ICAD 2015 - Last Week

YES!  I'm finished.  All 61 cards done.  And only one day past the end of July.  So without further ado.........

Day 57 - Sunrise

I took my rolls of solid colored washi tape and tore them up into little pieces to make my sunrise.  

Day 58 - Queen of Hearts

I've had this stamp with the sentiment on it and think I've only used it once or twice.  I added the crown in gold gel pen and did go over the stamping with a Micron marker because it was originally done with a Zig brush marker and didn't come out all that well.  Then I tangled the rest of the card with a heart tangle adding the red with the Zig and pulling the color out from the points with my aquapainter.

Day 59 - Plaid

Done with Kuretake watercolors.  The hardest part of this one was waiting for the individual colors to dry enough to be able to lay down another line over them without pulling the color away from the intersections.  

Day 60 - Advice

I have actually made up some business-size cards with this winged pig and that sentiment.  This time I added some printed scrap paper for color.

Day 61 - Parachute

The parachute was drawn with a Micron marker and I added pencil shading for dimension.  The target (what you see of the X) was colored with a white Prismacolor pencil and then I used watercolors for the "grass".  

And the message goes along with my completion of this challenge - Just a Little Off Target But a Soft Landing Nonetheless.

I am glad that I chose to do this again this year but I am also glad that it is done for now.  I have a list of things to get moving on and caught up with and I will, little by little.  Don't get me wrong - these index cards do not (normally) take a long time to complete, it's just me being on a mission to get them completed in a reasonable amount of time and prioritizing.  

Thanks for bearing with me and thank you to those that left comments along the way.  It is always encouraging to hear what other people think about what I'm doing.

ICAD 2015 - Week 8

I should be finishing this today but our Merry Fishmas party put me a little behind. Who am I kidding - it put me very behind on a number of things, but guess what?  It's almost August and there's still lot's of summer left to get these things caught up. Lessons have been learned though.  Like the need to limit participation in too many things.  Ah, but they are fun, so let me get on with getting on........

Day 50 - Kimono

In my mind, kimonos are made out of silk.  Well, maybe just the fanciest ones are made out of silk. So I decided to create my own patterned "silk" with my Twinkling H2O's.  Each of the bird and leaf motifs has faux stitching on them in an attempt to mimic embroidery.  This is a fail - it's shiny like silk, but it's a mess.  I don't mind using the Twinkling H2O's to paint with, but the index card paper was not very easy to work with and this is just a mess.  However, I spent way too much time on it to just discard it and I did learn something from it, so all is not lost. 

You can see the sheen a little better in this photo.

Day 51 - Symmetry

What is used most to represent symmetry when teaching this concept - a butterfly.  Done in Zig Clean Color markers.

Day 52 - Garden

This would be a wannabe garden border done in my Zig Clean Color markers with water.  Lupines.  I did have lupines in our border at one time, but they proved to be candy for the deer as so many of the other perennials we planted did that we gave up on them.  Still, I love the colors and if you get a chance, you should check out the children's book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, not only for the story but the beautiful illustrations. 

Check out the video below for the story.

Day 53 - Raindrop

Funny how raindrops and teardrops are often depicted with the same shape.  Is that why rainy days make us feel so sad?  This was an experimentation in resist.  I used several different colors of Prismacolor pencils - which are wax based colored pencils - and washed over them with Kuretake watercolors to see how well they would resist the watercolor and you can see all of them though some are easier to see than others.  

Day 54 - Envelope

I created a tangle resembling and envelope and then just for kicks added a little folded paper envelope with a would be love letter inside.

Day 55 - France

I must admit that I was at a loss with this one.  I had several different ideas running through my head, but it wasn't until during a phone conversation with my daughter while I was trying to draw croissants with no success that I mentioned to her the difficulty I was having coming up with something representative of France and she started firing off things, one of which was Fleur de lis.  Oh, oh, I have a tiny little fleur de lis punch I can use, I thought.  And then I saw the roll of black and white diamond washi tape on my art cart and thought of Harlequins.  So this then came quickly together punching the fleur de lis' out of lavender (again thinking fields of French lavender) washi tape.

Day 56 - Machine

You're probably looking at this and thinking you don't see a machine.  Ah, but there are many simple machines in this - inclined planes. I used my Derwent Inktense pecils, an aquapainter, and a silver fine-tipped marker to delineate the wedges all of which are different colors although some may look very similar.

So with Week 8 done, there are only 5 more days of cards to do and I hope to have them done this weekend to wrap up this year's ICAD experience.

ICAD 2015 - Week 7, CREATE - Photo Challenge

One thing I think I've finally learned is if you get behind, do the prompts that you have ideas for so you don't get into a stall which is where I was mid-week again.  It also helps to take the list as it's published on the Friday before and really start brainstorming ahead of time.  I mean, like writing it down, not just thinking about it.  I've taken to making my list on another index card that I also use to clean my aquapainter on, and try my pen points and colors before putting them to paper.  Kind of like the paper on my craft table (I've not been using my craft room for these.  They've all been done either on my dining room table at home or our table at the condo.)  So shall we proceed......

