Botanicals, Bugs, and Butterflies

Today is Maria Sibylla Merian's 366th birthday.  Or, I suppose it would be if she were still alive.  I have to thank Google for bringing this to my attention, otherwise I never would have been the wiser.  Maria Merian is one of my all-time favorite artists.  She was an illustrator during the enlightenment era, and her work focuses mostly on plants and insects.  How fitting that I am currently working on some lovely little butterflies! I'm planning to make a little mobile out of them like this one.

Here's a progress pic...

They currently look a little too pastel-y for my taste, but I'm hoping that the black trim will change that.  I'm just not that into pastel colors.  Unfortunately I have a hard time finding mercerized cotton in more color variety from my local yarn shop.  These would be so beautiful in a rich jewel tone!  I suppose I should start ordering supplies online, but I really hate paying shipping charges.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Artist Trading Cards

A while back I posted some of my very first artist trading cards.  For those who don't know, artist trading cards are baseball card sized original works of art that are traded amongst artists.  Well, it has become a full-blown addiction, and I have been happily trading away all winter!  I thought I'd share some of my favorite ones.  They are based on subjects that the artist that I'm trading with likes.  These appear slightly larger than their original size on my screen.  They are all 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

I started off doing watercolors, but I found that the set up and clean up time was interfering with my motherly duties to my 2-yr-old.  So I switched to using pastels, color pencils, and artist pens.

                                   A couple of the ladies I traded with this month REALLY like cats.

I'm not as gifted as I'd like to be, but I so enjoy creating these miniature paintings.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed my little pictures!

Another Halloween-ish ATC

I don't normally expect to create a post exclusively for the purpose of sharing one single little itty bitty ATC, but I wanted to share this since I feel it is in the spirit of the season.  Besides it's a full moon tonight, which makes this perfect timing!

"Moon on a string"

The Moon actually dangles from the golden thread, 

and...

it flips over to reveal a crescent Moon.

The concept isn't mine, but the interpretation certainly is.  I do hope that the new owner of this ATC appreciates it, because I was really tempted to keep it.  I was even playing with the idea of making myself one, but I think I prefer it to be a one of a kind.  

:)

ATCs

I only recently learned about ATCs, or Artist Trading Cards, but I have become quite smitten with them.  They are miniature works of art that are fun to make and even funner to exchange!  (Yes, I know that "funner" is not a real word, but it should be! :P)
The standard size, as far as I know, is 2.5 x 3.5 inches or vice versa vice.  Same difference.   In my Monster Mash post, I posted a set of four collaged Halloweeny ATCs, but I really wanted to try my hand at hand drawing some.

Since I love owls, and they are sort of a Halloween animal, I decided they would make an excellent subject.

I painted a background on watercolor paper using watered down acrylics.  The owls are chalk pastel pencils on Bristol paper.  I have no idea if I'm supposed to combine those two, but its what I had laying around.

I originally thought that ATCs were 2 x 3 inches, but fortunately I discovered my mistake before any cutting or pasting occurred.

I almost always use images off the internet when I need reference material.  Occasionally, I'll use a lovely photo book or magazine.  

AND

Here they are all cut and pasted together!

I think they turned out simple yet cute.  Anyway, I'm happy to be drawing again.  I hope I keep it up because I need the practice!

Monster Mash

If you haven't guessed by now, monsters are a recurring theme for me.  I guess I'm a monster-lover.  I recently made a little felt monster badge which I'd like to share with you, but I was afraid he may get a little lonely if I posted him by himself. As you all know, a lonely monster is just trouble waiting to happen, so I decide to also share some of the other monsters I've made this year (that I haven't already shared in another post.)

Here goes...

I pulled the image that I used for this off the internet. (I used Google's image search for 'kawaii monsters')

Here's an "in progress" shot with my dollar store scissors :)

I made this guy from a pattern that I wrote in an attempt to create a crocheted version of a Rebecca Danger style monster.

This is the original monster I made while writing up that pattern.  She now resides in Australia! Lucky gal!

This is the first crocheted monster chunk that I made.  He is much smaller than Blossom!

And lastly, a set of  Halloween monster ATC's, or artist trading cards.  

This was my first time making ATCs, but I sure had a blast making them.  I don't have much experience with paper crafting (as you can tell,) but I definitely think that it is something that I'm going to do more often.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my monsters!