Tiny House 18

In the last week or so that we lived at our previous house, just about a month ago or so, I decided that I would make a Tiny House before I packed up the studio to move. I felt it was important to have the last artwork I made at 451 (as we are now calling the old house in reference to its street number), be something home-related.

So, here is the finished dwelling, Tiny House 18.

I did a more elaborate porch on this house.

To construct it, I took a box and cut out the front, back, and one end of it. I then decorated it and added a larger piece of cardboard to the “porch floor” so that it would stick out beyond the porch. I didn’t use the original box end because when I tried out the look, it just needed to project out from the porch to look right, I don’t know why.

Here is an overhead shot of the porch.

I realized with this structure I would need to be more careful about the door’s fit and swing. In the end I just cut out a door, trimmed it a tiny bit so it would fit in the opening, and gave it hinges. It worked great.

For the attic story, I tried something new. I took a box (I think it was a cream cheese box or something similar) and cut it so that the side of the box formed a flattened peak. Then I attached it to the main body of the house. I felt this method worked well because I didn’t have to construct much yet I got an interesting look.

You can see I did my usual color and pattern-filled decor all over the house.

You may have noticed the “18” on the second story floor. The number was printed on the box I used, and I kept it, because I knew this one would be Tiny House…18! The eighteenth one in my procession of homes.

Now, what’s this?

It’s a close-up of that area to the left of the porch. When I was removing the shipping tape from the box I pulled off some of the upper layer of the cardboard. I love the look of the rippled surface so I gave it a few licks of paint and let it be.

Well, that is about it for Tiny House 18. I am now preparing to make Tiny House 19 as the first artwork made in my new art room at our new house!

Not Another Paint Brochure…!

Yes, I am afraid it is. But from a different manufacturer, so the paint names are different, too. It was a three-page folder – here it is all folded out.

Here it is one page at a time.

And, I must warn you, I have stacks of paint cards in various shades of white (I was trying to choose a shade to paint my kitchen cabinets), so there may be more…

Small Artist Sketchbook 2022 – Pages 66 and 67

We are on a journey through another one of my small artist sketchbooks. As with all my books of this type, I take a sketchbook and fill it with whatever I feel like doing at the time. No planning, just enjoyment.

This book was done between August 2020 and February 2022, more or less (I date each page as I do it).

I don’t go through the book page by page in order, though in general the earlier images are at the front and the later ones following – but sometimes I skip pages and come back later, or do some other thing. No reason, that is just how I do it.

Let’s take a look.

Here’s today’s page spread.

Here are individual views of the pages.

If you have any questions as to the materials or techniques I used, let me know. I love to answer questions!

Beauty in Ordinary Places…

… like a carwash!

I don’t like going through the carwash, so when I do, I take photos to distract myself. There are some beautiful sights to see, even as the thudding noises scare me and swishing and spraying water blasts are buffeting the car.

If you use your imagination, what do you see? Landscapes, clouds, sea monsters, large plants, a creature with glowing eyes? Think about that and not about what would happen if those large brushes reached inside the car…

I’m showing you the most interesting and to me, beautiful, shots here. If you want to see the whole trip, check it out here on my personal blog, Sometimes You Get So Confused.

Then and Now : Paint Brochure Version

You know how every so often I like to illustrate paint names. I create a little gallery from a paint brochure. As you may also know we have recently moved to a new house. Our kitchen cabinets are going to painted and white is the best color for the room (if I were simply picking a color I would choose pink but no one else sees it my way).

I picked up a white paint brochure, looked at the color names, and thought, Hmmm, these seem familiar…

I decided to illustrate these names again but without looking at the previous card. A few nights ago, I got to work. Here is the one I just did:

Here is the earlier one from fall, 2021:

Here they are side by side.

I think it’s interesting to see what the color names prompted me to draw then and now. Some are quite similar and others – no!

