Mind Map

Map for the soul...
Personal Map Making challenge for
True North Arts group...
showing priorities and 
precious things in my life.
Art journal page, mixed media using
pastels, watercolor, colored pencils, and
Sharpie marker. This came out looking
a little like a cross between Peter Max art
and the green heroine in "Wicked,"
but that's ok...it makes me smile.

"Boy Play"

Art journal pages:
watercolor and Sharpie marker,
first sketched in pencil, than painted, then
outlines & journaling added.

Pages with journaling below:
a day with a 3 year-old boy...

Some items sketched while he watched
cartoons on TV, some after we had
been to a nearby state park...

We ended our park visit just as
the skies clouded and rain poured down...
even got some hail and ice!

Mermaid Paper Doll

"Firelands Mermaid II" 2004
Art doll from watercolor paper.
Watercolors, ribbon, glitter glue, seashells.
Her hair is made from green ribbon that
has been braided, and seashells were painted
and glittered to form a "crown" of sorts...
all color is watercolor, and
seashells to cover her little breasts...
green pipe cleaners to connect sections of her body.

I was inspired to share her after seeing the
lovely mermaid posted by What's Up Roc.

On the back is a quote from "Alice in Wonderland:"
"...the time has come the walrus said
to speak of many things...of shoes and ships
and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings---
and why the sea is boiling hot and
whether pigs have wings..."

My son and daughter worked at a camp
for several summers, and one of their friends
joked that there were mermaids in the pond...
thus inspiring this mermaid. I hope she makes you smile...

Colour Influences the Soul

Art inspired by Kandinsky--
Sharpie extra-fine point marker
and watercolor in Art journal.
Wassily Kandinsky quote from
Concerning the Spiritual in Art:
"Generally speaking, colour is a power
which directly influences the soul.
Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are
the hammers, the soul is the piano with
the strings. The artist is the hand
which plays, touching one key or another,
to cause vibrations in the soul."

Art Journal Page

Inspired by Kandinsly...
art journal page drawn in
Sharpie extra fine-point marker...
a bit like Zentangle with Kandinsky
abstract shapes.

Art Colors Life

Art journal page:
watercolor and sharpie marker.
Design inspired by Kandinsky's
Red Spot II, 1921.

Sketch

Art journal page, drawn in gel pen
while riding in the car...I was looking in the mirror on the
passenger side visor (no, I wasn't driving!)
which may account for some distortion.
Features seem elongated but a quick sketch is
always a good drawing exercise.
I like gel pens for drawing, but
have to be careful because they do tend to
take time to dry and can smear easily.
For drawings which color will be added to,
I usually use a Pigma Micron or Sharpie permanent
marker. Sometimes I paint first and then add any
pen work that is needed.

Beauty is in Yourself

Art Journal page:
Craft acrylic on cardboard,
magazine images,
black Pigma Micron pen,
white Uni-Ball Signo pen.
Excerpt from poem Beauty by E-Yeh-Sure

April Fool

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!
Altered book spread using
gesso, acrylic, photocopied drawings,
and pen & ink drawings.