Art Marks

Why hello there Bugs! Funny running into you here! It’s been so long!

Okay, okay, so I am just going to come out and say that I am aware of the fact that I haven’t blogged in over a month, despite my seemingly “genius” weekly-whimsy plan. But I have a good excuse. Well, a kind of good excuse. And that excuse is…. that life has been a little crazy lately. Then again, that’s nothing new. So maybe it’s a lousy excuse. I’ll leave that up to your discretion.

At first my blog posts were nonexistent due to the fact that I was actually able to spend time with my family –  one week during their spring break when they came to see me and one week during mine when I went home to see them. It was great to see everyone again but now it’s even harder to get through these last few weeks because I got a little taste of home during break… but I just 4 more weeks left now! Anyway, after getting back from that extravaganza, I pretty much was immediately thrown into pre-finals finals week for 3 weeks in a row; within the last 3 weeks I have literally had 6 tests and a speech to give in my classes. Oh my goodness. That’s college for you. Today was my last big test for another 2 weeks so hopefully life will calm down a little bit now. Well, that is, until ACTUAL finals week. Oh, and on top of all of this my first triathlon was this past weekend! I would love to give you guys more information about that but I actually think I will make another post within the next week dedicated completely to my triathlon story, so for now all you need to know is that I had a terrific time and am already gearing up for my next one in June!

Anyway, let’s talk about some art!

So, do you guys remember when I told you about the online art classes my mom and I have fallen in love with? Well, this is from that! This is the “Artfully Inspired Life 2015” class by Joanne Sharpe and if you like what I’m posting you should definitely look into taking some of her classes! They are simply awesome.

Anyway, I have not completed the March pages yet (even though it’s currently the end of April, eek!), but I HAVE completed my “art marks”. For this lesson we were told to make what are basically watercolored bookmarks, called “art marks”, and also some watercolor pockets. To actually make the page we simply stick the art marks in the pockets and then stick the pockets in the art journal! Super cute idea!

I really enjoyed creating my art marks, I made each of mine represent a different aspect of myself. And plus, I got a lot better at watercoloring throughout this process! I used to always feel like the color went everywhere and I couldn’t control it and color “in the lines”. This project (well, part of a project) was a success because it was a mixture of learning how to control the color a little more AND of being okay with the color not always staying in the lines, which is quite the dilemma for an OCD mind like mine.

Anyway, these were a lot of fun – and I absolutely LOVE the way they came out! I honestly can’t decide which one of the 8 is my favorite, every time I think I’ve made up my mind I end up changing it again.

The bike and running shoes represent the triathlon-and-fitness-loving side of me. Although the bike also kind of represents the fact that I can enjoy a nice bike ride without it being for a “workout” as well, since it’s more of a ride-out-to-the-park-for-a-cute-picnic type of bike than a competition bike. This works out well though because it shows that I can be the type of person to go out for a leisurely ride, as well as the type of person who goes out for a ride intended to be for exercise.

By the way, it took me a long time to get the running shoes to look right – it’s apparently really hard to get the proportions just right when drawing sneakers. Who knew?

The dress represents my girly side – and honestly if this dress existed in real life I would be really excited and buy it in a heartbeat. I love the way the colors came out on this one.

The guitar of course represents my musical side – and although my guitar in real life does not have flower tattoos, you have to admit that they do give the guitar some wicked personality.

The hummingbird I won’t get into too much detail about because it relates to an inside joke among my friends and I, but the basic idea is that it represents my friends because it reminds me of laughing and having fun with them.

You guys have seen enough giraffe pictures on my blog by now… I don’t think I have to explain this one anymore. You are all aware of my obsession by this point.

The snap dragon is pretty straight forward… snap dragons are my favorite flower. If you say that you’ve ever met another flower with more personality than one that can bite your finger off, I won’t believe you.

And lastly we come to the mushrooms. These represent me because they are my two favorite colors, purple and yellow, and of course because they have ladybugs on them. Plus I really enjoy drawing mushrooms for some strange, unknown reason. I find their shape to be whimsical.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my lovely art marks bugs! Be sure to check out Joanne Sharpe’s online classes if this looks like something you would enjoy 🙂

Also, tell me which one is your favorite! I can’t decide, so I’m interested to see everyone else’s opinions.

Happy arting bugs, keep your heads held high – the semester is ALMOST OVER!

