I made the call for contents of your purse on my Shannon's Studio Facebook page at the beginning of the week. (You should really "like" it and be a part of it.) Several people commented and many left a list. That's what I was looking for. It's part of a larger project that I'll talk about later but I needed to post this even though it's not done. This project is taking waaaaaay longer than I expected. I've been working on it all day and I started with the yesterday. I know it doesn't seem like much but believe me it is. You'll see by the text it's called, "Mysteries of a Mom Purse". It's a page with a flap and this is what it looks like closed. And this is what it looks like opened. I took all the lists and tried to put everything listed into the drawing. I didn't have pepper spray and for the life of me could not find gum or hand sanitizer in our house, which I know we have. I find enough gum smashed into the floor. And at this very moment I realized I didn't put in the diaper. I've carried a diaper in my bag for so many years. I will remedy that. We used to call one of my purses, "the black hole" because it was so big and held so much stuff. I've since downsized since I don't have babies. Now, I need to do a count of what's in there. This is a close up of the front flap where I'm listing the people who contributed. (I just need to add Wade's name since he suggested 'weapons' if he had a purse.) I asked for their permission to use their names though they didn't know why. I may change it up a bit but this is the general idea. Thanks to all my Free-for-all-Friday friends you'll have to check what I added from your list. If you want to be part of the collaborative art projects then check in at the beginning of the week (monday or tuesday here or at Shannon's Studio FB page) to see what I'm looking for and check back Friday. It's that easy. And fun.
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Free-for-all-Friday is here early this week. With a little help. I've wanted to try out what another painter does. He's Dave DeVries and he runs Monster Engine. He takes children's drawings and turns them into paintings. He asks kids to make monsters and then takes it to another artistic level. I'm not into monsters but love'd the transformative idea. To see what I mean here's some of his work. Well, you can see where I'm going with this. One mom sent in her kid's drawings this week after I asked. I didn't ask for monsters because I didn't want to do that. I didn't know what I'd get or how I'd do any transformation. I figured I'd just see what happened. That's what Free-for-all-Friday is all about - collaborative experimentation. This is nothing like I usually do but here you go... Eliza & my painting. When I saw Eliza's drawing I just loved it. (Thanks Eliza for letting me experiment with your artwork.) It was perfect on it's own but I was excited to try this transformation out. I kept faithful to her drawing but added color and a story. I call the painting Me & the Moon - Our Midnight Celebration. Since I just ended my 50th birthday celebration last week this just seemed fitting. The photo's a little dark since it wasn't that light out this morning when I took it.
I kept the same dark color palette DeVries uses. The only thing I wish I did differently was to put a face on that moon. Which I leave the right to go back and do. This doesn't look like anything I normally do but it was such fun. I may have to try this again sometime. Do you think I should? Here's a DIY project - personalized plastic notebooks and folders. It's quick and easy with all kinds of possibilities. It's also pretty easy for kids to do. I'm going to be doing a few more for school coming up. Here's how. I got my mini notebook from Office Depot but you can get them at any number of places. The same thing with the plastic folders. Just make sure your covers are clear enough to see through. Here's the folder. I've included a download of the alphabet that I used as well as full words if you work with Young Women. You can move the alphabet printout under the cover to spell out the words that you want. Hope this is a fun addition to your DIY projects.
On the road most of the day today. Makes it hard to make art. That's when pencil saves the day. This week might see a lot of the basics of pencil drawing. And babies are always an easy draw for me so work especially well on days like. Here's today's 50th Birthday Celebration portrait - 10 of 50.
It's the middle of summer and I'm thinking snowflakes. I did my first how-to demo video (with Wade's help) and you can find it here. It's DIY watercolor snowflakes. So easy. It's adaptable to any age. Hopefully taking it up a notch makes it so adults might like to try too. We were doing the video for a specific reason and we couldn't include these idea images in it. So, I thought I'd share it here. Sometimes it's hard to come up with ideas once you do the artwork. I took the project pieces from the video and turned them into these. Maybe this will spark a few of your own uses. Or you can just stick with putting it on a shelf just because you like it that way. What would you do with your artwork?
I spent most of a week at Girls Camp. I knew I'd have a little down time here and there so I brought along some watercolors and water color paper. First, I do a little pencil drawing doodle, go over it with permanent marker, then erase. Next, I go over it with watercolors. Very easy. The girls liked the ones I was doing so I did them each little individual ones with their names and some quality they have. Hope this gives you a little watercolor inspiration.
I saw this image on Pinterest in my explorations. It's an umbrella with the Mary Poppin's song, A Spoonful of Sugar, lettered all over it. I thought Leen Sadder did a clever job with it. Then I said to myself, "Self, I want to do one." So I am. Thought the spoonful of sugar song is delightful but I decided on quotes and sayings about art. I designed the lettering in InDesign, printed it, and placed it under the umbrella. I traced over it with a black sharpie®, fine tip and regular. Then filled it in. I've designed all the panels and have finished three of them so far. Here is the first panel. It rained the day before yesterday so I was able to test run it. And there were no smears or runs. Yay. One artist tip. If you try this (which is really a lot of fun) decide if you want to write on the inside or outside of the umbrella. Leen did it on the inside, see below, so you can see the writing when looking at the person under the umbrella. I wanted my writing to be seen from the outside, so people could read it from a distance. I don't know how easy, or not, it was for Leen but for me doing doing the lettering near the top is a little tricky. Some of it I have to do standing up with the open umbrella in a chair just because it's awkward for me. I'll show you the finished project when it's done. What quotes would you put on an umbrella?
Okay, I couldn't help myself. Creativity can't be boxed in and I had to tattoo another tote. I had so much creative fun doing this before, as did my kids, (Link to the related posts here and here.) that I thought you might like to try your hand at it. All you need is a Sharpie® and something that stands still. And courage. That's the biggest thing - people are afraid to make mistakes. This is one of those projects that mistakes seem to hide themselves. So, give it a try. I've included some close ups. For the first while, just copy something from one of the images. Then, as you get going, let your inner artist loose. It might be difficult at first but keep building. Email me an image of what your inner artist did. Or upload it to my Shannon Christensen Fine Art Facebook Page. Do it.
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