Creative Tuesday: Three / 3 (#47)

It's Creative Tuesday and I'm excited to show you what I tried today! 

Wondering what a Creative Tuesday is?  Every two weeks we grab our pads and something to color with to create for the theme over at Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesday's assignment -- neat, no?

This week's theme is Three or 3 -- as in draw three of something.  I thought of so many things that I wanted to draw.  It began to get difficult to figure out what to do.  This time I let my creative room inspire me and decided to loosely doodle a trio of horses that I have hanging on my wall.

Horses are definitely animals that I adore.  I find them intelligent, inspiring, and elegant.  And incredible difficult to draw -- but that's part of the fun of this challenge, right?

I also wanted to play with my water color pencils to add some texture and light hints of color.  Here is what I came up with.  I had fun and have to say that I would definitely give horses another try!

Here is a closer picture of the doodle, since I am short on time to scan.  The overcast day isn't helping much, but you get the idea!

I hope you consider joining in this or the next assignment (really hope you do) and please take a look other artists in the community here.  

Hands in the Dirt: from Aquarium to Terrarium

At one point we kept a fish tank.  Well actually we have two fish tanks.  I don't talk about them much ... and that's probably a good thing since all the fish in our large tank have passed on to fishie heaven.  We thought about starting the tank up again, it was a tough call after having one fish live with us for almost three years, but we decided not to.

So, what to do with a 29 gallon tank and stand?

First of all... I drained the water.  It was full to the top, I luckily remembered to take this picture mid-draining.

Then, I flattened out the rocks and cleaned the glass. 

I added about one inch of sphagnum moss (was surprised to find it at Home Depot of all places fairly cheap!) on top of the rocks.  Then, a bunch of potting soil.  Then, I started planting little indoor plants.  I also put the fish rocks and decor back in between some of the plants for added drama.

And voila!!

Here you can see (from left to right):

"Creeping Fig" Ficus, "Silver Tree" Pilea, Polka Dot plant, and Spider plant in the back right

On the left side we have (from left to right):

"Magenta" Dracaena, African Violet, and I have a bit of Christmas Cactus behind the horse 

After everything was planted I gave it a generous watering until I could start to see some of the water making it's way down to the rocks. 

I really think this is going to be a great transition for me to indoor gardening over the winter. 

I know, it's only August... I shouldn't be talking about winter.  But I am.  This should make those cold winter months more manageable.  I hope.

I am going to see how these plants make out for a bit.  Hoping they are all hardy and low light enough to thrive.  I was also thinking about adding a few aromatic plants like mint or oregano. 

And there you have it!  I now get to tend to my very own little terrarium -- we are only on day three, I'll be sure to let you know how it fairs.

Also, here is a shopping list in case you also have an old aquarium laying around that you want to set up as a terrarium:

• old aquarium - I used my old aquarium... doesn't mean a new one wouldn't work.  You can also look for other containers.  Really the sky is the limit on what can become a terrarium.small rocks/pebbles
• small rocks/pebbles - these are also used for drainage.  If you had a fish aquarium, then by all means use the same fish rocks.
• small indoor plants - I found "Angel Plants" to be good ones for low-medium light and the bonus is they purify air too!!  These ran me about $2-3 a plant.  I also looked around at my current house plants and clipped a few pieces of the spider plant and Christmas cactus to include.
• potting soil/dirt
• Sphagnum moss - this is optional; but seems to really help the plants from getting too dry.  I managed to cover the whole surface for about $4.
• decor - anything goes for this too.  I used a plastic horse, fish rocks from the aquarium I had previously kept, and that rad skull which also came from the aquarium.

 Do you keep a terrarium?  I'd love to hear about it!!  And if you set up a new one, I'd love to hear about your experiences as well! 

Let's go garden!! 





I will be adding to these parties:

			<

Do something nice.

Last week was the second annual art show at work. 

This is one of the pieces I displayed called "Drip"

Not only did I volunteered to enter some of my own art I was also on the committee to set up the show. It took a lot of time, planning, and effort as we had to get artists to volunteer, screen their work, prep bio's for them, and put together the physical show by arranging panels and hanging art, but when it was finally all set up and co-workers were wandering around taking in all the art it made me feel incredible.

I mean... that incredible sustainable happy feeling that you get to keep for a few weeks (even though you feel exhausted)!  Cloud nine!

This piece is called "Meadow"

Last year was the first year in a long time that I offered to display my work.  I was nervous to say the least.  I know when I am creating art I am doing it for myself (for fun).  I am expressing some sort of emotion within.  That said, displaying those inner emotions for others to see and interpret is nerve wrecking!  Are they going to like it?  Will they see it the way I meant it?  Will they think it was silly?  What will they tell others about it?