Signing off now,

Love,
Laney-Bug ❤

(Medium used: black Micron .1 pen, Koi watercolors, Proart Watercolor Paper)

Journal Junkie – Awesome Life

Alrighty, bugs! I’m super excited about this one! Bear with me, as this post may include things such as virtual high-pitched-girly-squeels of excitement, seemingly never-ending rambles of my newest art adventure, and a way-more-detailed version of what has been going on in my life than you probably care to hear. Let’s get started – yay!

So my lovely mother (who loves art just as much as I do) and I recently discovered Joanne Sharpe’s online art classes, and we are admittedly in love with them. We signed up for our first class over break and started it together, having daily afternoon mother-daughter-art time, it was quite awesome. Since then I have obviously migrated back to Montana, so now we complete our projects separately and constantly send each other pictures of our most recent creations so we can tell each other how cool they are, and occasionally judge each other when we make funny decisions regarding our art.

One of the classes we are working on is called “Draw your Awesome Life”, and it truly is awesome. If you are interested in looking at this class (or any of her classes, because they are all super cool with knobs), just head over to Joanne’s website – which can be found here; http://joannezsharpe.blogspot.com

One of the projects in this class consists of what Joanne calls “life grids”, and I had so much fun with this! It’s basically a week-long calendar where you can illustrate what you did each day of the week and make 7 little tiny pieces of art, combined into one super colorful and equally as exciting journal spread! At first I was afraid that I wouldn’t have something to say every day of the week, but I quickly realized that no matter how boring I may think my life is at times (due to school consuming my life and whatnot), it often isn’t. Each day I had something I was excited about or at least felt was mentionable (for example, I was not particularly thrilled about my speech on Thursday, but it was worth mentioning). Every day or two I would add whatever days had happened since I last drew, just by simply drawing out a little illustration in a box. At the end of the week I broke out the water colors and went COLOR CRAZY *insert high-pitched-girly-squeels of excitement here*.

Something funny about this that I would like to point out is that most of my represented events have to do with either fitness or unhealthy food. Such as weight training, running, swimming, pizza, and a Valentine’s Day cake. And of course with some art supplies and classes thrown in there. Clearly my interests are a bit eclectic. But you guys love me anyway, right? Right.

So now I would like to tell you a bit about my week and elaborate some on my recently mentioned events. Because, well, this is my blog and I feel like talking about my life.  First of all, let me bring your attention to my Wednesday event; “New fastest mile time”. While 8:22 definitely isn’t the best time out there, my previous fastest time was 9:01, so this was a huge accomplishment. And not only this, but the day I got my new 8:22 time I actually went for a 2 mile run, and BOTH miles were each under the 9 minute mark. Strangely enough, my second mile was about 25 seconds FASTER than my first. I was really stressed that day, so what I have learned from this experience is that I run significantly faster when I am stressed. (Note to self: next time my little world is about to implode in on me, zip outside and run like the wind! But grab your stopwatch first, so that you know if you have miraculously ran a mile in 2 minutes flat.)

Also, you might notice that Monday was “Arm Day” in my weight class. This experience taught me something as well; my arms are rather pitiful. I should fix this. I have never been a weight training person until I signed up for this class this semester (because I’m that weirdo who sees “womens weight training” on the class list and thinks “hey, that sounds fun!” even though I really knew nothing about weight training at the time). I have always been pretty active, especially since I got to college and joined the triathlon team and whatnot, but most of my activities are things such as running that don’t really involve much arm bulkage. So my first arm day at the gym was a bit of a challenge. However, my partner wasn’t feeling too impressed with her arms either, so we got to be wimpy-armed buddies. Which in a weird way, made it a lot better.

You may also notice that I got new calligraphy pens this week! One of my other Joanne classes uses these and I originally just got 4 basic colors of them because I wasn’t sure what I would think of them. But now I’m in love with them so I ordered 10 more. Happy early birthday to me! (Laney-attempts at calligraphy coming soon to a blog near you)

Also, yesterday was Valentines Day! So as my journal says, Happy Valentines Day bugs! (alright, maybe I added the “bugs” part to the end of that) I hope you all had great Valentine’s Days with your loved ones, whether this implies your significant other, your family, your pets, or anyone else that makes you happy. Or maybe you’re one of those crazy people like me who is partaking in a long-distance relationship and spent the evening skyping with your boyfriend while eating brownies with your roommate, who is also one of those crazy people who is partaking in a long-distance relationship so she understands and you both have a mutual need for brownie on Valentine’s Day. Whatever you did, I hope you had a fantastic day!

Well, I’ll stop rambling now. I’m loving this new art journal process though, so be prepared for more posts from my cute little journal!

Until next time,

Love,
Laney-Bug ❤

(Medium: micron pen, koi water color)