Blind Contour Friday

McDonald's Cup for Blind Contour Friday
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

My drink cup at McDonald's. It has Olympic Bobsledder & Mom Vonetta Flowers on it. I can't wait for Torino!!! I love the Olympics!!!

Stuff in my Kitchen

cinnamon
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The cinnamon sugar shaker on top of the Jelly Bellies tin on top of my microwave. Pigma micron ink in my Hedgie.

I've been pretty good and sketching something every day this week. More than one thing on most days. My poor old computer isn't handling all the work of scanning very well though. Oh, well, adapt and overcome... I'll scan some more later.

Self Portrait Tuesday - History

Photos are a way to capture what someone looked like at a particular time. They are also a way to record an event. In my Family, gatherings are always a special event. This one was Christmas of 1971. My Grandma & Grandpa Welte had three of their children visiting with their families. Here are my Uncle Curtis, his wife Marilyn, their new son Cyrus, Aunt Corliss, her husband Paul, their children Cherie and Jon, my sister and myself.



We were very lucky to have our grandparents in Missouri with us for so long. They had 11 children and I have hundreds of cousins scattered all over the country. Having my grandparents here meant that we had their primary attention and got to take trips together. One of our favorite places to go and a family tradition we have continued with my children, is the visit to Silver Dollar City (near Branson, MO) in the Fall. This water clock is still there, but not functioning any more. We took the kids for their first trip this November.

Material Girl

DSCN9708
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I took this in response to Felicity Grace's Material Girl challenge. These are the art materials I use the most right now plus some new markers we got at Wal-Mart yesterday. The kids had a ball with the markers last night! This photo has a bunch of notes on it in flickr, click and mouse over the photo to see them!

Blind Contour Friday - Bigfoot

bigfootbc
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

For Blind Contour Friday I did my bear cub's Bigfoot Zip-zap monster truck. When we went to St Louis on vacation, we stayed at a hotel near where the real Bigfoot "lives."

This is probably the worst BC I've done yet! Ha!

New Year's Resolutions -- With Self Portraits!

On or about New Years we're encouraged to set new goals for the year. I posted some art goals to the Everyday Matters list:

Draw something every day, even if it's just a doodle in my hedgie.
Complete one EDM challenge per week, more if I'm inspired.
Complete one Photo Friday photo per week.
Study color, maybe I'll do what Laura did and explore a color at a time. I'm open to suggestions...
Integrate dance into more of my life, study arabic/north african/middle & near eastern art and music.
Make my habit more self-supporting, sell hedghogs/journals.



I also have some goals regarding dancing: I'll practice every day, even if it's just the 15 minute workout from Rachel Brice's Tribal Fusion Belly Dance Yoga Drills & Isolations video.



And go as far as I can with my classes. I found some teachers I really like and are very encouraging!

Mmm, Fish! - SPT

10-71a
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Me at Marineland of the Pacific in October of '71. Mom's trying to keep me from swimming with them!

I don't really remember all that much about the whole trip to CA except for the "It's a Small World" ride and the Haunted Mansion being really scary. We stayed with my Dad's sister Charlotte and her family, lots of cousins. I think we saw Coleman's bunch while we were there in San Diego, too.

Donald & Us - SPT

10-71b
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The kid just came up to us because Donald was there just as Dad snapped the photo. My sister was very upset!

Disneyland for SPT

10-71c
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Here's us in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle in October of '71. If you click on the photo, you'll go to it in flickr where there are notes on it showing where we are in it.

Self Portrait Tuesday - History

3-71
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Here's some photos from the old family album for Self Portrait Tuesday. This is me at 5 riding my mom's horse Suntan. Isn't he handsome all stretched out for his photo? She was a member of the Heart of America Riding Club and we went on breakfast trailrides at Benjamin Stables one Sunday a month. It was a ladies' club and the men (the "Auxiliary") would stay at the picnic ground and cook our scrambled eggs and bacon over the campfire. I thought I was all grown up because she let me ride with the club (I must have been all of 8 or 9 when I started). Suntan had a silver-decked parade saddle we would use sometimes. Very handsome!

