Clare Davis Etheridge

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My Daily Moleskine 2017. November Pages.

Giant bubble wrap is a brilliant tool to use with the Gelli plate!

I am putting far too many leaves into the planner! The opposite page is a ‘ghost’ signature which is a word or name which is treated like an ink blot to make a shape or creature.

I went on a creative field trip and used the train and museum tickets for this page with a gingko leaf added.

Cut out from the newspaper and some colour added!

Face painting with sumi brush and ink.

Blind contour drawing and some brush script.

Some birthday wrap and labels along with a rose petal.

Gelli plate print of a fern leaf and gingko leaves.

My colleagues at the library bought me a birthday treat!

A ‘mini masterpiece’ inspired by the Fluid Art class along with some doodles.

Can you believe we are almost at the end of the year? I have loved filling up this planner and it is so satisfying to see it nearly full.

Happy Thursday x

Weekly Photos 2017. 48/52

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

1. Fabulous texture and colour on a fire hydrant.

2. This guy was lost in the park, sitting on the bridge waiting for his owner to return.

3. Green tiles on the outside of a building in Dutchtown, St Louis, MO.

4. This used to be the Brentwood Historical Society building, it is certainly history now.

Happy Monday x

Handmade sketchbook for the Season of Nature

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

I am beginning to get a bit obsessed with making books! I love to make all the sketchbooks with different papers in different sizes with fold outs and accordions. The more I make the more ideas I get for another one or two or three.

We are about to start the new season over in the Get Messy Art Journal community and it is going to be The Season of Nature. I found a book called ‘A Field Guide to Animal Tracks’ not long ago and thought it would be perfect to make into a sketchbook for The Season of Nature. Once the pages were out I was ready to go!

I made two signatures and stitched one to each inside cover of the book so they open away fro each other. I used pamphlet stitch to fasten them onto the edge of the cover.

I have made a pretty backwards book which started by stitching the papers onto the opposite side than expected, but I like the way the two books are working together already. I have not made a gatefold like this before and I like it.

The paper inside the book is a mix of hot press watercolour paper, brown kraft paper and a couple of pages from a vintage book of nature.

It should be fun to work in and I am looking forward to filling it up!

What are your favourite sketchbooks to work in? Do you have a regular book you like to use or do you make your own? How about a combination of bought and made?

Happy Thursday x

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Weekly Photos 2017. 47/52

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

1. Giant palm frond.

2. Finds!

3. Which way? At Babler State Park in seventy degrees this week!

4. Leaf with a heart shaped hole.

5. A dilapidated barn.

6. Blue sky and dry grasses.

Happy Monday x

Printing giant leaves.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

I was walking home from a successful trip to Goodwill last week and I spotted some huge palm fronds in my neighbor’s garden trash. After checking that was ok with her I came home to get my garden snips and walked back to harvest a couple of pieces.

When I got home I left them in water for a couple of days until I had a clear time slot and a clear table. I gathered some large sheets of paper and some smaller papers including rice paper, corrugated cardboard, brown kraft paper, ledger paper, book paper from a vintage garden catalogue and of course dry wax paper.

I used a combination of gelli plate and adding paint directly to the leaves to print them, both worked well but I wish there was a giant gelli plate!!!

See! Very big leaves!!

Once everything had dried, I wanted to make a book or two using my newly printed papers.

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One book was made with a single sheet of printed paper folded into an accordion. I glued the backs of the pages together to give it a bit more stability. The paper I used was pretty thin, so the book is not bulky at all. Then I used the brown paper as a cover.

The second book is a good ole pamphlet stitch book with 7 sheets folded and stitched down the spine. There is no special cover just stitched and ready to go. For this book I used smaller papers like the book pages, ledger paper and sketchbook paper.

If you need book binding ideas and good instructions, check out Esther K Smith’s ‘How to Make Books’. I must have checked this book out of my local library a hundred times!

For all of these prints I used black gesso and a brayer to apply the paint either to my gelli plate to to the leaf directly.

Keep your eyes peeled and your gelli plate at the ready, you never know when inspiration or printing materials may appear!

Happy Friday x

‘I like’ Friday, a Creative Day Out.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Last Friday the library where I work was closed so I took myself on a creative day out. I jumped on the Metro Link and headed to my favorite magazine shop to start my day. I picked out a couple of mags and went on my way. Along with my magazines I also had the little sketchbook which I literally made right before I left along with a few pens and a water pen filled with ink (one of my favorite things to use).

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Back to the train and off to Forest Park and the St Louis Art Museum not forgetting to stop off and get a rosemary brown sugar latte (so good!) to walk across the park with.

The sun was shining and the trees were in their fall colours as I walked across the park to the art museum.

Once at the museum I made sure I kept my eyes and ears open. You never know what you might hear in the galleries! I made notes in my book and little sketches as I went.

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As I walked to the museum I gathered some yellow gingko leaves with a view to sketching them when I got to a bench to sit on. Also I noticed a couple of signs with bicycles on so I snapped them with my phone also to sketch when I got to sit.

Making little plans like this as I went really helped me capture the day in my sketchbook with words or sketches or taped in leaves! More often than not, I will take a sketchbook out and be so self conscious I would do nothing in it. This time I was determined and I to achieve this I made it easy to do for myself. Which is why I gathered the leaves rather than drawing them on the spot and why I took photos of the signs instead of standing in front of them sketching and feeling silly and consequently rushing to be done rather than really looking.

