Slow Creating Weekend

by Pam Tremble | Feb 1, 2010 | Art & Creativity

I had less time during the week than normal.  (For the boring details you can read them here.)  So I haven’t had time to play much during the week.  And this weekend has been packed with errands, obligations and homework.  But early this afternoon I knew I needed to spend at least a little bit of time in my art room (notice I’m no longer calling it my “scrapbook studio”).

I did FINGERPAINTING today! WooHoo! How fun is that?

Figured I’d do a page and see how it turned out — started with the blue/yellow page — but then I got on a roll and ended up doing three pages. Just laying down some paint and background color basically. Getting my hands dirty and just playing around.

This one is my favorite — pink and burgundy paint.

Blue and yellow do not always make green, sometimes it just blends into a bluish-yellow.

I was surprised I liked the orange and red combo so much. Very bright and energizing.

The pink and burgundy one remains my favorite. But now that I’m doing these I’m not sure I love the idea of using a spiral bound journal — I can see what people mean when they say they want something without that obstruction in the middle of the page layout.

Next weekend maybe I’ll actually go back and start filling in some of these backgrounds with collage and words and doodles and stuff.

~Pam

Obsessed with Doodles

by Pam Tremble | Jan 25, 2010 | Art & Creativity

Seriously… this obsession has been going on since mid-week.  On Thursday night I made a little “doodle book” and I’ve been filling it up.  So here’s the deal.  Since I agreed to teach this doodling/drawing class to the ladies at my mom’s church in March I realized that I’ll need to have some examples to have on display during class sign up.  To this point all my doodles have been in my Moleskine along with my journaling and stuff.  And there’s no way I’m giving that up for several weeks.  So I needed a little book to fill with doodles and drawings so the ladies could see what this class is all about.

So this little book is super simple to make.  I used a sheet of Basic Grey cardstock and backed it with coordinating paper (can’t remember the brand) — just using my ATG tape gun.  I newly created double-layer of cardstock to 8.5×11 and folded it in half.  Then for the inside pages I just pulled 6 sheets of paper from a drawing pad I had laying around and cut those to 8.5×11 too.  Fold that in half (then trim off the excess on the end from the way the fold lays).  I used my corner rounder to round all the corners (cuz I love that feature in my Moleskine).  Punch some holds down the spine and use thin ribbon to sew it together.  I left some long ribbon tails and added beads. The book tended to flop open when I wanted it closed, so I added a clasp to secure it.  The clasp is just a closure from an interoffice envelope I had lying around and attached it with brads.

The front cover will eventually have more doodling, I think. I’ve done a little bit around the letters and numbers, but I’ve been eyeing up my red pen thinking it needs some color.  But the inside is already filling up fast too!

I’ve been experimenting with pens too.  The Sharpie Fine Point is fantastic and I love it.  But I’ve also been using this other pen…. totally generic and literally has no name on the barrel of it.  I bought a pack of these gel pens at Big Lots and I really like the flow of ink and the dark coverage.  I need to get back to Big Lots to see if I can find them again and buy a bunch.  I’ve also used my Micron pens and the Unibal Micro – both very good too.

Here’s another couple pages I finished.  I made the mistake on the first page (above) of outlining the solid lines in sharpie marker (not the Fine Point I mention above, but a normal fat sharpie)  — it bled through to the other page. UGH! So I copied the pattern on the second page and it’s an exact copy of the first page – then the blank spaces are filled in with different doodles.  I’m also excited to be including some mandala flowers too.

And my favorite one so far?  The circles!  I was totally inspired by Miriam and her gorgeous circle doodles.  I can’t get enough of her website and just keep going back over and over all her amazing artwork – the carpet doodle? OMG! can you seriously believe that masterpiece? So after pouring over Miriam’s circles, I decided to make my own big circle doodle page. I started out drawing a bunch of circles all over the 2 pages using a template, then filling them in with doodles.  This is how my first circles turned out.

So that’s what I’ve been up to this weekend.  I’m definitely obsessed at the moment.  But I also know I’m under a bit of a deadline to fill up this little doodle book — I need to turn in my project sample in about 3 weeks.  Not sure that I’ll actually fill up all 24 pages by then, but I’d like to have a big chunk of it done.  I’ll also need to prepare a sample that will be given away as a door prize at the event – but I definitely won’t be giving this book away.  So I’ll probably pick my favorite page from the book, scan it and reprint it for framing.  Maybe even color the print with color pencils or… if I’m good enough by then … watercolor.

~Pam

A Creative To-Do List

by Pam Tremble | Jan 24, 2010 | Art & Creativity

There’s a bunch of stuff I want to do.  And sometimes when I write things down and put them out to the world, I actually work harder to get ’em done.  So here we go…

1. FELTING — I’ve got several knitted bags/purses that are all done and ready to be felted. Just need to pull them together and get them in the washing machine then get them blocked so they can dry.
2. KNITTING — I’ve got a scarf in the works that I’d like to finish.  I actually had it nearly done but decided I didn’t like it so pulled it all out and I’m using a larger needle this time.  Plus I’ve got a new purse idea milling around in my head, so I’m sure a new project is coming soon too.
3. BOARD BOOK — I want to make another one of those mini board books I did last weekend.  My mom “took” the one I did, so now I want another one.  This time I’d like to actually add photos or quotes or something, so it’s actually a mini scrapbook album.  The first one I made was 3×3 but I think I want to try 4×4 and see how that turns out.
4. PHOTOGRAPHY — My photog club’s assignment this month is “silverware” — yes, taking pictures of silverware in some creative way.  Even though my school schedule conflicts with our next meeting, I still want to do the assignment.
5. DIA — Detroit Art Institute … so this isn’t something on my creative to-do list … it’s actually an field trip with my Art History class coming up next week.  I’ll think of it as a creative venture and look for inspiration to incorporate into my artwork.  I think we have somehow gotten permission to bring in our cameras, so I’d like to see what fun things I can find.
6. DRAWING — at the moment I’m obsessed with these doodles.  I had to stop this morning because my hand is cramping up.  I’ve made a mini doodle book (I’ll show you soon) and I’m trying to fill it up with lots of different doodles so it can be used as a display for the class sign up.
7. PURSES — So I’m inspired again to make a purse or small tote bag out of a recycled wool sweater that’s been felted.  I’m a big thrift store shopper and I’ve got a big box of sweaters, just need to pull out the sewing machine and give this project a try.

Doodling in my Moleskine

by Pam Tremble | Jan 22, 2010 | Art & Creativity

As I said the other day, I’ve been carrying my Moleskine around with me lately.  I’ve been working on some zendoodling – I find it so relaxing and calming.  Last night just before bed I put on some soft gospel music and started these new pages.  And I worked on them a bit more today at lunchtime.

Just thought I’d share some of my Creating In Progress stuff…

Spent Pointsettia

by Pam Tremble | Jan 19, 2010 | Art & Creativity

Instead of putting up my Christmas tree this year, I bought a huge poinsettia plant for my fireplace hearth.  It lasted for a couple weeks, but I didn’t do a good job of watering it.  Apparently poinsettias like lots and lots of water.  So it died before Christmas.  BooHoo!  But the spent leaves made for some beautiful photos.