AROMATIC

Hey Folks!!

This post was a two week challenge!! Our theme: AROMATIC.

Dylan – Sneaking the pheromones

There is something excitingly vampiric about this piece! I love the expressive blue mark making and the image of this individual being consumed by another.

 

Amber – Candied Pumpkin, pen&ink postcard/ photos

This has been a tough year for me. So much has happened in what was really a short period of time and all I wanted to do was go home, make art and cook my own food.

When I finally came home I ordered myself several new vegan cookbooks, one of them was Vegan Mexico by Jason Wyrick. I looked through the book and decided that I wanted to try something that I never thought to do. I made Candied Pumpkin. It was a simple recipe and it took longer than I expected, but the entire house smelled amazingly good!! Thus making every extra moment worth the wait!

My drawing was inspired by my kitchen adventure. At the moment it is black&white and I am debating about color. Part of me feels that the subject needs color, because color will exhibit the smell and warmth of the cooking process. The other part of me just wants to play with the simplicity of black ink, because there is beauty in simplicity.

Thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by, we would love to hear you ideas!

Next Post: RECYCLE

PLAYFUL

Hey Folks!!

This week our weekly art theme is: PLAYFUL!

Dylan – 

Attitude is everything. Through my playfulness, I will prevail.

 

Amber – Rock Art, acrylic on rocks

This week I spent some time with an old friend and her two wonderfully creative daughters! They have been participating in a local rock art game. Where you find rocks, paint them, hide them in places for people to find, and post what rocks you find on a social media page. My friend and her daughters were kind enough to have invited me to join them in painting rocks for their game and I thought the rock was perfect for this week’s Playful theme!!

Of course I had to paint a couple of dandelions! The mushroom is a homage to my childhood love for the Smurfs, The mini dino was someone inspired by the nerd candy – also a childhood favorite and the Tulip was a reference to all those art history I took in college years ago. I left them all with my friend and her daughters to place where ever they may wish and I hope who ever finds them enjoys them!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Next post: AROMATIC (two week challenge!)

America

Hey there folks!!

This week our weekly art challenge theme was AMERICA.

RJ – Untitled, pen& ink on paper

 

Amber – The Divide (unfinished), acrylic on wood.

Its hard to believe, but I was actually stumped with this week’s challenge. There are endless ways to interpret America into art, but every visual thought I had didn’t feel like an authentic representation of my creative voice. I went through ideas of representing my own travel, of nurturing hope for our future and even anger with the current reality. Then I turned to home for my inspiration. I rescued an abandoned cat over the summer, but introducing him to the family dog has been an adventure of its own. They share a living space, but they have completely different views. The dog desperately wants love, attention and playtime. The cat prefers to express his disgust and/or stalks terrified dog likes it’s a giant mouse while maintaining his emotional distance.

The situation between my pets is not nearly as intense or insane as the current divide between our various American communities, but they remind me of how people tend to divide and fight.

Thanks for stopping by!

Next post: PLAYFUL!

PATTERN

Hey there folks!!

Last week our art challenge theme was Pattern!

Emily – silkscreen

I was inspired by lenses used to test visually impaired! Decided to try it out doing it as a repeat when doing an induction into screen printing at uni.

 

Dylan – Safety Pins

I was reading yesterday, about the new “wear a safety pin project”, I was overcome with eagerness and hope. Instead of wearing one pin for the world to see, I wear a necklace that I could give portions of it to anyone who comments on it. Last night was my first time wearing it out and I gave one tenth of it away!!!  I can continue to spread the message is support for Muslim, African American, Mexican, female, disabled, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and
immigrants. I would like to make other various accessories including a scarf, a coat, or a hat now.

 

Amber – Pepper, Okra, Pear & Okra: acrylic prints with pen&ink on paper

My niece visited me over the weekend and we had some fun picking out some fruits and veggies to print. The pieces I created remind me of area rugs, I have been watching a lot of HGTV and looking at houses on zillow, perhaps my subconscious was influences by home decor. My personal favorite of the three is the Okra, I would own a rug like this. 🙂

 

Thanks for visiting!!

Next theme post: AMERICA

LIFE

Hey there folks!

Last week our art challenge theme was LIFE 

 

Betsy –

So much life in my sons eyes.

