Think Good Thoughts

Think. Good. Thoughts.

This, my friends, is the secret to...well, everything.

Simple, right? You bet! Easy to do? Not so much.

That's why I put these words in a frame right on my desk. To remind myself to keep an eye on my thoughts. Good thoughts are good. Negative thoughts are not good.

Think good thoughts.

What do you do to remember this simple, but important, concept?

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Purpose

Illustrating quotes is one of my favorite things to do. So when Lesley Riley put out a call for submissions for a book called Quotes Illustrated: 100 Works of Art Inspired by Words, I answered the call. And guess what? The quote above will be published in the book!

I can hardly wait to check out all the quotes and artwork in the book.

If you want to check it out too, Quotes Illustrated can be purchased from Amazon or directly from CreateSpace.

Give Thanks

Good advice any day--but especially today. Wishing all my friends in the US a very Happy Thanksgiving!

When Housework Pays Off

For me, housework is a necessary evil. I only give it my full attention when either 1) company is coming to visit or 2) I just can't stand the mess for one more minute. Either way, I'm a half-ass housekeeper at best. Good enough is alright by me and I've been known to quickly stash things away just to get them out of sight.

A few weeks ago I was in a I-can't-stand-the-mess-anymore mood, so while I was stashing some things away I found a couple of doodles that had been stashed on a previous cleaning spree.

Finding these again made me smile and was well worth the price of tidying up. Now I want to get out my doodling supplies and make a new mess.

Abundance

The Slowest Sketcher in the Midwest

That's me. My second watercolor Moleskine is finally complete. It was started in September 2010 and is a bit of a hodge podge that includes pages for sketchcrawls, Illustration Friday, List It Tuesday, and a few quotes and random pages of notes.

We started a small sketching group at work, and we try to meet at lunchtime once a week to sketch together and share other art interests.

I rarely (make that ever!) complete a sketch during one lunch hour. I will often spread it out over several sittings--sketching in pencil first, then inking the sketch, then adding color, and finally adding text. Quite often, the last three steps are not even done on site.

Sometimes, many, many months elapse between the steps.

Sometimes longer. This sketch took about a year to go from a pencil sketch to an inked one. I did go back to the statue to ink it on site. It was interesting to note the subtle differences in how I "saw" the statue the second time.

On this day I tried really hard to choose a subject that I thought I could complete in one sitting. It didn't happen. I still had to finish it at home.

There are even a few sketches in the book that I've deemed "abandoned." I'm pretty sure they will forever remain unfinished. That's OK. It will remind me to be grateful for the many moments I was able to capture and hold forever between the pages of my sketchbook.

List It Tuesday - I Am a Sucker for...

...all of the above!

But apparently not for adhering to schedules. Once again, here is my Tuesday list presented on Thursday. Hop on over to artsyville to view a plethora of fun and creative lists.

List It Tuesday – 15 Minute Creativity

I often use my lunch hour at work to practice the topic of this week’s List It Tuesday challenge. It feels good to squeeze a little creativity into the day--wherever, or whenever possible. Today I was able to work on the list AND execute numbers 1 through 4 to create this little masterpiece.

Yes, I DO keep googley eyes in my desk drawer at work. You never know when you might need to entertain yourself.

You Don't Have To Be A Perfect Artist To Work In Art

These are the words of Reverend Howard Finster--self-proclaimed "Man of Visions" and "Stranger from Another World." I want you to think about that last sentence. OK, don't just think about it. Go and write it down in your journal or put it on a sticky note and hang it in your studio. Why? Because those are words to live by, to create by, and to be inspired by.

At the age of 60, Howard had a vision from God that told him to paint sacred art. His response was, "Lord, I can't paint. I don't have no education in that." But he heeded the call and he did it anyway. From that day forward, until the day he died, Howard created over 46,000 pieces of art plus the art environment in Georgia known as Paradise Gardens. 46,000 pieces of art!!! I can't stop thinking about that. I haven't stopped thinking about Howard, his art, or his words since visiting this exhibit almost a month ago.

