Shaking off the dust...

Hi friends!
It's been a long time. I loved blogging and keeping track of what I was doing, what I was learning and trying and I think I just kind of backburnered it for a bit.
I'm back.

I've been working on things daily still.. I'm still a firm believer that that is how you grow, in art, in life, in everything. Just do it.
Nike should totally hire me lol


I'm looking to get back to more behind the scenes sharing of what I'm doing and some tutorial and other fun things like that.
I have had a LOT on my plate, I realize I'm technically running 4 businesses right now and that's a LOT but they all fall under the same umbrella and I'm looking to smoosh them all in and share them with you.


I'm about to jump in and do some Zentangle work in my journal. I'll be sure and share that as I go!

So... break out your pens, your pencils, your paints and let's make some stuff ok?

And it's over... 1 year of creativity.

I had planned out this piece for most of the year. I suspected that it would be seasonally appropriate when I did it... but oddly, it's not. There's still no real snow here in Buffalo NY for the first time that I ever remember.
But I put the final touches on it today to make it my final piece for the year.

And... Wooohoo! We did it.
I created something, most days art of some kind... EVERY DAY This year.
Every. Day.
The push to do so has been amazing and has held me accountable. I'm going to continue next year, although I won't be posting daily. I found that harder to do than the creating.

I'm going to create a weekly challenge of some kind and I'm still going to continue to create every day and I hope you will as well. If you completed your 300... please send me either your email or your mailing address. I want to send you a little something!

Not my image... I can't find where I found it, but I loved it. :)
If it's yours please let me know so I can credit you

Thank you so much for your participation, for your friendships, for joining me on this really great journey.

Make stuff everyone.
Make stuff EVERY DAY.


Now... starting tomorrow... um.. yeah, tomorrow...
I have a contest. :)

So check back, learn a little more about what I'll be doing next year and hey,
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Late post today...

Sometimes I get caught up in what I'm doing and things don't get posted when I want them to. Today was one of those mornings!

I put the final coat of varnish on a pair of bridal sneakers that are going out tonight or tomorrow morning (depending on drying time) and got a ton of stuff organized at the studio.

In between all of that I worked on this, which is a work in progress, but I am happy with how it's coming, I especially like the tangles in the middle. It's pretty significant in size, I was going to center the picture more but I thought the edge of the flowers gave it a bit of perspective.  I think it's about 14" across

So what are you working on today? I can't wait to see! (Can you believe we are in our 6th month!?!?!)

Just playing around...

Today I was just playing a bit, trying to get a feel for my Chameleon pens, sadly my green one doesn't seem to be working right, but I really like them a lot. I need a lot more practice.
Still fun. So much fun.

Doing anything fun today?

Inspiration... where do you get yours?

Mine comes from everywhere.... from family, from friendship, from beauty in the world, from ideas, from things people say or do or a spark of an idea put in my head by anything and then tada...I'm off and making something. Sometimes it turns out awesome, sometimes... eh... not so much.

But I find that when inspiration hits, it hits hard but unless I do something with it, it goes nowhere, so even if I just get the ideas down then they become mine forever.

True!

We had a talk about inspiration yesterday and what it means, and while I'm sure it means something different to everyone, the definition struck me though, because that's what inspiration is like for me... it's like a spark in my head, like someone turned the power on 

I also am pretty sure I don't breathe if I'm feeling creative block.... 

When I'm inspired, I'm prolific as well. I've been working on this tangle kit and it's nearly done now. 

I'm really enjoying the black and white on the dark green. It's almost like a new step after renaissance tiles! A completely different look. I may have to dig out a green pen to play with as well.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend... Memorial day is a quiet holiday for us. We're a military family and that means we spend a little more time remembering on Memorial day.

Until tomorrow, I hope you find your inspiration from something awesome, and that you make something amazing!

Whimsy by Kelly Challenge- 2 months!

Can you believe we're 2 months in?!??! How awesome is that?! I'm so excited!!!

A few thoughts for you this morning!

I find I collect pretty quotes and thoughts about art and life and creating, I pin them and sadly most no longer go anywhere. Luckily the quote itself is usually intact with author but I never know who made them pretty and stuck them online for us to enjoy, but thank you people for being creative and embracing creativity and making us little inspirational icons to use as touchstones. When I do find linkbacks I'll share those, I promise. :)

I'm working on this. It's a work in progress, and I do think I love how it's coming. I tend to shy away from negative space but it's working here for the look I want. 

#buffalolove

What are you going to do today? It's cold here again. Blah. Double blah. Triple blah! 

That does make it easy to just stay inside and create though!

What are you going to do today?

Developing little characters

I love to create little characters. They don't usually start out fully formed, they start as random sketches, usually while I'm on the phone or doing something else.
Over time I find myself drawing them more and more until they are infused with little personalities of their own.

In school as a child, I began drawing a puppy. I still draw him to this day. Sometimes he morphs into something else, but he shows up from time to time in my most lighthearted and comfort pieces.
See?

Drawing him feels like a visit with an old friend. 

I've been drawing these new little guys... they have started to appear more and more. I think it's time to kind of build them out a bit so I spent some time playing with them yesterday. :) They never start out as much... but I can already see their tiny little personalities emerging.
I'll be including them in a project at some point I'm sure.

I didn't do much else yesterday, it was a snowday for my kids and that meant that we hung out and watched mindless television. :) And that's ok too! Not everyday needs to be a marathon of creativity. 

Oh, one quick note, if you post on social media, if you #whimsybykelly2015 then I can find them!

Hope you have a great day today. Make something awesome!

Busy day!!!!

I had a really busy day yesterday.
I did my Tangle a Day calendar, and remembered to post pics of the ones I'd done so far.

4th Mooka, 5th-Hollibaugh, 6th-Printemps

7th-Static, 8th-

I am LOVING this calendar.. it's fun to monotangle each day, I'm trying to create 2 looks with each Tangle I use.

Yesterday I gave the prompt to turn something that was a "mistake" into something new.
I had a tile that I kept for some reason, pen explosion had trashed my idea of a mandala on it...
I saw someone post a string made by blowing ink and thought... BINGO! TRY THAT!
So I took the tile and did exactly that.
I also decided that I would fill it with tangles that I don't use as much as I should.
Here's what I came up with! It was fun and different and forced me to not plan at all.

I am still working on my class, but I have it mostly together. It's going to go on a card.

So all in all, productive day yesterday! Today I am going to work with the tangle I deconstructed so that I can share it with you tomorrow.