Day 183 - Smile, Sunshine!

Most pictures that anthropomorphize the sun show great big smiles. This one looks, well, pensive. So it seems like he needs cheering up.
Specialty papers, embellishments.
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Go make art!

Day 182 - Sardine Sea

Kinda makes me want to go sailing somewhere exotic...

Faux post, specialty paper, embellishments.
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Go make art!

Day 181 - Tot Lot Trash Can

Our weekday sketchcrawl group met at the Tot Lot in Pepper Grove of Balboa Park. There are many things  to sketch but we joke about sketching trash cans. They are usually the easiest and least-intimidating thing to sketch. Several of us usually warm up by sketching the trash cans - then some of us don't finish anything else, so we are collecting drawings of all the different trash cans of Balboa Park. On this day I had just gotten my Japanese brush pen that is kind of like a fountain pen except that it is a brush instead of a nib. So my sketch was done without pencil, just my brush pen and watercolor.

I have also been recently introduced to the Japanese art of Etegami which is somewhat hard to explain but involves postcards with handmade pictures/paintings and words on the picture too. See Dosanko Debbie's Etegami Notebook if you are interested in learning more about it. That was the reason behind the writing on the card, although I seriously need to practice writing legibly with a brush. I also made my first etegami which you shall see soon; I think it needs to be immortalized onto an ATC.

Ink, watercolor.
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Go make art!

Day 180 - Feather Your Nest

A theme we should all think about in this economy!
Faux post, specialty papers, embellishments.
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Go make art!

Day 179 - Down Home Comfort

I can't believe I didn't notice how crooked I cut some of this before I glued it together! Oh well.
Specialty papers, embellishments.
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Go make art!

Day 178 - Sailing Fleet

This matchbox label has very stylized ships and waves. I really like the way this one looks. Although they don't exactly look like fishing ships, I threw in the fish anyway. The background paper is lovely Japanese washi/yuzen paper.
Matchbox label, Japanese paper, embellishments.
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Go make art!

Day 177 - Crane Reaches the Shore

The crane, a symbol of longevity and fidelity, reaches land after a long migration. The background is really cool texture from a stamp I just got that makes me think of waves, water and wind.
Matchbox label, embellishments.
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Go make art!

Day 176 - Fishing Rabbits

I don't really understand this one, although it's very cute. I don't know why rabbits would be fishing, but I'm sure there's some story behind it.
Matchbox label, specialty papers, embellishments.
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Go make art!

Day 175 - Spring Sunrise Smiles

Another matchbox label unusual in the use of blue. This one makes me think of a fresh sunrise in the spring with the flowering plum and cherry trees. Very pretty!
Sorry I got so behind in posting! I'm taking a bunch of classes this fall that are keeping me hopping!
Matchbox label, Japanese paper, embellishments.
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Go make art!