Orange is Overrated

I know some MEGA orange-lovers.

One of my favourite bloggers is Tula Jeng over at Whorange. She can't get enough orange.

I can't get far enough AWAY from orange.

To humour the orange-lovers of the world, I decided to try a page in my art journal completely dedicated to orange. I found some orange origami paper and got out all of my orange crayons and felts. And then I created.

I couldn't finish fast enough. It wasn't therapeutic or calming like art journalling usually is for me, it was painful, stressful and I felt anxious....

After this experience, I looked up the meaning of the colour orange. Emily Gems says that orange can be used to increase creativity. Hmph. Orange also increases the craving for food, which is a bit bizarre. I don't have any orange around my house yet I'm always feeling snacky...

Anyhow, here it is, my simple, couldn't-finish-fast-enough orange page.

Organization for 2012

Just want to give you a peek into my studio and my organization system. 

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a total STICKLER for organization. I love little cases and drawers and labels.

I've yet to find an old library card catalogue cabinet, but when I do, I'll be giddy with glee!

Here is one corner of my art studio. The gray filing cabinet on the right is from Ikea and holds mostly tools that I use  including different glues, scissors, scrapers, etc.

It's the white plastic drawer cabinet in the middle that I want to tell you about today...

I bought it from Target for somewhere around $50. The drawers are individual cases which have their own locking covers.
They are about 13"x13", so they hold even my larger papers...

I labelled them all with my fancy Dymo labeller.
Of course they are labelled according to the rainbow, in order: ROY G BIV, then brown and black/white at the bottom. 

Here is my brown case - you can see that each case contains scraps of all different media in differing shades of brown.
In this photo: fabric, wallpaper,  numbers, scrapbook paper...

...tissue paper, photo negatives, thin cardboard...

...magazine tear-outs, more scrapbook paper and wallpaper swatches...

...film negatives, more fabric, and a marvelous slice of agate.
All the brown tones are in this case.
And I have one drawer/container for each colour :)

This way, when something new comes into my hot little hands, I can file it right away in the right colour group to use later. 

Neat huh? And organized, too! Hop on over to Target and look for one for yourself!

Add a Bit of Colour, and Voila!

I've been playing around with Mandalas lately. Apparently it is considered therapeutic to do a Mandala every day. I don't know about therapeutic, but I really love working on them.

Each one is different, and each time I start one, a new adventure begins.  

Adding colour just makes the adventure that much more exciting!



Here is a before and after colour comparison. I *love* how the watercolours create the effects of puffy clouds...

Materials: Watercolour and Sakura Pigma #1 black pen.

October 22 - National Color Day!

Did you know that in Canada we make the word "color" even more special by giving it an extra letter? That's right. When you play Scrabble in Canada, "colour" is worth more points.



The Monkey at White Rock Beach



Today is a day to celebrate colour. That means that pretty much every visual artist everywhere should sleep in and drink extra coffee (or tea!) until they are good and ready to start their day.

You see, I have a secret love affair with colour. I get so excited poring over paint chips at Home Depot that my grubby little hands grab them by the fistful! When I see the blues, oranges and pinks of a sunset over White Rock Beach, my heart skips a beat or two and my breath is whisked away with the ocean wind.

To celebrate Colour Day, I've taken some snapshots of some colour pages that I've designed. Enjoy!




Orange - Gratitude




Brown - Includes a quote from George Sand




Red - I'm loving Mandalas lately...




Green




Pink - Amour (love)