Cake and Art and Summer....Oh, My!!

It's the long weekend! Does that mean lots of time for art or are you going to be busy with other things like camping, swimming, hiking, or a backyard barbecue? It's the "official" kick-off to summer whatever you do. As a kid at this time of the year I remember thinking of those three lovely, long months ahead of me with no school....just play.

Last night I baked a cake for HB (well, I might have had a teeny tiny piece, too!)



I made a Banana Rum Chocolate Chip Pound Cake! Doesn't that sound yummy?? I made it in a bundt pan rather than the suggested loaf pans and it worked just fine. Would you like a piece?



Sorry the pictures aren't too good....I was trying to take photos at night so the lighting wasn't terrific. And I don't have a fancy cake plate so I used one of our camping plates! No one ever accused me of being Martha Stewart!!!

I used a recipe I got online but can't remember whose blog I saw it on! This morning I went online and found the recipe here if you'd like to try it. It's DELICIOUS!!

Ok, enough of this kitchen talk! Let's get on to some art! I finished another piece, the last one, of the brown paper from my painting table. When HB saw it he said it looked like the wind so I named it Sirocco....



Now that I've used up all the paper from my table I guess I'll have to start painting some more backgrounds to use. And just so you know, I'm still working on the studio. I'll take some pictures when I finally get it organized....that should be sometime around 2020!!

Have a great Saturday!! I hope you have some sunshine and blue skies wherever you are....

A Little Bit of Art Got Finished....

My back is doing a little bit better and I've actually been shoveling out the studio!! The other day I walked in and this is what I saw....



Total chaos!! What a mess! I couldn't take it any longer so I've been throwing out stuff, organizing stuff, and generally tidying up the space. It isn't finished yet or I'd show the the "after" picture.

I think I've finished another one of the brown paper pieces. I'm never quite sure because sometimes I walk past the table where I'm working and I think "oh, it needs a little something right there"....so for now, this is the "finished" piece....



Not much else going on. Don't forget you still have time to join in on the Mail Art Swap. You can read about it here or here. You have until June 7th to sign up.

I've Been Layin' Low....

First of all, thanks to all the people who have joined the Mail Art Swap. Lee and I are happy to get a good response although we do need at least one more person to play so that we have an even number. If you think you might like to join in you can read about it here or over on Lee's blog.

I haven't done much at the computer for the past couple of days because I've been having trouble with my back. Sitting for long periods of time really gets to me when my back is hurting. Every once in awhile my back decides to act up and when it does I stay fairly quiet.

Even art didn't get done over the past few days. This is about the only thing I have to show you....



More on one of my WIPs! I've added a little bit to this brown paper piece but it isn't finished yet.



And this brown paper piece has a little bit of blue metallic acrylic ink added but not much else.

It's been pretty slim pickin's around here when it comes to art! Mostly I've been reading and trying not to aggravate my back any more than it already is. Today it feels a little better so I hope to get some art done tomorrow.

Have some fun today....

Announcing My First Ever Mail Art Swap!!!

You may have read something here yesterday or over on Lee's blog saying that we were cookin' up a little something for you.

Lee and I have done a couple of mail art swaps together and had lots of fun with them so we decided to spread that fun around a little bit. Would you like to get some cool art in the mail?


These are just a few of the pieces of mail art I've done recently.

All you have to do is leave a comment either here or on Lee's blog and let us know you want to play along. We will then partner you with someone and you will exchange two pieces of collage mail art about 6" x 6" in size. Just be sure you can send it through the mail!

So leave me a comment right here or over on Lee's blog and you're in! Please send an email to one of us (our emails are on our profiles) and include your mailing address. You have until June 7th to sign up and the mail art should be sent out by June 30 so you have plenty of time to do something fantastic!! On June 8th we'll pair everyone up and send you your partner's name and address. Hopefully we'll get some people who want to play along....remember this is for anyone, anywhere in the world!! And please don't hesitate to spread the word on your own blogs. We'd love to get a good response on this.

Let's fill those mail boxes with fun stuff so there's no room for any bills!!

PS - LOST was awesome last night!!!!!!!

I'm LOST Today!!

Just a quickie post today. I think I've finished one of the brown paper pieces. But who knows! I might walk past it and think of something else to do to it. For now here's what it looks like....

I added a little more color and some of my fake writing....I love using it.

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Be sure to stop by tomorrow....either here or at Lee's blog. We're planning a little something that you might enjoy.

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And finally....you all know where to find me tonight. Sitting in front of the TV for 4.5 hours watching the final episode of LOST!! I freely admit to being a LOST addict. I've watched faithfully since day one. And no matter how it all ends I can truthfully say it's been the BEST six years of TV that I've ever seen.

