ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #43

Howdy y'all...Betty here again to bring you our prompt for the week.  I have been extremely busy preparing for our art retreat, and quite frankly, working on prompts was not on any of the myriad of lists I have going at the moment.  But I managed...barely.


Since Halloween is just around the corner, our prompt this week is "Ghosts, