Clare Davis Etheridge

Latest Posts

Weekly Photos 8/52

Another barmy week of St Louis weather! Temperatures ranging from the high 70’s at the weekend to a snow day on Wednesday. We have settled in the 50’s and 60’s for the time being, but who can tell!

This final week of February has seen the last of the Tinkersketch prompts (I am writing a post this week about this challenge) and the end of my month of drawing houses. I seem to be jumping onto the monthly challenges this year and March sees the beginning of another sketch a day challenge hosted by Creative Bug and presented by Pam Garrison.

Sketchbook at the ready!

1. Ice cream in the warm weather, with the essential hundreds and thousands.

2. We woke up to a snow day on Wednesday.

3. I made some lemon and lime lip balms, they smell so fresh and lovely!

4 and 5. I couldn’t resist buying a fabulous romanesco which we ate dipped in ranch and the rest was added to a stir fry. All after I snapped some photos!

I hope you had a lovely week and are looking forward to another. Are you doing any March challenges? Happy Leap Day!

I like Friday the Art Journaling book edition

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Books are the best thing aren’t they! Especially books which teach you stuff. Especially books which make you go ‘oh yes, I can do this’.

Today I pulled some of my favourite creative books out to share with you. I have recently started to do lots of art journaling and I get so much inspiration from all kinds of art style books. Journaling with art is a lovely and creative release and it allows me to try all kinds of styles and techniques.

I also want to learn specific things like drawing figures and faces as well as lettering and doodling. I am no natural doodler, so I need some help! My first book is a wonderful tool to encourage and guide the reluctant doodler like me.

Craft-a-Doodle by Jenny Doh

The book is by Jenny Doh who brings together various artists with examples of their work as well as a guided finished piece for the reader to create. I like this book because it is as inspiring as it is instructional. Neither overwhelms the other, a great balance.

Journal It! by Jenny Doh

Another Jenny Doh book, because she just gathers the most inspiring work and artists. This is a more specific art journaling book and full of ideas and tips. The artists generously give out tips and tricks relating to their art in the book. So, not really an instructional book, but still with lots of ideas and how to do them in our own journals and sketchbooks.

The Art Journal Workshop by Traci Bunkers

This one is a new addition to my bookshelf and it has a DVD! Lots of ideas and how to execute them. It has prompts, tips and instructions along with a ton of colour inspiration too. To be honest the style is a bit much for my aesthetic, but I can pull out the bits I like and tone them down to suit me. I would rather have too much than too little.

Creative Girl by Danielle Donaldson

This beauty is the favorite art instruction book I own, it is a delight to just flick through and chock full of exercises and techniques. Everything from the colours to the doodles is divine and makes me want to fill sketchbooks until I get this good!

Of course there are a gazillion magazines telling us all kinds of things. These are the most inspiring ones I have come across lately.

Flow is always an inspiration with gorgeous illustrations next to interesting and informative writing. I mail order it from the Flow website. It often comes with free paper goodies which I invariably leave in the magazine because I can’t bear to take them out!

Artful Blogging and Art Journaling are from the Stampington family of magazines are full to the brim with ideas.

Although I am no great fan of ‘adult’ coloring books, The Coloring Studio (also from Stampington) is a lovely magazine, almost a book. I like it because it has informative ideas alongside the pages to colour in. Not just a coloring book!

Do you have favorite art instruction or inspirational books or magazines? There are so many around, thank goodness for libraries!

Get Messy Art Journaling – Season of Happy Continues

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Simple pages this week.

I am pleased with the black gesso and white paint pen on the first spread, it is so effective. When I began these pages, I had plans to add lots to it and when I stuck down the moon (thank you National Geographic from the 1980’s), I didn’t want to add any more collage or cuttings.

I don’t usually make the finished page in one sitting mainly because the layers need to dry before I can add any pen work or extra bits and bobs.

The background was painted with my fingers but kept more orderly than normal finger applied paint!

It was a fabulous full moon this week too, so that must have influenced me.

The second spread may or may not be finished. It is hard to stop sometimes and sometimes the opposite happens and I don’t know whether to add more and run the risk of ruining the pages. What I might do is make this page again and continue to add to the new page and see if I like it! Inspiration for the black on white page came from this week’s Get Messy prompt suggesting a monochromatic look while still keeping with the ‘happy’ theme.

For the black feathers I used masking fluid for the shaft down the middle and I painted with black watercolor to get the feathery effect. I am a little bit addicted to painting feathers at the minute, I like them so much!

I hope you are have a creative time and Happy Thursday!

Weekly Photos 7/52

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

It has been a week of weather and appointments. The kids were off on Monday for President’s Day, then one had a sick day on Tuesday. I had an ultrasound appointment on Wednesday which is always nerve wracking, but it went fine and all clear. Then on Thursday the youngest had his yearly check up at the pediatricians. Phew!

