Back to charm bracelets again

I took a little painting break this weekend to whip up this charm bracelet, inspired by the great vintage-look findings at Michael's, including 'Industrial Chic' by Susan Lenart Kazmer, whom I met at Art & Soul one year, and 'Vintage Groove It' by Jill Schwartz.

I've been selling a few bracelets along with other artisans at Feja's Hair Design and Wellness Spa in Gaithersburg. It's a beautiful two-floor affair in an historic building, and owner Feja Kim is an artist in her own right, now only with hair, but with beautiful watercolors, which can be seen on her Web site, including the charming painting of her building.
If you are charm bracelet crazy like me, or into making jewelry, here's a few of my previous charm bracelets here, here and here.

In a whimsy painting mode

I finally got out my acrylics and two 16 x 20 canvasses and committed to making a mess. I have been wanting to paint again for the longest time, and so I used some of my recent cat doodles for inspiration. Blythe, Alice in Wonderland and a certain kitty named Tinkerbelle also served as inspiration.
Some techniques used were learned in a February class, including stenciling,  mark-making and adding texture. Not sure either one is quite done yet as I usually like to add some tiny 3-D element. We shall see. The good news is I can't wait to paint again!

Trying to keep a hand - or at least a finger - in art

Seems like there is never enough time to make art, especially if it requires getting out paints, gesso, drop cloths and making a mess. Same for bead-stringing, collage, paper mache' and the like. But I always like to doodle and try to make time to at least do that. Here are some practice pages from my sketch journal, using techniques from some recently acquired books, including a Japanese manga-girl art book, and Japanese pen-and-ink doodle book and the simplified drawing books of Ed Emberley.

My 2' x 2' canvas from Dyan Revealey Super Bowl Sunday class at The Queen's Ink

Another class at The Queen's Ink with Dyan Revealey - Some of her art pictured here

What a Super Sunday it was on Super Bowl Sunday! And a super Super Bowl, too. Sunday morning I took a mixed media painting class at The Queen's Ink in Savage Mill with Dyan Revealey, a Ranger senior Signature Educator from the U.K. I had taken two classes with her last summer and enjoyed her style, techniques and total attitude.
This time we made a two-foot by two-foot canvas which I will show in my next post. Great fun in a 4.5 hour class. But, did I ever get messy! Found a miracle product for ink and paint on the hands though, the Craft Scrubbie, by Inksentials. I have no idea how, with only a little soap and water, it gets all that staining stuff off, like black liquid ink all around my cuticles. But, it did. Needless to say, I bought one of the little $5 buggers.
Also, Dyan's brand-new Dylusions rubber stamps, stencils, ink mists and more, just announced Jan. 24, were available at The Queen's Ink and a few supplies found their way into my shopping basket. Over concern for the popularity of the new supplies which were in limited quantity this weekend, shop owner Patti Euler made auction-style "bidding paddles" with numbers, which we could flip up and wave whenever we saw a product demonstrated that we "had" to have.
Dyan's Zetti-like style as shown here is so exciting, lively, fun, inspiring. Looking at it displayed around the classroom was very much like working in a candy shop!

Doodling Traci Bautista Style

I just received a copy of Traci Bautista's second book Doodles Unleashed, and immediately tried to unleash a doodle in my sketchbook. It's patterned after one of her girly doodles, page 99 to be exact. I love her style, and I loved her first book, Creativity Unleashed, which she autographed for me at CHA in 2008. I later had the chance to take a class from her at Art & Soul, and that was wonderful also. You can find out much more about treiC designs all over the web.
Here's some earlier art I made from Traci's collage sheets, and here's some of my doodles from her class.

I used simple and cheap markers from Office Depot for my doodles, but I am excited that I have a little batch of Copic markers coming from Ebay. Soon I will know why everyone raves about those markers. And honestly, I've had a couple before but they were very similar colors, so it was hard to appreciate the Copic range. And I've never used a blender with them. So it will be fun, and if I don't have the knack, I can always take a Copic class at The Queen's Ink in Savage Mill, where they are taught regularly.
Meanwhile, back to doodling...

Finally made something!

Winter ought to be the best time to "make stuff," but I've been so busy with work and work travel as well as finishing up and trying to market "the novel" or "the" novel (see my writing blog), that I've barely had a chance to breathe. Add to that a re-commitment to the important of gym time, and an appreciation for good sleep, and there's just not enough time for FUN!

But with my dear friend Sarah about to have her first girly, after boys Ike and Max, I was inspired to crochet up a hippo from "Cute Little Animals" by Amy Gaines and to embroider a little skully onesie. It has a black ruffle on the rear, too. Sent them off and just waiting to hear about the new little one's name and arrival.

In an effort to decide what to do art-wise and to help make it a priority, I decided a trip to Michael's was in order (as well as an order from Dick Blick and bunches of markers from Staples). It was clear by the looks of my cart that an art identity crisis (AIC) was in progress. I piled in yarn, crochet hooks, embroidery and tapestry needles, paint brushes, watercolors and acrylics, sketch pads, ribbon, canvasses, beads, pattern books and magazines.

Now if I were just an octopus so I could do it all at once -- and save one or two tentacles for cooking, reading and cleaning.

An art class at The Queen's Ink in Savage Mill on Super Bowl Sunday morning with the talented Britisher Dyan Revealey will be sure to get me more than just enthused. By the end of it, and well before the Giants and Patriots kick off, I will have completed a 24" x 24" wall canvas! Very exciting. Will be sure to show off here.