Happy Thursday to everyone! This week I’ve been busy with a lot of on-the-computer work, so really took the opportunity to get hands on today. Of course, my Spring cleaning attempts are still midway…this is part of my desk where I can’t find anything. Yup, my creative space is totally messy, but you can see more lovely creative spaces via kootoyoo.

Although I want to dive in and clean madly, I know it usually results in spreading everything around the room and not finishing! So I’m trying to do it one drawer at a time…one thing at a time, like paper!  I confess that I am a paper hoarder, always thinking I’m going to do something cool with this particular special paper, but end up hoarding it forever because I can’t bare to cut it. Tsk tsk. I’m collecting up all my paper stacks and rolls and looking for a place that is in view, so I will be more drawn to making the cut! Along the way I’ve been finding a lot of paper scraps for the recycling bin. Some of the papers are nice and thick, even if not blank – so inspiration struck and I decided to make a scrappy journal.  I gathered up old magazines, catalogues, packing materials, scrap watercolor paper, test prints and btw the latest issue of Somerset Studio has artists papers in it, too. Anything with a bit of thickness will do nicely for a mixed media art journal because you cover up with paint anyway.

In the end, my recycled scrappy journal actually turned out really cool looking!  I’m happy with the results and feeling that using scrap materials provides more inspiration and is less intimidating to dig into. The super long cotton ribbon is there so I can keep changing the binding tightness if things get too thick. Now I can go paint this up and work on a stack of paintings I have in progress.  I tend to forget about things because I’m already on to the next thing – eek!

Before I go offline, I also wanted to share my drawing a day on Flickr, little birdies with style! I added a beanie hat one today and hope to keep this up because it’s fun to create little characters that have such different personalities suggested by changing a few lines here or a hat there! Illustration is cool. Our family just got a birdhouse set up, so I’m currently very amused watching the birdies eat our bread crumbs. Okay, now I’m off…

Posted on March 11, 2010 at 12:08 pm | bookbinding, drawings, work in progress | 4 comments

I’m going through a period of Spring Cleaning because frankly, I need it!  When there’s stuff all over the place and it actually impedes your process of working…you know you really must clean up.  So now I’m trying to balance this tremendous task with everything else in life as well as my runaway ideas that usually derail any schedule I might have set down for cleaning. Who wants to clean when a fanciful idea pops up and you want to go experiment instead!

I decided to help myself by organizing my runaway ideas into loose notes. I made myself a lightbulb sketch above (feel free to download and use for your personal organization) – I printed it out 6 on a page to make little notecards.  Of course, you can just use scraps to collect little sketches or words bubbling inside of you. I’ve put mine in a goodie jar to draw from at a later date. I feel that these types of ideas can often get lost in a big journal or lists, that’s why the loose leaf method is nice. I can save all of them in one place, but pick at random when I’m ready. I also have really crazy ideas at times, so it’s not like planning a painting in my journal.  They are things to experiment or one day think more about. I just don’t want to lose or forget about the idea completely and I don’t want to dismiss it just because others might think I’m joking…maybe… Happy Spring Cleaning!

Posted on March 10, 2010 at 5:40 pm | free goodies | 8 comments

I think that I’m coming near to the end of this specific graphic art print series, Notes to Myself.  Here’s the latest called, It’s Okay To Cry.  I think sometimes we have to remind ourselves that.  It’s not about weakness or being over emotional.  It’s simply another form of expression and I think it is necessary at times – a release for the body. That’s what I wanted to remind myself with this saying, for those low times we all run into. With this design I experimented and played more with layers of texture and excited about the results and the possibilities.  Although I have many more notes to myself, I do feel ready to move on to other things.

I have one more note to finish up and that would make ten prints in this series. I do get obsessive compulsive at times with round numbers You can see the prints in my Flickr set as well. So, lately I’ve been in one of those slumps and I suppose that contributes to why I chose to do this particular note to myself. I am feeling disorganized and it’s really impeding my creative flow.  Looks like it’s really time for Spring cleaning!

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 11:59 am | designs | 12 comments

Happy Monday!  I wanted to share some old school drawing lessons by Jon Gnagy today. It’s such a lovely reminder of old TV programs and the style of presentation back in the day.  Here’s one lesson on the drawing of an old oak tree.

You can visit Gnagy’s webpage and check out more broadcasts from the past.  Pretty darn cool, the way he talks and presents the lesson. So encouraging and reminds me of Bob Ross and watching shows geared for children as well.  They are always so nice and I’m a sucker for the old fashioned anyway. Things can be presented in a simple and charming way – that’s the best. Hope it provides you with a bit of inspiration today.

Posted on March 8, 2010 at 9:23 am | inspiration | 7 comments

TGIF. This week has really flown by for me and I’ve been super duper busy with so many projects.  However, I wanted to take some time to direct you to Pikaland’s post about plagiarism. The Good to Know zine is created from responses by artists like you and me and I also added my two cents in this issue.  Go read about it and let me know what you think. Plagarism is a horrible thing, but there are so many grey areas and it can be such a touchy subject.  I always find it troubling and anxiety inducing to discuss, but necessary to understand at the same time. Hope this topic provides a lot of food for thought…let me know. Have a great weekend folks!

Posted on March 5, 2010 at 9:55 am | thoughts + discussion | 6 comments