Tag Archives: art 365

Arting for 365 Day 48: Conglomeration

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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

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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

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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

Arting for 365 Day 44: Stick Legged Elephant

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Day 44 (6/11/12): Stick Legged Elephant

~8.5 x 11.5 Mixed media (print)

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

It is not very often that I get mad. I think most would even call me a laid back gal. There are exceptions to this, of course; such as with folks who are repeatedly rude, my interactions with computers that refuse to cooperate, and, it turns out, my dealings with a health insurance company who is raising my rates…again.

Day 44: Stick Legged Elephant Insurance

Text in this black & white print is the insurance letter I received informing me of my increase in rates.

Yesterday, after frustrating conversations with United Health and lengthy searches on the internet, I was mad. Lucky for me, the incident proved good fodder for day 44’s project. I quickly began to carve out an elephant with stick legs. The skinny structures seem useless other than as a means to prop the poor thing up. I have a myriad of ideas as to what I was trying to express while creating this piece, but I am more entertained by the boyfriend’s thoughts: “It looks like the elephant’s legs got run over by a lawnmower.” Sadly, he couldn’t afford the health insurance to fix them.

TurDay 44: Stick Legged Elephant Insurance Detailill need a little bit more in order to move things down a ways.I hope tahat works because it sure iwould be handeir than what is happening.

Day 44: Stick Legged Elephant Eggplant

These pieces available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/101973357/stick-legged-elephant-mixed-media-print or by emailing me at micah@azzlsoft.com

Day 44: Stick Legged Elephant Circles Detail

Arting for 365 Day 43: Wired for Empathy

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Day 43 (6/10/12): Yawn for Empathy

~5.75 x 2 x 3″ Mixed Media

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

As I was piddling around, trying to figure out what in the heck I was going to create for day 43’s project, I decided to turn on a Ted talk. I chose a presentation by Frans de Waal titled Moral Behavior in Animals. The talk seemed pretty interesting and chimps, which always promise to be adorable, were going to have a role in it.

De Waal had lots of good info, but what stuck with me most was a very minor piece about yawn contagion. Turns out that those contagious yawns we experience are partly due to people being empathetic. De Waal presented a study proving that chimps are not immune to contagious yawns either, helping to prove that they too experience empathy. I was amazed by the whole idea.

I began looking for images of yawning people and came across a picture of a yawning baby. It turns out, that while babies yawn, they don’t experience contagious yawning. This fact got me thinking about the relationship between human and chimp. I wanted to explore the idea of adult chimps being more human than humans at certain stages of life- at least in terms of morality.

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

Arting for 365 Day 42: Plinko

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Day 42 (6/9/12): Plinko

8.5 x 11″ mixed media on cardboard

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

I am a titch obsessed with the smell of wildfires. I like to think I have an amazing sense for detecting them via snout. In fact, I would go so far to say my uncanny ability is as near to a super power as one can get.  That is why I was shocked to see smoke from an 8,000 acre fire burning outside of Ft. Collins yesterday, long before I smelled it. I fear my super power is deteriorating. But don’t worry, I’m pretty sure I can replace it with another if needed.

For day 42’s piece I used black and red as homage to the smoke and fire taking over the hills outside of Fort Collins. I wound leaves and roots through what made me think of a red, plinko-like design created by painting bubble wrap and pressing it onto cardboard.

This work available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/101823707/plinko-acrylic-painting or by emailing me at micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 41: Order

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Day 41 (6/8/12): Order

21 x 26″ Ink on paper

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

You may or may not remember this, but last week I determined Fridays were destined to become “Coaster Fridays.” Well, I was wrong. Instead of designing a resting spot for a beer, I spent yesterday finishing up this big daddy of a drawing.

The design stemmed from my recent thoughts on order and organization – two things I struggle with and don’t really love. What I do love is being outside to enjoy nature, and so I began comparing the two. I recognized that the reason I like getting outdoors, beyond blowing the stink off of me, is that it seems open and free and somewhat random.  But as I thought about it more carefully, I realized that so much in nature is actually pretty structured too.  I decided I would create something to reflect the organization and patterns in the natural world.

