blind contour friday 09

This is me at 6 AM this morning. Scary, isn't it? My alarm clock is my son, Caleb, screaming for his 6 AM feeding. I went to bed early last night, too tired to sketch but by golly I wasn't going to miss a day of Blind Contour Friday. I'm actually amazed that in my barely awake state that I was able to make the outline of my face connect. I added some color (not blindly) to see if it will make me look a little more pleasant, but alas, no....oh well....I better go sketch/paint some more to push this post further down so as not to scare any more visitors! Check out other amazing blind contour drawings over at Inkfinger.

mommy cards

Been working on these "Mommy Cards" for me. When I go to playgrounds, playdates, classes, stores, etc... and meet other moms, I got tired of fishing for a piece of paper to write down my phone number so I made these cards for me. I've got a couple of designs too. Oh and that's not my name up there....just a sample, lol.

self portrait tuesday

The best part of my day as a stay-at-home mom is getting hugs and kisses from my boys, especially when I've had a rough day like today. I quickly snapped this pic of Noah giving me a kiss on the cheek and then realized I forgot to turn the flash on. He's so funny....looking at the camera and knowing his picture is being taken.

blind contour friday 08 link....finally!

Mark showed me how to link....and wow, how easy! Anyways, check out all the expressive blind contour drawings over at Niff's Inkfinger.

blind contour friday 08

I'm still trying to get used to Blogger, so bear with me. I'm not so crazy with how the scans of my drawings turned out (ugh). I want them bigger.....I'm going to try to fix them tomorrow.

These are my first Blind Contour Friday drawings! I couldn't find my sketchbook of all things this evening so I drew these on printer paper...yeesh....with a ballpoint pen....yikes...Tells you how much I REALLY need to get my supplies in order. But I didn't want to miss my first BCF and by golly I needed to draw this evening!


Of all things around me, I chose Caleb's favorite toy, Duckie. I've been obsessing about this rubber duckie lately trying to draw it and paint it for my sons' bathroom. It is still waiting to grace my lovely white canvas. There was an attempt today, but the slide won out so my boys and I took turns going..."Weee!!"

Anyways, I love doing these quick small study thinking sketches. And blind contour drawings are so forgiving. Now I'd love to direct you to more beautiful drawings, but alas, I am so new to blogging I need to ask my husband for help to link to Niff's Blind Contour Friday. How embarassing! So stay tuned!


Yikes! I almost forgot my last set of drawings. When I finally got sick of the duckie, I attempted to draw Jodie Foster and Terri Hatcher on TV. Can't you tell? LOL!

self portrait tuesday

To motivate me to keep creating and making, I signed up for a number of artist/crafter groups to participate in. One of them is Self Portrait Tuesday, a great project by Kath, where you take a photo of yourself each week based on the month's theme.

This month's theme is body parts and these photos are my first self-portraits!

Who says summer's gone? Well it's been humid again here and while my boys and I lounged in the air-conditioned comforts of our house on our red couch, I couldn't help but really like how Noah's yellow boots looked great against the red couch. So I snapped this first pic of our feet. The chubby little legs on my lap belongs to Caleb, my 8 month old wiggly boy.

When my boys stopped wiggling and calmed down a bit, we sat up on the red couch and again noticed color contrast of Noah's blue shorts against the red couch. So I took the second pic below. Looking at it I really like the triangles created by our legs and the red couch against the wood floor.

Hmmm...maybe I'm looking into things waaay too much. But I like the second pic the best.

yellow boots

We got a pair of yellow boots for Noah today. He insists on wearing it everywhere and on jumping up and down in them. He said he's practicing jumping on puddles. These two pics capture the very essence of my very active 3 year old.....always moving, never still.

We danced for rain today too, but it looks like those yellow boots are going to have to wait.

finger painting

Noah decided he wanted to finger paint today. So while Caleb napped, we went downstairs to our studio to paint. Noah had a blast smearing paint on his paper. At one point he glanced over to my easel and said.."That's nice, mommy." I looked at his painting and then looked at mine and then I realized I liked his a lot better. I was trying to finish this painting.....

...but because I liked what Noah was doing, I decided to heck with this painting, I'm going to finger paint too!!! So I smeared with my palm and smeared with my fingers. And then Noah said, "Mommy, I like that better!" Thank you, Noah...And so now my painting looks like this.....

And I agree....I like it better now too!

that big white canvas

That big white canvas is so scary.

Noah wanted to draw so I seized the opportunity to go to the studio below. Yes! My first time in years to paint! Can you believe it??? First time since.....1999 when I was in Venice, Italy. Yikes! Well it's no wonder I'm afraid of that white canvas.

Noah had no issues with his white paper. He started drawing with markers and went all swirly. I watched him for a while. I looked around me for something to draw and found a basket weaved mannequin which belongs to my mom. I loved how the low lighting in my studio draped on it.

So I opened my brand new acrylic paints and just went for it.

The result was this very boring backdrop....no figure....just the backdrop. And no, there's nothing wrong with the pic. It's that washed out. I started dabbing white paint on it to give it some texture, which was at first exciting, but then Noah went up to me and declared....."Mommy, I want to dance now."

Twenty minutes exactly, we got up to dance. And my painting stayed that way (so embarrasing) for a week.

my studio...

Here's my little studio below my house. An unfinished basement, which works out great because I don't have to worry about spilled paint or chalky pastels on the concrete floor. I want to add more lighting....it's screaming for more light. That easel in the foreground is Noah's. We need to live there more to paint, create, and build. I'm sure once I install more lighting and fix it up a bit more we'll spend more time there. But doesn't it have so much potential?

FINALLY......

....a name for my blog! It's amazing how long it's taken me to come up with a name for where I want to put everything I make. I'm a stay-at-home mommy artist with two wonderful baby boys. Ok...one baby who's 8 months old and my oldest, who's 3 years old. My boys are my sunshine and my inspiration for what I do/make/create/paint/draw. I've been wanting to get back into drawing/painting but I kept making too many excuses. Now with a name for a blog (funny isn't it?) and with lots of inspiration from many artist/crafter blogs and of course my boys, I hope to keep up my creative thinking and making.

Why twenty studio? It dawned on me one day while I was painting with my 3 year old son, Noah, that I paint in spurts and lately, with a very active 3 year old, those spurts last around 20 minutes. So my artwork and my crafts these days are built up over a few days or weeks (haha!), spending roughly 20 minutes at a time! Crazy, isn't it? But I see this as a challenge for me to work faster or just enjoy the process of making....creating. But once in a while, I do get a longer "spurt"...very rare, but I manage to squeeze in some downtime for me and for me alone.

But there is nothing like being creative with my kids.