What am I going to do when all my bad boys are gone? No more Sawyer, Sayid, or Jin.

No more creepy Ben....or Locke/fake Locke. And Hurley....he has definitely captured my heart! What on earth will I do on Tuesday evenings?

Molly and I think we should start a support group for everyone with LOST withdrawals!

Will you be watching?

Works in Progress....

Today I have works in progress to show you. Nothing is finished. I haven't been in the studio or my garage art space much at all today. Too much other stuff to get done....laundry and cleaning and all that crap that takes my time when I could be doing art!!

So here are some of the things I'm working on....


(Most pictures are clickable to view larger)

I showed this "Q" page earlier and all I've done since then is add some fake writing all over the background.



What a quirky little face! She just appeared on this page. Not sure what else will appear.



This page is just a bunch of doodles right now. I like the colors. Who knows what I'll do with this page!



Remember that brown paper that I took off my work table? This is a portion of it. I like how this one is turning out.



More of the work table paper....I like the orange and purple.



And this is the other piece of that brown paper. I have lots more to add to all of these but at least you know I'm doing something!

Jumbles and Doodles and Snippets!

I know it's been a couple of days since I last posted. Recently things have changed here at Chez Art since HB and I began sharing the office space. Mornings were my usual time to read emails, visit blogs, and post on my blog....but that's changed now. HB needs to have the office (can't tell you what he's doing right now but later I'll fill you in!) during the morning hours. So if I'm a little later than normal answering emails and visiting blogs you know who to blame!!

I've been working on some projects but nothing I can show yet. I did do a little jumble doodle last night....



I did this in my large size moleskine. No rhyme or reason to it....just drawing whatever popped into my head.

And this morning I went to the garage art space, picked up this picture that I showed you earlier....



turned it the other direction and saw this....



I like how it turned out. The color in the first picture is more true to what it actually looks like though.
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listening to: a plane going overhead
reading: "Almost a Crime" by Penny Vincenzi
wearing: jeans and a purple t-shirt
thinking about: what kind of smoothie I'm going to make
art: working on some projects, plus still doing some doodle art, and scrappy art

weather: very breezy, sunny and should reach the upper 60's

Have a great, art-filled day!!

More Doodle Art....

Are you ready for some more doodle fun? I told you I had more pictures to show you. So sit back and relax. Here we go!!!



This one makes me think of planets. I used the fake writing here too. Mostly acrylic paints, some applied with my fingers (!) and ink.



More fake writing on this one. Acrylic paints, ink, some colored pencils, and markers.



Same thing again....just playing with paint, ink, markers....seeing what appears on the page.



I like making these circle flowers....



This one was spray painted. I used some sequin waste for the white circles and some fake writing along the side. I may add something else but for now I'm not messing with it anymore.



These are just beginning. Laying down some colors with a palette knife....don't know where they're going to go but it will be fun playing!

Are you having fun today? It's turned chilly and windy again here so I'm staying in and doing more art.

Having a Lot of Doodle Fun....

I am having so much fun with Traci Bautista's Creative Doodles class!!! For the past couple of days I've been working on some papers and I think I finally have them where I want them. In fact I think I went too far on a couple of them!!

This is one I stenciled on a few days ago....



I added the red along the sides and then using a pen and india ink I made the squiggles. I think they sort of look like Asian writing.



Same thing....spray painted, stenciled, and then I added the squiggly writing at the bottom. It doesn't really say anything. It's just some fake writing I do.



This started out as a doodle with ribbon-like shapes and I didn't like how it looked. So I spray painted over it and added a grid-like stencil. Then I squiggled lines all over it with my pen. Still didn't like it!



So I added some circle flower shapes and liked how that looked. I added some color and then I got carried away and did too much!! Here's how it ended up....



I liked it until I added the colored inks and that was too much!

This next one started life as an ABC doodle that wasn't good. Same thing....spray paint, stencil, squiggly lines with india ink and it got to this point....



I kept going with it and ended up with this....



And here's how my flower doodle from a few days ago turned out....



I have lots more to show you but I won't bore you with more right now. Maybe tomorrow I'll put the rest of them on.

Saturday Playtime....

What are you doing today? Are you having good weather? It's absolutely gorgeous here today although it is getting a little warmer than I like. HB and I worked in the yard this morning and then I came in to cool off. I went to my garage art space and started making marks on paper. Just doing some background stuff and playing.



Just using two or three paints and putting down some color....



Having fun....



Adding a bit more to each paper....



Letting them dry, and then I'll go back and add something else. Just playing....

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My shoes are on the zentangle blog!! How cool is that!

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I took this picture this morning....this is the rose bush by the front door. It's loaded with roses! In fact, some of them need cutting....they're near the end.



