Moth balls   

Today's challenge was to create a picture illustrating a pun, like a hand-bag made of real hands....  I ran through all the puns that could be illustrated that I knew of and came up with moth-balls. My moths are not anatomically correct but the assignment is finished. On to more interesting topics!

Do you remember soap carving from scouts or grade school? It's still fun! I highly recommend grabbing a bar of soap and whittling away. Best done outdoors since it makes quite a mess. I am currently about 3 days behind in these projects - need a bit of bad weather that would keep me indoors for a day or two to catch up.

Earrings  

The assignment was to make something to wear on or over the ear. I made earrings out of Sculpey modeling material. I had some tiny rose earrings years ago and lost one, so here are my new earrings. I haven't used Sculpey for a long time - I might think up some new "jewelry" to make!

Clay Imprinting Stamps   

Today's project was to design something useful, like a tool. It didn't necessarily have to be practical, but I needed some stamps to use on pottery, so made these. When they are fired they can be used to press into damp clay to make designs - one of them is a logo for identification. I am currently taking a wheel-thrown pottery class at Access Arts. So far I have thrown a lovely birdhouse, two flower pots and two cups. I am now working on more refined pieces. If they survive the firing and glazing without incident I will post pictures in a month or so.

This rather odd assignment was to make something out of erasers. This is a kneaded eraser - well used. I flattened it,  "carved" a little and added some pieces. Looks like a warrior - maybe Olmec?

Painting or tie-dye on fabric was the prompt for today. I need a work apron for the pottery class I am taking, so I decorated this with fabric paints. I like the water color effect on this one. I worked on damp fabric to get the colors to blend.

I took two small aprons for the kids to do. Rebecca enjoyed painting them - Kyle couldn't be talked into an apron...not even a BBQ theme!

Saturday's assignment was to decorate a cake or cookies. Rachel's birthday was last week and we were visiting this weekend, so I took cupcakes for the grand kids to decorate. They turned out pretty cute and tasted good too! Documenting them being eaten was part of the project, but the pictures of chocolate smeared faces were not too photogenic.

Lilly   

Time travel was the theme for today. Make something that seems like it comes from another era.

I chose a picture of my maternal grandmother and made a collage of vintage items. She lived into her nineties, and was always ready to try out anything new. She was my only grandmother as my paternal grandmother died before I was born.  I was the oldest grandchild, and only grandchild for 4 years, so I spent a lot of time with her and we were always very close. She was a wonderful, wise women and influenced me in many ways.

While I was playing around with old photos, I came up with this shattered version of my dad. He is now 92 and suffering with dementia as a result of a stroke. He was an educator all of his life and wonderful with kids - his own, and those he had in class. He and my mom influenced many children through the years. It is difficult to watch the disintegration of a beautiful mind.

Dad   

Grasshopper    

Try #1  

The challenge was to make something  in green. I started out with crayons and made design #1, but it sort of fell apart in the center, so I dripped melted crayon over the design and a grasshopper emerged.

Quillling is the art of the day.....  I've been knee-deep in ceramics lately - finished 2 cups, a flower pot, and am half finished with a lovely birdhouse, pictures to follow in a month or so, barring any kiln disasters!. I was glad to see I've had a couple of easy daily assignments lately.

Stone Face   

Western Landscape   

 Today's assignment was to do something creative with rocks, gravel or sand. This was a fun project! I found these two smooth stones in my landscaping rock that had some veining in them.

This rock is kind of mauve and had a profile line down the center, so it became the face of a chief.

The tan one had a white area across the middle that looked like a horizon line so I drew a western farmstead on it

Now  I have two nifty paperweights!

Circus   

Space Station   

Playing with toys was today's project. I put together some very colorful gears and springs. Nathan (5th grade) was here this afternoon. I have included his Space Station which makes me look like an amateur in the toy construction business!

Tangram Design    

This was kind of fun and easy. The assignment was to make a design using classic tangram shapes. A tangram is a Chinese puzzle composed of seven flat geometric shapes to make a variety of images - usually silhouettes. When placed together they form one large square. I  might play around with this is various sizes and would like to try one in black and white someday. It was such a beautiful day today, I'm glad it was a quick project. I had to work in pottery wheel (class I am taking) and fishing in addition to my regular Sunday activities. As summer approaches I will to have to discipline myself to keep going with this!

DNA Puzzle   

Puzzle pieces were to be the basis of today's creative endeavor. These are from a Disney trip puzzle of family. I have been fascinated lately with microscopic pictures of DNA - look them up on-line - they are beautiful in shape and color! So this is my attempt at family genetic connections. I'm going to work some more on this theme....would like to get luminescence in the colors and the patterns precise.

Waterfall    

I guess I should post the good, bad and ugly, as part of this little experiment. This does not fall in the good category. The assignment was to make a chalk drawing on an outdoor surface. Having seen all those wonderful optical illusions that people do, I started out to make a waterfall in a mossy spot in our driveway. I was a little limited in colors due to the fact I was using the kid's leftover chalk, but I'm not sure more color would have helped. Here it is from two different camera angles. So, the assignment is finished and I will not be leaving for Paris to pursue a career in sidewalk art! Hopefully it will rain soon.

Shoes as a subject was today's assignment. I decided to decorate a pair of sneakers for my granddaughter (don't think the grandsons would take to this well!) She likes pink, butterflies and flowers. The painting is done in acrylics with some permanent marker for the little details. The next time I do this I will be a little more adventurous in subject matter and drawing, but this was pretty satisfactory for a start. I think they need pink lace or ribbon for shoe strings. We'll see how she likes them.

