just fly…

..
“She said she could fly…why won’t she fly?”
….sometimes we know we can, and we don’t.  Whatever it is, when you choose not to, you aren’t stretching your wings.  Define what keeps you from really soaring.  You said you can fly, so just fly.   

A little black and white inspiration today, whimsical doodle in the most wonderful little sketch book.  Strathmore has a brand new product line of “Visual Journals” with a collection of paper surfaces that will take on assorted creative materials like ink, paint, paper, collage, marker, crayon, pastels, and more.  I’m crazy about them!  This is a Pitt pen on the Visual Journal Drawing book.  Love how it took the black ink.

The book is sitting on background fabric from a JoAnn Fabrics collection that i designed last season. (and all sold out)  There will be more of these fabrics in my Visual Journals to come.

December Daily #3, done.

Melekelekemaka….

 If i could only deliver this order in person!!!  Here’s a batch of Christmas signs just shipped to one of my retailers in Hawaii.  Don’t ask me how many canvases i ruined when misspelling “Melekelekemaka”! (of course i start singing to myself the song, from the Christmas Vacation movie, LOL!)  If you are in Maui for the holidays, these will be at Paia Mercantile, in Paia.  I think that’s as close to Hawaii as i’ll get!  Sigh. 
…”May you always have a shell in your pocket and sand in your shoes”…

…i’ll think of this sweet saying from Paia Mercantile, while wading through the sloppy wet snow here.  It’s so special when the shops customize their signs and sayings to their regional market and niche audience.   

 It hardly has let up, and I have been really busy these past few weeks painting, lettering and shipping these fun signs off to shops all over the country for holiday gift giving.  It’s all good.

December Daily…

I’ve seen some of my artsy inky scrappy friends doing a “December Daily” journal, scrapbooks, blogs, etc.  It is commitment to daily recollect and reflect, appreciate and share.  What a great idea!  So i will do the same, and will post everyday til Christmas, hoping to be a little inspirational, joyful and grateful.

Today i am joyful and grateful for the beautiful first snow that we had in upstate New York, just gorgeous.  What was really fun, bringing my “big puppy” (6 months old, 54 lbs) Teddie out to experience her first snow.

This summer born pup had never seen snow!
ahhh……..she like!
Bolting in typical Golden Retriever fashion, thus the leash….
  A good simple sweet moment…
My art inspiration for you today comes from this art journal page.  Reflecting on the “simple things” that make life hopeful and magical.  
“Faith, trust and pixie dust”…..

Juicy journal pages….

…my journal writing, reminding myself to focus….quiet…define…

…wishing i had a “blingvision” on my  computer…
really sparkly, shiny hearts with wispy pen strokes….

Sometimes it’s fun to take out a whole bunch of your art stuff and create something with all of it.  That’s what i’ve been doing in my art journals lately.  Here is a page from my Moleskin watercolor journal, using my watercolors, Perfect Pearls Mists (interference red) from Ranger pearls mist and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (gold), Pitt pens and my trusty Sharpie white paint pen.  I must confess, and heed a warning, i am going a little nuts with my shimmer sprays……more to come.

a little present for you…

Here’s the free art i promised you to try out the Pearls technique and play!   Just color. Get out your Liquid Pearls, your Copics, watercolors, twinkling H2o’s, inks etc.  Copy (enlarge, reduce, whatever you desire) these images* then print out on cardstock.  Use the Pearls to outline the image and let dry.  When the Pearls are solid dry, fill in with your color source (watercolors, inks, copics, markers, etc).  Cut out the image and embellish your cards, journals or scrap pages. 
Let’s have a Show and Tell!  Email your finished coloring creations to me at artztudes@aol.com.  Show your colors, and how you used the embellishment and i will post them here to share on this blog.  How fun is that?!  Now go color, it’s good for your soul!

*for your personal use only ©joanne sharpe 2010

3-D painted doodles

Pretty flowers!  I wanted a little dimension in my doodles and tapped the creative stash for my Adirondack Liquid Pearls by Ranger. (my sister Teresa said my home studio looks like a “store” with all my supplies, LOL!) 

On white heavy cardstock, i drew a simple pencil sketch outlining some flowers, hearts and stars.  With the nice thin point on the bottle of Pearls, i traced the outlines and let them dry overnite. Even though it was killing me to be patient, you probably could use your heat gun to dry.  Then, my favorite part, the coloring!!!!!!  Love love love me some coloring!!

Filled in the design areas with Winsor Newton watercolors, then cut them out.  These will be great fun “handmade” embellishments for cards, scrap pages, journaling.  Really like the raised outlines.

Placed the Copic Sketch marker in these pics to show the size of the objects, they’re huge!

So, all you art girls, let’s play! Would you like your very outline page to try this technique?  Yes? I’ll doodle up something special and will post a free sheet of coloring outlines for you to print out in  tomorrow’s blog.

moving on over…..to BLOGGER!

Welcome to my new home in Blogville!  Moved my blog from Typepad to Blogger here, woo hoo!!!  I was having such a hard time with Typepad trying to make my thoughts and creativity come to life on the page.  The great thing is that i was able to completely export and import my whole Typepad blog to this one, and i never lost any of the content.  Oh, and Blogger is FREE!

Now let’s talk some art!! This is for YOU…..you who takes the time to come and visit my blog.  YOU really are my inspiration here to create something that will touch your soul a little, make you smile a little, or learn something new.  I’m already loving how easy Blogger is, see you soon!  Make sure you bookmark and follow, so i can keep you in the artsy loop.

****SIGN UP AND FOLLOW ME HERE***

painted pages…

It's my honor and privilege that you take the time to come to my blog. I hope that when you come here you are inspired.  Inspired by the illustrated words, perhaps something touches your heart when you stop here to enjoy the art.  Each post in "Whimspirations" includes soulful whimsey to make you smile, make you think, make you happy and make you want to come back!

I will continue to put this art out in the universe so that it finds the place where it is to go!

PKPicasso1

PKPicasso2
This page, painted with Golden acrylics, is one of my favorite Picasso quotes,

"Everything you can imagine is real"……..