Enjoy your day and remember to have some fun!

Spray Paint Fun....

Wow! Thank you for all the great comments on my shoes the other day! I really appreciate hearing from everyone. You make my day when you leave me a comment!!

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Today I decided to do some spray painting since it was very calm outside. I pulled my spray table up under the patio roof, got out all my cans of paint, lugged out paper, stencils and all the other things I needed and began to have fun. Of course, about five minutes into it the wind started kicking up and I was only able to spray for a few minutes. I did manage to do some small papers to maybe use in later projects.


This is my spray table....it's an old plastic table and you can see how much it's been used! I don't bother to cover it since it's only used for painting.


A few of the papers I did.


This is some brown paper that was covering my work table in the studio. (Sorry about the garden clippers in the bottom of the picture....they're one of my paperweights!) I took the paper off yesterday to replace it and did a little stenciling on it today. I may tear it up and use it in some art later.


These are a few of the pages I managed to get sprayed. I'll add more to them and they will eventually end up in my journal pages or some other art.

Even though the wind ruined my afternoon plans I still managed to have some fun. Now I'm going to start adding other stuff to these papers.

Did you have some fun today??

Putting My Best Artsy Shoe Forward....

I'm at that age when I prefer my shoes to be comfortable. I used to love wearing high heels and probably had a bit of a shoe addiction. But back in 2000, when HB and I were living up in the Bay area, I discovered a pair of shoes that I loved and they were like wearing my house slippers....



They are Dansko clogs and I bought my first pair that year. I wore them everywhere! I can't even imagine how many miles I logged wearing those shoes. I finally wore a hole in the toe of one shoe just a couple of years ago and promptly bought myself a new pair exactly the same.

The old pair sat around gathering dust and I kept thinking I'd like to experiment with them and maybe paint something on them. Well, I finally got around to doing just that!

Here are my old clogs newly painted....



Here is a close-up of the hole in the toe!



You can tell how old these are by the edging along the top of the shoe....



That (and the hole) is the only place where they are worn. Otherwise they're still in great shape. The soles look almost like new so I'm sure I'll get a few more miles out of these now that I've re-vamped them.



I used a Sharpie poster paint pen on these and then sprayed them with several coats of varnish. I don't know how they'll hold up but I'm going to test them out.

I've always liked my clothes to be individual to me but over the years I've gotten away from that. I think I might be headed back that way now!

Ok, I'm off to test drive my new old shoes!! Do something crazy today!!

Some More Scrappiness....

There's so much "stuff" rolling around in my head that I can't seem to think straight! I have so many things I want to create and I find myself flitting from one thing to the next....and that doesn't always work! Sometimes I lose my focus.

I have several doodle/designs started but none finished and today I began making more scrappy mail art. This scrappy stuff really appeals to me. Maybe because I have so much paper! I could use up paper for the rest of my life and probably not ever run out! And I'm serious!!

Today I made this piece of mail art....


This is one side....


and this is the other side where the address will go. In fact I started to put a name on it so that's why there's a post-it note in the lower corner!

I may add some paint to this or maybe not. I love these random pieces of art. And who doesn't like to get something fun in the mail?! Junk mail and bills aren't that exciting....unless you're like me and save all the junk mail to make art. This postcard is fairly large. It started life as a postcard from Netflicks! I added paper and images cut from magazines, a few stamps and stickers and it's much more fun now.

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listening to: MSNBC on the TV (HB has it on)
last thing I ate: oatmeal this morning with
flax seeds, chopped walnuts, brown sugar, and almond milk
wearing: long sleeved tee shirt, jeans, and a sweater! It's chilly today!
reading: still reading The Three Musketeers and All the King's Men
anticipating: LOST tonight!! Only a couple more 'til the finale.

Have a great evening....and make some art!!

I Finished It....

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day. Mine was perfect! HB always pampers me and even more so on special occasions....he's definitely a "keeper!"

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I finished the doodle art I was working on so here is the finished piece....



This is done on 9" x 12" regular old sketch paper but due to the size I had to take a photo of it rather than scan it. I used mostly Prismacolor colored pencils but there are a few of the tiny circles where I used fine point Sharpie markers. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. It makes me smile. I'm really enjoying Traci's class (the button is over there on my sidebar under Traci Bautista.) Doodles are something I can do without too much thought. My hand seems to like long swooping lines and swirls and circles.

You can see a continuation of that in some of my older drawings here and here and here. I've been drawing these shapes and lines for a long time!

And here's something I just started on....



Not sure I'm completely liking this one but I'll add some color and more lines and see where it takes me.

Have fun today! Smile and think happy thoughts!