I made no masterpieces but I did start a new sketchbook and got some ideas and some conversation tidbits to use at some point.

Even the title of a piece of art caught my attention – ‘In Praise of Flower Hunting’ – the title of a Japanese block print. What a fabulous idea! I want to make my own something inspired by these words.

While I sat in a dark room watching a photo exhibit I over heard some people outside as they walked by and one of them asked his friend ‘Did you fart?’ which was a moment of hilarity for me because I have the sense of humor of a toddler!!! Did I write that in my book? Of course I did!

These shadows demanded that I sit and paint them, so I did. The window was off a gallery with some quiet seating, so I could get my book and ink filled brush out and make a quick sketch without interruptions from my self confidence.

These illustrations made my heart leap they are so beautiful, I wanted to look at the whole book!

This piece is full of print and collage on beautiful, it inspired me to find some gorgeous paper and make some art!

A lovely day out, I grabbed some Vietnamese noodles for a late lunch and headed home for when my kids arrived from school.

Perfect.

What is your ideal day? Do you take yourself out on field trips when you can? I certainly want to try and do this more.

Happy Friday x

My Daily Moleskine 2017, October Pages.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

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Some pages from my Moleskine daily planner which I am using to make some art in every day this year. I am so pleased I have been completing it everyday and I now have a nice big fat book!

In October I painted, gelli plated, stuck down old photos, stuck down crisp packets, spray painted and sketched things we found in the woods.

I can’t wait to finish this book and get started on my new Alice in Wonderland Moleskine in 2018.

Happy Thursday x

Weekly Photos 2017. 45/52.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

I keep finding painted rocks in the park, here is one I spotted this week.
Making penguin snowglobes and taking photos which would never happen, don’t worry about the penguin, they don’t share the same land as polar bears!
The silver tree at the St Louis Art Museum is one of my favorites.
Very red trees at Forest Park.
The Grand Basin at Forest Park.

Happy Monday x

Get Messy Art Journal. Season of Connections week six.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

The last week of another fab season of Get Messy Art Journal rolls around and I have nearly filled my handmade journal, just a few pages to complete or finish.

This week I used lots of collage elements which I don’t usually use so that was good to try, I also got inspired by a page of splatters and I changed the cover of my journal from a giant sunflower to plain brown paper. Much as I love the sunflower (and it will house a new sketchbook), it just was not sitting with the sketchbook I am creating inside it.

The beauty of making your own journal!

This is some of the pile of collage materials I gathered together.

As the page developed I organically began to incorporate the fold outs and the pages either side into the spread.

In the end I had covered four pages with various flaps! Now I want to start this process at the beginning of a sketchbook with a variety of paper and page sizes and incorporate each page to work with the next as I work through the book.

For this spread I splattered the page with ink as inspired by Ashley and the Get Messy blog. Instead of joining them up I made flowers from them and added some colour with acrylic gouache.

For more information about the Get Messy community, click on the link.

Happy Thursday x

Estate sale finds.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

A couple of weeks ago I went to an estate sale in St Louis and found some great stuff. When I go to a sale I am usually looking for papers of all kinds to use in my art journaling, these can include old books, postcards, flash cards or recipe cards to name a few. I also look for books I can use to make a sketchbook from, so a cool cover might catch my eye.

This book definitely caught my eye at this sale, it is pretty ancient and delicate but not to the extent that I can’t use it. What I love most about this book is that I can use it as it is and I don’t have to take any pages out or sew any new in.

It used to house vinyl records and is basically a book of pockets made from fabulous brown paper with lots of character.

There are only 12 ‘pages’ but so many options. Each pocket page is intact and secure and the hole through the book where the middle of the records would show is a lovely feature which I will happily work with and around as I use the book as an art journal.

I always look out for scissors if they are interesting and useful and among the tools and bits and bobs I found the scissors in the top photo. Of course I got digging around and found a mini screwdriver with an ornate wooden handle and then another. I soon had the pastry brush, screwdrivers, tin, scissors, awl and palette knife in my grubby hands as a small collection of wonders from the boxes and boxes of basement junk! It is all stuff I will use and it all looks great together.

I left the photos until last but of course they were the first thing I gathered. We went on the third day of the sale so I wasn’t expecting to find many photos left as they seem to be in demand at the minute. So I was delighted to see a couple of shallow boxes with vintage black and whites 10 for $1.00. As all is fair in love and estate sales, I picked up the whole box and found myself a corner to count them and sift out what I didn’t want. Once I had a pile from this box I commandeered the second box and did the same. There was a lady looking through the second box, so I used my nice manners and waited until she was done before removing the whole lot! I bought most of them and I just love to look through them, some are local St Louis landmarks like Forest Park in the 1950’s and 1960’s and some are snaps of people and houses. I will use them in my art journals, but I also love to draw and sketch using the photos as my starting point.

A successful treasure hunt!

Are you a treasure hunter? Do you like estate sales? Yard sales? Jumble Sales? Antique shops? All of the above?

I am always on the lookout for something interesting which I can use.

Happy Wednesday x