Found Type Tuesday

This is another shot that I took in the industrial surplus warehouse. I had no idea there was such a huge market for used machinery and what-nots. Don't forget to leave a comment with a link if you want to share your own Found Type Tuesday image.

Happy Tuesday my friends!

Found Type Tuesday

I found these gorgeous numbers on a paper arts store housed in a wonderful old carriage house. Don't forget to leave a comment with a link if you want to share your own Found Type Tuesday image.

Happy Tuesday my friends!

Doodles Unleashed - Lesson 4

The fourth and final lesson of the online Strathmore workshop, Doodles Unleashed by Traci Bautista, was Stylized Faces Part 2. This lesson involved painting a "glam girl" on the background created in lesson three. I opted to paint a new background for this lesson since I didn't really want to paint over the backgrounds I had already made.

I'm not a huge fan of the "glam girl" style and wasn't sure if I'd even be able to complete this final lesson at all. I tend to shy away from painting or drawing people altogether due to an extreme lack of practice in this area. I was pleasantly surprised with the way my girl turned out, so maybe this an area I'll explore further some time in the future.

I'd like to point out a simple item which I discovered makes a rather nice art tool. The large stamped image above was made using a common household product that you would probably never think to include with your art supplies. Know what it is? Give up? It's a plastic fly swatter!!! Don't worry though--the handle broke off before it ever had a chance to swat a single fly. But doesn't it make a great stamp and stencil? It just goes to show that art tools can be found anywhere.

I really enjoyed working along with this online workshop. Thank you Traci for inspiring me to add a few more tools and techniques to my doodling tool kit. I still have a few more doodles from this workshop to share with you and I may try to complete a few more before the next workshop begins in March. The next workshop is Watercolor Sketching with Cathy Johnson. You can still sign up if that sounds like something that appeals to you.

Happy doodling!

Found Type Tuesday

I really love the beautiful embossed type found on old metal machinery. And when you throw in some numbers, it's even more fantastic. This photo was taken at an industrial warehouse.

Doodles Unleashed - Lesson 3

I'm a little behind in posting my doodles from the Strathmore online workshop, Doodles Unleashed by Traci Bautista. Lesson 3 is Stylized Faces Part One - Colorful Backgrounds. This is the colorful backgrounds part. I have yet to work on the stylized faces part.

I created facing pages in my journal and decided to try a different color scheme on each page. The page begins with hand writing on the background and then builds from there with paint, stencils, and stamps. I used a couple of stamps that I made from craft foam and a lot of product lids and caps.

Like before, I had just as much fun photographing the pages as I did painting them. Plus this time I played around with an iPhone application called pixlr-o-matic to slightly alter the colors and add some cool borders.

When it comes to this type of doodle art, I honestly think the photos are far more interesting and appealing than the original art. There's just something about focusing in on a small area that I think magnifies the beauty and randomness of these simple doodles.

Stay tuned--there are lots more doodles to come. Happy doodling my friends!

Found Type Tuesday

I almost peed my pants when I read this funny little sign. It's a good thing it was taped to the back of a bathroom door in an artist's studio. You just have to love a little humor mixed in with your negativity.

My Third Adventure Journal

I finally completed my third adventure journal which chronicles a day trip that I made to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh this past October.

Since this was just a one day adventure, I made a smaller journal than what I used for the two previous adventure journals. This one doesn't contain any flaps or fold-out pages--it's just a very simple 10-page journal made from watercolor paper. I'm all for using whatever supplies are on hand, but I don't really care for the paper that I found in my studio and used on this journal. It has a very soft texture and didn't take watercolor as well as the paper that I used for the other two journals. By the time I realized I didn't like it, I was too far along to quit.

The majority of the journal was created after the trip, but I did do some sketching and writing on the day of the adventure. 

This page tells the story of how I got busted sketching a stranger on the bus.

Luckily, the museum was only a short walk from the bus stop. A quick stroll across the bridge and we were there in no time.

The museum is quite large as you can see from this photo which I cut from the museum brochure.

About half of this spread was written or drawn on-site from exhibit text or images.

In addition to the artwork of Warhol, the museum also featured exhibits and work of other artists. I sat on a bench and sketched this giant paper mache elephant by Keith Haring. I only managed to sketch a few of the black and white figures while I was there and had to fill the rest in later. I basically just made it up--but I think you get the idea of the piece.

The final spread is just a few memories from the day written around an iconic Warhol soup can which I cut from an old 365-day calendar of art from the Metropolitan Museum.

Naturally I had to eat tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch in the museum cafe.

I had a lot of fun taking these adventures and then recording them in these little adventure journals. You don't have to go far or do something extravagant to have an adventure. I think adventure is primarily a state of mind.

I probably spent more time journaling about my adventures than actually living them--but now I can re-live them over and over and over. For someone with a rapidly shrinking memory, that's priceless.

So there you have it--my 2011 adventures all neatly tied up with a bow. I don't know yet what adventures 2012 will hold in store for me, but I have a brand new blank journal all ready to go when the times comes.

Happy journaling my friends!