Tag Archives: art 365

Arting for 365 Day 121: Hoya

Posted on by

0

Day 121 (8/27/12): Hoya

11 x 14″ Ink, Hoya flowers and stems

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

As some of you may know, we jetted (actually trucked) off to the mountains of Wyoming this past weekend for a wedding. Our friends Mary and Nathan were nice enough to let us stay at their house Friday night, which is always a treat.

Mary has a bit of a green thumb and so I often check out her plants. She has a crazy amount of them that all magically seem to be thriving. As I was looking at her collection of greenery, I noticed this amazing plant called a hoya. It had waxy green leaves and spectacular bundles of flowers that were attached to long penducles (stems).

One of the rounded bundles had died, but was still attached to the plant. Mary pulled the dead flowers and stems off and turned to me knowing this was something I could use. I was pretty excited about the new treasure, as was the boyfriend – “Thanks Mary, more trash.”

Yesterday I used the dried stems and flowers along with some ink to create a somewhat deconstructed version of the hoya. Enjoy!

Arting for 365 Day 120: Dogmatic

Posted on by

4

Day 120 (8/26/12): Dogmatic

7 x 9.5″ Ink on paper

He’d had enough of the fervent outbursts and daily monologues. As a pet, Flash was his owner’s sole audience. And there was only so much of the endless, irrational commentaries on life and politics he could tolerate.

He had attempted to bury his head under pillows in order to drown out the sound, but in the middle of summer that can be hot. He’d feigned sleeping, but that didn’t seem to stop things either.

Even his last attempt – clever as it was – to communicate his feelings was ignored.

Flash sighed and thought, “You can’t choose your owner.”

If you think this drawing is awesome, you can purchase a print here.

Arting for 365 Day 118: Mountain Connection

Posted on by

0


Some friends of ours are getting married today, so late yesterday afternoon we headed to good ‘ol Wyoming to take part in the festivities.
To celebrate the special occasion, I decided I’d create a piece of art for them. The bride and groom are fantastic people. They both love the outdoors, are full of life and have wonderful boisterous laughs that fill a room. So it was pretty easy to come up with something that I hope they’ll like and that reminded me of the two of them.
The wedding should be wonderful. We’ll be in the mountains, surrounded by great friends, great music and a lotta love.

Arting for 365 Day 117: Grid

Posted on by

0

Day 117 (8/23/12): GridGoal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

Directly before sitting down to write day 117’s post, I decided to go on a jog. While weaving my way through the hood I was excited to see a sign for an estate sale. Changing route I made my way over to the house and walked in; curious to see what I couldn’t live without.

My anticipation quickly turned to a feeling of uneasiness. I’ve been to an estate sale before and realize that they are typically held when someone has either passed away or foreclosed – neither great situations. But this one felt different. People were everywhere. The house I entered no longer felt like a home but a clearinghouse of used goods whose owner was suddenly forgotten and whose personal items were being rifled through, groped, and nabbed without second thought. Here I was, in this once lovely home that now felt broken up into sections with only hints remaining of what it once was. I quickly turned and left.

As I finished up my jog I realized how much the piece I had just created made me think of the situation I had walked into. The flower – like the house – had been gridded off into sections. The pretty was still there, but for all that was happening around it, it was hard to see.

Arting for 365 Day 116: Cut Outs Turned Jewelry

Posted on by

2

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

As some of you may know, from time to time over the past few months I have been creating paper cut outs. The detailed, flowing pieces are nice and I generally like them, but I have felt like I need to push the work in a new direction.

For day 116 I tackled the cut paper again. I chose to slice into an old, not-so-fabulous watercolor. This go-round, though, I challenged myself to do something different with the finished piece. I thought about keeping it whole and manipulating it to create a new form. But as I looked at the design more closely, I realized that many of the details would make really great individual pieces for necklaces. I sliced up the original and got prepped to dive into the resin again.

I really like this idea. The shapes are intricate and interesting, and each is an original.

My issue – surprise, surprise – seems to be execution. While I didn’t have near the mess on my hands as I did my first attempt with the stuff, there were some uneven areas and drips. The good news is that every time I take a whack at this resin thing I learn a little bit. So drips be damned! I’ve got a few more ideas up my sleeve to help me figure this process out.

