Hotel Room Art

I got the urge to make art the other day.  I really wanted to art journal but my current journal was too white!  So, I decided to just do background pages.  I made these:

Now there is lots of color for me to art journal on!!!

Then I did a sugar skull drawing:

Its my first one.  I am pretty sure I will do some more - need practice to get better, right?  I like how it turned out though.  I especially like that it occurred to me to put a frog at on it!!

I love art class, even though it stresses me out sometimes we occasionally get to have a lot of fun... today was one of the days we got a bit silly....check this out:

One of the girls is pregnant and is doing a mommy piece for her final... so she made a cast of her belly and we all played with it!

One last tid-bit of info - I did something (not sure what) while at camp this past weekend (post about that tomorrow) and (I think) pinched my median nerve which resulted in my right middle finger being numb since 11am on Saturday.  So, been stuck in a wrist brace most of the day (when not working on super messy art projects) and going to see the doc tomorrow.  Will let you guys know what she says!! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a GREAT day!!

Drawing Class Boredom

Since I decided that my drawing final was complete, I had nothing to do in drawing class yesterday.  So, I just played around.  I wrote on a page that was pretty blank:

I did some sketching:

I wasn't happy with either of those, so I moved on.

 I played with inks:

I was actually really glad to just get to play around.  It seems like its been ages since I just did art for fun. I know it really hasn't been too terribly long, but it feels like it.  Also glad because I used that ink play to get some good images for my next tattoo!  Its going to be a paint brush that has painted that heart shape on me!  I am going to get the heart in pink and orange (very bright of course) and the paint bush will be full sized!  I dropped it off at the tattoo place already so the guy could draw it up!  I am going to look at it on Tuesday.  I'm super excited.

Ok friends that is all I have for you today.  I will spending the weekend at Victory Junction, so it will be a few days until I "see" you again (Monday probably.)  Have a wonderful weekend.

2 More Zombie Drawings

I've been hard at work on my drawing final.  So, as a result I have 2 more Zombie Soldier drawings to show you!!  First:

Motrin is the fix it all for the Army!

And 2nd:

That one is a joke that we used to say that instead of being 14T or 14E PATRIOT Soldiers we were 14D (D for Detail!) Area Beautification Soldiers... "Area Beautification" is a term used quite often in the Army.

I hope that the 4 drawings I have done are enough for my final because I don't foresee any more ideas or time before they are due next week since I will be at Victory Junction this weekend! Also I have developed a very painful callus on my middle finger from drawing so much.  Drawing, writing and eating hurt - I never realized that certain spot was touched during so many different activities.  I am hoping it bets better since my drawing should decrease significantly now.

Well friends that is all for now.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great evening!!!

Paper Pulp Casting

Hello and happy Monday!!  Today in school we did paper pulp casting of our clay tile molds.  Do you guys remember that?  I carved that mold quite a while ago; here is a picture to jog your memory:

Every one's molds were finally dry so today we did our first casts which were of paper pulp.  I took some photos to document:

1. Make pulp with water and toilet paper

2. line mold with saran and press pulp into mold

3. Press down pulp with sponge, add more pulp

4. Remove as much water as possible with sponges

The final step is to remove the pulp from the mold and set it on top of a screen to dry.  The ones above are from my mold.  The 3 with spots were lined with rice paper first; the bottom right one was not. What do you think?  I am doing something similar for my final project.  I got approval to make a sculpture out of toilet paper, water and wood glue.  Its going to be quite the learning experience!

Wednesday I will try (for the 2nd time) to do a cast in clay - the first time it didn't go far enough into the mold!  Well friends that is all I have for your for now - hope your Monday was bearable.  Also, hope to "see" you soon!!

Last 2 Postcards & Zombie Soldier Drawing #3

I got my last 2 postcards from the sawp.  I'm sad that no more pretty mail will be coming to me!  Anyway, here is the first one:

This card came from Katie who blogs at White Picket Fence.  Thank you for the cute and creative card!!

