I'm a Winner!

Check it out here. I can't wait to spend my prize money on art supplies! Yippee!

Fair Suck of the Sav

This is probably my favorite Aussie slang expression that I've illustrated in a postcard so far. I thought the colorful expression deserved a colorful design and it's just one of my favorites all the way around.

In this postcard I invented my own Aussie slang. I came up with "Assie slang" when it was brought to my attention that I mispelled the word Aussie on one of the cards. I haven't posted the typo card because I lost a few scans when we experienced a hard drive crash a few weeks ago. I'll post those cards if and when I retrieve the files.

Envelope Art

When my daughter decided to apply for a scholarship for her upcoming semester in Australia, I suggested that maybe a little envelope art was in order. As a lover of mail and mail art, a plain white envelope seems to me like a waste of an artistic opportunity. So I got out my markers and water color pencils and decorated the envelope during our recent Artfits get-together. I don't know if it will help with the scholarship, but I hope it will brighten someone's day along the way.

Utrecht Sketchbook Project

Yesterday, I went with Cathy and Casey to Utrecht Art Supply to check out the sketchbook project that we participated in. There were 17 sketchbooks submitted and displayed. Viewers can vote for their favorite and the artist who receives the most votes will receive a store gift card. After April 26th, each project participant will receive another artist's sketchbook in the mail. There are several that I would LOVE to get! Cathy brought her camera, so you can check out the display here. Of course, while we were there we just HAD to buy a few new art supplies. I felt just like a kid in a candy store and wanted one of everything. I treated myself to a new Moleskine sketchbook and a bunch of pens.

Paper Sushi Scan

I've been working my fingers to the bone making little paper sushi rolls out of magazine pages. I have an idea for using them in conjunction with the Big Ball of Happiness which I blogged about previously. I really like the way the circles look, so I thought I would try scanning them before I actually use them. Maybe it's just me, but I think circles are beautiful!!!

My Favorite

I'm finishing up a little journal project that I've been working on this month. Cathy passed along the info from Utrecht Art Supply, and Casey and I decided to join her in the fun. We each received a small Moleskine journal which we filled with the theme of "my favorite." We'll mail the journals back to Utrecht where they will be displayed in the store for about a month. Afterward, we'll each receive another artist's journal in return.

My journal is all about mail which has been a favorite of mine since childhood. It's done primarily in collage and I've added some mail-related text. The collage is made from envelopes, postage stamps, rubber stamps, and a few other mail-related odds and ends. The small journal size made it easy to work on in short spurts and office lunch hours.

Good Onya!

Making a dream come true can sometimes be an arduous and complicated task. For those who won't stop until they get there, I say, "good onya!"

Window Art

During a recent Collage Journaling class, we had the opportunity to create window art. Most of the work done in class up to this point was "private." This was our chance to create a "public" art piece as well as a temporary art piece. We were each given a window to work with, but not to keep. Whatever we created would be removed at the end of class. The only stipulation was that the art had to contain our own written words as text.

I chose "I cannot live in a world without color" as my text. The first pane was painted black and the paint was scraped away with a razor blade to reveal the large magazine clipping of an eye attached to the back of the window. The second pane was also painted black and the words were written with white ink from an eye dropper. The words in the third pane were scratched into the paint with a sharp instrument and the color comes from a magazine page attached to the back. The last pane was made with letters cut from magazine pages and this time the back of the window was painted black to make the letters pop.

Creating art on a window was a totally new experience for me. So was creating a temporary piece of art that I knew I wouldn't be able to keep when it was finished. I'm now on the lookout for an old window that I can use for a future project. I like the option of being able to scrape the work away and start again whenever the mood strikes for a continually changing piece of art.

More Postcards

I spent some time this weekend lettering a few more postcards after it was brought to my attention that I haven't sent any in a while. One is actually a Seinfeld quote, but the subject matter kind of relates to Australia, so I'll send it off with the others. I'm having way too much fun with these!

A Special Request

My daughter's friend asked if I would send her a postcard with her favorite quote. How could I refuse someone who calls this her favorite quote?