Arting for 365 Day 57: Birder

Day 57 (6/24/12): Bird GirlGoal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

She’d really taken a liking to the birds. In fact over the past year or two she’d begun studying up on them – working to identify each little beauty by sound and sight. Of course she knew the easy ones, like the robin and hummingbird. But she could also recognize the finches, sparrows and egrets with ease. At times she even went so far as to call herself a birder.

Now though, as she sat perched on this branch, she realized she had taken her hobby too far.

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This original piece or prints available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/102962770/bird-girl-mixed-media-original or by emailing

Arting for 365 Day 56: Foliage in Albany

Day 56 (6/23/12): Foliage in AlbanyGoal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

The last four days have been spent traveling around to small towns in Nebraska and Wyoming to visit family. Not only do I love seeing my family, I love the tiny towns. They have character and, in the case of the towns I visited in Wyoming, they are beautiful!

Over the course of 2 days we saw hummingbirds – along with their tiny nests and eggs- and a ton of other birds (of which I don’t know the name of.) We saw a deer and two little fawn and some great wildflowers as well.

Day 56’s project is my take on the cool little flower I found, and, what I think were willow reeds. I’ve also included a few pics of the hummingbird and nest below. Enjoy!  aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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This piece available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/102889264/foliage-in-albany-ink-drawing or by emailing me at micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 55: Flies

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days.

The fly was tired of being known only for his buzzing abilities. He knew he was so much more – and he hoped to someday prove it to the world. More importantly, he hoped to prove it to her.

He’d seen many flies in his time but she was different. While others swarmed to a pile of dung, she flew solo on the horse’s back. She could resist the bright blue light that zapped many to their death, opting instead for tall glowing street lights. She was special.

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This piece available for purchase by emailing micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 54: Museum Finds

Day 54 (6/21/12): Museum Finds

Each square 4.75 x 4.75″ Ink and watercolor on paper

Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

My mom and I drove to Chadron, Nebraska yesterday to see my grandma. Grandma Kathryn is 96 years old, still drives, climbs a steep set of 13 stairs at least once a week, is sharp as a tack, and eats ice cream for dinner nearly every night. She is awesome!

The stairs that Grandma tackles, lead to her basement where, at one time, an amazing collection lived. The collection was not my grandma’s – it was my grandpa Clyde’s and it contained over 6,000 pens and pencils, mounted to peg boards. When my grandpa passed away, Grandma donated the collection to the local museum and I don’t think I had seen it since.

Yesterday we took a ride down to the museum to check them out. It was so great to see the collection again, along with all of the other old treasures they had there. Day 54’s project is drawings of a few antiques we came across: an old printing press, a cool little toy plane and a trike.

This piece available for purchase by emailing me at micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 51: All a Part of the Plan

Day 51 (6/18/12): All a Part of the Plan

8 x 10″ Mixed Media: Ink & Watercolor

The elaborate scheme to capture the bug was foolproof. The man had hidden among the flowers for days, logging the flight pattern of the curious little creature he now watched. He laid low in the grass, peeking through thin blades in anticipation. Timing the gentle pinch of the puppet fingers was key. He had successfully pinched stray Cheerios in midair hundreds of times, so his confidence was not lacking.

With veteran-like skill, the man moved the strings. The puppet fingers stopped the bug in its tracks. The helpless animal buzzed madly.

The man, with pride in his incredible plan, smiled from ear to ear.  With another switch of the strings, he released the animal, and thought about what it was he might do next.

This piece available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/102491704/all-a-part-of-the-plan-mixed-media-ink or by emailing micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 50: In Constant Motion

Day 50 (6/17/12): In Constant Motion

8 x 10″ Ink and watercolor on paper

Goal: To create one work of art each day for 365 consecutive days

I’ve got a few people in my life who seem to be curious about anything and everything. They are constantly seeking out new information, interested in nearly any subject and can’t help but ask why or how at least 1,000 times an hour. I love being around these people. Not only do I find them fascinating, but they tend to be talkers – which I enjoy since I am not always a big talker. AND, as a super bonus, they are just basically amazingly caring people.