Small Artist Sketchbook 2022 – Pages 64 and 65

We are on a journey through another one of my small artist sketchbooks. As with all my books of this type, I take a sketchbook and fill it with whatever I feel like doing at the time. No planning, just enjoyment.

This book was done between August 2020 and February 2022, more or less (I date each page as I do it).

I don’t go through the book page by page in order, though in general the earlier images are at the front and the later ones following – but sometimes I skip pages and come back later, or do some other thing. No reason, that is just how I do it.

Let’s take a look.

Here’s today’s page spread.

Here are individual views of the pages.

If you have any questions as to the materials or techniques I used, let me know. I love to answer questions!

Art for a Cause – Three

You may remember that not long ago I participated in a class consisting solely of warm-up exercises (Mixed Media Warm-Ups, three posts). It was taught by Marcie Wolf-Hubbard. In this class, she told us about a collage challenge we might be interested in: Art for a Cause, sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Program at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. (click on the link and it will take you to more info about the event as well as to the main page of the program).

I don’t know anything about this hospital – I don’t even live near it. But I was impressed that the role of art in healing was considered and respected. I myself have experienced its therapeutic effects during some serious health issues I have had in the last 8-10 years. Art never fails to help me.

OK, here is my third and final group. (Note – the collages don’t have borders around them – I added them in these photos to make them easier to distinguish from the background.)

I enjoyed finding images in the random assortment of the cut squares and building on them.

Art for a Cause – Two

You may remember that not long ago I participated in a class consisting solely of warm-up exercises (Mixed Media Warm-Ups, three posts). It was taught by Marcie Wolf-Hubbard. In this class, she told us about a collage challenge we might be interested in: Art for a Cause, sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Program at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. (click on the link and it will take you to more info about the event as well as to the main page of the program).

More about the Art for a Cause event – the collages will be displayed at the hospital and then given to patients, staff, caregivers, and anyone in the hospital community. I like that idea a lot.

I have also noticed that the hospital also offered some activities in which people could make collages. The healing properties of art and making art were once again in action.

Here is my second group. (Note – the collages don’t have borders around them – I added them in these photos to make them easier to distinguish from the background.)

I’m going to point out a feature of my collage work. Wrinkles. Some artists don’t like them, but I’m fine with them. If the paper wants to stretch and wrinkle, I say, who am I to argue?

Art for a Cause – One

You may remember that not long ago I participated in a class consisting solely of warm-up exercises (Mixed Media Warm-Ups, three posts). It was taught by Marcie Wolf-Hubbard. In this class, she told us about a collage challenge we might be interested in: Art for a Cause, sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Program at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. (click on the link and it will take you to more info about the event as well as to the main page of the program).

It was tied in with World Collage Day on 5/13, which I didn’t even know existed. But of course you know that the whole idea appealed to me right away. Here is how things went.

In Marcie’s class, we incorporated a warm-up exercise into preparing for collage work: we took a largish piece of paper and randomly collaged on it. Then we cut it into 4″ x 4″ squares, which was the size of the requested artworks. It was up to us where we went next with them. I decided I’d like to meet the challenge and I made and sent 14 artworks. I’ll show them to you a few at a time.

Here is the first group. (Note – the collages don’t have borders around them – I added them in these photos to make them easier to distinguish from the background.)

Small Artist Sketchbook 2022 – Pages 62 and 63

We are on a journey through another one of my small artist sketchbooks. As with all my books of this type, I take a sketchbook and fill it with whatever I feel like doing at the time. No planning, just enjoyment.

This book was done between August 2020 and February 2022, more or less (I date each page as I do it).

I don’t go through the book page by page in order, though in general the earlier images are at the front and the later ones following – but sometimes I skip pages and come back later, or do some other thing. No reason, that is just how I do it.

Let’s take a look.

Here’s today’s page spread.

Here are individual views of the pages.

If you have any questions as to the materials or techniques I used, let me know. I love to answer questions!