By Friday we were happy to have the school field trip to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to look forward to. It was a glorious day, warm and sunny and the gardens were a-buzz with staff working on the flower beds and general maintenance. Of course the outdoor plants are not blooming yet, but we had the privilege of seeing the orchid show which was stunning. After that, we had a tour with a lovely guide around the indoor climatron. The kids were great and we had a super time!

The weekend was a boiler (for February) as temperatures leapt up to 78 degrees. T shirts were out!

Photos –

1. I worked on my art journal this week and the dog helped out with some photos!

2. The Chihuly glass at the entrance to the Missouri Botanical Gardens is always breathtaking.

3. The orchids were beautiful.

4. In the Climatron, everything is growing nicely.

5. The local library hosted a ‘Star Party’ on Saturday, it was too cloudy to see the moon, but we learnt how to use the telescopes and they can be checked out of the library just like a book. How cool is that, I can’t wait to get the telescope so that we can check out the man in the moon!

6. I played with an orchid photo in the ‘Brushstroke’ app.

Have a fab week! It is forecast snow here on Wednesday….

Happy Monday x

‘I Like Friday’ The Get Messy Art Journaling Edition

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Art Journaling is fast becoming part of my daily routine and I love that it is in my life and on a regular basis.

The first and last images are in my ‘regular’ sketchbook and are inspired by prompts and supplies from the Get Messy Art Journaling group. I may do more on the last spread with the owl and the Brownies, although I like the white space and simplicity of it right now.

The middle background spread was inspired by a video from Alisa Burke where she paints a flower background using her fingers. I decided to give it a go, I like the result and I will definitely be playing with the paints some more to see what else I can do. This spread is in an old book I am using as an art journal.

I might just be addicted to using vintage books as sketchbooks, each page is different just because the paper already has images and words on it and I work over them. I don’t usually incorporate the original images, but they always look great under whatever I work onto the page. The books I use are from either estate sales or library discarded books and I like books with words and images and a hard cover.

This Friday I am also liking the fantastic weather we are having! It is 78 degrees today and the sun is shining out of a blue sky.

Have a wonderful weekend, happy Friday!

‘Waiting’ Entertainment.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

What do you take to do when you know that you will have to wait for a while? Do you check all of your social media? Read the online newspaper? Read a real newspaper? Read a book or a magazine? Draw? Colour in? File your nails? Stare at people? Listen to music or a podcast?

This morning I had to catch the Metro train and then a bus to get to an appointment where I would most likely be waiting. Entertainment would be needed.

My phone will do for a few minutes, but my social media life is not that exciting and I am not about to watch a webinar or TV show on the bus. So, I check my phone then delve back into my bag for a ‘Werthers Original’ and something to read.

I like a paperback so that I can read it standing in the bus station as well as sitting on said bus. I am reading ‘The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend’ by Katarina Bivald at the minute which is a brisk easy read so far, perfect for appointment entertainment.

My outdoor sketching needs some practice, so I thought I would pop in a little sketchbook and a couple of drawing implements – pens and colored pencils. Drawing in public is not something I am very confident at, I feel very self conscious scribbling away in a sketchbook, so I usually don’t. This is something I want to change, so as I waited at the Metro station for the train home I whipped out my sketchbook and pen to kill the 7 minutes until the train arrived. I did feel self conscious for a couple of minutes, but to my surprise I started to enjoy the experience, so I finished my rendition of the bus station opposite and was a little disappointed that I didn’t have time to tackle the skyline full of high rises and car parks.

As it turned out, I didn’t need lots of entertainment as my waits were not too long, but I do like to take a variety of paper with me! A book, usually a magazine and a sketchbook/notebook.

I am not a Candy Crush or Twitter kinda gal, I need an ole fashioned story in a book to keep me entertained!

When the kids were younger I always had a bag with pens, books and stickers with us to keep them entertained, so I suppose I am still following that habit when I go anywhere! Come to think of it, I would be quite happy now with a pile of stickers and a sketchbook.

How do you pass the time when you have to wait somewhere or sit on the train? Sometimes, it is just nice to sit quietly and do nothing, but I like the ‘entertainment’ option to be there too.

I might need to go and find some stickers!

Happy Wednesday x

Weekly Photos 6/52

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

This week I have been arting all over the place! I am taking a few classes and learning lots which is always a wonderful thing. I saw lots of feathers on Instagram through the week and discovered the #IFDrawAWeek and joined in with the ‘feather’ week.

1. I passed this historic house as I walked to the doctors this week, I find it strange that it is just there on the side of the road. It used to have a sign I think, but that has gone now. There is sits, being old, but still majestic. I love the blue walls.

