Acrylic on Equinox Brewery Paper Coasters
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
A balance of light – sun and moon
One not overreaching the other
Shared time in space
For one long moment
Before a season turns
~3 x 5″ Ink, envelope and marker on paper.
They were not warned
Of the cold wind and freezing rain
As their few remaining blooms huddled closely together
Recognizing the call for hibernation
Until spring
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
For awhile now the boyfriend has expressed his dream of living in an RV and a few months ago we even started looking at them semi-seriously. As our lives continued to get ever more busy, though, we decided to put the idea on the backburner. That is until last week. Last week we received a letter explaining our rent would be going up. While the amount wasn’t a huge increase, I wasn’t pleased. I was ready to move. The issue lay in that the boyfriend hates moving and firmly stated that their raising the rent was not enough to get him to move again. “What if we moved into an RV?” I asked, feeling relatively certain I’d know my answer.
Sure enough, this past weekend we bought an old 1994 Winnebago Itasca Sunrise! She (Gertrude as named by the previous owner) is a beauty, seems to run like a dream and is a hoot to drive as long as you are not in Denver traffic. I can’t wait to start our adventures with her – the first being winterizing Gerty for the upcoming months in Colorado. I can’t say we are the wisest people for taking on RV living as winter is moving in, but heck, no one ever said adventurous and wise go hand in hand.
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m going to be showing some work at a harvest festival this weekend and so will be spending a chunk of the week prepping for it. After creating yesterday’s piece (below), I realized I liked it fine, but that it might be better suited as business cards.
It was a few years ago that an artist friend of mine, Alissa, used scraps of her own work to create business cards. I thought it was a brilliant idea and I immediately stole it. I often use old works that I may not have loved but that I think could look good cut up. Each card is a tiny piece of original art that folks can take with them and I feel like the cards are a bit more memorable than the norm. Beyond that, I like the idea of re-purposing some of the old work I have laying around.
The process is a simple one:
1. Take any work you like, as long as the paper is pretty sturdy
2. Make a grid of 2″ x 3.5″ squares
3. Cut them
4. Hand write or print out (I use Avery brand clear labels) your contact info on the back
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
Next weekend I’ve been invited to show my work at a local harvest festival. There should be quite a few people at the event and I always feel like any chance I’m given to get my work in front of an audience is a good one, so I’m pretty excited. On top of that, the festival should be a really great time – lots of fun people, delicious food and music.
I don’t have a super concrete idea as to how much space I will have though, and so decided it would probably be wise to start creating some smaller items to sell. Last night I pulled out business envelope scraps and markers and created a few of these bright, fun cards.
Each piece ~ 3 x 5″ Watercolor and ink
It has been a whirlwind of a weekend. Yesterday’s activities included visiting my brother and his family, watching an extremely intense game of 6 year old flag football, and attending a house warming party which was followed up by a night on the town.
As you might imagine, a few of these activities involved drinking adult beverages – which could be treacherous when one is attempting to not miss a day of making art. No worries – I continued the streak by working on this lighthearted little pumpkin.
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
Yesterday I decided it would be fun to create some more coasters. Instead of using old paper brewery coasters, I thought I’d paint directly onto tiles I picked up for ten cents from the local Habitat for Humanity Restore.
Using ceramic paint that you can pick up from an art or craft store, I got to work on abstract designs.
I finished up by baking the coasters for 45 minutes in order to set the paint and sticking cork to the bottom.
A pretty fun project for a Friday afternoon!
~27 x 22″ Ink and Acrylic on paper
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
I love when something unexpectedly comes together. I began working on this piece years ago, with an initial drawing of the central bird-like form, but I never liked it. The burnt sienna colored design seemed forced and just kind of odd. The original bird reminded me more of a dead chicken hanging from those store windows in China Town than it did an elegant, energy filled bird. Unhappy with the piece, I stashed it away hoping that maybe someday I would come up with a brilliant idea as to how to salvage the darned thing.
A few months ago I pulled out the piece again, determined it could be saved. I worked on it a bit, but no epiphanies were made, so the drawing got sent to the corner.
Two days ago, as I desperately searched for an idea that would motivate me to create something I loved, I once again pulled out the bird. I’m not real certain why I thought it would be the piece that would fulfill me. Up until this point the drawing had been utterly unwilling to work with me in being something amazing. It was boring and disjointed and I saw little hope for its survival. Yet, here I was pulling it out again.
I am so thrilled I did because I think this piece turned out awesome (totally tooting my own horn here, I realize). Its got movement and texture and energy. Heck, I even like that I stuck with a monochromatic palette of browns -which is shocking to me. I really couldn’t be more pleased.
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
A dot to dot
Connected through lines drawn by a child
Whose carefree hand wobbles upon reaching the next goal
5 x 7″ Ink and watercolor on paper
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
Within the past two months or so, for some unknown reason, I have developed a slight fear of squirrels. This is a bit embarrassing for me to admit, as up until that time I found them to be much as I find the rest of the neighborhood animal kingdom – adorable and harmless.
When walking or jogging past them I worry they think I am scheming to steal their acorns. Because I feel rather certain that this is on their minds, my fear is they will turn to chase me in attempt to defend their coveted food. I am working hard to shake this ridiculous fear and even tried to sweet talk a baby squirrel out of the apartment hallway the other day – even though I was pretty certain the mom was probably close by, ready to pounce.
I’m confident that I will once again love the fluffy tailed rodents. I will start by convincing myself that they do not have a shared list expressing the following:
If you like squirrel’s or maybe don’t like squirrel’s and so would like to buy this piece, you can do so here.
Micah Richardson 