 

 

Dylan –

The Internet told me that if “root grew/propagated” a sweet potato, beautiful foliage would soon sprout. It did not say that more potatoes would grow deep in the dirt hidden from my view. Recently I was repotting my what I thought was only my foliage plant. I grasped the plant firmly where the base of the greener touches the dirt and twisted gently. When the dirt came out; three potatoes were unearthed, popping aggressively in my face. Needless to say, I threw it down and started crab walking backwards on on deck. All I could think of were the monsters on “Tremors”. These guys were even the same color. I love when life can startle you with a pleasant surprise!

 

 

 

Amber – Unfinished Teddy, pen and ink on paper

When I was a child I firmly believed that my stuff animals were alive. They seemed alive to me with there empathic eyes and comforting presence. Now as an adult I can see what an imaginative child I was, but as a child this belief didn’t feel like a make believe game, this belief of my teddy bear being alive felt as real as myself.

In some ways, maybe I wasn’t wrong as a child. Maybe there was “life” because I loved my teddy so much I took him everywhere, held onto him as tightly as my little hands would allow, slept every night with him and every stuff toy at my side that I imprinted life into him. My teddy’s fur and features showed years of love and play with its worn and matted texture, its loose eyes and missing threads.

 

Thanks for stopping by and checking our arwork out!

Next post: PATTERN!

FOOD

Hey Folks!!

This week our Art Challenge theme was: FOOD!

Val – Popsicle, color pencil on paper.

I wanted to work on shading.

 

Amber – Pears, watercolor on paper

For this week’s theme I decided to continue working with the image of the pear. I love pears, obviously 🙂

 

 

Next theme: LIFE

RED

Hey there folks!!

The week our weekly art challenge theme is: RED!

 

Amber – Red Pear, Watercolor on paper.

I like pears. I played with several ideas for this theme, but eventually settled on red pears when I came across a vibrant display of red anjou pears at the supermarket. The beautiful shades of dark cool reds inspired me to pick up a pear and play with my watercolors.

 

 

Next theme: FOOD.

TOWER

Hey Folks!

This week our art challenge theme was: TOWER

 

RJ

 

Betsy – Tower of plates, Photo

I am always looking for inspiration for the art challenge. Sometimes I’ll find it, sometimes it finds me. Hehe

I was at work yesterday and a girl I work with was separating and stacking plastic plates for our dinner service. As I stood there following the zigzag of the stacked plates, I imagined small creatures making there way up the tower, disappearing into the dark spaces.

This is how my brain gets me through the day.

 

 

Amber – Cat tower, unfinished 

My piece is not finished, I went through many drafts and doodles before I could settle on a general design. The concept is simple, a cat tower using the motifs that I have been drawn to for the last year or so. I plan to make the teacups look like wood and the tentacles to look like carpet, referencing the standard material for most cat towers. In the front corner, outside the picture, a couple of dogs sitting in dandelion patches and wistfully looking at the fun the cats are having.

RECREATE

Hey folks!

This week our art challenge theme was Recreate.

Amber – Color vs B&W, photography

My interest in this week’s theme was to show how a creative decision to alter one simple detail of a photo – color or B&W – can change completely how someone views the image.

To illustrate my point I revisited a few photos I took over the past year and recreated them in either BW or in Color. The top photo being my final image, the bottom image being the ‘Recreated‘ image. Though I like both versions of each image, they both provide an interesting and different perceptive, but the one I settled on as my “final image”  reflects my perspective of that moment regarding that subject. My choice as an artist to transform an image into B&W or color depends on the details I want the viewer to focus on, the feeling I want the viewer to feel.

There are moments when color is important and necessary to make an image work and there are moments when color doesn’t enhance the story I want told.

Black Cat

 

 

Red Truck

Sun Beam

Thanks for visiting!

Next theme: TOWER

CITIES

Hey folks!!

This week’s theme is: CITIES.

RJ

 

Betsy – Tiny Houses

The first stage of my tiny fall houses for my fall city.

 

Amber – Look Up, Watercolor sketch

I like cities, they offer many nooks and crannies to explore and a plethora of details to observe, but after a short while I begin to find the cityscape to feel confining and claustrophobic. I have a  preference the openness of the countryside with its clear view of the sky.

 

 

Next theme: RECREATE