I've been a huge fan of outsider art for many years, but I never had the chance to view Finster's work in person until this exhibit. I took my watercolor Moleskine with me, and filled a number of pages with images from some of his paintings along with bits of text and quotes. Howard numbered each piece of art he made, so I included the number in my sketchbook as well.

One of the reasons I'm so drawn to Howard's work is because almost every piece is covered in text. I don't think Howard stopped to worry about whether his art was good enough, or important enough, or whether the words were spelled correctly. He was, after all, just doing what God told him to do.

If you like folk art, outsider art, religious art, art with text, or just need a big dose of inspiration, I strongly encourage you to visit this or any other exhibit of Howard Finster's art whenever or wherever you have the opportunity. Sometimes it's not just the art, but the story behind the art that can move us, touch us, or have a profound effect on us. Thank you Howard for reminding me that I don't have to be a perfect artist to work in art. From now on I'm going to think of you as my "garding" angel.

Still Plugging Along on Pilgrim

I didn't achieve my goal of finishing Pilgrim, the book I've been altering, in 2011 as planned. That's OK because it's a big book. It's a really big book.

Did I mention that it's a big-ass book? So far I've altered 135 pages that are 12 x 13 inches each. When I think about it that way, it's no wonder I'm still plugging away at it. If I had completed 135 of anything else in 2011, it would feel like an enormous accomplishment.

Pilgrim has been a wonderful place for me to play and experiment. Some pages are just about pattern and color because I like pattern and color.

Some pages are just about mark making and seeing what can evolve.

Some pages were inspired by The Sketchbook Challenge. Others by song lyrics, favorite artists, books, movies, or experiences. This page was inspired by a book about vintage board games to which I added a quote that seemed appropriate.

I couldn't resist one more hand image. I think this is the third one in the book.

I re-discovered my plastic alphabet stencils and added favorite quotes wherever they would fit.

I've had a lot of opportunity to practice my lettering on these pages.

This page was done on Easter last year. I can't believe an entire year has passed since then. I guess Pilgrim is proof for me that even a big-ass undertaking can be accomplished line by line, stroke by stroke, mark by mark, and word by word.

Pilgrim is really close to finished now. Filling the last few pages and adding a bit more here and there is both exhilarating and bittersweet. A celebration will be in order when this big book is finally declared DONE.

How Did You Celebrate National Pi Day?

Did you know that March 14, 2012 was National Pi Day? I won't even pretend to understand what pi means, but any day that is celebrated by eating pie is OK by me! I didn't actually celebrate Pi Day by eating this slice of pumpkin pie. Instead, I sketched it from a photo in a cookbook as part of the Strathmore Watercolor Sketching workshop by Cathy Johnson. I guess sketching pie is the next best thing to eating it, right? At least it's less fattening.

Watercolor Sketching

The second workshop in the Strathmore series of free, online workshops is Watercolor Sketching with Cathy Johnson. I've been a fan of Cathy's books and sketching style for a while now, so the opportunity to watch her work is both informative and fascinating. Like most talented people, Cathy makes watercolor sketching look very easy. I don't find it easy at all, but I love the results so much that I want to keep working at it until I do.

After playing around with some of the exercises and techniques that Cathy demonstrated in her video, I wanted to jump right in and do a sketch like the one she did of a basil plant. We always have bananas in the house--so a sketch of bananas was in order. I liked the way she added text to her sketch, so I added my recipe for banana smoothies to the page. (Try it--you'll like it!) I've been wanting to attempt a sketch using only watercolor, without pen or ink, but didn't have the nerve until now. My favorite part was splattering the paint around and experimenting with various washes.

After the second video, Cathy sketched a building from a photograph. I couldn't find a picture that I liked, so I raided the frig for some big, fat, juicy strawberries instead. (Those can go in the smoothie too.) I think sketching food is rather fun, and what could be better than sketching and snacking at the same time?

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!