10 of 10

Maybe I should start with a little background.  Last year I was a member of the Art Journal Caravan, led by Tangie Baxter.  Sadly 2014 was the last year for that journey (the badge in the side panel still works, but you can’t get into anything at that URL now).  BUT – this year Tangie has a new website and a new adventure called Art Journal Emporium and, of course, I am a member there.  Someday I will remember to add that badge to my side panel!

So . . . one of the projects for AJE was to do a series of ten artworks about the same subject.  I chose Houses.

Looking through my journaling scrapbooks and inspiration files, I found tons of pictures I had cut out, sketched, and saved of houses of all kinds – victorian houses, run-down houses, fairy houses, cottages, and hillsides filled with houses.  Hmmm.  Perhaps I have a thing about houses, huh?
Alright, let’s see what I came up with:






House 1 of 10
First I had a rummage through my stamp collection.  Can you believe I only had ONE house stamp?  Well, the only solution is to use it a lot on this spread in my journal.

House 2 of 10

I love Victorian style houses with their “gingerbread” and shutters.  I drew this one from my imagination, but there are some “Painted Ladies” in my town that I need to get photographed and sketched some day.

 

 

 

  House 3 of 10

This one is a little different.  I collaged this house using magazine pictures.  The house itself is from an article on handbags!  It was a lot of fun cutting out random shapes and figuring how they would become parts of a house.

House 4 of 10

There was a crooked little man who lived in a crooked little house.  I went a little wild with some of the crooked-ness.  I seriously doubt anyone wants to stand on that balcony!  I used Copic markers and Sharpie for this drawing.

 

 

House 5 of 10

This little fairy house was from an old catalog.  I scanned it into my computer and did a digital layout.  I used elements from Tangie Baxter and Rebecca McMeen (Tangie’s talented mom).

 

House 6 of 10

Another digital layout.  I have had these cool houses since I first started playing with digital art, but never got around to finding a use for them.  Well, I can’t say that anymore!  The collection is called Cosmopolitan by Maya.

House 7 of 10

I think this was the most fun to do!  Another idea I had cut out and saved, these houses are based on the legend of Baba Yaga.  She lived in a house with chicken feet.  I grabbed some felt scraps and started playing.  It actually stands by itself – amazing!

 

 

House 8 of 10

Another place I have been collecting houses is the designs for my Silhouette Cameo cutter.  Time to choose one and actually use it!  The details (shadows, grass, etc.) is done with Copic markers.

House 9 of 10

Almost done.  This time I made an Artist Trading Card (ATC).  Partly because the houses are pretty small, and partly because I was saving time for the Big Finish!  The image is from a needlework catalog.  I’d love to stitch this pattern, but I doubt I’ll get to it in this lifetime!

House 10 of 10

TaDa!  Last, but certainly not the least.  When I realized I had only one house stamp I did the only sensible thing – buy more!  Fortunately,  Barbara at Joggles.com has just released some new stamps, including some houses.  So now I can do houses whenever I want to!  I stamped them onto multi-media paper and colored them in using copic markers (I really love those markers!) and watercolor pencils.  I put Scor double-sided tape on the back before cutting them out.  It was pretty easy to just stick them down on a prepared background and – bingo – ten house artworks!



This was the first time I’ve tried working in a series.  Not my usual style, given my scatter-shot approach to most things.  I had fun – and I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the results.