Clare Davis Etheridge

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‘I Like’ Friday

Welcome to September! Blimey didn’t August fly by. Pumpkin Spice Lattes are upon us and Halloween supplies are appearing in the shops.

I though I would share a few things I have been liking lately –

Creative Bug draw-a-day challenge was a success for me in August, I made at least part of an art journal page every day following prompts supplied by Dawn De Vries Sokol in a daily video on Creative Bug. Follow my progress at CatsEatDogsMakes on Instagram. September is a little different in that they have a competition running for a new instructor. So I am going to have a go and use prompts by Jennifer Orkin Lewis who is August Wren on Instagram and well worth following if you like gorgeous paintings.

Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst is such a good read. If you are looking for a good book, I would recommend this highly. Very character driven and a great story so far (I am about three quarters through).

I have had Art Inc by Lisa Congdon from the library for a couple of weeks now and I need to read it. I am terrible about reading non fiction, I just don’t get around to it. So I was delighted to read about the challenge over at Meet Me At Mikes blog to read 10 pages a day through September. I have no problem with novels, but my non fiction reading needs a push and here it is! So I am joining with Pip and her readers to read at least 10 pages of non-fiction a day for the month of September. I am hoping to finish Art Inc and get another book read or at least started. Yay! #10pagesaday for the win.

Have you been making Instagram stories? I have made a couple but I see lots and I want to make more. They are fun to watch and make! However I am still a bit of a noob at them and don’t know quite how all the buttons and whistles work. Thankfully I found this ace post from Xanthe Berkeley about making a great Instagram story using stills, videos and Boomerangs.

Get Messy Art Journal – Season of Music is here I have finished last week’s project to make 10 pages using 10 songs. Last week I made 5 pages and now I have the second five to share. I deliberately made the pages quite quickly, waiting for everything to dry before I could carry on was the most time consuming part! I have thoroughly enjoyed this exercise and I will be picking another 10 songs to make more pages.

Processed with Snapseed.

Ladies Drawing Night by Julia Rothman, Leah Goren and Rachael Cole is a beautiful and delightful book full to the brim with lovely photos and inspiring ideas. On my first quick flip through I saw lots of ideas I would like to have a go at from pattern making to painting with a sumi brush and India ink and drawing figures. Makes me want to gather some willing friends and have our very own ladies drawing night! Pens, paint, sketchbooks, snacks and wine – I am in!

Lots of good things around! I hope you have lots of good things going on and have a fab weekend.

Happy Friday x

Topping up Creativity.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

I am pleased to say that my creativity levels are usually brimming and this week was no different. Just to keep everything bubbling and brewing in my imagination I decided to get myself onto the Metrolink, jump off at Skinker and scamper across Forest Park to the Art Museum.

In fact I scampered to the Missouri History Museum first catching a couple of Pokemon on the way (for my son, I know, I am a good/crazy Mum!). It was a lovely day, not quite cool, but certainly better than it has been in the humidity department.

The Little Black Dress exhibit at the History Museum is about to close, so the pressure was on to see it. I wandered the dresses for a few minutes, sketched one or two and snapped a couple of pictures. Honestly I was underwhelmed, I mean it did what it said on the can, there were black dresses, but it was nothing amazing.

No matter, the St Louis Art Museum had been calling to me all morning, so even though it had started to rain by now, I walked to the Art Museum and into the Contemporary wing which houses my favourite Art Museum pieces (apart from the Mummies and the Andy Goldsworthy arches which I didn’t see this time).

Once I had visited with ‘Betty’ by Gerhard Richter and ‘Keith’ by Chuck Close, I decided to hand over some cash and see the ‘Self Taught Genius’ exhibit.

I am so pleased I did. The very second thing I saw was a gold tower made from chicken and turkey bones glued together with model glue and painted gold. No, I am not inspired to gather bones and glue them together, but many other items did inspire me to literally make things.

Usually I am inspired and uplifted by the art museum, but I don’t very often get ideas to make things immediately!

It was this handmade book which got me started, it was made from envelopes and sewn together with string. The artist had drawn in it not worrying a jot about addresses or postmarks. I stood and admired it as I planned my own envelope book. It was a fabulous thing and I want to make a book with envelopes right now. Ironically we received no mail today! Ha ha very funny..

Another piece which caught my skittish attention was ‘Funeral for Titanic’ which was drawn on napkins (all glued together) by a calendar savant called George Widener. The way he has included the date of every Tuesday from April 16th 1912 going forward seven hundred years alongside careful drawings of a cross section of the ship is amazing. The details are compacted into the artwork so they look like background until you almost press your nose up to it (not recommended, you may be asked to leave) and see the dates all written out.

