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.
Tag Archives: postaday
Arting for 365 Day 117: Grid
Goal: 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
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.
Arting for 365 Day 115: Memory While Counting Up the Years
Goal: 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
Goal: 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.
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- Day 114
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- Original Coasters
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- New Belgium Shift Rocket
Arting for 365 Day 113: River 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.
Arting for 365 Day 112: Nature
Goal: 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.
Arting for 365 Day 111: All Natural Approach
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
The tooth had been giving him fits for days now. He’d tried some herbal remedies and ointments but they just weren’t cutting it. After reading up on the issue in Everyday Health Questions Answered; A Guide to Holistic Healing, the progressive lion determined the tooth must go.
While he couldn’t say he was thrilled with the idea of removing his canine, he did feel oddly pleased with his recent choice to switch to a vegan diet – a justification of sorts. As his tooth was being pulled he reflected that, without a doubt, this all natural approach to life was really the best thing he could do for himself – the king of the jungle.
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- Holistic Approach, ink on paper
If you can’t live without this, you can buy the original or a print.
Arting for 365 Day 110: Bulb Abstraction
4.75 x 4.75″ Ink on paper
As most of you know, I’ve got this little goal of creating a piece of art everyday for 365 consecutive days. A good chunk of my pieces are completed within a day, but some of my larger projects take a few days to complete. When that happens, I make sure I create a smaller piece along with working on the big guy, so as not to feel like I’m cheating.
Some of you may also be familiar with my stunning ability to underestimate how long something will take to complete. Yesterday, as I put up my drawing and got ready to call it a night, the boyfriend looked at what I had accomplished. He quickly asked me what I planned to create for day 110’s work. I assured him I’d be able to finish up the piece I had been working on in a few short hours the next morning. He gave me a look of disbelief. Actually, I like to think it was more of a “You are the most fabulous person in the world and I love you dearly, but don’t be ridiculous” kind of look. I glanced down at the barely inked up paper and reluctantly admitted he was right. -Not out loud of course. Out loud I told him I would create a second piece but that “I would not need to use it.”
I hate it when he’s right.
If you can’t live without this piece, you can buy a print or the original.
Arting for 365 Day 109: British Profanities: Like Cupcakes and Rainbows
Goal: To create one piece of art each day for 365 consecutive days
As I was biking home yesterday, I started thinking about profanities. -More specifically, British profanities. I don’t know what triggered this line of thought, but none-the-less, I was thinking about it.
Running through a short list of basic English cuss words, a smile came across my face. You see, when a person with a fabulous British accent spouts off anything, it sounds lovely to me. I’d go so far to say that they make profanities sound adorable.
A mad man could be screaming horrible things at me, but so long as he had a great English accent and used words like bollocks, I think I’d just grin and let him how fun he sounds.
If you can’t live without this little design, you can buy it. Email me for prints.
Micah Richardson 