Author: Clare at CatsEatDogs

Weekly Photos 18/52

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  1. Monday walk in the woods.  We came across this patch of green undergrowth virtually glowing in the light of the day.  Isn’t it funny how you can pass the same thing regularly, but just the right moment of sunlight can make it pop out at you. 2. My neighbor has these glorious columbine flowers growing in her garden. 3. Another walk and another light filled path in the woods. 4 & 5 This week among the regular jobs, I had to make a purple jacket for a 12″ figure as part of a High School art project.  Here GI Joe is modeling the final look. I hope it fits the actual figure it is meant for. This week I have a teen birthday to plan – jelly and ice cream anyone?! and a blog conference to prepare for.   The conference is here in St Louis and hosted by Go Blog Social. I am pretty rubbish at conferences, so I need to channel my best attendance preparation. What to wear, what to take, …

‘I like’ Friday, a colouring sheet for you.

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I recently drew and printed out some colouring in postcards to send to friends and family across the globe as a little happy mail with bonus colouring if they fancied it. What I hadn’t done, is colour one in myself.  I drew them and traced them and made sure all the lines were where they should be, but I never added any colour.  Until now that is. I decided that I would explore a few different ways to colour the same sheet. What do you like to colour with?  I know pencil crayons are a top choice, but I don’t like to colour with them as much as I like to draw with them. For the top two cards I used brush pens for the colour and I did some extra drawing and patterns on the yellow card with a Micron pen. Watercolour paints is maybe not the first choice for a coloring page, but these are post cards and printed on card-stock, so they put up with a layer of water colour just fine. …

Get Messy Art Journaling. Season of Lists, week 5.

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  I have not been very prolific in the art journaling department this week, my time has been sucked into a new crochet project.  My ongoing granny square blanket is coming along very nicely, but it has grown too big to travel with, so I decided in my wisdom that I needed to start new blanket which would be small enough (to start with) to take on holiday with me and crochet like a mad old lady on the plane and at the beach! I am no sitting on the beach girl, I have the attention span of a toddler, so I need something to do, like crochet. I found the perfect blanket recipe at Meet Me At Mikes and after three goes and one yarn change, I finally got going with it and my ‘cheery wave’ blanket will help entertain me on our two week trip to Cape Cod in a few weeks. Anyway back to the Get Messy Art Journaling!  I managed one official prompt which is the ‘I am made of’ page …

Weekly Photos 17/52.

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1. I spotted these pretty little flowers growing underneath the big umbrella shaped leaves of their host plant.  Even the light under the plants was slightly green. 2. Dog walking selfie! 3. The clay is almost done.  Some of the beads and pendants need to be glazed some more, but I love my mountain pendant. 4. I snagged a pile of National Geographic magazines from the free box at the library this weekend. 5. May Day flowers given to us from our fabulous neighbours. The USA doesn’t really  seem to celebrate May Day, but I remember skipping around the maypole when I was a kid in the UK and having the day off for May Day bank holiday. Happy Monday/May Day Bank Holiday!

‘I Like’ Friday. The 100 Day Edition. Days 1-10

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  The 100 day project.  One hundred days of constant, consistent artwork.  I have 10 days done and now I am into double digit days and still going strong, mainly because I am loving these little pieces I am creating each day. My project is to randomly pick out a playing card from a box of over 400 vintage cards (not all different) each day and alter the picture side.  I have been using the picture as part of my final card on some days and some I have completely covered in paint and made my own image. I am posting each card on Instagram using the hashtag #100daysofalteredcardsbycatseatdogs. So far I have doodled and gesso’d in black or white. I have stamped and collaged and tied ribbon. I have even written a little tiny story. What will be on the next card?  I am not sure, but I do keep a section in my ideas notebook for ‘100 day project’ specific ideas which I keep adding to, so that is a great back up …

Get Messy Season of Lists. Week 4.

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Lists lists lists!  Most of these pages did not turn out at all how I had envisioned.  I had no idea where my crazy eyed skull was going and I really didn’t like the ‘Six Months’ base page until I added the yellow and black. It just goes to show, the best thing about art journaling is where you end up and the fun and mess you can create along the way. If you want to know more about the Get Messy Art Journal community, pop over to their website and see if you want to join the fun! Happy Thursday x  

Weekly Photos 16/52

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Phew, another hot week here in the Mid West! I haven’t seen many mushrooms this spring but these caught my eye.  I think they look like cookies! A few natural bits and bobs gathered on one of my many walks with the dog. The 100 day project started this week and I have managed to alter a playing card every day so far.  Someone picks me a card out of the box and I art it up! We had field day at school on Friday, it was a lovely sunny day and the kids all had a great day. The adventures of the clay beads continues, this week I glazed them.  I can’t wait to see how they turn out. We had a peek at the full moon on Friday when it was high in the night sky.   I hope you had a lovely week and another lovely one ahead. Happy Monday x  

‘Get Messy’ Season of Lists. Week 3

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The season of list making continues in the Get Messy community.  I am not sure how I am feeling about the lists yet.  I enjoy a list and I may or may not write them to get through each day, but to use them as art journal fodder may be out of my range.  I don’t normally write much in my sketchbooks, I am more art, less journal. I had a go at drawing a face this week in my journal which I am pleased with. I feel like I have given myself permission to have a go at drawing more in my journal pages.  Some will be spectacularly terrible, but I am hoping to keep practicing and improving! Happy ‘Get Messy’ Thursday!

Ideas and how best to tame them.

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  Where on earth do all of the ideas in the world come from?  Books? Brains? Computers? Instagram? Do you have lots of ideas or do your struggle with the blank page? I think the blank page stares us all down on a regular basis, especially when there is no brief or stated requirement in place. We all need a starter idea, so what can we use as that beginning? We could add some of these things – Colour- wash, splash, pattern, dot, dots, cover the page or a corner. Word-Single, quote, lyric, random, at the top left, in the middle, upside down. A stripe of washi tape – small, across the page, tiny rips. A magazine cutting – torn up, cut out carefully, words, pictures, colour. Any of these should add enough to the most stubborn page to get started. How come sometimes ideas seem to spout out of the top of my head and I have to spread out my sketchbook net to catch them all before they fly off and yet sometimes, …

Weekly Photos 15/52

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It is getting hot here.  Mornings are still cool which is a wonderful thing.  The sky is blue and the seeds are growing.  I want to get some veggie plants, just deciding which ones to choose?  What do you grow?  Tomatoes? Peppers? Herbs? I think I will get all of those. 1. I had a little sit in the garden this week with a copy of Bella Grace magazine and a cup of tea.  While I was there I snapped the view! 2. These white flowers pop up every spring all over our garden.  Pretty. 3. The clay beads are ready to fire. I hope they make it! I deliberately made plenty in case some pop in the kiln. 4. I managed to get a rather cool photo of the moon through the telescope we borrowed from the library.  This was taken in the early evening when we could see the moon but it wasn’t yet dark. 5. We also spotted Mr Cardinal in the tree! Happy Monday!  Have a wonderful week x