Day 22

watercolor, 4" x 9", ~2 hours

Day 21

watercolor, 9" x 4", ~1 hour

Day 20

Can you tell what I have been thinking about? Usually around Spring Break time I start dreaming about the beach. (Let's be honest, I dream about the beach year round.) I fell in love with Savannah, GA in college because of its charm, but also its proximity Tybee Beach. I have spent many days laying on a towel at the State Park on Galveston Island. I got married on the beach in St. Croix. I love the feel of the warm breezes, the sound of the waves in the background, the smell of the salt (and sometimes the seaweed), and even the free exfoliation of the sand. It is meditative, relaxing and reviving. 

(Thanks to my SIL Cheryl for picking up this shell in St. Croix and giving it to us to remember our great wedding week.)

watercolor (and watercolor pencil), 8" x 8", from observation, ~2.5 hours

Day 19

pen and ink, 8" x 8", ~2 hours

Day 18

colored pencil, 4" x 8", ~2 hours

Day 17

A little vintage style whimsy. I was recently with a group in which navigating to the moon was brought up. It was mentioned that when you go to the moon, you are always correcting course - in other words, it is not just a straight line that is traveled, but rather a collection of little adjustments that all lead to the moon. Since I am not a rocket scientist, I am not sure how true that is, BUT I liked the sound of it, and the thought stuck in my head. So here is my path to the moon... and back.

watercolor, 8" x 8", ~3 hours

Day 16

A little bit of Texas for spring.

colored pencil, 4" x 9", reference image, ~3.5 hours

Day 15

What happens if...
By the time most of us are adults, we know if you mix all the colors together, you will get an "ugly" color. We have been taught "not" to do things. And even in my classroom, I was guilty of telling my kids they were not allowed to mix all the colors on their palettes together - this was usually because multiple kids were sharing palettes, I didn't want paint wasted, and I needed to keep things moving.

But then there were some days - especially in the lower grades - when mixing was okay. Experiment - like science - I would say. Sometimes the results are surprising. Sometimes that "ugly" color is more real than anything coming out of the paint bottle.

So what if I dripped gray all over? What if I tilted my paper? What if my colors bleed together? What if I don't like it when I am finished? What if I do?

Day 14

Another color fun day... (Okay, so maybe these abstract color experiments happen on days when I am busy, procrastinating, or lazy... but they are FUN, too.)

watercolor, 8" x 8", ~30 minutes

Day 13

The closest I have been to giraffes on the savannah is the Animal Kingdom at Disney World or zoos around the world, but they still seem to have a kind of gangly grace.

mixed media (marker & watercolor), 8" x 8", reference image, ~2 hours

Day 12

An afternoon in the garden...

watercolor, 8" x 8", from observation, ~3 hours

Day 11

Simple beauty from the kitchen...

I remember doing a bowl of eggs as a sketchbook assignment in high school. That one was done in pencil. If I find the sketch, I will post a pic.

watercolor, 8" x 8", from observation, ~1.5 hours

Day 10

Digging through the scrap drawer...

collage, 8" x 8", ~1.5 hours

Day 9

I tried to avoid doing anything specific for St. Paddy's Day, but here it is anyway...
a shamrock and a triskell (triple spiral). Both used by the early church in Ireland to explain the trinity. The triskell is an ancient symbol used in many cultures and can be found carved on the rocks at Newgrange in County Meath, IR built about 3,200 BCE. (I've seen it!) The triskell also represents many triadic connections including the Triple Goddess - the three stages of womanhood - the maid, the mother, the crone.

pen and ink, 4" x 9"

Day 8

Sometimes, when I start a piece I have one vision in mind, but by the time it is finished, it has come out quite differently. This is one of those pieces. I originally imagined creating a fox in black and white using patterns, but in the end, it ended up as a contour drawing with a colorful background.

mixed media, 4" x 9", reference image

Day 7

Well, that's a week done. We started on a rainy day, and here is another one for a rainy day...

mixed media (watercolor pencil and water soluble graphite), 8" x 8", ~1 hour

Day 6

Friday in Houston was beautiful, so I took my art outside. I had been eyeing these little flowers on a succulent in my garden for a while. I don't know why, but I am always a little surprised when a succulent or cactus sends up a shoot and blooms. So I took my watercolor pencils outside to sit in the sunlight and create the drawing.

watercolor pencil, 8" x 8", from observation, ~2.5 hours

Day 5

Day 5 I just wanted to play with color. So with no image in mind, I just started putting colors on the paper. Maybe this will stay as is, or maybe down the road it will get turned into something else...we'll see.

watercolor, 8" x 8", ~30 minutes

Day 4

So a little more meditative doodling. This is a more typical version. No particular image in mind, just patterning and shading.

pen and ink with pencil, 4" x 9", ~3.5 hours

Day 3 from Mandy

A quick painting...

gouache, ~30 minutes

Day 3 (Part 2)

I decided to try a new medium that I purchased but had not used yet - water soluble graphite. The came as almost a thick crayon, so I didn't get as much fine line as I would have liked, but they were fun to use and will be great to play with on mixed media pieces.

mixed media (water soluble graphite and white prismacolor pencil), 4" x 9"

from observation, ~30 minutes

Day 2 from Mandy

Mandy is also thinking meditation...

gouache

Day 3 (Part 1)

So it turns out I am working on the ULTIMATE CREATIVITY PROJECT!

(I was going to use this digital image as my Day 3 entry, but I think I will work on something else, too.)

digital image, Photoshop, ~30 minutes

Day 2

I wasn't sure what I would come up with for Day 2. I worked all day and had to regroup to get in a more creative mode. I turned to one of my stand-by techniques, meditative doodling, which is calming, intuitive and creative all at once. Typically I begin with a square divided into spaces by a sweeping line. In this case I started with a more detailed contour drawing, but all of the patterns are intuitive, though based on owl markings.

pen and ink on paper, 8" x 8", reference image, ~3.5 hours

Day 1 from Mandy

So, my friend and co-worker Mandy Shefman has also taken on this challenge. Here is her Day 1 entry in two phases. The first image is her original painting. The second image shows the serendipitous dripping that happened when she picked up the work. (This is the melting version.)

Thanks for sharing, Mandy!

gouache, ~1 hour

Day 1

Sunday was mostly gray here in Houston, and it has mostly been gray all winter, so I decided I needed to work on something that reminded me of sunshine and summer. As they say, when life gives you lemons... paint them?

Did anyone else work on a piece?

watercolors, from observation, ~3 hrs

New Project: 30 in 30

On Sunday, March 9, 2014, I am starting a new project and challenge. In an effort to revive my creative juices, I am challenging myself (and any of you) to create 30 works of art in 30 days. By finding inspiration and simple beauty in the things around me everyday, I am hoping to jumpstart something new and amazing. So over the 30 days, I will spend at least 30 minutes a day creating a small work of art based on inspiration from something around me. These pieces might be paintings, drawings, collages, mixed media or whatever else I am moved to use (maybe even some photography or digital collages). I will be posting each day's creation here to document my progress and share with all of you. If you want to join me in this challenge, feel free (and you don't have to do all 30 days). You can post photos of your work here, too. Or email me your photo and I will post it for you. I can't wait to see what we create!