Sycamore   

Something tall was yesterday's assignment - suggestions were along the line of making a painting that is 10 ft. + tall, etc. There was a little too much on the schedule for that so I chose photography. We have an ancient Sycamore in our yard that is about to die. It loses a few limbs in every windstorm. It's trunk is hollow and would make a wonderful hobbit house if we cut a door into it. It is probably 100 ft tall, and standing at the base looking up is an awesome sight. In it's day, it was a beautiful tree with tortuous limbs reaching out and up in all directions. I have painted and photographed it numerous times in all of it's glorious seasons. So, it has become an old friend and since it is far enough from the house not to fall on us, I always vote to let it live out its days.

Fruit Arrangement   

Today's assignment was an easy one. Take grocery store items and make something artistic out of them . (You could do this at the store - I chose to do it as I unloaded groceries at home.) The fruit was all so brightly colored that I put a black towel down to make it really stand out. The little daffodils just happened to be in the background when I shot the photo, but I think they added something to the total. The fruit has tasted as good as it's picture!

Me    

Self portraits have always been a challenge for me -- maybe I just don't like the way I look!  Actually, portraits in general are not my forte. But I am determined to keep each assignment and not worry too much about the results. So here it is....  Now that I've posted it, I see some things that need fixing - maybe I'll work on it some more later. This one is in acrylics; I usually like to do portraits in soft chalk pastels. Stan says it's how I'll look in a couple of years, he's just being sweet, unfortunately I think it's pretty much how I look now!

Numbers     

Subject for today was numbers....  could be used any way you liked. I decided to make a design out of numbers using block prints. My granddaughter called while I was working on it and ask me lots of questions. She always has lots of good ideas for art work. So, here it is Rebecca, what do you think?

The Path   

Pathways, is the prompt for the day. This little acrylic has a lot of texture that doesn't pick up too well in the photo, but I love the surface roughness and color.

It's a mystery where life's paths lead. As we age, the path ahead is unknown and often frightening. Faith must increase as we forge ahead into the mist. O.K., that's my philosophical thought for the day....now my brain is tired and I will live in the present - which is really all any of us have anyway.

Landscape    

Divergent materials was the prompt for the day - I have a box of "interesting materials" that included a couple of pieces of wood with unusual grain. I found these in my son's mulch pile. The opposite of these rough, textured, hard pieces would be something soft, smooth, shiny - Satin! I also have an assortment of fabrics left from my banner-making days. So I combined these into a landscape of sorts. This was an interesting project. I'm amazed at how these simple tasks make me more aware of everything I come in contact with during the day. I'm finding a smoother flow of ideas for subject matter that I hope will result in some more substantial art...in the future!

 

Mask  

Making a mask was yesterday's assignment. I decided to draw a picture of a mask, rather than constructing one. (Things are piling up around here, and 2 dimensions store better than 3!) This was taken from a drawing about the puzzles of life - eventually I hope it will all fit together and make sense. Anyway, I like this design and how it turned out as a product.

Super Size Me   

This isn't one of the 365 Day assignments, but thought I'd post it anyway. The Columbia Art League recently held a juried show with the title: "Eat Me" -- a focus on food and thoughts about food. My first thought was the super-sizing aspect of many of our foods, especially fast food. So I painted this little painting titled: "Super Size Me." It didn't make it past the jury process but I have it hanging near my refrigerator as a deterrent to snacking.

Cuddly Cobra   

Something fierce, made soft and friendly -  I thought a cobra was about the scariest thing I could think about curling up with, so this is a soft sculpture of a very cuddly cobra. I should have made this much smaller as I don't intend to keep it and it was hard to stuff. I'm really trying to abandon all product-oriented thinking, but I still resent spending the time on projects like this that seem a waste of time and effort. Guess it's my mid-western mindset....  Anyway, I'm sticking with the program - Day 65!

I'm not terribly fond of these food assignments - but I have always found beet juice to be fascinating. It is such a pretty color. So yesterday I played with my food, making designs with beet juice. I dropped a little milk in it to give it some variation in color. Interesting how some of these quick projects get you to be more observant of little things around you. This discipline is proving to prompt some creative thinking....something I need!

Today's junk mail was the topic. We receive an unbelievable amount of junk mail every day - mostly age related! I t consists of investment offers (4 identical ones today), hearing aids, all kinds of insurance, credit card offers, invitations for free lunches with sale's pitches for assisted living, etc., lots of requests for contributions to one cause or another....  So here is today's harvest from the mailbox: as you can see some of it is already shredded and all of it is totally useless - except for collage fodder.

Jellyfish

Plastic bag art was today's assignment. I tried a couple of things and ended up with blown up grocery bags. I gave each one a tail of streamers. They look kind of like jellyfish to me. This was not one of my favorite activities. Some days it's best just to make items, photograph them and then move on to the next day!

Yesterday's creative challenge was to make something heavy seem light. My first thought was elephants soaring over rainbows, but in the light of the events of the night before I went with the disaster of midwest tornados as the "heavy." An innocent, delicate ballerina light heartedly skips through the landscape leaving devastation in her wake. This is a colored pencil sketch.

Shadows are the assignment of the day. This made me very aware of shadows all day long. The photo that turned out best is in the parking lot of the MKT trail; me on my bike as the sun was setting low in the sky. I like this picture because it makes me look really tall. The strange Feb weather (60s) was especially helpful with this creative activity. Plus I got some exercise.