Art Makes Me Happy!

The continuing influence of index card a day. 

Creating art every day makes you happy!

 

Day 42.

 

If you know me outside of blogland or have followed this blog then you know that I am the kind of person who doesn't wake up in a cheerful mood every day.  All my life I have fought with my moods, melancholy and even a few times, full on depression.  I have also written in the past year that I am probably the happiest now than I have ever been but I still battle with feeling down for no reason or letting little things send me spiraling into bad moods that can last for hours or even days. 

Yesterday was the last day of creating an index card a day for 61 days.  Now I confess I didn't do art EVERY day.  I did art almost every day, sometimes doing many cards on one day and then skipping a day when I was very busy (or caught up in a great book!)  If I didn't pick up a pen or brush one day, I certainly looked at art, commented on it and thought about art, so for the sake of this discussion, though, lets say I did art every day.  I knew a few days into it that creating index cards I was in a great mood every day...maybe creating art was making me happy.

Now back to yesterday when I was thinking about my 2 months of ICAD's.  I was answering Tammy's questions on Daisy Yellow so I was really thinking about the impact of creating all these cards.  The overwhelming feeling about my ICAD experience was not just how fun and rewarding it was but it really made me happy. 

As I was scrolling through my blog reading list yesterday I happened upon this cute post from Heather at Rose Hills Design called "the Secret to a Happy Life."  Check out her blog, her are is to cute!  Heather said she never stops dreaming, learning, loving, believing and living...and then she invites the reader to add their own secret.  Without hesitation I said "creating art." 

By afternoon I had finished my last card and ICAD Roundup post.  It wasn't long before I got a comment from the very talented Cindy at The Slumbering Herd.  If you haven't checked out her blog, go now!  She is amazing.  She told me that my post was "the happiest and most upbeat blog post I have seen in ages!" 

And that was it.  What had been floating around my head for days and weeks culminated in that moment...it's true! 
 

It's true! 
 

Art makes me happy!

 

 

ICAD Roundup 2013

Here we are at the last day of ICAD for 2013 and I'm already looking forward to next year.  I can't overstate how much fun and inspiration I got out of this challenge.  I had never drawn on index cards before and the simplicity and casual nature of them opened up a whole new world of art to me.  I love that they are small, portable, inexpensive and accept a variety of media. 

 

Through this challenge I have explored doodling, zentangles, collage, found poetry, coffee stains, coloring on security envelopes and abstract subject matter in addition to my normal acrylics and watercolors.  I developed a love for my Sharpie pens.  My cards and pens traveled in my bag all over town.  I created art at swim meets, the golf course, on vacation and at parties.  I inspired friends to take up doodling and they now carry around their own supplies and give sets of Sharpies as birthday gifts. 

It's not unusual for one of my friends to approach me and say "do you have any cards?"

And of course, my answer is always "YES!"

 

 

All 61!

 Here are a few that haven't made it onto the blog yet.

 

Day 50.  Wax resist with crayons and watercolor

 

Day 51.

Day 59. Strange doodles

 

Day 60.  Magenta watercolor and white Uni POSCA extra fine.  I learned about this pen on the ICAD FB page during the "great white pen debate."  I love it!

Day 61.  Sharpie Circles.

A very sincere thank you to Tammy Garcia at Daisy Yellow for creating such a fun and safe atmosphere online to experiment, inspire and be inspired.  More than half the fun was posting my cards and seeing the reaction to them.  Browsing all the cards and commenting on other people's work was something I looked forward to every day.  I really enjoyed all the interaction and hope that we all stay in touch!

 

I'm looking forward to continuing on the Daisy Yellow and Tammy's Daily Paper Prompts. 

Hope to see you there!



ICAD's 52-58 The Mountain Series

I hadn't really meant to follow up my Ocean Series with a Mountain Series but doesn't it just flow nicely?  I loved how my ICAD's for my week of vacation turned into a little travel diary.  They will forever help my remember our week in the mountains.

Day 52.  The River. South Fork of the Stanislaus.



Day 53 The Lake

Day 54.  Pinecrest.  This is the same lake view as above but more realistic.  I like seeing how I went from the simple version above to this one that is actually recognizable to people who have been here.  That is the greatest compliment!

 

Day 55.  The wood pile behind our cabin.  It was actually more creepy with a bunch on cobwebs and spiders!

 

Day 56.  The bottom of the river is so colorful.

 

Day 57.  This is a spot we found for fishing.  I called it "the spot where Max yelled "FISH ON" although he lost the fish as he was reeling it in.  Overall we caught a total of 51 fish on this trip!  Most released but a few eaten.  This is also the place where my ankle throbbed and swelled up as I had twisted it badly a short time before.  It's still very sore and black, blue and yellow.  Middle Fork of the Stanislaus.



Day 58.  The view from the other side of the Lake.  I did this while on the big party boat we rented.  What a lovely day that was.  We stayed on the boat until almost dark and watch the sunset as it peaked from behind some thunderstorm clouds.

 

 

ICAD's 43-49. The Ocean Series.