Until next time.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Arting for 365 Day 115: Memory While Counting Up the Years

Posted on by

2

Day 115: Counting Up the YearsGoal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

I’ve come to realize the more broad in scope the thoughts in my head, the more apt I am to create non representational or abstract work to reflect on them.

Yesterday, I had a variety of things floating around in the noggin. Here is an attempt to recount my train of thought:

It began with me thinking about how our lives seem to move in intended and unintended directions (this is a recurring thought/theme for me). I thought about how fast life moves, even when it feels like it is just plodding along.

I started to think back on events that have happened over the past few years and then attempted to think back to earlier memories. They were much less distinct and as I tried to round up my first memory, I realized I have no idea what it is or when it would’ve occurred. Unlike Chunk in the Goonies , who I would guess has a plethora of memories at the ready, I’ve never been able to pull a ton of details from my life (good or bad).

I realized that while life may be made up of individual years and acts and memories, for me anyway, there are only spots of solid memory and a lot that fades to the background.

Side note: The actress Mary Lu Henner, who has a phenomenal memory. She and others like her have hyperthymesia. I wondered if I’d love to have such a memory or if it would be overwhelming.

Arting for 365 Day 114: Utilizing the Amazing Breweries of Ft. Collins

Posted on by

0

Day 114 (8/20/12): Utilizing New BelgiumGoal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

It turns out that our lovely little city of Ft. Collins is a bit of a mecca for microbreweries. In fact FoCo – as it’s known by some – has the most microbreweries per capita in all of Colorado. And seeing as how Colorado is a major player in the craft brew industry, this seems like a pretty big deal.

New Belgium Brewing is a top notch brewery here in town and the most recognized of the bunch. Their beers are tasty – sours being my favorite – they give fantastic tours, and they have some pretty fun coaster designs. Realizing that I needed to start supporting the locals with my coaster adventures, I swung by New Belgium yesterday and picked up a fresh batch.

Using the original coaster designs as a jumping off point, I painted these three brightly colored little gems. I worked to keep the paintings very simple and playful.  The first, a Shift Rocket; the second, a strange and fun little scene involving a tricycle; and third, a cat tail, fish, pitcher still life of sorts.

An endless supply of fun coasters: Just another perk of living in a beer town.

Arting for 365 Day 113: River Abstraction

Posted on by

0

Day 113 (8/19/12): Flowing Abstraction

4.75 x 4.75″ Ink on paper

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

I dig abstract work – both looking at it and creating it. There is something fantastic about morphing lines and forms to create a new visual representation of the original. The abstraction takes on a personality and energy all its own.

The viewer interaction that goes along with this type of work is also interesting to me. The “Oh! That’s a ____” or “It kind of reminds me of a ____” moment is always fun. It can be even more entertaining when the viewer sees something unintended by the artist. Perhaps a person asks whether or not I purposely created a face within an abstracted bird. Or, I remember one time, after working diligently on a drawing, someone asking me if I meant for a certain area of the drawing to appear phallic. “No,” I said. But after she’d pointed it out, that seemed to be all I could see. I think I even ended up changing it because it was so obvious.

For day 113’s piece, I created a water/stream/river abstraction. As I worked on it, it morphed into something less water-like. New shapes and forms finished off the piece.

I hope you enjoy letting your mind find new and interesting things within the drawing. If you’re lucky (or not) you may just find a penis.

Day 113 8/19/12): Flowing Detail

Arting for 365 Day 112: Nature

Posted on by

2

Day 112 (8/18/12): NatureGoal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days

Yesterday our friend hosted a gourmet camping party to celebrate her 40th birthday. It was about as far from hard core camping as you can get, but was oh so lovely! We had delicious food, paired with some amazing beers – thanks to the slew of home brewers in the group – and wine. If the shindig wasn’t awesome enough, we topped it off with some forest croquet.

Being out in nature is always inspiring. And as it came time to create my day 112 project, my friends suggested I use a bit of nature. -A brilliant idea. We pulled out some pens and got busy drawing on leaves.

I love the simple designs. I also love that the leaves started out flat, but as they dried overnight, curled. Because I like the new form so much I decided I’d take a crack at resin again – coating them before they got too brittle.  I feel like I’m going to turn them into necklaces.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.