Halloween and Autumn Art-a-Thon

This weekend I have been playing in the Halloween and Autumn Art-a-Thon at ATCsForAll.com.  It runs through at least Tuesday.  An "Art-a-Thon" is an online event in which artists make art at the same time - often with challenges or themes, and then usually make trades with each other.   

I have had a busy weekend so far ... so I have only managed to make a few ATCs.  The skull above was drawn with Indian ink pens and sparkly gel pens, with a sparkly flower decal added to the eye.

The next 2 ATCs were drawn with Indian ink pens and colored pencils.  Pretty basic Halloween/Autumn images.

This final ATC is cut into a house shape (seems to be a popular trend right now).  I collaged printed scrapbook papers and other cut images, added some rickrack trim and a flat backed embellishment I had on hand.

The most common type of art going on right now is collaged ATCs, however ALL types of art are welcome including drawing, painting, stitchery, quilting, paper mache, jewelry, etc... All sizes are welcome from inchie sized on up.  You don't have to make trades - "show and tell" is a big part of the Art-a-Thon.  Just good fun with friends around the globe.

Composition Book : Colorful Animals

As part of my effort to try to draw something every day in my composition notebook, I combined a few exercises into one.  

I divided my page into 4 frames.  I looked at children's drawings online and drew similar animals with a non-photo blue pencil using my non-dominant hand.  I used a brush tip marker to ink them.  Next I used a fine tip marker to draw some type of background for each animal.

Then I grabbed 6 colored pencils with my eyes closed and proceeded to color the entire page.

I just love the bright and happy feeling this page gives me!

108 Quickly Doodled Objects

108 doodled objects

I saw an exercise posted somewhere about drawing 100 objects as a "stream of consciousness", taking about 5 seconds for each and moving on to the next.  So, I grabbed my non-photo blue pencil and my composition notebook & gave it a whirl.  

It took me 3 sittings to fill the page ... but I did draw the objects very quickly in pencil.  I spent a little more time inking them in with my pen.  I (of course) went "blank" a few times and looked around for ideas. 

I do see a "stream of consciousness" pattern in the drawings and I can see where I got stuck (between the toast and the butterfly, for example).  

I enjoyed the exercise & it's fun to see all the little doodles in my notebook.
 

Syllabus : Four X Four

I have been playing around with some of the exercises in the book "Syllabus" by Lynda Barry.  In this exercise, you are to divide a page into 16 boxes.  Select 4 nouns from one of your daily diary pages and draw each in a separate box in a column (45 seconds each in non-photo blue pencil).  Then draw each thing 3 more times from another viewpoint.  Ink them.  Now you have 16 new drawings!

I have been neglecting my drawing~doodling time this year ... but am making an effort to draw more (of anything).

Here are some other folks I have run across who have done the "Four By Four" exercise:
https://divyamsdoodles.tumblr.com/
... looking for more to add!!

Composition Book Doodle

A doodle in my gridded composition notebook.  Indian ink pens.
 

Art-a-Thon Challenge

This weekend I have been playing in another Art-a-Thon and Challenge at ATCsForAll.com.  It runs through July 6th.  The challenge is somewhat of an artsy scavenger hunt.  You are given a list of themes, supplies, and challenges to make art & earn points for completing the various tasks.

For example, The ATC (artist trading card) shown above earned me 5 points!  I made the card for a combination of tasks: theme: cute monster, theme: bikini, craft: make paper flowers and use in your creation, and also a point for posting at least 1 finished project for the day.

Here are some more ATCs I made this weekend:

Hand drawn zebra - Indian ink and colored pencils. (theme: zoo, also theme: monochromatic).  I love the way this turned out. 

Doodle fish - Indian ink pen and marker. (theme: zentangle animal, also use markers, and I posted a "show and tell" about my process to make this card).

Skele-shrooms - Printed paper and fiber embedded paper collage with a sticker, magazine cut-outs, hand drawn mushrooms colored with ink and sparkly gel pens, and some detailing with Indian ink pen and paint pen. (theme: skeleton, theme: mushroom and butterfly, use magazine cut-outs).

There is also fast and wild trading going on.  I have traded most of my cards already (you get points for that,too).  At the end, prizes are awarded for the top scorers. But, who needs prizes?  It's just a lot of fun to play with all the artists!

Inchie-A-thon

Inchie Sized Kitty Cat Paper Doll

I have been participating in the Inchie-A-thon that is going on over at ATCsForAll.com (which continues through Jun 22). 

Above is shown the coolest thing I made over the weekend.  An inchie sized (1" x 1") kitty cat paper doll.  The head, bow, legs, and tail are attached with mini brads.  It was surprisingly simple to make.

Below are a few of the other inchies I made so far:

Drawn mostly with Indian ink pens and colored pencils, a couple are collaged from printed images.  I have traded most of them & had lots of fun during the a-thon.

Collage for Tip In Swap

This is a 4" x 6" collage made from paper clippings, paper flowers, a sequin, decorative tape, with touches of Indian ink pens and a paint pen.  Made for the "Sketchbook Tip Ins ALL Mediums Athon" at AtcsForAll.com. (this art-a-thon continues through today)

I'm looking forward to the "Inchie-a-thon" that will be starting later this week!  It has been a long time since I made inchies and I really love the crazy pace of a good art-a-thon!

If you want more info about "art-a-thons" or "AtcsForAll.com" just ask. 

 

 

Return to Junk Mail Journal 1

I had a few pages left in my first Junk Mail Journal (circa 2008), so I decided to play around with some of my paper scraps and see what developed.  This page was made from scrapbook papers, newspaper clippings, a sticker, stamping, doodles, Indian ink pens, sparkly gel pens (the entire fish is colored with sparkle), and a paint marker.

I made the little junk journal by taking the junk mail postcards that had accumulated near my computer, trimming them all to 4" x 6" or so, and spiral binding them into a book.  Then I just started pasting random bits inside to decorate the pages.

To see more, just click "junk mail journal" in the tags below.

Postcards: Doodled Hearts

the LAST art of 2016 ... doodled heart postcards.  Printed paper collage doodled with Indian ink pens, metallic gel pens and a paint pen.  

and ... the FIRST art of 2017.  One more doodled hearts postcard:

 .