Mermaids

So, the plan was mermaid ATCs. I tried really hard to draw them, I swear. But I can't. I can draw bigger mermaids, but not tiny ones. Now that I've tried a few times and they've come out so horrible, I'm SURE I can't because I block myself that way. I'm terrible about deciding that since I did something a few times and it came out crappy that I'll never be able to (like my attempts at image transfers). So I decided I want to make bookmarks instead!!I stamped them at Kelly's house because she has MILLIONS of stamps (OK, maybe thousands)And then I colored them with copic markers! I'm getting a little better with those stupid things. I'll probably add some sparkles to them, I'm thinking about coloring their tops with my clear glaze marker to they're shiny, and using a green glittery pen on their tails, but I'm pretty dang happy with them at the moment!

Snowmageddon...

Yep, we're buried! Plows are out and pushing the snow around. Kelly said she wanted to make blizzard pages, so of course we did! This is mine:I haven't been journaling as much lately, I'm not sure why, but I really love it when I do it. I gotta get back to it.

New Journal Page

OK, so Kelly came over to play yesterday and I attempted to make a Pam Carriker style journal page. It stared out AWFUL. I mean, so awful that I ripped it out of the journal, thinking I would throw it out or turn it into ATC backgrounds and try again. Kelly asked me to stick with it and I reluctantly agreed. Check it out!Right here Liam is sitting on Kelly's lap trying to draw a kitty on his magna doodle thingy and after he tried and didn't like how it came out he said to her "I don't have kitty powers."How cute is that?? Poor little monkey doesn't have kitty powers!

Tal!!

Look what my friend Tal did for me!!!

The Adventures of Red Mole

Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen? I can't even tell you how awesome I think this is. I'm so, so, so, so, so in love with it!! (Lola is my mermaid name, in case you're wondering!)

"You Suck Monday"

It's the second Monday in a row when I've had a sucky art day. I know what a lot of people are thinking - Mondays suck. But, see, there's nothing about Monday that's any different than any other day for me. I'm a stay-at-home-mom. Mini doesn't have school on Mondays and hubby isn't off on the weekend. My days mostly run together. I didn't even realize it was Monday until Kelly pointed it out. I've been trying to make mermaid ATCs but I have to just stop. Every single one looks bad in a different way. Poop on Monday.

The sky...

Mermaids in crisis

It was a stressful mermaid day today so I got very little art done. Just one LO for you today! It's made with Crazy 4 Monogram's "It's a Boy Thing" kit and using a template made by Urban Mom Scraps.
The play date was MINE, by the way. Not his. :)

MERMAID!!

OK, so I don't know what makes me drag my feet about these things, but I haven't put any mermaids on wood yet. I have two in my journal and five in my sketchbook but I just haven't done anything with them. But my new friend Tal gave me a deadline. First mermaid done my this Friday. She isn't finished, but I'm pretty excited about the THOUGHT of her being finished that I'm posting the in-progress pics.

Here she is all shaded in, waiting to be collaged onto her background.
Here is a previously prepared background that has been laying around for several months, just waiting for someone to be collaged onto it.

I added a little more paint...it's kind of glare-y, huh? No flash with these, it's just shiny from the overhead light.
Stuck her down and checked carefully for any air bubbles... Stamped a little with some bubble wrap and a BIG flower stamp. Now she's drying on the table and I'm ignoring her until tomorrow, otherwise I'm likely to ruin the happy that's going on right now. Oh, and she's purple. Her tail and top are purple. I'm not sure why she looks so pink!

Mermaids!

It's funny how rarely I've talked about mermaids, I guess. This is a sketchbook I got at Blick's when me and Kelly were hanging out, it was on sale for less than five bucks and I really like it. Very smooth paper. So I've been kind of a slacker with the actual mermaid drawing...I made a couple of faces, nothing special. Did a coule of gesture sketches to get a feeling for how I wanted her to look. But I get nervous when I'm supposed to "plan" a painting. I usually just start with a face and see where it goes. I've actually made mermaids in the past but they were super cheesy, which is why I asked Suzi to make this class! I wanted to see her take on mermaids, have her teach me how to make a mermaid I like. And I think I'm going to! I was sketching them while Mini was running around the park today and I kind of like what I did.

I think they look kinda good. Nothing to write home about or anything, but they have a little more personality than my girls usually do. They're usually sort of flat and boring. Progress? Possibly.

Mermaids playing

So, I have a mermaid friend named Kelly. We "met" online a couple of months ago and in person a couple of weeks ago. At our first meeting, I convinced her she needed to get a Moleskine sketch book. Every single day I asked her if she'd used it yet and every single day she said she was going to use it tonight. Lies. So, today I went to her house and here she is, FINALLY breaking that sucker in.Ah...corruption. Fun, right? I also convinced her that she couldn't live without PanPastels and, of course, I was right. She needed them. Next we plan to conquer OIL PAINTS.

I am an artist, whether you think so or not.

So, last week I met a mermaid who lives about a half hour from me and she said something that bothered me. She said that she doesn't feel like she deserves to use a sketchbook for her drawing practice. I understand what she means - we think of "those people" as being "real" artists and we think of ourselves as NOT artists.

You know what? There's not such thing as a real artist because that would mean that there are "fake" artists. There is no such thing as a professional artist because there is no such thing as an amateur artist. I don't make money from my art. Maybe I will someday, maybe not. It doesn't matter. That's not why I make it. It gives me pleasure. It clears the cobwebs out of my head and helps me align my thoughts when they're darting all over the place. It's for me. NO ONE ELSE has to like it or approve of it.

These are the sketches I did yesterday, trying to decide what I want my mermaid to look like. Do they deserve to be in a sketchbook? I have no idea. But where else would they go?

What's the point?

So, what is the mermaid's journey? I know you're dying to know. It's a class, of course! I've been following the fabulous Suzi Blu for years and have been attending Art Skool Underground. I asked her if she would consider doing a class on mermaids and she said "Of course!" and here we are. This is the beginning of the journey...
Sorry for the bad pic, I had to take it with my iPhone, upload it to facebook, download it from facebook, and upload it here.