Day 50’s project is a portrait of one of these folks. I have taken a somewhat sci-fi approach to portraying what I imagine his brain is like. Feelers reach out in all directions, trying to get a grasp of and understand everything around it.

This piece available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/102414410/in-constant-motion-ink-and-watercolor or by emailing micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 49: Locks

Day 49 (6/16/12): Bangs

4 x 5″ Mixed Media (Hair – both straight and braided), ink and thread

My friend Mary cut my hair for me yesterday – chopping off a good six inches from my front locks to give me bangs. She did a great job and it was fun to see such a big chunk disappear. She asked what I wanted to do with the hair, and at first I thought, throw it away. But instead I asked her to set it aside.

I’d like to say that I get why people may want to keep a soft ringlet from their baby’s first haircut, or that keeping the 20 inches of hair that they chopped off long ago is kind of fun or sentimental. But if I’m going to be perfectly honest. I don’t get it. Perhaps this is because I’ve never had a baby and never really been attached to my hair. To me, stray hairs are kind of gross. I don’t like finding them in the sink or the bathtub, so why in the world would I actually want to keep them?

Using the remains of my haircut and some ink, I opted to explore the strangeness of keeping locks of hair for day 49’s piece. I was a bit grossed out while manipulating the hair but I actually really like the design. Even at that, I don’t think there is a big buyer’s market for this one on Etsy.

Arting for 365 Day 48: Conglomeration

Day 47 (6/15/12): Conglomeration

Each square 4.75 x 4.75″ Ink and watercolor on paper. I like the idea of  displaying these on the wall w/tacks so they can be easily rearranged and spaced as you like.

I had a lot of energy yesterday. Some of it was anxious – I think due to some lingering projects that just don’t seem to be going away – but a lot of it was a result of an eagerness to figure things out and to create. I have a notion all of the energy kind of balled up, conglomerating and morphing into day 47’s project. I’ve got to say, I’m pretty happy about it.

Starting in on the piece, I didn’t have a vision as to what the finished work would look like, but I did have an approach in mind. Similar to the exploration in some of my other projects, I thought about how pieces and details come together to create a whole. This time, though, instead of keeping the whole intact, I broke up the whole into 12 separate, yet connected pieces. I really dig the result.

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 This piece available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/102256139/conglomeration-mixed-media-abstract or by emailing micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 46: Eggs in One Basket

Day 46 (6/13/12): Eggs in One Basket

24 x 36″ Ink and acrylic on canvas

Goal: To create one work of art each day for 365 consecutive days

Some of you avid followers may recall that I made a piece titled Subtleties on day 30 in which I experimented with painting using only light colors. That piece has been hanging out on my easel, wondering what to do with itself ever since. Subtleties, it seemed, just did not fit in at this house. It lacked any sort of personality and longed to be given attention. So yesterday, I did just that.

With the wise old saying, “Don’t put your eggs all in one basket” on my mind, I created the work for day 46. As I did so, I realized that while the saying is really quite true, sometimes it’s worth the risk to load up the basket and hope for the best.

This piece available for purchase at http://etsy.me/NlXCQI or by emailing me at micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 45: Attachment

Day 45 (6/12/12): Attachment

~5.5″ cirmcumfrence x 3″ Mixed Media: Seeds, egg shell, ink, paper and lid

It’s funny, the things we get attached to. A lovely blue water bottle whose lid sometimes leaks or an old shirt with holes here and there may seem average, but they are anything but. We worry about them if they are misplaced and are quick to defend their value.

I think for most of us it is not so much the “thing” we get attached to as the memories and feelings we get that are associated with the thing. This, I realize, is why I seem to have become a bit attached to the little seeds I collected weeks ago.

Each time I pull them out to work with I am reminded of the jog we were on when we picked them off the ground. I remember feeling so excited about the prospect of making something from the found little treasures. When I create using the little seeds, I always feel very calm and at ease – enjoying the simple act of building up form.

The seeds are now dwindling. I’ll be able to eke out one more piece if I’m lucky. After that, I’ll have to wait in anticipation for another year to roll around so I can once again collect them.

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This piece available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/102046424/attachment-found-object-sculpture or by emailing me at micah@azzlsoft.com