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.
Spring is my favorite season and purple is my favorite color!
Want a copy of this purple poster?
Get it here: http://bit.ly/PurpleSpringBlooms
I took these photos during walks in our neighborhood and at the nearby botanical garden.
For the past few years, I’ve been using the camera on my iPhone to notice and snag beauty that catches my eye. Looking through the camera lens helps narrow my focus. I enjoy playing with the composition to accentuate light, color, and shapes I find appealing. Here are three recent photos that I love even more every time I look at them. I’m thankful for those smart folks at Apple who designed a cool camera into my phone and grateful to live where beauty is easy on the eye and all around me.
The morning light with shadows from the shrub outside really amped up the beauty of the butterfly art on my office wall. The mixed media piece was created by my artist friend Kimberly McGuiness. The three-dimensional lavender butterflies came from Wayfair.
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.
Love the pink blossoms on the tree in our neighbor’s yard. Mid-February is a bit early for spring blooms — even in Georgia — but they sure make me happy! It was a foggy day and the background looks a bit ethereal. The green lichen on the bark is a lovely accent to the pink blooms.
The blossoms are equally as pretty when they blanket the ground. The day after I took the photo, I got the daily email from Seth Godin and added his quote to my photo. Here is the full blog post if you are interested in the context of the quote.
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!
Even though I’ve lived in Georgia since 1981, I had never noticed a Paper Bush until this winter. What a beauty! Here is a photo of one of the golden yellow blooms taken on my walk today. I have to say the blooms look even better on a bright sunny, blue-sky kind of day like we’re having today.
After a couple of my Facebook friends told me what kind of plant this was, I did a Google search and found this article from Southern Living magazine.
Here is a bit from that article:
“Native to China, paper bush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) gets its name from its bark, which is used in Asia to make high-quality paper. . . . Plant connoisseurs knew about paper bush, but it didn’t grab much attention until nurserymen planting displays for winter garden shows discovered that it was just about the easiest shrub to force into early bloom indoors. Thousands of winter-weary gardeners spied it, dropped their dentures in dismay, and coveted like they’ve never coveted before. A star was born.”
For comparison, the photo with just the white pods showing was taken in mid December when I first wondered what kind of shrub this was.
Then I took the photo with a few yellow flowers popping out a few weeks ago, on Jan 24th. An added bonus is that it smells great!
Fun to learn something new to appreciate — especially when it’s a plant that blooms before spring officially gets here.
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
vanessalowry.com 