Art Every Day Month - Day 14

I found a doodle in my art journal that I hadn't quite finished. Two months ago all of a sudden I'd had enough of these kind of doodles, so I just stopped making them. But gradually I'm feeling like doing it again, not too often yet, just every now and then. 

At least this one is finished now, and will be my entry for the 14th day of Art Every Day Month. Can't believe how fast this month is flying by. But I'm very glad I joined this challenge, since I've been creating every day and getting lots of things done I would otherwise not have finished. So thank you Leah, for organizing this!

And thank you for paying me a visit and leaving me your wonderful comments! I'll be back tomorrow for the Paint Party! ♥

Art Every Day Month - Day 12 and 13

Last night I was so tired that I didn't turn on the computer anymore, but got into bed very early with my book. So no post yesterday, but that doesn't mean I didn't get anything done. In fact I finished a sketch I had been struggling with since last week. I tried out about 5 different hairstyles, but each time I hated the end result. But yesterday I changed the shape of her face somewhat, and suddenly knew which hairstyle I wanted  for her. Still not sure whether I like it, but it is what it is now and she'll have to do ... ;-)

Today I did all kinds of things. Gave my boxes a second layer of colour,  varnished my mosaic mirror, prepared some mini-canvases for some experiments, even got out my gelliplate. But I really need to do a workshop for that, since I always end up with muddy colours.

And I finished two more rocks, front- and backside. They only need a coat of varnish and then they're really ready ....

In between I´m still working on my mosaic figure. That´s something you can´t do for a very long time, so every now and then I put down some pieces. Should start to work on it for a few hours in a row though, since I need some more mosaic mirrors for the gallery and I don´t want to start those (read: don´t have any room to start those) before I've finished this one. Oh well ...

It's about 60cm high and 40 cm wide (24"x16") so it'll take me a while I guess ;-)

That's it for today. Thanks so much for your continued support and comments,  and for taking the time to visit. I'm off now visiting some of your blogs. Linking this again to AEDM. Go have a look there, there are new links for every new day, and there are some real treasures to be found!

I'll be back tomorrow! ♥ ♥ ♥

Art Every Day Month - Day 11

I finally got up the courage to work on my magnets again. A year ago I bought a pack of canvas-sheets with a magnetic backing, and was all excited about it. But I encountered some serious trouble when writing on there, because the canvas structure was so prominent. The first magnets I made are explained in this post.

This time I wanted to make it easier and faster. And planned to put so many layers of paint on there that it would be smooth as a baby's bottom....

Not so easy I discovered. The first 2 layers of gesso didn't do much to take away the texture of the canvas. So I put some collage on top. And on top of that some more layers of paint, sanding it all down in between. And finally I had a smooth surface. Perfect for what I had in mind.

The canvas-sheet is A4-size, so I decided to cut it into 12 squares.

Purpose of this is to write some quotes on there. I started with a few, but soon discovered that my white paintmarker wasn't very visible on the lighter parts. And I didn't like the black marker so much. So I got out my sprays again and put some darker colours on there.

These are the ones that are finished:

Not sure yet whether I'll leave it like this, or maybe put some shadows around the lettering. The writing went easy, compared to last time. No roughness at all!

That's it for day 11 of AEDM.  Thanks for visiting, I'm going over to the site now to look at the new entries. See you tomorrow ♥

Art Every Day Month - Day 10

The day flew by today ....

I did all kinds of things but don't have much to show for it: gave my boxes a base-coat, painted the backside of the mirror, and finished a sketch in my journal. Not feeling really satsified with it yet, it needs some more tweeks , but I'm not sure what. I'll watch it again tomorrow with fresh eyes ....

Going over to your blogs now to have a quick peek before I dive into bed. Thanks for looking, I'll be back tomorrow for a brandnew week of AEDM!