Happy New Year! & EDM #44 Draw an Animal

littlegray
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I have most of my art friends Bloglined so I can see when you've updated your blogs at a glance! Very cool! I discovered that as a result of surfing for podcasts to listen to on my mp3 player and wanted a way to have the rss feeds fed to me. Ain't technology great?

Art goals for 2006...I've been chewing on this for a few days and have to put this out into the universe:

Draw something every day, even if it's just a doodle in my hedgie.
Complete one EDM challenge per week, more if I'm inspired.
Complete one Photo Friday photo per week.
Study color, maybe I'll do what Laura did and explore a color at a time. I'm open to suggestions...
Integrate dance into more of my life, study arabic/north african/middle & near eastern art and music.
Make my habit more self-supporting, sell hedghogs/journals.

Here's my first painting of the year, my daughter's little stuffed kitten, Little Gray. She got her at McDonald's in a Happy Meal and she's her favorite toy. We were playing together yesterday and I asked if she wanted me to draw one of her toys we were playing with and that's what she wanted me to draw. She's watercolors and ink in my hedgehog journal. I was trying to get the bumpy texture of the fur right with the stippled color, what do you think?

1-13-06 I didn't even pick up that this was a challenge subject! So here's #44 - Draw an animal, a pet, a zoo animal, a stuffed one...

Happy Holidays

Christmas Illustration
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I made a little doodle in my journal as the header for the day's entry. Sometimes I get quite elaborate, sometimes it's just a line to separate entries. Anyway, I hope all of you are safe, happy, healthy and have what you need in this holiday season!

What Superhero Are You?

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 80% Iron Man 75% Wonder Woman 72% Hulk 70% Green Lantern 70% Spider-Man 65% Batman 65% Supergirl 62% Catwoman 55% Robin 44% The Flash 40%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

BCF

I took a bunch of my daughter's little plastic sea critters with me to McDonald's while the kids were playing to draw for Blind Contour Friday. Sutter and Niff both did sea creatures so I did, too. I did the manta first to warm up



Then I did the swordfish



and the octopus and the sunfish was last. I didn't have a pigma micron with me so they are all G2 ink with PITT pen in my hedgehog.

Here's my little girl!! This is a photo I have posted on morgueFile and the website people emailed me to let me know they used it. Thank you!!! 

Frost

Frost
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

A nice chilly morning with some of the first frost on the ground. Delicate traces on the edges of stem and leaf, defining outlines. Nature's beauty in every crystal and blade. Stop and look.

Halloween Funnies

My bellydance sister Marcy sent these yesterday. Enjoy!! This one is SO me!!



:)



This would be me, too...



For my math teachers...



Yep!



Moms...



Sort of a Friday the 13th moment...



Just plain silly



Batty!



Last, but not least...

U.P.-Big-Boy-2

U.P.-Big-Boy-2
Originally uploaded by mdb2.

This is a BIG locomative!! I was surfing through the "train" pool on flickr and found this...I'll see if I can find out more about it...

Hedgehogs

Hand-bound Book
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I finished my first Hedgie last week. It's a hand-made book the size of a pocket Moleskine with all the same features. The pages are 90# watercolor paper and the cover is some fabric I used for my husband and son's costumes. It opens flat, has a pocket in the back, a ribbon bookmark and an elastic band closure tea-dyed to compliment the cover fabric. I did a few things different than Leslie has on her .pdf: I made the cover from two pieces of cardboard with a paper strip on the spine for flexibility. The fabric glued to the cover should give the spine some strength; and I made the hedgie the same size as a moleskine, not quarter-letter size. I'm rather proud of the job I did; it's much better than the other books I've made. I look forward to making more and experimenting with papers and covers! Click on the photo to see other photos of the binding process.

