Paint blobs as tools.

Many times if I can't find inspiration,

I have a little trick to get my mojo flowing instantly. Some years ago I got the inspiration for this by watching all the you-tube films showing mono printing on gelli plates. Now, I didn't have a gelli plate handy, but I had a glass square. I did some experiments on that glass plate, and boy did that pay off. Most times I even do a second print, after spraying a bit more water onto the plate. The second print won't be as rich of colors as the first one, but many times more interesting. Normally I use watercolors to make my paint blobs. Below is the glass plate randomly filled with watercolor paint, Twinks.

Next thing is to lay the paper carefully on top of the paint. I use my hands to go over the paper, and I often add some books on top for a short while. In this specific example the result was what you see in the photo below. It's at this stage all the fun begins. Some of my paint blobs shows quite obvious images, others might hide well. In this particular case I spent a couple of days to bring forward what was hidden. Very often I reject the first obvious image to see if I can bring out it's full potential.

I'm very pleased with this one, and as you see it wasn't the most obvious image. When I first spotted the troll, I could also see (with a bit imagination) the contours of the map of Norway. To use the map, shows the troll in it's "real" size. A "real" Norwegian troll is very large. He is banging his hand towards our country, and thereby causing some real thunder. As a child I were frightened by thunder, but my parents told me it was just the trolls that were out strolling. Somehow that left me without fear.

Let me end by telling you my little trick. I always keep some paint blobs handy, and when I can't find inspiration I grab a paint blob, and my mojo is instantly present.
Give it a try, it's very fun and activates the imaginationn.

Some small stuff

 

I have made some small stuff,

sort of paint blobs.  I'm not especially good at making these, but it's fun working with.  Today life is back on track again and that's good. We've had a nice Easter in every possible way, but ordinary days are most welcome around here. I hope you've had some good days too.

 

 

 

This next painting started as a blob and ended looking like our coat of arms. Not at all planned but that is what it became. Looking at it now, I see I should have made something to let it rest it's foot onto.

 

 

 

I don't know what the next one is, perhaps you do? It's much fun to make some splatters and see how they turn out.

 

 

 

The frosen bird was a bit more planned. We normally have a rich birdlife in our garden, but at a certain point I noticed it was not as usual. Some weeks ago I heard in the radio that the sparrows has disappeared, and that's what has happened in our garden too. I don't know what has happened to them but I hope they've flewn to warmer areas. We've had a long, cold and dry winter so they probably couldn't  find food and water. In fact, this last month has been so dry that the surface is crackling just like in desert areas.

 



 

 

Saturday night we turned the clock one hour ahead again. Summertime, it's called. When I still had a day job I called it problem time. I wasn't good at adapting the overnight change of time, now it doesn't matter. There are no clocks governing my life any more. That feels gooood!

Do you change time where you live?

Last day making blobs.

And I totally lost the inspiration today.

 

That always surprises me when it happens. Top inspired one day and totally uninspired the next. Why is that? It has been fun though to make these blobs and find new ways of doing things. Todays piece shows a new thing too, I used a tool similar to a comb and dragged the color over the sheet before "printing". If I were a bit more inspired I would have used more color, my intention was to make lines.

I like the flower and the ear, what the two of them are doing togrther is more difficult to explain.

39/50

Below you see some of the pieces I never used. A bit later I will make a theme where I will use them all. Coming week will be without a theme. I feel the need to do what I want when I want to. But I'm quite sure I will doodle some days. For a long time now I have been thinking of making my own "doodle- library", that way it will be easy to find the right design whenever I need it.

The family digging project is close to end and that's a good thing. I think we have hundreds of old documents starting from 1850. They're all difficult to read but we've done most of them now. Remaining is the job to get them in system and present them to the rest of the family. I bet there will be some ahhh's and ohhhh's, we've found some real surprises. Funny thing that, one always believe that our forfathers were proper in every way. They were not! All the storys we've found could become a book, a juicy one too!

Wish you all the best!

A big mystery.

 Unfinished.

 

Todays work is made on a less heavy paper. I'm very in doubt on how to finish it. It's a very special piece and for me it touches something deep inside. It's like having a flash from ancient times. You know, when the glaciers were melting and people started to settle down.

38/50

What's up and down? I've turned it a thousand times and am not closer to an answer still. I've added some small details but couldn't do any more. What do you yhink?
I have thought of adding the ancient alphabeth along the edges, but I'm unsure. Until I know, it has to be put aside.

Below I've turned it the other way around. In some ways it feels more correct this way. I have to smile, this is one of the rare occations when I'm unable to make a decission. Very unlike me.

What would you have done?

Have a good day everyone!

Phew..........I need a rest.

Todays work was an obvious one too.

37/50

Did you see the bird too? For me it couldn't be anything else, he's tired and needed a rest. The hot sun has been there all day while he was flying, and he probably has a long way home.
Yesterday I didn't do much, other than making a try on something else than my theme. Sandra needs some letters on her exhibition poster and I'm trying out different ways of doing them. She will of course make them herself, but it's good to have tried what not to do. I'll continue a bit today.

