Author: Clare at CatsEatDogs

Drawing Fish and Planting Seeds

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For the whole month of January I am drawing a fish everyday,  as you do! They are all going on the same page so that by the 31st I will have a page of fishy fish to maybe use as a coloring sheet or just a lovely page of different fish.  Half way through the project, I am starting to get a full page.  I can’t wait until I am squeezing them in! Then in February I am going to do the same thing, but with a different object.  I am thinking of drawing a house every day in February, so that I will end up with a very long street or a little village by February 29th. The weather this week has gone perfectly bonkers.  In the mornings we have had frost and icy puddles and today’s temperature has risen to nearly 70 degrees fahrenheit!  Spring-like.  Don’t pull out the shorts just yet because it is supposed to drop down to 18 degrees by Sunday with the threat of snow. So, while the air …

Weekly Photos 1/52.

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The creek flooded recently and covered the local park in water.  Once the  water level had gone down, there was a little marble sitting in the silt.  It is pitted and chipped, but the colours are as bright as ever and it is now a part of my ‘creek marble’ collection. Seed pods and moss in the woods.  I love that moss is such a stunningly bright green. I am sketching a specific item each day this month as part of the Creative Bug and Lisa Congdon class ‘January Drawing Challenge’.  Day 8 was ‘Draw a Cat’ day. Just the right time of day to catch some shadows on the wall. Day 10 of the January Drawing Challenge was mushrooms. As you know, I have a thing for photo’ing pretty much any mushroom I see, so those photos came in handy here! Happy Monday, I hope you have a fab week ahead!

‘I like’ Friday. The Art Journaling Edition.

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I am really really really liking art journaling at the minute, so today’s ‘I like’ Friday should be called ‘I really really really like’ Friday! My art journaling journey began late last year when I joined the Get Messy community and started to follow along with what the talented people over there were creating.  I wasn’t really making any pages myself because honestly I felt rather out of my depth.  It was all so full and layered and complicated and I am a kind of simple soul, especially in my art.  So I watched and chatted and absorbed as much as I could. Then a prompt appeared on Instagram with instructions, just vague directions, but that was just what I needed.  So I gesso’ed and I stuck paper down and painted and stamped and wrote and doodled and I had a great time doing so. I did it again and this page (above) took on it’s own little life.  I never intended the girl to have wings, but there they appeared as I drew some random …

New year stuff to do, want to do, should do, resolutions?

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I don’t like to make ‘resolutions’, but then I do like to give myself a list of things I would like to do in the year, so I suppose I do like to make resolutions.  Maybe it is the concept of the whole new year resolution/setting yourself up to fail thing that I have the problem with. Lose weight, stop drinking booze, eat healthy, exercise, blah blah blah.  I try and do all of these things all of the time, well except the stopping booze thing because that is just ridiculous.  Let’s try and drink more water and call that one quits. I need more ‘doing’ resolutions in my life, so this year I have a few ideas of things I want to do, achieve, create.  Things I want to look back on and declare a new skill learnt or an old one improved on. Here are a few of my ideas – 1. Daily sketch of the same thing, all drawn on the same page. Eventually making 12 spreads of fish/faces/shoes/necklaces/whatever else I come …

Weekly Photos 53/52

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We have never visited this park before and it looks like we might have to wait a while before we see it when it is dry.  It is both fascinating and macabre to see floods in action close up. Powder Valley park and trail was not under water, so we had a wander along the trails there. I liked the colours and movement of the creek bed here. On New Year’s Day we went to Rockwoods Reservation and walked ‘The trail through the trees’.  These icicles looked like lots of discarded plastic bags from a distance. Lots of rocky faces to be spotted in these rocks at Rockwoods Reservation. How on earth does ice form like this?  There were a few similar formations under a tree, no more ice or frost anywhere around.  It was paper thin, delicate and beautiful. End of the hike, end of the day. I hope you had a great start to 2016!  Happy New Year!

Through The Lens Thursday #53. Celebration.

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Today is the last day of 2015 and the final ‘Through the Lens Thursday’ offering.  The prompt supplied as always by the lovely Greta at Gfunkified blog was ‘Celebration’. My celebration this morning was a coffee with a waffle treat on the top. Celebrating the fact that I managed to eventually fit in a coffee after Barre class, a trip to Target for boring stuff and half price Christmas sweets, REI to refund a present, Michaels for yarn and dye and Whole Foods for New Years Eve dinner ingredients. Now I get to mess about in my art journal and wish you all a very happy, healthy new year. Happy 2016!

Simple Tie Dye Scarf

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What to do when it is cloudy and cold outside and everywhere you might want to hike is a swamp?  Stay in a get bored? No!  Make a scarf of course! I had two yards of cheesecloth fabric (yes, the very same fabric all cool blouses and skirts in the 1970’s were made from) in my cupboard and some dye I had bought ages ago and never used.  The colours I had to choose from were navy, black or brown (obviously I wanted a dark green…), so I picked black. To dye my future accessory a solid black or add a spot of tie dye? I decided to try some very simple tie dyeing using three elastic bands. Sorry about the lack of ‘process’ photos, but when I was doing it, I honestly didn’t think it would come to much, just an exercise to keep me entertained.  Funny how when you do something with no pressure on yourself, it turns out to be rather ace! I secured an elastic band about 3inches from each end …

Weekly Photos 52/52

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  Jelly Babies!  Not easy to get hold of here, but we managed to get the teen a massive tub of them.  I also found this article on the BBC about the sweet treats we love to bite the heads off. A favourite Christmas present was the ‘Adventure’ G.I. Joe complete with Yeti! I think they are having a playful wrestle in this picture… A pile of presents I received!  Yay!  I love the Jamie cookbook and I am so happy to be a proud owner.  I like to make notes in my cookbooks which I don’t think the library would approve of! I also got some sketchbooks with kraft paper inside which will make a nice change from the usual white paper.  My new Micron pens are tucked inside this fab deer pencil case (I think it is a make up bag, but I have reallocated it). One of my most favourite Christmas treats is fresh roast chestnuts.  I like to mash them up and make a sauce with them, although I can quite …

Six Word Saturday

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Happy Boxing Day! We got lots of cheesy jokes out of the crackers yesterday – Why did the doughnut seller retire?  Because he was fed up with the hole business. Boom boom! Another – My friend drowned in a bowl of muesli.  He was pulled in by a strong currant. Ha ha ha. In my cracker was a mini badminton set which we played over the gravy and sprouts! I hope you are having a good Boxing Day, it is pouring with rain here and I think we might float away if it continues!