Moleskinerie Group

Hedgehogs Forever

Leslie's illustrated binding tutorial

20 Random Things About Me

Me
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Yesterday, Nita tagged me in the game, so here it is:

1. I'm a Scorpio.
2. I was born on Halloween.
3. I can make darn near anything.
4. I can fix darn near anything.
5. I play recorder, a medieval flute-like instrument, and have gone to Early Music festivals and done demonstrations for Music Appreciation classes. One year, my friends and I played at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival.
6. I also played piano.
7. I have a full darkroom packed in storage waiting for a house to set up in.
8. In photography class, I entered a contest and was a finalist in the Best of College Photography 1999.
9. I collect dragon figurines and had some of them in Crown Center's "Tons More Things People Collect" show last summer.
10. I know how to SCUBA dive and have my own gear.
11. I love anything miniature; model trains, Zip zap RC cars, dragons, origami, books, doll house stuff, you name it!
12. I take Middle Eastern dance classes and love tribla-style and fusion dancing.
13. I live in a 2-bedroom apartment but can only use one because the other's packed with craft supplies.
14. I used to own a car body shop.
15. My favorite classes in High School were metal shop, foundry and sewing.
16. I love animals and have had snakes, marine and fresh-water fish, dogs, cats, mice, rats, a duck, a madagascar hissing roach, a tarantula and snails.
17. I also love plants and had over 200 African Violets at one time (and will again!).
18. I was a free-lance photographer for the Wednesday magazine with several cover photos.
19. I once worked in a haunted house.
20. I'm Pagan.

There, now you know too much and I'll have to disappear from the face of the Earth! I'm supposed to tag some more people, so here goes:

kiyotei
Ruud Janssen
Jim Bumgarner
Big Harry Hindmarsh
Kathleen Marie

Qpidoremix

My First Studio Session

I've never used studio lights for portrait photography before so Amara let me use her as a guinea pig-er-model. She's one of my dance teachers, if you couldn't guess from the costume, and needed some new photos of herself also. I learned a lot and so did she. And got some nice photos from it!

Nita's Screenshot

Here's the screenshot of Nita's blog, I meant to send it but hit the wrong button!!

InkTracks

InkTracks is Nita from New Hampshire's blog. She's a member of the Everyday Matters group and does a lot of her work in a Moleskine (!). There's been some discussion about it and it's discovered that a bit of soap on the brush helps break up the sizing on the sketchbook's pages to make it more receptive to watercolor. Nita also uses gouache in her book to good effect. Another talented artist!

There's a game of blog tag going around. Someone tag me, Please!!!!!!!

EDM #36 - Draw in Public

10-9-05
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The Main Street bridge over Brush creek on the Plaza in Kansas City, MO. Drawn in pencil in my trusty Moleskine yesterday from the children's section of the Kansas City Public Library, Plaza branch. It's also my entry for the Everyday Matters Challenge this week, #36, Draw in Public.

Esmerelda and Rianna

Esmerelda and Rianna
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

We went to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival last weekend with some of the gals from the Maya Zahira School of Bellydance. It was a little chilly in the morning but it was perfect for wearing costumes! Rianna got all dolled up in hers and Daddy wore his (after much cajoling and threatening from me). The cub was hopeless, I just didn't bother. Mine had a dye mishap and I found about 15 other reasons not to wear it. I had pockets and my backpack and could take care of the rest of the troupe just fine and enjoyed the day immensely. Rianna jumped on the bungee thing like in St Louis but they made her go too high and she got scared. Then I found her a garland for her hair and she was happy again. Go to my Flickr site (click on the badge over there --->) to find lots more photos from the day!

Toy Train Blind Contour

toytrainbc
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Blind Contour of one of my son's toy locomotives in my moleskine with a Pigma Micron pen while the kids jumped on the bed next to me! Last weekend was the Greater Kansas City Model Railroad Expo and the opening of the KC Rail Experience at Union Station. Check my Flickr page for lots of photos!
http://www.flickr.com/mweltephoto/

Laurelines

If you haven't been to Laura's blog, Laurelines, then drop in RIGHT NOW! She draws in color families and brushes in ink and is living Everyday. She looks at the things in front of her, cooking, at the market, in the garden and finds what her sketchbooks are filled with. Drawing every day is so essential to progressing as an artist, just as photographing every day is and we can look to Laura as an example of how not to be afraid of your materials and experiment and experience.

EDM #14 - First Thing I See in the Morning

firstthing
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

A tousle-headed boy! Pigma Micron in my Moleskine.

EDM #29 - Architectural

Ron's Buildings
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Draw something architectural. These buildings, at 2 East Emanuel Cleaver II Parkway, were the first ones my husband drew on AutoCAD and the first buildings from Black and Veatch to be done on AutoCAD. He did the structural and architectural drawings for them.