My next card:

Came from Cynthia who lives in VA and I don't think she blogs.  Thanks Cynthia!! 

I also finished another Zombie Soldier drawing for my drawing final:

Its drawing number 3.  I've already started drawing number 4 - hopefully I will finish it before tomorrow evening and then maybe figure out what I want to do for the 5th one.  My teacher said he liked my idea but I needed to take it further and be more expressive visually with my feelings.  Then he told me don't freak out about the number of drawings due, just work on getting my idea across.  Don't know if I will get to the point he wants me at before next week when all the drawings are due, but hopefully I will end up with a decent grade.

I feel like I have been a bad blogger lately.  It seems like FOREVER since I have done any fun art projects - my school work is so time consuming that its the only thing I ever work on anymore.  And, it takes so long to make any visual progress that my posts about it are no frequent.  I promise once I move to TX (May 9th!) things should be picking up.  Even if they don't pick up tremendously on the art front, I will be doing lots of other blog worthy things. 

Lastly, I want to tell you guys that I jumped on the instagram band wagon and you can follow me if you like my name is mimsrachel! And if you didn't know mimsrachel is also my Facebook and Twitter name! 

Alright friends, I hope you have a wonderful and creative weekend!!

WOYWW 18 APR

Hi guys!  Happy WOYWW!!  I feel slightly boring because what was on my "work desk" (actually my hotel room floor) last time is about the same this time...

Cardboard, lots of cardboard.  I am still working on the cardboard chair project.  I did finish the half size:

It held up really well...

I was scared to sit in it but the teacher thought it would hold up and it did!  So, hopefully it will translate into the full size, which is what I am working on now!

If you are wondering about my Zombie drawings, you can see 2 finished drawings here.  If you want to see more people's desks, then go on over to Stamping Ground for lots of fun links.

Thanks for visiting, hope to "see" you again soon!

Drawing Final - PT 1

Hi guys!  So, as I mentioned before I am currently working on my drawing final which means I need to do 3-5 drawings with a common theme.  So, I decided to do Zombie Soldiers.  I have worked on these a lot and I finished 2 drawings so far!  So, I wanted to show them to you guys:

Did I tell you guys that those drawings are 18x24 inches?  That is super huge in my opinion, I am more of a 9x12 is large kind of girl.  I have not yet run this idea by teacher, and I REALLY hope he goes with it since I am so far into it.  I am about 1/3 of the way done with the 3rd drawing.  I am hoping to get to the half way point (of the 3rd drawing) by this evening.  I am about to head out to Step Aerobics though - it's my first attempt at step aerobics in at least a year, so hopefully it will go well. 

Lastly, look at this AWESOME blazer I randomly saw today...

You know I had to get it, because when will I ever come across that again?

I will probably be late in posting tomorrow, but I will take a picture of my 1/2 size cardboard chair for you guys!!  Have a great Tuesday evening - "see" ya tomorrow!!

Shopping Spree

Today my most stylish friend, Madison, and I went to Smithfield, NC to shop at the outlets!  I had not been up there in about a year and a half so thought it would be a fun thing to do on a Saturday when noting else was going on.  I didn't try to find anything other than a jacket for summer, but man did we find tons of stuff.  I would probably have come away empty handed but my friend was like "hey this would look cute on you," and she was right, every time!  So, here is what I got:

Cute grey/blue/brown/cream dress

This jacket to wear with the above dress - side note the plan is to get some brown cowboy boots to wear with this jacket and that dress!

Trench - check out the bottom edge!

back of same trench - SO CUTE, right?

pink tank with sequin detail

light weight summer jacket

Pink Shirt Dress

Pink lightweight cottony summer dress

I also got a white tank top with a ruffly design on the neckline - no picture of that though.  I got EVERYTHING at significantly reduced prices.  That trench coat only cost me 20$ - a savings of $100!!  Yesterday I found this wonderful dress:

It was a good few days for clothes finding at good prices!  As you can tell (and according to my friend), pink is my signature color!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE pink - can't help it, I am drawn to it.  So...whatever, I'm not going to try and fight it, I'm just gunna go with it. 