Day 43 - Definition

I'm sure it could have meant definition in the sense of well-defined drawing, however I took it literally and shared a definition.  Do you see things in clouds sometimes?  Then you have experienced pareidolia also.  I used a white crayon as a resist for my "clouds" and washed watercolors over them for the sky.  They still needed more definition so I add white watercolor to the letters.  The definition was added in Micron marker.

Day 44 - Focus or Blur

As seen through a pair of watercolored binoculars. Derwent Inktense Pencils.

Day 45 - Saturday Night Live

I really haven't watch this often, but I do know that it comes on at 11:30 Saturday nigh on the peacock network. Fantasia watercolor pencils, Micron marker, silver fine tip marker.

Day 46 - Album Cover

This would not be a record album.  This would be the cover of an album of all the stories that have been told and retold over the years by our Table 7 group.  Reliving our youth in verbal way.  Entitled "Exactly About" meaning that's exactly about what happened.  Like the night the guys were camping in the pine barrens and along came a girl in a white nightgown out of nowhere.  There was a guy following at distance behind her with a baseball bat hitting each tree as they traveled through the woods and came upon the campsite.  Their car was stuck in the sand and they needed help getting out.  Not being there, I can only picture an ethereal woman in white in the woods.  And not that we would be camping anytime soon, but if there was a woman in a white nightgown coming at us with a man following her with a baseball bat these days, I don't think I'd be sticking around to find out why.

Day 47 - Fashion

I was going to do fabric swatches and got really lazy and decided to create my own "fabric" with Prismacolor pencils.  Imagine those orange ovals to be French knots, or seed beads amongst random blue stitching.

48 - Disco

A sad, sad attempt to show the sparkle up close of a disco ball.  Used silver and gold fine-tip markers.

Held at an angle it does reflect light, but not anywhere near like a real disco ball.

Day 49 - Black and White

On my list of ideas was a zebra - this is not a zebra.  But you didn't need me to tell you that I'm sure.   Micron marker and white gel pen.

Today's photo challenge prompt is CREATE and I need to go do that now as we are having a Christmas in July party this weekend with the theme "Merry Fishmas!" and I promised cookies would be on the menu.  Trying some new recipes well before the holidays to see if they are worth doing then.  And there will be decorations and fishing and, well, I can't tell you everything now because there may be peekers.   

ICAD 2015 - Week 6 and FRIENDS - Photo Challenge

I'm still playing catch-up but as the prompts this week centered on games, well it sounded like a good seque.  Let's get to it.......

Day 36 - Backgammon

So I guess this is technically 1/4 of a backgammon board, though there is a mistake I think.  The arrows should probably not all be the same, but this is art and my board so I can accept it as a planned mistake.  Background is watercolored, the rest is paper pieced.

Day 37 - Chess or Checkers

The daisy background has nothing whatsoever to do with this prompt.  It's what I had handy being too lazy I guess to create a background.  A new pkg. of doilies, some washi tape, and a bit of recycled gold paper for the crown.

Day 38 - Mahjong (Marbles)

I had an idea for Mahjong tiles.  Then I heard this washi tape calling my name - "play with me, play with me" it said.  So I did. Washi tape and Prismacolors.

Day 39 - Bingo

I picked a few numbers that are significant to me and turned the rest over.  Micron marker.

Day 40 - Yahtzee

Not quite dice, but square with dots on them.  Washi tape and Stabilo marker.

Day 41 - Bridge or Gin Rummy

This one might just beat out the toy telephone from last week as my favorite.  Micron and Stabilo markers.

Day 42 - Scrabble

A repeated pattern of the colored tiles on a Scrabble board.  Stabilo markers.

Now, I may get in trouble for posting this picture, and honestly, I did not take it, but today's photo prompt is FRIENDS and this picture of our Table 7 gang is all about lifelong friendship so how could I not share it.  Love you guys!

ICAD 2015 - Week 5

This week proved to be a wee bit of a challenge.  Only because I got hung up on one prompt and didn't want to move forward with the rest until I finished that one.  Sometimes stubbornness is not in my best interest because it lets things pile up unnecessarily.  But anyway, on with the show......

Day 29 - Ice Cream Cone

What?  You don't see an ice cream cone?  Of course you don't see the cone because there's just so much ice cream I could fit on an index card.  One scoop of coffee ice cream with rainbow sprinkles please.  (HWNSNBP refused to think of my washi strips as sprinkles because they were not rounded on the corners!  Pish tosh!

Day 30 - Telephone

Who remembers this Fisher-Price toy phone?  I am too old to have had one, but I know that my kids did.  And so I drew it on a page from an old cell phone manual that was framed on either side by some telephone book paper.  This might be my favorite ICAD so far.

Day 31 - Trivia

I think, no, I know that this is where I got hung up.  There is so much trivia in my head - you know I'm known as a KOOK (keeper of odd knowledge) - that I just couldn't figure out how to express it.  Aha!  A little birdie told me..................    My blue jay is an endeavor using some new art supplies - Zig Clean Color Brush Markers that came all the way from Japan.  I don't think it turned out too bad on the index card.  Now I need to try them out on some watercolor paper.

