Art Books, Yard Junk & R2D2

I'm looking forward to doing art once again. It's been a good while (except for the Raven pages I did a couple weeks ago.) I'm actually looking forward to a daily commitment. Of course, I say that NOW, we'll see how I feel then! lol But ideas are flowing in my brain and I'm trying to write them all down so I'm prepared for when June 1st arrives. (This is when my month long commitment to daily art begins. Join me?)

In the meantime, I've been ordering and picking up inspiring books from the library to get my creative juices moving. Have you read a good art book lately? I'd love to know about it.

As a side note, tell me if I'm crazy or not. Since my brain has been flowing with ideas, all these weird ideas are popping up. I was walking the dogs around the backyard the other day and taking note of all the crud in the backyard. Broken rake, broken lawnmower, clay firepit frame and lid with no firepit, piles of branches... I started thinking about how we could do a summer project of taking the lawnmower apart with the little one and discovering how it works. Then we could use the parts, along with all the other junk out there to make some metal sculptures to go in and around our garden. I told this to hubby who is an artist himself although he forgets this about himself and he looked askance at me. Maybe I'm thinking a little FAR outside the box? But I've always wanted to dabble in soldering, welding and wiring. I thought it sounded fun. I also told him about this thing I saw online where you could build your own R2D2 out of a trashcan and maybe we could use the lawnmower parts for that. He didn't get it. He did mention though that the two smokers we have are the exact shape of an R2D2 so now I think we might get engine paint and paint them! That will be fun!

Have an artful weekend!

Creative Vibrations

What comes to mind when you think of creativity? Does it only encompass art projects, sewing projects, something crafty? What about the people who whip up scrumptious meals, decadent desserts or the child who builds a city out of legos? Can having a green thumb be creative? What if writing poems and stories are your thing? Are those creative as well?

I'm thinking I need a month of 'creative' challenge. I don't know what that entails at the moment. My brain leans towards art as it is wont to do but I just received the new Bon Appetit (I guess I ordered it? Who knows what I do! lol) so you never know what delicacies I might be whipping up in the kitchen. My hubby would be so happy!

Do you need a little 'creative' spark in your life? Are things starting to slow down now that summer is almost upon us? I know for some it speeds up but for us homeschoolers, its a time of relaxation. Time to chill, not think about books. I also try not to think about all the home projects I should be doing.

Anyone want to fill June with creativeness? I'm going to do it regardless of if anyone plays along but its always nice to be creative with friends. Kind of like a creativity party, to get our creative vibrations flowing! I'll be starting June 1st (next Wednesday.) I'm sure there will be days I might not get to something but my goal is for 30 days straight. I've started a list of ideas, a list of things going on in my life right now. Words I might want to create art around. I've also had a few project ideas in mind, I've been writing those down as well. Oh! And let's not forget the neglected pile of WIP (works in progress) that have been set aside. Time to finish those! I'd like to get back to my creative self. I feel like she is lost under a pile of to-dos and worries. It's time to be creative.

<a href="http://collagecontessa.blogspot.com/2011/05/creative-vibrations.html "><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3649/5769292691_cb29a5021c_m.jpg" width="150" height="150" /></a>

* If you have any problems with code, holler and I'll email it to you. The internet sometimes likes to change the code in a frustrating manner.*

Feel free to grab the little button I made and share it on your blogs. I'll begin in June so please come back and post a link to your daily projects. I might feature a favorite project you've shared, in a different post during the week. I am looking forward to finding some new ideas.  See you soon!

P.S. I found these great articles on being creative:

The Creative Personality

10 Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking

Demystifying the Creative Process

Also, after flitting around the internet, I found an actual '30 Days of Creativity' website and challenge. And low and behold, it actually starts in June! What were the odds of that? Other people feeling they need to get creative in the summer months I guess. I will be participating there as well. Join me!

Last of the Ravens

What was a journey started in April of 2010, has come to an end with these last pages of art. I've had the best-nerve-wracking-feeling-completely-untalented-time creating for this round robin journal of Ravens (use search box to see all Raven pieces I've done.)

I'm now only waiting on my own gorgeous book to return for me to drool over. I'll share it when it shows up.

For these pages, I had no ideas. So I just started scraping paint on and gluing pages from a dictionary. I was out of town in Atlanta for 10 days and whatever supplies I had taken with me, is what I had to use. Thankfully I had packed art supplies pretty well. On this first set of pages, the poem is by John Burroughs called 'Waiting'. My mom says its a perfect poem to describe her, now, life of retirement but I just found the sentiments beautiful.. the 'Waiting' piece of paper will slip back and forth between the other two pages, after I get it put back in the journal it came from.

This next set of pages is for another journal. The left page was just as bright as the right but the background was competing with the trees and birds so I whitewashed it and repainted the trees. The right page has the poem 'I Shall Not Pass This Way Again' by Eva Rose York. Perfectly fitting since I will not be doing another raven page for this swap.  The right page also has a hand drawn raven across most of it, with layering of dictionary pages and paint underneath.

 

What spring art are you creating?

Stripping and Chocolate and Pink, Oh my!

I'm not real happy with this feast or famine of art time. My fingers long to draw like DaVinci, paint like... I don't know. Someone who does those dreamy watercolor paintings, can't think of who. I long to be creative again. The closest I've gotten is floor stripping and wall painting (and I didn't really do any of it. Read on...)

While away on my cruise, my saint of a hubby took on the project of redoing our floors with the help of a friend who has done this before. Needless to say, I have gorgeous honey floors again. Note the before and after photos. No comparison! How did we let it get so bad???

 (before, in the hall)

(before in the dining room)

(after, my bedroom)

 

(after, living room)

We've spent the last week or so stripping the paint off my bedroom's trim. In some misguided attempt at designing coolness I thought we would paint all the house's baseboards and trim, white. We only got as far as the bedroom. And now that I was re-painting the walls (after 10 years), I decided to put the baseboards/trim back to their original honey brown color. Huge project. I've been so sick since returning from my cruise, I didn't do any of the stripping. But still, big project for other family members. 

Did I mention I decided to go with pink paint? We had green in here for so long, then I was decorating with aqua but I think I'm tired of that for my bedroom. 

We have this beautiful chocolate brown furniture we bought last year, and I have a yummy cranberry red blanket for the bed. My mind immediately went to a pink of some kind for the walls. I was trying to imagine myself inside a chocolate covered cherry bon bon. Who wouldn't want to be covered in chocolate all day?! So we tried pinks.

My teen was in charge of picking out the paint while I was on my cruise. Her two choices are on the right. I didn't like either. Too gaudy boudoir pink, reminiscent of yogurt or something, kwim? We went again to the store when I got back from my trip and agreed on the left pink. 

It might not look like much but we brought it home, put it on the walls and it perfectly matches the 1920s/1930s/whatever era dessert cups I bought at an auction. Those cups were bought to help me pick out the kitchy pink for my kitchen! Exact same color, by chance! So guess what paint we'll be using for the kitchen too?! Two birds with one stone. So cool.

By the way: Note to parents having teen girls who are dating. Encourage them to date tall boys. Think of all the extra work you won't have to do with them around. I just feed him and he paints near the ceiling for me. So wonderful! (He's also handy with gardening, if you've read my homeschool garden post, you'd know this as well.)

So that's a little update around here. I'll have to take a picture of the bedroom after I have it all gussied up. 

Remember this piece I started a long time ago? Paper and fabric flowers sewn to a canvas, using my great grandma's button flower (can't remember what blog post I shared them in)? I'm thinking of finishing up these paintings to add to the wall above the bed maybe. I set them aside but its time to pick them up again...

What have you been up to?