Drawing with your non-dominant hand

I've recently started a new series and got the ball rolling today with a small mock-up painting.

"Size: Laughter"

8"x8"

I often desire my paintings to have a loose feeling to them, and just as often my O.C.D tendencies struggle with this. A friend of mine who is a fabulous, intuitive, abstract painter suggested I try drawing with my left hand, so try this as your next art prompt.

 

Here's what the non-dominant hand drawing looked like. I forced myself to draw it in ink so I wouldn't be tempted to erase lines and clean them up. It was challenging and took WAY longer than a normal quick sketch would. In the end, I really liked it.

 

This series is entitled "Sizes". I want women to stop worrying about their dress size, but rather to focus on their other wonderful qualities. I have a friend who has a killer smile and infectious laugh. It was the first thing I noticed about her. Every time I'm around her I hope she knows this about her self. She inspired this painting, entitled "Size: Laughter". If you'd like to be a part of this series, tell me what your size is. Me? I'm size bookworm. Better yet, book a modelling session in my studio to become one of the paintings!

Wordless Wednesday

reclaimed lumber

This week's art prompt is to visit design websites and take some inspiration.

 

"White Cottage"

8"x8"

encaustic wax 

 

This little encaustic piece I did was inspired by the look of reclaimed lumber. Reclaimed pallet wood is everywhere right now in design. From walls and flooring to furniture and headboards.

 

 

Fox Interior Design

 

My encaustic piece was created by aggressively scraping back layers of wax and distressing the surface by incising; not unlike the aggressive ravages of time and the elements on a piece of wood.

 

I love leafing through design magazines or pages on Pinterest.com to get inspiration ideas. Design, trendy colors or green movements such as reclaiming lumber can be a great jumping off point for your next piece of art.

 

Urban Textures

This week's art prompt is to create some rubbings from surfaces in your house.

"Urban Textures"

8"x8"

$50

Start this project by creating a few pages of rubbings. My favorite was the lego!

Then create a template and cut out 1 inch squares from the rubbings. Place a plastic page protector over the template. Using the template as your guide, add the squares between the two sheets of plastic.

Use a sewing machine to stitch around the squares. Remove the template backing.

Create a textured board to mount your rubbings on. I used hard molding paste and layers of black glaze.

Tack, nail or screw your plastic pockets of rubbings on to the textured background.

Meh

Even if your studio is named after a dog, a good studio should always have a studio cat. Why? Because yesterday my Brown Dog Studio cat jumped on the desk, put muddy paw prints all over art cards and knocked over a vase of flowers. That's why! Because who would want to miss out on that? And he did it all with an air of indifference that could only be embodied by the statement "Meh". Thank you Tuxedo, thank you very much.

"Meh"

8" x 8" mixed media on wood

$150

Today's painting was inspired by the art prompt: use two complimentary colors to create a piece of art. Hence the green cat. Tuxedo is not green. Tuxie watched ardently as I created his portrait from Japanese papers, paper mache, rusted wires, thread and found glass item.

p.s I really am crazy about my studio cat, and so are my patrons. If you don't have one, get one.

Maintenance

Outside my front picture window is my favorite plant. A large, old, deer nibbled blue hydrangea. And if I sit just right, the blooms fill up my entire view. Every once in a while I get one of those rare days where the teenagers are out for the day, the house is clean and I have nothing to do with myself. Today is that day. I will sit, eat chocolate covered almonds and read Steinbeck. I will gaze out the window at my hydrangea. I will  happily foster my unhealthy attachment to my beloved dog. We'll go for a long hike. The day is ours.

 "Maintenance"

I painted this self portrait a couple of years ago and it reminds me of today's art prompt: look out a window and paint the view you see. Here is where I do maintenance on my soul.

Wordless Wednesday