This one is "Dandelion"

This year was a little different.  Still nerve wrecking, but this year they would be able to compare my art to what I did last year!  What would they like better?  Oh, a whole new realm of things to worry on.  Once I get over that.  I was fine.

This is my "Herd" that I was sharing with you as I created it. 

I think this has to be my favorite piece this year!

There were all sorts of entries this year in all sorts of mediums to include, fabric arts, watercolor, oils, pottery, pastels, photos, pencil drawings, sewn costumes, and jewelry.  It was so fun to get a glimpse of the other side of the folks I work with.  They are all so talented and I learned so many things about how art can be created!

This is a color pencil sketch of a quilt I am working on which I also displayed at the show.  I titled it "Blue and Tan."  Hard to name a quilt!

This is the progress I made on the quilt so far!  I can't wait to finish it up (not only so I can use it), so I can bring it to next year's show and share the final product!

This is the last of the six pieces that I entered.  It's a "Spring Bouquet" made from colorful origami flowers!

And as if all that wasn't enough... the committee thought it would be fun this year to have demonstrations of different art techniques as a way to share how each artist created their pieces.  (Which I have to say I totalled enjoyed myself!!  I have such a big appreciation for the talent I am surrounded by!)

I volunteered to run an origami demo.

I brought lots of origami paper, green pipe cleaners, and sat down at one of the tables.  Very quickly I had lots of interested folks sitting down with me and trying their hand at creating an origami tulip!

It was a lot of fun!!  It was also humbling to receive so many thank you's.  It was humbling to see how something that I maybe take for granted had really bring such incredible smiles and cheer to people's faces.  It reminded me that I have a lot to give to others!

Today, as we start another week, I would like to offer that doing something nice for someone else = extended happiness!

Don't forget that something as simple as sharing your talents could really make a big impact!!

Check in on my herd...

I showed you here that I started horsing around with a new project.  Ha!  Get it?

And I wanted to share that I am getting closer to finishing my herd of horses.  That means I then have to figure out how I will be displaying them for an up coming March art show.  

It's funny how hard I have fallen for this project.  Dreaming up each horse has been sort of therapeutic and mini inspiring all at the same time.  Since I seem to spend quite a lot of time handling each horse I get to think up a story, name, and a favorite food or movie they may have.

I am a huge fan of showing you my palette as I go along.  I almost feel like my palette has it's own story to share about the project in progress.  Almost like it's a work of art in it's own right.

Here are some of the horses hanging out drying while I clean my brushes and finish up for the night.

My favorite (don't tell the other horses) from this batch, is Lava Lamp Horse.  She is found toward the bottom left of the board.  Very trippy with swirls of blue, yellow, pink, purple and green.  I just feel like she exudes so much confidence.  That's me on a rock'in good day!

My shadow was nearby helping me when she had the chance.  Katie sort of ends up in hunting mood around the cardboard and is always trying to sneak one of them away when I'm maybe not looking for a moment.  She's sneaky... but hasn't snagged one.  Yet.

Just like my paint palette fascinates me... so does this paper towel that I was using to paint the horse parts on.  I enjoy the chaotic pattern (oxymoron for sure) that evolves and the synergy of the colors as they are forced to share the same space.

Another day I set up painting camp about 5 feet from the wood burning stove.  Seriously. the. best. painting. spot. in the. house!  

No joke!  

I had the heat from the wood stove cranked to 88 degrees via wood.  Let's just say.  Sigh.  Heaven!!!  

And from a practical stand point the paint dried fast which means my horses didn't curl.  

Practical, warm, delicious, make you dream of a hot summer's night!

You can see I had some new horses brewing.  Pink and brown were my wedding colors and they look magical on a horse too!  I was also playing with different brushes to find different textures for the mane.  

Did I mention I love this project?

The pink bubble horse (a la Bubble Bath Horse) is another one of my favorites!

But, just look at the cutie pie smiley face on Lava Lamp Horse!!  So, happy, so chill, so me on a good day!

Oh...oh... and check out Splashed in a Blue Puddle Horse!!!!  He's feisty, he's dirty, and he knows how to have a good time!

I see at least one more check in coming from this project.  I have about 25 horses assembled now.  Some need faces, some need decoration.  I am thinking it would be nice to have another 10 or so.... which means I need to get tracing, cutting and painting some more. 

I can't wait to show you what the final art piece ends up looking like!! 

If a corky fun art project is happiness, then I am the happiest clam in the sea!!  
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Have I inspired you to make a horse or two?  The pattern I am following can be found in my first post about this project (here).  

Happy horsing around!!

(And thank you again to Ann Wood for making this horsey happiness possible for me!!)