Day 32 - Weather

I feel I almost cheated with this as I used a stamp set (Think Happy by Stampin Up), but stamps were part of the suggested media theme for this week so I came away okay with it.

Day 33 - Mad Men or I Love Lucy

Hmmm..............  Pencil, Micron Marker and Zig again.  Loved working on those eyes.

Day 34 - Flag/Independence Day

HWNSNBP forgot his phone charger and his spare cord was broken so we had to get a new one.  Luckily, Big Lots was open on July 4th.  This little Travelocity gnome was on the package and since he was bedecked in red, white and blue I felt he belonged on my 4th of July washi-tape flag.

Day 35 - Portrait

A pencil selfie of a selfie which, honestly, I had done last week fooling around and was going to use for my cover page for my ICAD's, but then when I saw the prompt for a portrait figured it belonged here.  I think I got the hair and eyebrows right.  Oh, and the dimples.  Not sure about the rest although HWNSNBP did respond correctly when I asked him who this looked like.  But he did respond in question form.

I do really love making these little projects.  It gives my mind exercise in the planning and is definitely helping me to try new things and not be afraid to share them.  

ICAD 2015 - Week 4

Sheesh, how did I get so far behind on posting these?  It must have been me trying to get so much done during my week "staycation"...... and I did get to tackle a few things that have been needing my attention.  But on to the ICAD's with the theme of using ink or markers.

Day 22 - Psychedelic

Periodically I get visual migraines and this is what I see - or similar to what I see and don't see.  It starts out as a little wavy line and grows and pulsates in somewhat psychedelic fashion and in the center where I've colored it black is where I lose my vision as the line expands.  When it fully expands I get my full vision back, but as it's happening it's a little disconcerting to, let's say, look directly at someone who is talking and not be able to see their face.  Or to try to read something and not be able to see any words where you're looking but only those all around.  Done in highlighters and watercolor markers.

Day 23 - Romantic

Using a new gel pen, I did a tangle with a heart theme.  

Day 24 - Geometric

Another gel pen tangle.

Day 25 - Botanic or Organic

Another gel pen tangle and I'm not liking this at all.

Day 26 - Exotic

Micron pen palm leaves (yes, that's what they were intended to be, not feathers) and watercolor marker pixilation.

Day 27 - Academic

This is supposed to be the brain inside the skull thinking and sending out impulses.  

Day 28 - Dramatic

Highlighters and watercolor markers.  The rainbow colors against the black background are meant to be dramatic, however, given the latest Supreme Court ruling on Marriage Rights, there's another little bit of drama included in there.

Sometimes these prompts are easy and sometimes I really have to give it a lot of thought (as I'm currently finding out this week).  But I keep reminding myself that this is an art exercise meant to stretch my creativity and though it may appear kind of elementary at times, it's a fun learning experience ...... even if I don't like the outcome.  

ICAD 2015 - Week 3

The theme, or choice of media/creation for week 3 was collage.  I fell behind on this week it being the last week of school and all the extra activities I had piled into it. But, thinking ahead, as I was trading out the notes from this month last year to be shredded and replacing them with the notes from this month this year in the filing cabinet I decided to go through those piles of notes and salvage the artwork from the notepads the notes were sent in on.  And, since the box of shredding in the closet had not yet been removed, I took a few extra......some time to go through a couple previous month's and do the same thing.  This left me with a nice little stack of printed artwork that I thought I might be able to use for the prompts this week.  Let's see how I did.

Day 15 - Route 66

Never been on it, but I imagine that since it spans several states that there must be a picket fence and a sunflower field in one of them.  Background don in Prismacolor pencils.

Day 16 - Greeting Card

These are all salvaged graphics with the exception of the little bit of yellow tissue paper.  And a handwritten sentiment. 

Day 17 - Wabi-Sabi

Do I know what that is?  Didn't then, do now.  Something that embodies asymmetry and rustic simplicity.  There is no symmetry here in shape or form or layout.  Nor in the similiarity of soft nature (butterflies) and hard nature (metal key).  There are two pieces of two different kinds of cardboard drink sleeves also adding texture.  On the one I swiped a metallic Prismacolor pencil over it to define the raised areas more.

Day 18 - Tree House

Washed a watercolor sky across the card for a background using my Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils then added the collaging bits for a very literal "Tree House" with a floral roof, of course!

Day 19 - Snowglobe

Let's think outside the, er, snowglobe..... where all the shaking is going on.  

Day 20 - Color Wheel

Did not those owl eyes provide the best area for my color wheels! Done in Stabilo markers.

Day 21 - 1970

The 70's were all about those vibrant colors and patterns.  I used the clipped corners from the notes and in-between added some more flowers and leaves again with the Stabilo markers.

Okay, so I'm all "catched-up".  

I've been enjoying a little "staycation" this week.  And I do mean enjoying.  I have managed to clear some clutter, finish some projects, and reconnect with some friends.  And there's more on the agenda for the rest of the week, so let me get to it.