Archive for the ‘inspired by’ Category
April 8, 2019
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.
Tags:art, bird, coloring, coloring page, Daily Creating Group, dogwood, facebook, flowers, iPhone 7, leaves, maple tree, Micron pens, photoshop, pink dogwood, poppy, Sharpie, spring, tulip, Vanessa Lowry
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April 5, 2019
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.
Tags:Brooklyn Art Library, butterflies, doodle, flowers, highlighters, markers, Micron, nature, Sharpie, Sketchbook Project, trees, Vanessa Lowry
Posted in art, collaboration, creativity, doodle, fun, gratitude, inspired by, nature | Leave a Comment »
February 11, 2019
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.
Tags:art, Creations of Entropy, doodle, Sketchbook Project, Vanessa Lowry
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February 5, 2019
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.
Tags:gratitude, nature, paper bush, Vanessa Lowry
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February 4, 2019
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
Tags:art for 30 days, creativity, facebook, Vanessa Lowry
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January 31, 2019
While working on a client project this week, I was doing research on the commercials for the upcoming Super Bowl. (About 3/4 of advertisers release them in advance now.)
I love, love, love this new campaign by Gilette in response to the #MeToo movement. This Gillette commercial is getting a lot of buzz along with Super Bowl ads, but won’t be aired during the game.
Gillette’s new campaign is called “The Best Men Can Be”, an update of its tagline from 30 years ago, “The Best a Man Can Get.” It promises to donate $1 million per year for three years to American non-profit organizations dedicated to educating and helping men become their own “personal best.”
Evidently a lot of men don’t like being called out on their bad behavior. Interestingly, the YouTube video is on track to be the most disliked ever. As of today, Jan 31st, the video has nearly 28 million views, about 750K likes, and 1.3 million dislikes.
You might find this article interesting where they talk about this campaign and other brands that have approached their advertising as a form of social communication.
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January 30, 2019
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?
Tags:David Boyd, inspiration, Jr., Quinlan Visual Arts Center, Vanessa Lowry
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