The resulting piece is a juxtaposition of precise patterning created from less precise, “Micah-like” designs that give the work character beyond its structure.

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This work available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/101763681/order-ink-drawing or by emailing micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 40: A Map to Blackberries

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Day 40 (6/7/12): A Map to Blueberries

6 x 6″ Blackberry juice, ink and oil pastel on paper

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

Once a week, the boyfriend and I make a date for coffee. Afterwards he drives off to his job, while I walk home to begin my day’s work. Typically the route I take involves some jay-walking, a trek through an industrial lot whose “Do Not Trespass” sign does not apply to me, and a jaunt across railroad tracks. I then say hi to workers who are loading up Farmers Brother’s Coffee and stroll a few more blocks home. It’s a route that I really enjoy because it is a bit off the beaten path.

Yesterday, due to my jay-walking street being incredibly busy, I had to take a more traditional route home. I started my way down a less adventurous, super trafficky street and to my surprise I came across a blackberry bush. Jackpot! I picked a handful of berries and later picked a white bud from a tree to use in day 40’s project.

Smeared blackberry juice, and drawn images of the white flower and a map to the berries complete the piece. Hand written directions are on back -complete with cross outs and edits.

Map to Blueberries Detail This piece available to purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/101674485/a-map-to-blackberries-mixed-media-art or by emailing me at micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 38: Strings of Abstraction

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Day 38: Strings of AbstractionGoal: To create one work of art each day for 365 consecutive days

We’ve been watching this really cheesy show called Eureka. It’s about a town full of super brainy scientists whose experiments frequently go awry and a regular-Joe sheriff. Initially I thought the show was awful, but I must admit it has grown on me – even if it is highly predictable.

Last night, while having dinner, we watched an episode about a big bang experiment. This for some reason got me thinking about string theory (something I hardly/don’t grasp). Then I came across a small watercolor I had done and remembered a drawing my sister-in-law had commented on that, when I thought of it again, made me think of string theory.

Day 38’s work is a watercolor and ink Eureka, universe, string theory inspired tryptic. I think what I enjoy most about the piece, is that after I was done with it, I no longer thought about science-y stuff, I just enjoyed the shapes and figures that seemed to appear in the work.

Note: This great TED talk on mulit-universes & string theory by Brian Greene put me the closest I’ve ever been to actually understanding what these two things are about.

Strings of Abstraction Img 1Strings of Abstraction Img 2Strings of Abstraction Img 3This work available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/101522495/strings-of-abstracction-mixed-media or by contacting me at micah@azzlsoft.com

Arting for 365 Day 37: Winged

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Day 36: WingedGoal: To create one work of art each day for 365 consecutive days

I brought my seed things with me to my parent’s house this last weekend, thinking they’d be a good out of town project to work on. I felt proud for remembering to pack them since typically I am really good at forgetting things. My pride quickly vanished as I realized that I had forgotten the acrylic coat that keeps the little guys preserved (or at least that’s my hope). But bringing them still ended up being a good thing. I found out that the plastic bread bag I keep the non-coated seeds in is not, in fact, the best way to store them. Turns out they had begun to get dry and brittle. Shocking, I know. I thought for sure this is how all museums store their artifacts. So yesterday I coated a big chunk of them and worked on day 36’s project.

Day 36: Winged Left WingDay 36: Winged 2Day 36: Right WingI knew that I wanted to do some more drawing on and stacking of the seeds, but wasn’t quite sure what I had in mind. I began laying out the seeds, gluing them down and then pulling them off. I glued a few more down and realized this thing was screaming to be a moth – which I like.

I became interested in moths a few years back when I learned about how one species in Britain had evolved to adapt to its polluted environment. The one I created is so content with itself; I don’t see it evolving anytime soon.

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3 x 7” Seeds & ink on lid

This work available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/listing/101434913/winged-mixed-media-3d or email me at micah@azzlsoft.com