Look Away

Newspaper Art

For Valentine's Day I wanted to get John a Sunday newspaper subscription. We haven't gotten the paper since we've lived in the new house and I thought it would be nice for us to just hang out on Sunday morning, reading the paper and drinking coffee. But I didn't think that handing him a rolled up newspaper was very romantic so I created a piece of art for him that was representative of his gift.

I just used a piece of thin plywood and painted it white. Then I glued on the newspaper parts and painted the shading and details over top.

(remember you can always click on the image to view it larger)

I forgot to take a close-up picture of the bottom right. But I cut out individual letters from the paper to spell out "love, paige". And right below that is the date that I created it (February 13th, 2009) taken right from the top of the paper.

Here's a close-up of the rolled up paper

I looked for an article that had a "fine art" theme as opposed to something depressing about the economy or a robbery. This one happened to be about a musical in Omaha called "Swing Swing". I just picked words that I liked and put them on randomly.

This took me about 2.5-3 hours. If I had more time I probably would have added more detail. But it got my point across and John likes it : )

woodland creatures

Last month when I was trying to do more creative things everyday I created a set of three collages. I'm not sure where I got the idea to use magazine pages or why I chose these animals. But it was fun and I think they turned out pretty cute.

I began by buying three 8x10 canvases and then painted them green. Then I sketched out the animals and decided on the color scheme for each animal. Over the next couple of days I cut out the colors I needed from various magazines. I was looking for certain colors, but I also wanted interesting textures. I organized them in labeled envelopes (orange, brown, gray, etc) as I cut them out. From there I was ready to actually create the final product by cutting out the shapes and attaching them using Mod Podge glue and a sponge brush. When I was done I put a coat of glue over top to seal it.

On Display

I moved this table from one spot in my office to another. It used to have a tv on it and now that it's empty I knew it would be a matter of minutes before Roxy jumped up there. I think she looks like an exhibit in an art gallery.

just me

One Warm Day

Last Saturday was uncharacteristically warm so John and I took advantage and went for a hike. We walked along a railroad track for a while and climbed over fences into fields, creeks and woods. It was very muddy and messy, but so great to get out and walk.

I had my new lensbaby on for the first part of the day and got some really cools shots. This next one makes me dizzy, but I like it.

I don't think I've ever taken a picture of poop, but there were piles of deer droppings all over this field. Before I knew it I took a picture of one of them.

John really wanted to go down into a deep ravine to look at a creek. The walls of the ravine were very deep and very muddy and I barely made it down alive. John helped me and I pretty much ended up sliding down on my butt. It was funny.

About to go down, skeptical:

On my way down, laughing.

I made it:

My guy.

This is what I looked like on our way back. We stopped to take a break on the rr tracks. Notice the mud on my sleeves, shoes and jeans. I am hard core.