Anyways, that's all for now.  Hope you guys had a good Saturday too!! 

Planners

For months now I have been looking for a good planner.  I blog, facebook, tweet, and now I even Instagram, but I still need to do the old fashioned thing with my calendars and lists.  So I was hunting for a good planner.  One that was not too bulky but still had plenty of room to write down information on the calendar part.  I also wanted places to put things and a pen holder.  After all this time of looking for one, I found one - right about 3 min before I had the idea to make my own planner.  The urge to complete this project of self made planner was so great that I put back the good pre-made planner and bought the things to make my own planner:

I actually bought more than necessary because I found some cute things and it had been so long since I got anything fun to play with at the art store that I was embellishment deprived.  I decided to use a Smash Book because it comes with fun pages - way more fun than blank white pages, right?  Also, using Smash Pocket Calendars I got pockets and calendars! Win - Win.  So, I set off to work:

Each month gets a two-page spread so that I have plenty of space to scribble notes about days that have too much going on!  Today I completed updating all my contacts/addresses and tomorrow I will go thorough my last few lists and make sure to transfer necessary information and then my transition to the new planner will be complete!  The best part about this planner is that it will be me - Its like part planner, part art journal... all fun!! Have any of you done anything similar??

WOYWW 11 APR - Zombies/Last Day

Hi, hello and happy WOYWW.  Today is an extra happy WOYWW for me because today is officially my last day in the Army!!  Its been a LONG time since I was free to look, act, think, dress, befriend, etc., how I wanted - it was good in some ways, but I am really glad its over!  Anyways, on to the WOYWW!  First, my lovely hotel desk:

Its tiny so technically my drawing stuff is not really on it, but this is what I am working on:

A Zombie Soldier drawing for my drawing final.  I am going to do 3-5 drawings of Zombie Soldiers!  It came to me in a dream and I couldn't stop thinking I should actually draw it so I figured why not, because nothing else I have thought of yet has been very inspiring. 

Also I am still working on my cardboard chair.  I am currently assembling the 1/2 size chair which is due next Monday.  See the mess:

That's all I have for now, friends.  If you want to see more desks, then go to stamping ground and check out all the links.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great Wednesday!!

No Internet

Hi guys!  I just wanted to do a quick check in and tell you that I am doing good, but the hotel where I am staying has been having issues with its internet for the last 4 days.  So, I have not had access to blogger.  Yesterday I took my newly acquired Nook Tablet to Barns & Noble and tried to blog, but the page wouldn't let me type!  So, sorry I have been gone, but I hope to be back to normal soon.  Currently I am sitting in the food court at the mall with my laptop waiting on my car to get an oil change, new tires and an alignment.  Very costly; good thing I canceled my Spring Break plans in order to save money.  Anyways, just wanted to say hi and hope to be blogging tomorrow!  Have a great Monday.

The Cardboard Chair Project PT I

One of the projects we are currently working on in Design II Class is our Cardboard Chair project.  We did a lot of sketches of designs:

At first I was stuck on this idea:

Notice how I went to the trouble to figure out the measurements for all required sizes of the chair - not easy, but I did it.  But once I realized how hard it would be to cut the required number of cardboard pieces with all of those curves I decided to not put myself though so much work and to instead come up with another idea.  So, after more sketching:

 I moved on to...tiny chairs out of paper:

(FYI the warped look is courtesy of my putting it under my wearable art project prior to taking a photo) Thought I would make that last one, but the teacher vetoed it very quickly, stating that she did not think it had enough structure to support a persons weight.  So, more sketching.. more wanting to die at the thought of this project... I came up with this one:

The teacher approved so I moved on to the quarter size chair out of mat board:

I got bored waiting on the glue to dry, so I took a picture of myself:

And here is the finished product - the quarter size chair:

Isn't it a cute little chair?

Next up, the half size chair made of cardboard.  It will have to hold about 100 lbs in order to pass the test so we can go to the full size model.  Once I get that one finished I will post about it!

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!!