Art Every Day Month

I finished the month by painting every day, including the new painting which was a wacky take on Worcester's "Turtle Boy" statue. I got the original paintings done and packed up, and they are now installed down at The Bean Counter on Highland Street for the month of December. Phew! And ever since then I've been continuing to do "art every day" but for my clients and to stock the stores who carry my items. It's a busy time of year!

AEDM#24 - Stacked cups

I saw an image (photo) like this on a magazine recently and was really taken by the shape of these stacked cups. So I drew my own version of it for yesterday's "Art Every Day Month" entry.

AEDM#23 - A city, simplified

Yesterday's city turned out a little wacky. So I decided to try a simplified, more streamlined version.

AEDM#22 - An attempted city

This is what happens when you are utterly sleep deprived and try to do a doodle on a small pad of paper held in the lap first thing in the morning, while an adorable yellow cat tries to sit on your lap at the same time. My buildings are falling over!

AEDM#21 - Butterflies and other flying things

You can sort of see when I am in a period of inspiration or in a period of "I have to do art today for Art Every Day Month." I don't care too much for this one.

AEDM#20 - Flowers

This is what happens when I am really tired of doing the daily AEDM doodles. I just phone it in. (Hmm...telephones would be a cool theme for an upcoming daily doodle.)

AEDM#18 - Clocks

Time is such a big theme in our family. For me, it's whizzing past at an alarming rate. My child is growing before my eyes, turning into a long, lanky bean. For him, time is nonexistent. There is only the present. It shouldn't surprise me...he loves watching physicist Brian Greene on Nova, going on and on about new theories of time and space. Now, if my son could just get ready on time and clean up his space, I'd be happy....

AEDM#17 - Books

When I heard that Occupy Wall Street had a wonderful library, and that it had been taken down by police (the same guys who destroyed their tents), I was so sad. Libraries are so special. It inspired me to make today's doodle about books.

AEDM#16 - Clothes

I did this while at the YMCA, sleep-deprived, watching my son take his swim lessons today.

AEDM#15 - Pots and Pans

Why I'd do art of stuff from the kitchen is a mystery to me. I don't like being in the kitchen much.

AEDM#14 - Letters

I have always regarded letters as little bits of art.

AEDM#13 - Fruits and veggies

Today's doodling consists of fruits and veggies. Some look pretty scary; others, not so much.

AEDM#12 - Kept working....

On November 12 for Art Every Day Month, I chose once again to keep working on my newest painting. I made significant progress, too. I don't know if one is supposed to create a new and complete bit of art on every day of AEDM; I hope not. With all that I've got to do, I don't always have time to do art for pleasure (AEDM) and art for business. Business usually wins that battle, as I have this odd need for income.

However, I will say that having made a public commitment to AEDM is helping me have the discipline to make art every day. You might think that doing art every day is natural for an artist. It may well be, but when the artist is a homeschooling mom with another day job too, it's easy for that to be put on the back burner. I am thankful to AEDM for keeping me on track. I know that this painting will be done before long and I can return to my adorable doodles, or perhaps some 5x5 paintings that I can turn into card designs. Thanks for listening.

p.s. I am not including a photo of my painting-in-progress here because I want it to be a surprise.

AEDM#11 - Not a doodle, but a painting

For "Art Every Day Month," (AEDM#11) I was not inspired to do a doodle today. Today I came up with an idea for a new painting, drew the pencil sketch for it, and started the painting. I've got it sort of half-covered in this photo because I don't really want to reveal what I've got planned

AEDM#10 - Clotheslines

When I watched a recent episode of Boardwalk Empire ("Peg of Old" - Episode 19), I was struck by the pattern of clotheslines spanning an alleyway in one of the scenes. Hence today's doodle.

AEDM#9 - Chairs

Or maybe I should call this one "things to sit on," as my son pointed out that there are some things in here that are most certainly not chairs. :-)

AEDM#8 - Windows

Here is today's contribution for Art Every Day Month. Windows.

AEDM#7 - Leaves

Appropriately for fall.

AEDM#6 - Lamps

Shedding some light on Art Every Day Month. Lamps!

AEDM#5 - Coffee cups

Java!!!

AEDM#4 - Fish

Fishies!!

AEDM#3 - Gifts

Presents!!

AEDM#2 - Cats

Kitties!

Art Every Day Month - AEDM#1: Houses

I haven't even bothered to find out if there is such a thing as "Art Every Day Month" or whether it's a figment of FB friend Aimee's artistically wonderful mind. But with so many of my friends doing NaNoWriMo, I felt that if my homeschooling friends can work on their novel every day with numerous kids and household and work duties, then I can churn out a doodle-type drawing each day for AEDM. (Truth be told, I have never committed publicly to one of these things before.)

