Ikea Lamp Hack....hand drawn Route 66 Muffler Men

 I've been drawing those muffler men again. This time I put them on an Ikea lamp. It takes a night light bulb and is a nice little mood lamp.

These lamps are made of frosted glass, and after a little experimenting I found Sharpie markers worked the best and take a little gentle wiping to clean the lamp.  I used my rubber stamp again too. I'm so glad I made that thing!

Sochi Olympics...art journal page

This page sits opposite my week and you flip it open to see the pages in the previous post. I wanted to do a page in my planner for the Olympics, and when Nicole Maki sent me the hand printed paper with the rings on it, I knew it would be part of the page! It was printed on tissue paper and so beautiful. The page I started with was already watercolored blue, so I just went from there.

Here it is as you open the planner to the week. I always enjoy seeing other's planners as they would look if you were holding them, so you get to see mine that way too.

Glamour shot. Look how thick...remember this is just a little 3.5x5.5 calendar book.

Mark Twain Quote

I've been playing around illustrating quotes on old Bingo Cards. Here is the first one. This one is marker, Indian Ink, and collage. The little kids are from an old envelope that license plates came back in the 50s. Things get slow at the shop in the winter, and I sometimes work on small art projects in  my office.

Drawing at School

The last few days I have been substituting and this time I had quite a bit of time to draw while waiting for kids or while they worked. I had a photo of Louie tucked in the pocket of my sketchbook. This drawing of Louie turned out kind of goofy, but he really was smiling in the photo.
Just ruminating on what my dream job would be. I really only have vague ideas about what I'd like to do. I brought my ink pen and Moleskine but other than that had to use what I had at hand in the classroom....highlighters! Two things we all wish we had more of!

Making Marks

I've been playing a little with the Copic markers. I found these old sketches (complete with mean notes to myself about my lack of talent!) and decided to mark them up with the new markers. I like the way you can blend them together by going back over them with the lighter color. If you want to see someone who is really good with these visit Janey.

I think it's interesting that I was trying to draw people then too, but I had a lot less patience with myself a few years ago. I would draw, get fed up and not draw again for months.....not a very good way to improve! I'm sure having more fun now!

Holy cow,

I hate to break my once a month blogging streak.........ok, I need to get back to it. I have been lusting after copic markers for a long time and today I decided to bite the bullet and spend the big bucks to get them. I was sooooo happy when I took them to the checkout and found the total was much less that I thought....they are 30% off at Hobby Lobby! I can't wait to try them out and report back to you!