I've noticed when looking at ICAD blog posts where people have grouped their ICADs together that mine area always very diverse.  I think it's so neat to see someone else's post and see the cohesiveness of their cards.  They might be linked by style or subject or color. 

 

Mine are a jumble of everything and anything.  This isn't a bad thing.  I am happy to try to push myself to try different things and to me art is creating whatever I'm in the mood for.  This week I thought I'd push myself to keep to a theme and since "ocean" was one of the prompts I knew it would be easy enough to stick to it since painting the ocean is one of my favorite subjects.

Day 43.  Acrylic paint.



Day 44.  Acrylic paint.

Day 45.  This didn't photograph so well, there is much more texture in person.  Watercolor and acrylics.

Day 46.  An abstract of moonlight on the water.  Wax resist with crayon and watercolor.

 

Day 47.  This is meant to be the way water refracts in shallow tropical waves.  It's not exactly where I want it to be but I think it's very pretty.  It's many layers of watercolor, acrylic paint and acrylic ink.

Day 48.  Wind and Water.  Acrylic paint, then watercolor, then Sharpie, more watercolor and acrylic.

Day 49.  I had to get some doodling in!  Acrylic paint, then watercolor splatters, Sharpie doodles.

 

All that being said, and having seen my 7 representations of ocean I think it's safe to say that although I stuck to a theme my style is still all over the place. 

I have always been trying to figure out what my signature style is.

Most artists in blogland, in the world in general, in history have a style that is if not recognizable, at least consistent. Not so for me. Never so for me. And I have felt lacking for it. But maybe I have gotten it wrong. Maybe I need to embrace my chameleon style. Maybe I should even be proud of it!

 

 

 

ICADs 36 - 42 plus a bonus

Summer seems to be cruising along quite nicely around here.  Yesterday was really the first day that we had a bad case of the "I'm-bored-syndrome."  Mostly this comes from my son, my daughter can amuse herself much of the time.  My son did an index card with me (see below) and then both kids whittled a bar of soap (thank you Internet for the idea!) 

 

One more week before we go on vacation in the mountains.  I hope all my art supplies will fit in what will be an impossibly crowded car!  I can't wait to doodle and paint and sketch among the trees.  There is no Internet up there though, so I will really miss the amazing feedback from all the ICADers.  It really is such a lovely group of people!

 

Day 36. Flowers, flower and more flowers.  I will never get tired of flower art in any form. 



Day 37. This card started out when I tried a "real" Zentangle pattern called "CUdad." 
It morphed into my little fantasy village by the sea. 



On Day 38 I sat down with some blank cards and watercolors and painted abstract shapes and swirls on 7 or 8 cards.  I tried not to have any intentions or over think things.  I quite liked the way these black swirls looked.  I added some yellow with Sharpies.  I think I got a bit carried away with the yellow.  I should have stopped a bit sooner. 



Day 39 was another of the unplanned painted cards I mentioned above.  This one is fun to me. 
So very different from what I usually do.



Day 40.  I saw a line drawing on Pinterest that reminded me a lot of the Mushroom inspired drawings I did on days 31 & 33. It reminds me of the way hair looks when twisted into a chignon. 
I'm always awed by how simple lines can create something with such depth.



Day 41 and I was back to doodling.  Someone on Facebook said this looked like a carved door and I agree. 

Day 42. Finally tried the security envelopes. I wish I had made the sky a bit lighter but other than that I like this one. The words are from a department store catalog and gave me the idea of a path over green rolling hills.

And as a bonus, here is my 10 year old sons card from yesterday, I think this is his number 3 card. Art is tough for him, he is really hard on himself and freaks out when he makes a "mistake" or he can't draw what he sees in his mind. I was so glad he stuck with this one. I love it!

 

 

ICAD's 27-35 and Summer of Color, Pale Pink and Charcoal

 It was a diverse week of index cards for me.  I really enjoyed this week both in art and life in general.  We've had some beach time, pool time, relaxing doing a puzzle time.  The best news is it's only Friday so we have a whole weekend ahead of us!  Yay!  I hope you all had wonderful 4th of July festivities.  Happy Friday!
 


Day 27 Doodles

 

Day 28.  Acrylics on Gesso'd index card.  I have painted Leadbetter point several times.  I've even painted it on an Artist Trading Card, so this is only the second smallest version I've done.
 

Day 29.  Since I still had wet paint on my pallette I decided to do another ocean scene.

 



Day 30. Hand torn, water colored book pages and Gelly roll pen on a blue index card. Found poem

 

Day 31. My contribution to the neutral party. Inspired by the underside of a mushroom cap. Micron and colored pencil

 

Day 32. Every Sharpie I won.

Day 33.  When I did the neutral version above someone on FB mentioned it would be fun in color...so here it is.

Day 34 for the 4th of July.  Watercolor and Gelly roll pen on a coffee stained card.  This was inspired by a cute scarf I wanted to buy...when I went back to you buy it they were just selling the last one...

Day 35 ICAD and this week's Summer of Color.  Pale Pink and Charcoal.  Watercolors.