On this day three years, we adopted our kitty Smudge from the Atlanta Humane Society. Full of energy and personality, she is one fun fur kid. I have lots of interesting photos of Smudge, but here is one of my favorites from a few months ago. Happy Smudge Day!
I took a break from client work today and played. I pulled the bird art from a coloring page I drew several years ago. Then I “colored” it in by using Photoshop and photos of spring flowers I’ve taken with my iPhone 7 over the last few days.
I copied segments from the flowers and pasted them into the various areas of the bird art. I duplicated the dogwood photo in the background and silhouetted three of the larger flowers in the front so they could overlap the bird. The entire piece was quite time intensive and I really love the finished art.
The bird coloring page was hand drawn using a black Sharpie and black fine tip markers — probably Microns. Photos were taken in my neighborhood and at the local botanical garden. I was inspired by today’s bird prompt in the Daily Creating Facebook Group.
Here are the individual images I combined together.
Here is a video of my completed entry for the Volume 14 Sketchbook Project. Shortly after making the video, I shipped this labor of love off to the Brooklyn Art Library to added to their permanent exhibit. I got a confirmation email from the library that my sketchbook, Vanessa’s Book of Fantastical Butterflies, can be found on the shelves of the physical library with call number 360.16-4. Soon, it will be digitized and available in their online library.
Click here to see the full video:
The art tools I used to create my sketchbook are Micron black pens and Sharpie highlighters.
Over 43,000 sketchbooks are included on display at the Brooklyn Art Library — one of the largest collections of sketchbooks in the world. Find out how you can participate in this global art project.
Until this popped up on my Facebook memories from this day last year, I forgot all about it. The art is compiled from a photo I took on a walk down a wooded road. It might have been a hornet’s nest that had fallen on the ground. I printed the photo and created a doodle on tracing paper, following the lines on the pic. Then I scanned the art and overplayed it in Photoshop. I converted most of the lines to white, added a drop shadow, and pasted in some glittering gold for the letters.
WaHoo for me! What have you created that makes you “wahoo” when it comes to mind?
Here are the individual pieces I used to create this art.
I’ve always found that looking at the art of others gives me ideas and points me in a new direction. While working on my entry for the Sketchbook Project, I found that by spread 13, I needed a bit of inspiration.
When checking out the hashtags that folks are using to tag their art — #thesketchbookproject and #sbpprocess — I came across this intriguing spread by Creations of Entropy.
I love the curves and movement so I decided to do a quick sketch in my style.
Then I used my sketch as the precursor of my next spread in my entry for the Sketchbook Project. You can see some similarities and see where I changed things up a bit. A fun evolution! I even got a bit of inspiration from the flower symbol on the Micron pens I was using. I thought it appropriate to tip my hat to Micron since I’m using their black pens throughout the book.
For about 6 years, I had a side business selling note cards I designed with a focus on using handwritten notes as a marketing strategy for making impactful business connections. I was a bit ahead of Send Out Cards, but without their deep pockets or their online technology component.
I gave many presentations to business groups and often included this quote attributed to Maya Angelou.
One day after my talk, a woman told me how much she loved my presentation… especially the quote by Michelangelo. I decided correcting her would NOT make her feel good, so I said thank you and let it go. It still makes me laugh and I’m now more conscious of my pronunciation!
I decided this year to complete an entry for the Sketchbook Project. It began in 2006 in Atlanta, GA and moved to New York City in 2009. It is a crowd-sourced library that currently features 41,349 artists’ books contributed by creative people from 135+ countries. The collection of sketchbooks is on view to the public at the Brooklyn Art Library, the project’s storefront exhibition space in Brooklyn, NY.
I’ve been working on it since September and the deadline for submission is the end of March. Here is my cool new lamp I purchased to use when I doodle.
Participants of the project order blank sketchbooks, choose a theme, fill them up and connect their books online with search terms, an artist bio, and other unique content.
Since my name Vanessa means butterfly, I decided to doodle a fanciful butterfly on every page of my entry. While you have the option of rebinding your book with different paper, I opted for using the supplied sketchbook as it cam
e. I limited my palette to Micron pens and one highlighter color per spread to keep bleed through to a minimum.
Here is the title page I created which uses ALL the highlighter colors I’m using throughout the book.
Did you know a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope??
I host a Facebook group called Art for 30 Days and we just finished the first of two 30 day challenges for the year. I love this group and the people who join me in sharing their work, posting links to interesting things that spark their creativity, and take the time to encourage one another.
Here is a small glimpse of some of the posts over the past month.
You’re welcome to come join the fun.
You don’t need to be an artist to get the benefits of creating and engaging in art. A study published in Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association found that creative activity significantly lessens stress in the body, regardless of artistic experience or talent.
In addition to making art/crafts/whatever, your 15 minutes a day (the guideline for the challenge) can also be in consuming art. Research a new recipe, take a gander at an artist’s website, watch a crafty demo on YouTube, or listen to a podcast. Whatever fills you up. Then come over and post what you’re doing.
It will be fun! At any time, you’re welcome to post your creations, share cool art-y stuff, and cheer one another on. Add your own bit of imagination and let’s make some magic!
www.facebook.com/groups/artfor30days
I went to the exhibit at the Quinlan Visual Arts Center over the weekend and spent some time admiring the work of artist David Boyd, Jr.
While I loved his bold strokes and slightly abstract style, I was particularly drawn to his unique signature. I thought of taking a pic of his signature, but didn’t.
Today, I found his work online so here is an image that shows his signature. It is cropped down from a low resolution image, so you’ll have to use your imagination a bit.
I decided to play around with my last name to see if I could do something similar. I didn’t like it much, so I kept fooling around a bit with the letters. Then this cute little cat emerged. I doubt I’ll use this as a signature, but it was fun to let my creativity meander around a bit. Where is your creativity taking you today?
I’m always fascinated by shadows. I hope this light play wets your creative whistle as much as it does mine!
vanessalowry.com 