While I may not rush out and stock up on napkins, I was totally inspired by the compact information which blends into the background. How cool would a sketchbook page be with lots of writing all compacted into the background. Fabulous.

Here are a few more items in the exhibit which caught my eye.

This coyote has glass marbles for his eyes and real animal teeth!

Always good to check the insides of a person.

This pelican weathervane was fabulous and huge!

I was inspired by the way the writing on this piece was laid out with the lines between and the pointing hands.

A morning well spent topping up my creative levels!

Here are some ways to top up creativity levels –

1. Visit a local museum, doesn’t have to be an art museum, ideas can come from anywhere!

2. Walk at least part of the way there and back, walking there will boost your energies and walking back will let the ideas percolate.

3. Carry a notebook and pencil. I walked back across Forest Park to the Metro Station scribbling notes as ideas came along.

4. Take photos as you walk and at the museum (check they allow photos).

5. Walk around your neighborhood or a local park, observe your surroundings and take photos or sit and note ideas or sketch what you see.

6. Don’t forget to sketch or note any ideas you have, it is so easy to get right back into your routine and any ideas will scuttle right off. Grab them and keep them in a book and don’t forget to use them.

Happy Thursday x

Weekly Photos 34/52

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

1. I have been painting faces with my sumi brush and india ink lots lately, I like this lady.

2. This gaggle of daisies has followed the one from last week.

3-4. My gelli plate has seen lots of action this week too, I liked making these rainbows in non rainbow colours!

5. I spotted these sappy pinecones on the trail.

6. More gelli plate printing, this time I have transferred my painting faces obsession onto the gelli plate.

7. Discarded air fresheners. I don’t like the smell of a new car and certainly would not want a blue tree which smelled like one. Not sure about Black Ice either to be honest.

I hope you had a good week.

Happy Monday x

Get Messy Art Journal. 10 songs, 10 minutes, 10 pages.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Let me just clarify that I didn’t make 10 pages in 10 minutes although that sounds like a future challenge! What I did though is I loved this challenge.

It was to listen to one minute each of ten songs which you have chosen (or you could listen to random songs) and note down ideas and lyrics for a future art journal page.

I used index cards for each song.

As a non journaling art journaler, I don’t usually include quotes or lyrics in my pages, so I decided to embrace this challenge and listen for some lyrics to use from each song. This is surprisingly difficult when you only have one minute of a song to draw from. So I have to admit that I cheated on a couple and had to go back and make sure I had got the lyrics correct, I mean if I am going to quote someone, I had better get the words in the right order!

Some of the songs I could barely make out some of the lyrics (ha! I sound like my Dad). George Ezra I am looking at you, I swear one of the lyrics from ‘Budapest’ includes the mysterious line – ‘bag of cheese’.

I set my timer, hit play, scribbled, noted and listened as each song came and went.

This is my playlist – https://open.spotify.com/user/batmanbvb/playlist/30zs8WykfI0kCONYvF0HLI

Then I was totally ready to fill some pages, in fact I was ready for a new book. So I made one. I used regular paper, mixed media paper, grey tone and some music sheets to make a twenty page book which I intend to fill with this exercise and another one using another ten songs.

So far I have finished five pages which started out as the above pictures. I can’t wait to do the second five! Below are the first five finished pages.

If you fancy joining the Get Messy community and getting creative, pop over to their website for all the information.

Have a faberoo weekend!

Art Journaling Supplies I Can’t do Without.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Art supplies might very well be my favorite thing to shop for. They are always colorful, always useful, no worries that they won’t fit (they always fit somewhere!), always make me happy. I literally (not really, that would be weird) skip home from the art shop. Maybe I am skipping in my head though as I think about my new supplies and how I can introduce them to my existing supplies.

Some of my essential supplies don’t even come from the art or craft store, they come from estate sales or thrift shops. I am talking about the paper and even some of the sketchbooks I use. Oftentimes I will print on paper from an old book or music script, or I will use the whole book as a sketchbook.

Another paper I adore is dry deli paper which is not from the art store either (I get mine from Amazon). It is the paper which you pick out your pastries at the supermarket with or that your sandwich might be wrapped in. I am not sure where I first found out about using and printing on deli paper, but I have not looked back. Once it is glued to a page, the paper is almost see through, so I can paint or print on as much paper as I need to get my image right, then stick it into my sketchbook and work over it. Or stick it onto a background and be done.It does get wrinkled and crumpled, so if perfection is what you are after, leave your expectations behind and see what happens.

I like different brushes for different effects, one I use lots is the huge stenciling brush which I use for all kinds of things, none of which are stenciling! My most favorite has to be my sumi brushes though, I was introduced to them by Kal Barteski when I did her script class and I love to paint and write with them. They are just so forgiving, every stroke looks like an elegant line, even if it is in the wrong place!