2. On the way back from the doctors I walked passed the local ‘lake’ which was looking very pretty in the cold and ice. Remember folks, don’t feed the ducks.

3. I made some stencils this week and had a lovely time messing about with them in my art journal.

4. Ikea was our destination this weekend, where we bought various useful things for the house like shelves and mugs! I liked these clouds leading into the kids section.

5. It snowed all morning yesterday but only left us an inch or so on the ground. It is a sunny day today, so it is melting quickly.

6. The fab feathers I painted as inspired by Instagram. I used masking fluid and watercolors to get the feathery effect. Fun!

I hope you have had a lovely and fabulous week and are embarking on an equally wonderful one ahead.

Happy Monday!

Get Messy Art Journaling – Stencil and Pink

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

This week in my art journal I have been playing with stencils, single line drawing and making a spread using only pinks. All super fun! Thanks to the fine folks at Get Messy Art Journaling for the ideas and enthusiasm.

This double page was made by applying a thin layer of gesso then I used the stencil I made to create the all over design. All in an old book I have selected to use as a sketchbook. Watercolor paint created a nice gentle colour which is lighter and darker at random. You can see the stencil on the right of the photo, so it took a few layers to cover the page. I am a little bit in love with this effect though and I have fallen hard for stencil making.

Making a drawing using a single line and not taking your pencil/pen off the page until you are done sounds rather intimidating, but this was such a great exercise. I took the pressure off myself and grabbed a teal blue colored pencil and started with the pencils in the jar and worked my way down the page until it was full. A very loose interpretation of the junk on my table when I am drawing, but a very enjoyable one.

Finally, Emily at Squiggle and Swirl threw down the colour gauntlet and challenged us to make a page using the same colours. I decided to use pinks. I really liked making this page even though the dots which were made with a hole puncher, took an age to stick down. Pink hedgehogs are rare I think!

So that was my week of art journaling, I wonder what will appear in the next week? You never know do you? What might happen when you open your sketchbook and grab a pen or a brush or a stencil?!

Happy Thursday and happy journaling!

Paper tube heart stamps.

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Make your own fabulous Valentine greeting with these easy peasy stamps which you can make with a paper roll from a toilet roll or kitchen paper towel roll. I used a kitchen towel roll and cut it into three to make three heart stamps.

The paint I used is from Target’s Hand Made Modern acrylic paint range. It is inexpensive but with a great range of colours to choose from.

To get the heart shape you have to gently squeeze the tube so that the top folds in slightly and the bottom forms a point. Squeeze the point to make a sharper shape and ease the rounded top into a heart shape.

Once you have your heart/hearts grab some paint and brush some around the end of the tube, coating the whole heart in paint. If you prefer, you can stomp the heart into the paint to load it, like a traditional stamp. I like to brush the paint to control how much goes on to the stamp.

I started with single colours and then I got all crazy and mixed some reds and pinks and gold on the same heart for some variety. Both turned out nicely I think.

I did end up using one heart more than the others as it seemed to give the best shape and you might find this too, or you might be a heart making genius and have a handful of perfect hearts!

Once the hearts are stamped and dry, you could draw and doodle inside or around them, or write a note to that special someone and give it as a card.

Stamp out some blank postcards and send some heartfelt snail mail. Oh, I think I am going to do this!

Stamped heart card

Lots of lovely heart goodness to make for Valentine’s Day, with the kids or in your sketchbook.

If you have a go and want to share, tag me on Instagram @catseatdogsmakes or share here in the comments!

Happy Wednesday and happy stamping!

Weekly Photos 5/52

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

I feel like I have done nothing so far this week except walk to the shops and the dentist. Oh wait, that’s because that is pretty much what I have done! Why is there always something you need for dinner which the cupboard does not contain, off to ‘Trader Joes’ I go.

I went to the dentist this morning in the whirling snow to get a crown put on, well the temporary, I have another appointment to put the real thing on, yay. It has been swirling snow all day but none of it has stayed on the ground.

This first photo is a lovely sunset earlier this week which I snapped while we were out metal detecting. No treasure this week I am afraid. Still looking for the chest!

Over the weekend the skateboards were pulled out and my youngest was zipping about on his wheels, I spotted this circle of lichen on a tree. Pretty cool.

Shadows at the end of the day in hazy sun are the best.

Tinkersketch - repetition

Yesterday’s Tinkersketch was ‘repetition’ and I painted some triangles in my altered book which is a kids book about insects. I am loving how this book is turning out, just with a few doodles a day. I highly recommend looking for an old book and using it as a sketchbook. So much fun!

Have a lovely week! Happy Monday x