So, I guess I will catch up on my postings. (These are all small pen & ink doodles, from my 3x5 sketch pad. That's the size of daily art I have time for these days.)

So much to catch up on

I haven't written in a while (That's nothing new.) But it doesn't mean that I haven't been busy. For one thing, I am happy to report that I'm finally art-blogging. Nothing fancy, mind you, but I bought one of those mix-media journals and I carry it with me now, everywhere I go. It's got big, wide pages, and I use my portable "Koi" watercolor set and water brush to add color to my entries. I am thrilled that I finally got the courage to venture into this somewhat intimidating new activity. The entries are delightful to go back and read; not because they're such compelling writing, but because of the illustrations.

I credit Connie Hozvicka and all the artists at "21 Secrets" art journaling workshop with helping me get past the blocks that kept me from trying this before.

Featured in a kitty blog: All About Cats

Today I was contacted by the person who writes this blog: All About Cats which has a tagline "this blog is all about cats, crafting, Etsy, Etsy Sellers and my All About Cats Etsy Shop". She included my laminated magnet in her blog.

This Beware of Cat Kisses design is one of my favorites and a great seller. It can be found in my Etsy shop.

Mixed media fun

I decided to try my hand at mixed-media this weekend. I'm in an inbetween-place, between wanting to keep the best of what people liked about my formerly predominant kind of art (the acrylic kitties) but also venture out into new territory that *I* find personally interesting and creative. There will be much experimenting in the coming weeks.

On alone-time

I have been alone all day (husband and son went to Grandma's 24 hours ago!!) and I realized today that it takes me THAT long to get to any productive thoughts or ideas. I can, of course, dash off little doodles or thoughts in a found moment here or there, but to get anywhere BIG, to solve a problem or break through an artistic block, I need HOURS. In a row! It takes me that long for one thought to lead to another, to another, and 5 hours later, a solution or an inspiration happens, and then I've still got some time to act on it.

I have got to find a place to send my son! Darling boy, I love him so much, but because we homeschool, he is omnipresent. I drive him to classes here and there that are two hours long but that's not long enough to come home and create in my own space. I work in coffee shops or learning center waiting rooms, out of a backpack that contains all my art supplies, or a computer that lets me work on my paid job. I work like a refugee.

I am not whining. It's just the truth of it. I need to come up with a solution.

List-It Tuesday - Jan. 18, 2011

Aimee has just indicated that she's done hosting List-It Tuesday. Which just reinforces my belief that my timing is impeccable. I started it last week for the first time, and ka-put. It's gone! Well that's OK. I was too busy to get to a list today anyway. (see last week for reasons)

This week finds me in the midst of an artistic crisis. All my artist friends seem to be surging forth into success with their art. And I, knee-deep in homeschooling lessons and a part-time day job, can't seem to get paint to canvas half the time. Why is it that I expect myself to excel in all aspects of my life, at all times, all at once? (Do I have a red cape and tights hanging in my closet that I don't know about?)

Sometimes the kitty knows best

Every so often the Inner Critic gets going and PK has to talk a little sense into me.

List-It Tuesday - Jan. 11, 2011

OK, Amy Myers Dolich at the Artsyville blog has this thing called List-It Tuesday, where you make a list and post it. I hope I am understanding this right. I don't have time to create anything artistic to go with it. It's just a list! After you see it, you'll know why I have no art to go with it. I'm lucky I got it down on paper! :-)

Thank You

I always get the greatest Christmas gifts, and then I am lax about sending out Thank You cards. As an artist, I get caught in that trap of "oh, why buy a card when I can make it." (Well the answer to that is, because if you buy it, it might actually get sent sometime this YEAR!) In any case, today I finished this cute one that I'm going to use, and finally get my thank-yous out.

Oh, and I should say that if these drawings from the past few days look like those from Aimee Myers Dolich, then that's because she is inspiring me at the moment. But I won't cross the line and add these lovely little creations to my work that I'm selling. I need to get through the new ideas inspired by others and BACK to my own style, or onto a brand new style of my very own that has yet to be fully developed. These are just baby steps along the way.

I'm back! Redesign is on the way

I have been away for a long time. This blog is about to have some new life breathed into it. The first order of business was to get rid of the brown and beige color scheme (what was I thinking?!), and soon I will be redesigning the whole thing. I hope you will be patient with this multi-tasking, homeschooling, artist, work-at-home web moderator mama.