Gelli plates are super fun and I am just learning how to use mine, but what I have learnt is when you get the gelli plate out, you had better have lots of room and lots of paper to print and lay them to dry. I like to use the deli paper with the gelli plate as well as old book paper, music paper and printing directly into my sketchbook.

The Instax camera is great because it produces an instant photo to stick into my art journal and paint around and write over. I have a couple of vintage polaroid cameras, but I like the small size of the Instax for my sketchbooks and art journals. They are not always willing to be stuck down, but glue stick and/or washi tape usually does the job.

Black gesso is a wonderful paint to use, it is like velvet and covers so well. Once it is dry I like to write or draw over it with a white pen. I will cover whole pages or just small parts.

Yay for art supplies. What are your favourites? What have I forgotten to mention? What do I need? Actually don’t answer the last question, I will be bankrupt!!!

Happy Wednesday x

Weekly Photos 33/52

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

1. This lovely pink flower took a few days to unfurl and it is a beauty.

2. Orange flower upside down.

3. I hope no-one needs to catch a bus from this stop.

4.& 5. I thought these fungi looked like a gaggle of butterflies on this old tree stump.

6. Our local YMCA has emptied the pool to give it a clean following a summer of camp activity. Here it is empty and ready to receive new swimming water.

7. This weekend I helped at a birthday party where the girls were making bracelets. They were a lovely group and all went home with a lovely bracelet.

Happy Monday x

‘I Like’ Friday.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Fridays I often write about things I have liked that week, so here is what I have been liking this week.

Back to school on Monday was eventful or uneventful depending on your point of view. The boys went back to school for a grand total of three hours because the power was out. However as soon as they were all leaving, the lights came on! I think the whole school sprinted out of the doors just in case the principal changed his mind!! I like that today is Friday and I don’t have to drag them out of bed or make packed lunches for a couple of days.

I very much like the fact that the weather has cooled just a little bit. When the summer is as hot as we get it, a little temperature drop counts for a lot! Cooler mornings and evenings are the best thing.

Some other things I am liking this fine Friday are –

Nib pen and ink drawing. I picked up my nib pen and ink today to have a little play with them. To me they are slightly intimidating art supplies, once the mark is on the page there is no going back. I like this and dislike it all at once, I often find myself making more confident sketches or patterns once I know it is a one time shot. Sometimes I will faff about with a pencil and eraser for ages but with a pen and a bottle of ink, it is go time! If it is not right, go again. If it is an important page, I like to hold my breath as I make the first mark. I am not sure if this technique works any magic, but it certainly hones my focus! Today I have been working on a zine which is a joint project – so no pressure then. Maybe a foolish choice to crack out the pen and ink for the first time in a while for this project, but it gave the effect I needed and I practiced a little before putting pen to zine.

Drawing people and faces is something I want to get better at because I am pretty bad at people drawing. I am using fashion catalogues to draw from and I am enjoying the practice.

Bacon Sarnies. Lunch came along today and I spied the bacon in the fridge, so I cooked up a couple of slices and made a lovely sandwich along with home grown tomato slices and a handful of spinach. Hurrah for bacon sarnies!

Today is World Photography Day so I thought I would use my beloved Construction Camera which is a Polaroid from 1992, to snap some snaps. It was designed for use on construction sites hence the yellow stripes. Seems a very specific use for a camera to me, but I am glad to have it!

Are you pleased to be at Friday? What are you liking? Do tell.

Happy Weekend x

Get Messy Got Messy. Art Journal Pages.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

There are strange forces at work in my world today, everything is just a little bit off. Everything.

It all started off alright, coffee was fine, walking the dog was uneventful, but the podcast I had chosen was tedious and I switched off halfway through. I didn’t say the world had ended, just a little off.

Then I moved onto the things I really wanted to do, I watched today’s Creative Bug daily art journal prompt which was nice and vague so I could do almost anything. I formed an evil plan for what I was going to do for that.

I need to write a Get Messy Art Journal post, which means I have to make some pages and I really should make the pages relevant to the current season of music. I have been enjoying the art prompts this season, but I don’t often add words to my pages, quotes and lyrics don’t do it for me. I know I am weird, but they really don’t. Sometimes a line in a book or even a song (actually never a song) has caught my imagination and I will jot it down, but not very often.

Handy tip about me, I can’t quote ‘quotes’, like I don’t remember lines from films. Maybe it is a memory thing or maybe I am just rebellious like that. So don’t rely on me in the quote section of your trivia quiz!!

I decided to paint a day/night spread in my Season of Music handmade book, I chose my pages and got to work. As if to follow the theme of the day, one page worked fine (but not amazing) and the other page just looked bad. The paint went muddy and the bright ‘day’ look was far from achieved.

