Mad dog

We heard Keesha barking in the garden, something she normally doesn't do. When we went to have a look to see what was up, we saw her barking at David, trying to get him to play with her. But it didn't work. Then she got her chicken out, one of her favourite toys, pushing it into his arms. But it still didn't work.

Poor Keesha, why was David refusing to play with her?

Well...










He's a statue!

A week in the life

Why do I always hear about cool new projects at the very last minute? It was about 30 minutes before midnight when the lovely Paula aka Journal Artista Tweeted about 'A Week In The Life', a fun project where you document everything in your life for a week.

Take pictures, collect paper stuff ('daily ephemera' sounds so posh), journal etc. etc. about everything going on, and the good thing is: it does not need to be anything fancy. Even if you do the same thing over and over again for a week, that's still great to document!

So right away, I was hooked. Figures, right? But then I started wondering what I would use for a journal for that week. Or would I use my current Art Journal? Nahhh..
I decided to go with a journal that I bound over a year ago, during Leslie's bookbinding class, finally putting it to good use.
What I have in mind is a travel journal a bit like the ones I've done before, but without the traveling. Sounds like fun, right?
I've already ordered some more Polaroid ZINK paper for my POGO printer, because I'll be taking tons of pictures, I'm sure!

Please let me know if you are joining this Week In The Life project, I'd love to see your pages.

Everyday matters.

It must have been at about six years ago when I heard about Danny Gregory's book Everyday matters, on a blog by a Dutch woman who kept her own visual journal much in the same style. I remember reading about it, thinking it was pretty cool, but not for me. I can't draw, you see.

And then I started making ATCs and keeping Art Journals and taking drawing lessons and learning about watercolours and then all of a sudden, that book popped up again and I decided to order a copy.

It is not a 'How to' book. It is not a book you just sit and read. It is a book you read, absorb, get inspired by. Because as much as the fact that every day matters, everyday things matter, too.

And after reading the book from cover to cover, and looking at all those amazing drawings, I grabbed my sketchbook and started drawing myself. And then I got my Moleskine out and draw those drawings again, in that same fineliner pen that bleeds a bit but gives a nice effect when mixed with watercolours.





And then I added some journaling:


What book has inspired you to art?

My Twitter has been hacked

Warning: My Twitter has been hacked. It is now sending out this message:
"Someone said this real bad thing about you in a blog.... http://t.co/pBlolYK!

Please understand that this is NOT me. The link will take you back to the Twitter homepage. There is NO blog saying anything bad about you, it is just some hacker having fun.

I've already reset my password on Twitter, deleted my Tweetdeck account and then setting up another one with the new password, but it might not have worked.

*siiigh* I love my Twitter and now it just all went to poo..... I'm so sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Oh, and until this mess gets sorted out, I can't send any DMs either. I can receive them, but not send any myself. Lovely stuff!

Arting at the desk

Last night I had this burst of creativity that kept me arting at my desk for hours.

First I did some more face and then coloured them in with my Cotman studio set:

Now I could say that the bleeding of the black liner was intentional, but unfortunately I had not checked to see if it would bleed. Doesn't matter though, I rather like the effect:




Earlier that day I Leslie had reminded me of the original blogpost about making your own washi-tape, using watercolours and doodling on them. It's so easy, and so much fun. I ended up with lots of new designs in pale colours that will work so well in my art journal.

And then I tried out making my own DIY old school Polaroid pictures, after Crafty Moira's tutorial. I love the look with the tape, although maybe I need to trim my cardstock a little bit:

New faces

So last night I stumbed across this Youtube video:


It's a different way to draw faces. I start with a shape and then eyes, and work my way down to the mouth. So I decided to give it a try:


I like! When I draw the mouth, I have no idea yet if the face will be a man or a woman, a child or an older person. I just let my pen decide, not so much me, if that makes sense. (Might be the allergy pills at work, who knows?)

And they become their own little characters.
The spoilt child:

The librarian:

The 70's schoolteacher:

The man who, in a previous life, was quite the big man in town:

The shy 30-something:


Think I'll keep this up for a while and see how it will develop for me.

Ironic Allergy

So a few months ago, I noticed that my skin started itching. And where I had itched, my skin puffed up like puffy paint.

At first it was strange, then it got annoying, and then I wondered if there was something wrong with me.

I took a picture of what happens if I 'draw' a smiley face on my arm

and did some googling. Normally I'm not for self-diagnosing your illnesses, but I stumbled across people who suffered from the same skin-thing, and learned it is called Dermatographic urticaria or 'skin writing disease'. Some people even turn it into art! Here is a Flickr group where people show off what their skin can do.

But because the itching got worse, I decided to go to my family doctor today.

He was surprised to see it, as it is rare and he had not seen it in years. He confirmed the Dermatographia, and asked if I had any pets. Um, yes, Keesha.... He said that it's a rare allergic reaction, and is often seen in people who are allergic to pets. I told him that we said goodbye to our labrador a few months ago, and that I never had this back when he was alive, but as my doctor explained, you can be allergic to some dogs and not others, especially when the allergy is not so much hair but saliva. Ahhh.. Keesha is (still) quite nippy, so that would explain a lot!

Doc got me allergy pills, and told me that the condition does not have a cure, but the pills will make it occur less and/or make it less itchy. And because getting rid of Keesha is not an option, pills are the only choice.

I think it's incredibly ironic that I now turn out to be allergic to dogs. I've been scared for dogs for most of my childhood and adult life, only since moving here and living with dogs again did my fear finally go. I take Keesha to the park every day (except when during those incredibly heavy rains we've been having lately), and as of Wednesday I'll be taking her to dog training. And now my doctor tells me that I should try and avoid most contact... As if I could do that! No way!



Anyway, hopefully the pills will kick in soon and Tye can stop calling me his human etch-a-sketch or post-it note. ;)

Index Card A Day

Just because I haven't said all that much about the Index Card A Day challenge does not mean that I have not been doing my cards. OK, so sometimes I have done a few cards in one siting, but still...

Here are a couple of videos of me doing my cards:




And the June flip through video as promised:


Once again, thank you Daisy Yellow for starting this challenge and for keeping me busy throughout the summer months!