An Inch of Art

Ok, so these little babies are called inchies. Some crazy art form guaranteed to make your eyes cross and your fingers cramp. They are 1"x1" and include an image and a word(s). The idea was conceived by artist Julie O'Neill, and it has become an obsession, apparently. People are doing hundreds of them and swapping them with other artists. There is a great article in the Nov/Dec issues of Somerset Studio Paper and Mixed Media, by Angela Cartwright, where she talks about the idea and the art. Here is my little attempt. Very fun, very fast and very addictive!!

IN This House

This is from Angela Cartwright's "In This House" An amazing book full of great inspiration. This piece is called "Choose" The man is agonizing over which girl to choose. Is it love, will he make the right choice? It is paint, pastels, rub ons, pages from an old book, and copies of cabinet cards that I won on Ebay. Fun!

Again with the watercolors

Ok, somebody stop me!!! I can't help myself. I can't stop with the watercolor lessons in this book. I think this one may be my favorite. Wait, didn't I say that about the last one? Oh well, anyway, I do like how this one turned out. I feel like I am in 9th grade art class. Or 6th grade.....or something. Mine is on the left.

Watercolor Studies

So I got some great Fabriano watercolor paper for Christmas, and figured I should probably learn to paint with watercolors. I have done some painting before, but I knew nothing about basic techniques. I got a book called "Watercolor For The First TIme", and it is very easy to follow and has great pictures to show details!! The following are the first three lessons in the book. This one gave me lots of trouble. Well, considering I had never tried to learn before. I struggled with the shading, but, all in all I am happy with it.

Left is original, right is mine.

Study 2

This one was difficult for me with the detail. I was working on a smaller piece of paper that the book calls for so I was not able to extend the wheat shafts as much as the original. Lucky for me, the scan actually looks better than the painting. Hee Hee. Left is mine, right is original But I had so many issues (read: problems) with trying to learn how to shade in the first study, that I was relieved there were not so many in this one.

Study 3

This one is my favorite. Daisy's are my favorite flower, and I had a really good time putting this one together. I lightened the background more than the original, I might go back and darken the green a bit, I don't know. But I really like how this one came out.

Left is mine, right is original. (DUH!)

Another Post Cover

This is another Saturday Evening Post cover that I paint extended the picture on. The original ends at the cage, the rest is painted. I have no idea how this piece came about, I just really liked the picture. It is dated May 5, 1945

My Happy ending

I did this page today reflecting the trouble I sometimes have getting creative inspiration. The girl on the right is pulling the creativity out of the little artist. She is then looking at me like "ha ha I told you we could do it" Sometimes I feel like I literally have to pull the ideas out, and I don't always know exactly where my creativity comes from. I know it is a true God given gift, but sometimes it feels alot like work. I just bought a little journal kit called "Wide Open-Inspiration and Techniques for Art Journaling on the Edge", by Randi Feuerhelm-Watts. It comes with a creativity notebook, and 50 inspiration cards that are very cool. It has some very interesting ideas, things I would have never in a million years thought of. Like how to take interesting pictures, off the wall photos, where to look for new ideas. It is awesome.

The little artist in this piece is part of a Saturday Evening Post Magazine cover I have. I bought about 50 original covers in an antique store one time. This one is dated October 28, 1950. Click on the photo for a closer look

Next page

This journal page is called "Heredity" This is a picture of my father, taken about 1954-1956. I took the original picture, altered the contrast, and then paint extended the picture to include the rest of his shirt, arms and waist.

New Journal pages

I did a couple of new journal pages using inspiration from Corey Moortgat's "The Art of Personal Imagery". It is an amazing book full of eye candy, tutorials and some great insight. This first one is called "Incomplete Dominance"

Zetti Ornaments

So my friend Barb has opened her Christmas present, so now I can post them here. I made a set of ornaments using Teesha Moore's images and 1"x3" memory glass. I soldered the frames and added beads and embellishments. Darn it!!! Should have made myself a set too. Oh well, next year.

For A Song

This is an 8x10 canvass board titled "For a Song" Glenn brought back a notebook from Cypress, that looks like it was made from leaves and string and wood. I took it apart and used it to show and frame these birds and nest. The images are from a great set of postcards called Natural History from Carte Postale. Sometimes things roll around in my mind and never form into anything I can decipher. This literally came together in less than an hour. My inspiration for this piece is Somerset Studio's "Nature Preserved" issue from July/August 2007. Speaking of which, I sent off my "Hero" submission yesterday to Somerset, so fingers crossed!! (If you click on the picture, you can get a better look)

Wings of Change, Crown of Confusion

I did this set of ATC's for a zetti w/angel wings and crowns swap. I did th ewhole set while watching the Sci Fi channel take on "The Wizard of Oz" called "Tin Man". Not being a sci fi fan, I am very pleasantly surprised with how good this show is. Down side: not paying attention to all the preview commercials that called it a mini series event. Bummer, why they gotta drag it out for 3 nights. Oh well, maybe my muse will enjoy the science fiction change of pace!!