Art Every Day Month - Day 9

Well, it's weekend again, so not much art-time today. I did SEE a lot of creative things today though. Went to Brisbane with my daughter to visit a handmade market, and got all inspired. It's a pity though that most of the stalls were jewellery. Not that much art there .... Which doesn't mean that the jewellery wasn't great. All handmade and very original designs. But I would've liked to see more variety ....Call me difficult ... ;-)

And then we went to visit the big art gallery in Brisbane, and boy was I disappointed! There were very few pieces that I liked, or even considered art. Must be that I have no clue what art is about .... Lucky for us we stumbled upon a small art gallery in one of the side-streets, with a great collection of Aboriginal Art, so that was a nice way to end our trip to the city ;-)

As for myself, I managed to finish (more or less) a rock today. The backside needs to be painted still, and I'll put a quote on there as well, but I'm happy I got something done.

The lighting is very bad, since I forgot to take a picture when it was still daylight, but still, you get the idea ....

I also worked a little bit on my mosaic, and I prepared some boxes to be painted. I usually take off the lock that's on there, because it's generally very bad quality and because I don't like them so much. Then I get my hubby to put some holes in the side (way too delicate a job for me to do, I'd ruin 10 boxes before I'd get one right), and then I put magnets in there as closure. And then of course I need to fill up the holes with wood putty.

So that's what I did today. I'm so happy I finally found a shop where they sell these little boxes (the ones I had before I'd brought with me from Belgium). And they have these cute shapes that I haven't had before. Looking forward to getting started on these ....

Well, that's it for now! Thanks so much for visiting! I'll be back tomorrow ♥

Paint Party Friday and Art Every Day Month - day 8

Well, I have a creative week behind me! The AEDM-challenge forces me to do something every day, and as a result I finally got my gear into action and started some things I had been wanting to do since a long time. I painted some new mosaic-bases, I gave some more rocks a base-coat of gesso, started preparing a new magnetic sheet to create new magnets, AND made some art! No better way to get rid of a creative block!

Today I've been working on a new mosaic figurine. This is the base I started with:

I first make a drawing onto MDF, and then usually get my hubby to saw it for me. But not this time.... He figured I needed to be able to do this myself. Actually, I agree with him, but I have an irrational fear of saws. When I get stuck (which usually happens right away) I start panicking and try to loosen it and something breaks off .... Which I don't really want since it can take me a long time sometimes to draw the figure exactly as I want it.

And then my 13-year old son stepped in and did it for me! He sawed 5 pieces for me! Perfectly, I dare say. So proud of him! One of these days I'll learn to do it myself, but for now I'm happy to let him help me ;-)

I haven't done as much as I would've liked. I kinda forgot how much work it is. Fun, but a lot of work. It's like making a jigsaw ... This is what I have so far:

Since this is not a painting, and I'm linking to Paint Party Friday, I'll give you a quick overview of what else I made this week:

Day two: a one-line doodle: 

Day three: new mosaic pieces:

Day four: a miniature-painting:

Day five:painted rock:

Day 6: lyricsgirl:

Day 7: sketch:

And then I got another surprise this week. A few weeks ago I was approached by Sandra from The Woven Tale Press, an online magazine for writers and artists with the best of the creative web. She asked me whether she could share some of my work in her next issue.

And that issue came out yesterday. And guess what? I was on the cover! Well, obviously not me, but one of my paintings! Wow, that's such a nice feeling! I was glowing all day :-)

Here it is, if you click on it it'll bring you straight to the issue on their site. Go have a look! Some very interesting articles in there too!

There's some more work of mine in there. So I'm a very happy person :-)

Well, that's enough for today. I'm linking this as always to Paint Party Friday, and also to Art Every Day Month.

I want to thank you all for taking the time to visit me and making comments. Each and every one is appreciated very much! Hope you're having a wonderful Friday, and wishing you an inspiring and creative weekend! See you tomorrow! ♥ ♥ ♥

Art Every Day Month - Day 7

Today I started on another mosaic, but got very little done. I also finished a sketch, so I'll post that as my contribution for day 7. I am always working on a lot of different things at the same time, so I can choose every day which one I will be working on that day. So today it was a sketch:

I will probably add a coloured background to this some time, but not today. It's late already and I want to visit some blogs before I dive into bed.

Thanks for visiting! I really enjoy reading your comments and hopping over to your blogs to see the wonderful art you created. Tomorrow I'll be back for Paint Party Friday, and of course the 8th day of the AEDM-challenge. Hope to see you then!