michelle

Day 2

I'm having fun with this size of project.  Just long enough to feel creative, just small enough to get done in a reasonable amount of time.

 

365 Project

Happy New Year!

I've been thinking about doing something about the decided lack of creativity I've recently experienced with all this setting up a house and all that comes with it.

No more, I say!  Pull out the papers and the pens!  On with glitter and glue!  Paint and pop-dots galore!  Stencils and sewing, collages and cut-outs!  .... you get the general idea.

So onward with what I plan on doing for the next year....create something (anything) every day, and post that something here.  Might be art, might be a sewing project, might be crochet, might be photography...just something creative.

And here we go, people.  In cleaning up my studio, I had to go through the pens and found quite a few in a state of distress, so I cut them up and squished out the ink randomly onto a few papers.  Then I cut them up.  Then I wove some of them into a square and continued on with a little sewing and a little embellishment fitting for the first day of the year.

one

»Michelle