Have some excitement you too!

Interesting days.

A new way of doing it.

I've told handyman that I want to have a plate of glas on top of my desk because it would be so easy to mix colors directly onto the plate. Easy also to wash it away later on. As a start he found me a squared window-plate, slightly bigger than my watercolor paper. That was how I came up with this new way of doing things. New to me at least.

I paint on the glas. Choose my colors and at the end I lay my paper on top of it all, some heavy books on top of that again and leave it for awhile. Using my 300 grams watercolor paper, thick and with an uneven surface, I get some interesting results. There is still enough paint left over to do a second " print " I'm so amazed on how this looks that I'll have to explore it further. I want to try if I can do a planned outcome and still get this cool result.
I didn't add much to the startpoint I showed you yesterday. The piece looks much nicer in person. I used a small amount of my twinkling paint too but it doesn't show in the photo.

36/50

The one below is another startpoint made this way. It's the uneven surface that make all the dots. It's much more easy to gain a strong color too, this way.

This is the second " print ", I like this even better than the first one. To make this print I sprayed a tiny bit of water onto the paint before I added my paper. That's probably why all the small dots appeared.

Can you tell I'm enjoying this? Now I want it to be more than a coincidence, I want to gain the result I plan to make. I don't know if it's possible but I'll try.

Have a good day.

Being trapped.

This is how I made it, how did it look in your mind?

 

Todays work is the purest monkey-business. A monkey and a jellyfish, not the most obvious couple I would say. I'm pleased on how this turned out, for a moment I thought of making the monkey a chef with the jellyfish as his chef hat.  It suited me better this way ( no arms, legs and body), make some strings around him and he's trapped. I'm not too happy about the plait though, but it's all just phantasy so it doesn't matter.

35/50

Can you see his fear for that string closing in on his eye? In person this painting looks interesting, simple but still detailed and things to wonder about.

I do  make a lot more than I show you here, and now it was time to do it a bit different. This new tecknique make me curious and I will try it alot more. Below is my first attempt (startpoint) I'll tell you more about the tecknique tomorrow.

Have a creative Sunday!

HELP, I'm getting poisoned.

34/50

This was such a fun painting to make, I had no thoughts on what to do other than to have fun with the water colors. Can you see the brick tube in the background? That's what this little fellow is running away from, pollution. He was so cute I couldn't let him pass. I didn't use many details either because the image was so clear from the beginning. What I do is this, I randomly place my chosen colors onto the sheet and leave it to dry. The exciting moment is when I return to my work and see what I can do of it. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph this one before I did the pen work. I was much too happy to discover this little fellow.

 The one above is my startpoint for tomorrows work. How will it turn out? What would you have done to this one? Think of it and compare with my result tomorrow.

Have a nice day!

How cool to use some paint again!

 Early this morning I was ready to paint. 

 

My first try on the new theme is this one. It's made on a small sheet and the first I learned was to be sure to have enough space. What I was aiming for was forms that didn't mean anything special, but who can avoid  seeing that this one looks like a creature in some ways?
The first thing that caught my eyes was the "collar", the wavy line over a shoulder. I didn't want to make anything familiar and I think I did avoid that.

I used water colors and WS crayons along with black, white and brownish  pens. Below you see my starting point.

 The final result is something between nothing and too much. Too much if I wanted it to be a simple expression, and nothing if I would like it to be a fully detailed work. In any case it has to be MY expression. I can feel that this week will be challenging, but hopfully it will learn me a whole lot too.

33/50

 When I start using pens I saw that I needed to fill in some more color so I did that some places. I'm so eager to see what I can do within this consept. I will try to show you before and after photos if I only remember to photograph enough. Usually I get so caught up in the situation that I forget the photo.

Paint Blob challenge #3

Hello everyone.

Have you tried to do this? It's fun and very exciting to see what other people can do with the same blob. Enter Carla Sonheim's blog and take part you too.

I'm sooooo frustrated because I've been trying to share my (this) result on the 3rd blob and I can't figure out how to do it. Rrrrrrrr!!!

All I could see was the hunting guys and the great spirit. It could have been an angle too but I felt the most for the hunting guys.
Did you remember to enter my giveaway yet? If not please do!

Today my husband and I visited an antique fair, but there was nothing that wanted to follow me back home. My husband found something though, he is collecting old coins and papermoney. He was all smiles when driving back home.
That's all for today, I am on to something super cute. I'll show you in a post next week.
Enjoy your weekend and take care.

A very fast sketch.

Hello again.

This is my version of a challenge I took part in this evening. It's a very quick sketch and not at all my best work. The problem is that I don't fix all the transfer work from one adress to another. Well I could manage in some way but I really don't know what I did.

What I saw was two men quarreling about a cave. They both claim to own it. If I'd used some more time on this I would probably have drawn a man standing far away judging it all. (the figure on top of the left man)

It's bedtime for me now so good night to you all.