Eraser Stamps

After completing my first round of cork stamps I was eager to try something else. I hit up my local dollar store and found a pack of rectangular erasers. They weren't as large as I had hoped I would find, but it's a small town dollar store and I'll take what I can get.

The first stamp I carved was wheat! Very appropriate for this prairie girl.

I love the look of the layered colours and yellow and black.

What's next? I have a few more ideas for cork and eraser stamps and I've been playing with creating cards and patterns with those stamps. I think my next step will be to invest in a batch of soft lino, more ink pads, and paper.

I have carving-printing-stamp fever!

... J

The Neglected Sketchbook

I haven't been giving my sketchbook much attention lately. I've been spending my time working on mail art, experimenting with my unpacked art supplies and little projects that come my way.

I realized I should get back to it while working on an interesting painting/mixed media piece. When I am unsure of the next step, what to add or when to stop, I take some time out and play in my sketchbook. Here's a small peak at the painting.

I'm finding it refreshing to relax from the pressure of the larger painting and play with pens and marker. I know that the pressure is all self-conceived, that if it's not perfect, no one is going to notice or care. I'm not the only one who feels this strange apprehension, right?

 

Both sketchbook pages are ink, sharpie and pen.

I need to remind myself every so often to PLAY in my sketchbook. To watch a movie and make shapes and textures without much thought. It's the playful pages that I find ideas I'd like to explore further and can apply to other works. So, neglected sketchbook, I promise to pay more attention to you.

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Living By The Ocean

A little background information for this post. I was born in Winnipeg and then spent nine years in Medicine Hat. Our family moved to Saskatoon for a year before settling in Regina. I moved to Ottawa when I was twenty-three and it was the first time I had ever lived outside the prairies. I still define myself as a prairie girl when, ten years later, someone in Ottawa asks me where I'm from. Since I don't think I'll be referring to myself as an 'Easterner' or from central Canada, I will happily tell people I have returned West.

I am very excited about this migration back West for many reasons. Mainly, because our new house backs onto a path that leads to a small creek and we're a short drive away from the ocean. While we have day after day of snow in Ottawa, my mind has been wandering to thoughts of the the vegetation and creatures we'll see on our walks. I'm excited to hear the ocean, find beach glass and discovering the native plants & animals with my kids.

Thinking about waves and the ocean. Marker.

 

 

Shells. Marker.

Looked up native fish and discovered Rockfish. Also a practice in marker/strokes/patience.

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Friday Love: Cardinals

In Ottawa I lived in an older section of a suburban area. It isn't very far away from reserved greenspace. This close proximity to natural habitation brought along all sorts of interesting wildlife that I would and would not expect to find in the 'burbs.

Sitting on my front patio in the evening during the summer I would often see either a groundhog or a skunk make the same, daily trek across a few of my neighbours yards. There were also the easily startled but increasingly brave and determined racoons. We had bunnies that snacked on the leftover birdseed with chipmunks who filled their faces so full, I'm surprised they could scamper away. The black squirrels and the occasional grey squirrels bullied the birds away from the feeders. We had a lovely hawk visit us for a while one day, probably keeping tabs on the large amount of chickadees and sparrows. We had bluejays who are lovely to look at, but not as nice to hear. The cooing doves, who always look slightly confused and the starlings, who I really don't like because I was traumatized once. Maybe I'll tell you that story another time.

By far my favourite visitors were the Cardinals. They are easy to spot, since the male is such a beautiful, bright red. His partner was almost always nearby, blending in more easily because she was brown with touches of warm red. They visited often this past summer and it made me happy every time. I will miss my little red visitors.

 

Male Cardinal. Pen and marker.

Female Cardinal. Pen and Marker.

After doing a few illustrations in my sketchbook I started to skip around the internet looking for Cardinal related imagery and handmade goods. It's nice to see that there are many other people who share my love for this adorable bird.

The West Coast

We are on our way to our new home in Western Canada. Coming up to this day we have been doing a lot of talking about the West Coast. Who is there, what it looks like, what's in our neighbourhood, what activities we can do as a family. The more pictures I see, the more excited I become for life out there.

While it is cold in Ontario and there is a lot of snow on the ground I am reminded of the kind of winters we will now have in BC. I may become nostalgic for snow and icicles, sledding and snowshoeing but after 30+ years of it I am ready to embrace a wet and green winter.

Hearts

Before I created my sketchbook Valentine I was doodling a bunch of anatomical hearts. Thought I would share a few of my experiments.

 

There's my version of a 3-D heart with red and blue marker.

Cool tone heart with a little yellow for highlights.

 

And lastly,  a close-up of a strictly playful page where I draw quickly and test marker colour combinations.

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Valentine

For my Valentine who is supportive, kind and caring. I said yes on Valentine's Day many years ago and I'm so happy I did.

xx

Butterflies Under Oatmeal

I already mentioned here that there are some really interesting things coming out of my child's mouth. At lunch the other day she said "there are butterflies under the oatmeal." I did a double take because a) we weren't eating oatmeal and b) what's up with the butterflies being under your breakfast? Of course I had to jot that one down and then create a little illustration. I think I'll tap into this gushing fountain of imagery as long as she will supply them. Currently she's better in the imagination department than I am.

A Downpour of Red and Pink

The reason for this image popping into my head might be that February has always been a hard month for me. I usually feel as though winter will never end and the lack of sunshine and gardening wears me out. My energy level and thus my mood is usually at an all time low. 

I was doing something mundane, like washing dishes or making a meal when the imagery of raining red and pink hearts popped into my head. The best remedy being to deflect them with a large umbrella while wearing a gray sweater and a sturdy pair of galoshes.

I wouldn't call it depressing, but I would call it sulky.

 

Pen and Crayola (because all the rest is packed).

Awful, Awful Sprouts

One of more odd pages of my Sketchbook Project was about farting brussel sprouts. I know, I'm a classy lady. The other evening while I was figuring out what to serve for vegetables, brussel sprouts popped into my head and all I could think was that they are AWFUL. Truly, truly awful. But why are they awful, you ask? Well, other than tasting hideously, they also meangirl each other which is just unforgivable, really.

Pen and Crayola Marker. I'm stealing my kids supplies.

Lovely You

As my oldest child gets older it amazes me how her little brain works. It feels as though ideas just start to click in her head and suddenly we can carry on a decent conversation. Every so often I jot down some of her 3-year-old thoughts. I liked this one in particular so I put it into my sketchbook and played around with some of her markers.

Pen & Crayola Marker. Yes that's right, Crayola.

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Type Tests

My husband noticed how much I enjoyed working on my Sketchbook Project and so, for Christmas, gave me a Pentalic sketchbook. It's close to the same size, but bound with a hardcover. The paper is very similar so I know I'll be able to work with some light watercolour, certain markers and a few of my pens. Most of my art supplies are packed and won't be used again until March. That's a long time to take a break from drawing and sketching now that I'm getting back into a groove. Since the sketchbook is small, I think I'll take it with me while we're in the process of moving. A pen, pencil, eraser and perhaps a few markers should tide me over.

Some of the first pages I filled in are type tests. When I was working on the Arthouse Sketchbook I found that I tended to use a few letter styles most often. I redrew them in the Pentalic as a reference and an exercise.