March 1

Fun with acrylic mediums.  I discovered two of liquitex's acrylic mediums, pouring medium and string gel.  I wanted the colors to pop so I painted the background black.  The pink and blue were laid down using pouring medium while the yellow was applied with string gel.  I'm interested to see how it looks once it's all dry.  Supposedly the pouring medium will stay that glossy and raised.  I'm not sure why but it makes me think 80s.  Dayglow anyone?

February 28

Well it was bound to happen at some point.  I came home, exhausted from fighting full moon madness in a preschool classroom and was so tired not only did I not know what to create, I really had no desire to.  Many thanks to my wonderful sister who sat there and threw ideas at me until I gave in to one.  So I present you with my first photographic entry.

 A small doll on a my little pony.  Specifically, a Fairyland Puki Puki Sugar (Gracie) and a custom tribal belly dance My Little Pony made by my sister.  It took a while to get the lighting right and I screwed it up a few times.  I also had a white backdrop at first.  You couldn't really see the pony and it just looked weird.  On to March!

February 27

Not my best work.  I honestly just sat there and stared at the page for a while.  Then once the sky and grass was it I still didn't know what to do with it.  So now there's clouds and a tree.  Hopefully inspiration will be a bit better tomorrow when I'm not so tired.

February 26

Tonight I tried just sitting down and painting without planning first.  Usually, I figure out what I'm going to paint/draw/whatever, and then I go to it.  This time I just sat down and this is what came out.  I'm not sure what to think, or what to call it.  I kind of like it though.

February 25

This not pretty.  Nor is it intended to be.  I watched a YouTube tutorial the other day that involved using turpentine to blend oil pastels.  I never would have thought of that.  This is my experimentation with that technique.  There's a big difference in what the effect is depending on how heavy you put on the oil pastel.  Now to find something to draw with oil pastels and try it in context.  I think I need to get more q-tips though.  I used a cotton ball and I can tell I will need more of the control that a smaller applicator would offer.  Also, the smell of turpentine REALLY lingers.

February 24

This is the painting I was trying to make back on the 19th.  This is a bit better.  The sky and blending still need a bit of work.  Overall I'm much happier with this one.  I must be.  I was so unhappy with the first one I painted over it almost immediately. 

February 23

 I had the day free from class today.  Did I sit around and relax?  Of course not!  I went out and wove for four hours.  The Chicago Weaving School is near my house and I've gone there once before.  The owner Natalie was great and set me loose on a two treadle loom.

I started simply, just going back and forth.  It took a while to get my edges clean; they were very loose.  After I wove for a while, Natalie showed me this:

It's a Leno (lee-no) lace weave.  It involves a bit of hand weaving to twist the warp.  It required a lot of focus to find all the strands of the warp, but it makes a really cool design.  I started twisting four strands.  later I tried twisting twelve.  While bolder, the twelve strands seemed a little harder to control in the weaving.

After four hours, I had my scarf.  Here are some close ups of the different weaves.

Now I have to decide what to do with it.  It's toss up between strutting around in it, and framing sections of it.  Many thanks to Natalie at the Chicago Weaving School.  She's an awesome teacher and the school is a great place to learn.  http://www.chicagoweavingschool.com/