What to do? What do you do when it all goes down a ditch and you just can’t get back onto the road? Well, I decided to stay in the ditch for a while, get a cup of tea and think what I could do. Gesso? Magazine cutting? Cut out the page altogether?

I ended up grabbing my acrylic paints and following the Creative Bug prompt which was ‘Start where you are’. Serendipitous methinks, considering I had just created a new ‘start’ albeit a mess!

I ignored the ok page for now and worked into the new page which was now completely separate from it’s neighbor. This is not usually how my journals work, I normally open a spread and work across the whole thing. Here were two pretty different pages and I am not sure they can be friends.

As I had come this far, I thought I would just work on both pages as separate entities and they could chat about it later. They turned out to be not too bad, so off I skipped to grab my camera to photo them for this lovely post.

Snap snap snap and all done. Oh no, not so fast. When I looked at the pictures inside, there was a subtle but intrusive shadow over the photos I had not seen when I was taking the photo.

I know, I know, I should have just handed the day over to the washing up and laundry and called it!

Instead I went outside again to a different spot and took the photos again. No shadow!

So I ended up with half a Get Messy page and half a Creative Bug page.

I did work on some pages for another project and they went swimmingly, so yay for something going right.

I think to be honest I put the pressure on with the Get Messy pages, there is a theme and I am using a book I have made with random paper in it which sometimes is a joy and sometimes I just want white mixed media paper. The more pressure to do something right, the more chance I will do it wildly wrong. On the other hand, if I just have to do something with less pressure (all self inflicted of course!) it usually turns out and I suppose if the pressure if off and I have to chuck it out or turn the page, I will. Isn’t this often the case in life though? Try to take the pressure off and do your thing. If it doesn’t work, try again or move on, you know which to choose.

As soon as I wrote those last paragraphs, I grabbed my sketchbook and gelli plate and quickly slapped on some black and blue paint with a ‘moon’ cut out from paper. I printed opposite an exisiting page which I had flipped upside down and I love it even though I left half the ‘moon’ behind. This was supposed to peel right off, but it decided to stay and give a ‘clouds across the moon effect’. The whole thing must have taken me no more than five minutes and I ended up with a nice spread and two more backgrounds.

No pressure added.

Aren’t we funny artistic, messy, sensitive human beans? I clearly do not thrive under pressure!

I hope you have had a non glitchy day.

Happy Thursday x

Weekly Photos 32/52

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

1. The tomatoes are coming along nicely, I am still picking a handful of ripe ones every day. It has rained heavily over the past few days so the plants have tilted slightly, but the tomatoes are all growing and ripening.

2. We got a Sno Cone lunch this week. I had a coconut cream sno cone and a ‘Chicago’ hot dog. Not the healthiest of lunches, but it was good!

3. The trees are starting to drop a few leaves. We have had a cooler few days and it has been so lovely.

4. The dining table during the summer, G.I. Joes and paints in harmony! I paint and sketch in my journal while my 11 year old sorts out his G.I. Joe accessories.

5. The caterpillars are making kale lace in the garden.

6. I spotted the most beautiful colour palette in these berries. They are growing on a vine which is all along the fence in my back garden. So I had to pick a few off and paint them and photo them!

7. The hibiscus are flowering and they are so pretty.

The kids were back to school today, but then they were home again at 11am because the power was out. So the first day back was more of a trial run. Tomorrow will be ‘first day of school – take two’!

Have a wonderful week, Happy Monday x

Get Messy Art Journal. Season of Music. Week 2.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

I just realized how different these two pages are! Both from the season of music and both influenced by a close time period. However that time was the eighties and when I was a teen and my taste moved from trend to trend by the minute.

Which I suppose is how it should be as a teenager, lots of different experiences in music, fashion, make up and all the things.

The first page features lyrics (ha, I use the term loosely!) from the first single I bought for myself – Mickey by Toni Basil. I loved that record and played it and played it while bouncing around the living room!!!

I wrote the words on tracing paper which is between some pages in my handmade book. I added crazy colour on top of some gesso on the original music pages.

The second page I started last week when I glued the gelli plate print to the pages of my book and painted in some neon pops. This week I painted the names of some of my favorite bands from my teenage years onto the background.

The colours fit with the gothic influences on my clothes, music and make up at the time. How I wanted black or blue lipstick around 1985. Instead I used my existing lipstick and mixed in black or blue eye shadow, of course now you can buy skybluepink lipstick if you want it!

What were your music choices from your teen years? Do you still listen to them?!

If you are interested in the Get Messy Art Journaling Community, head over to their website for more information.

Happy Friday x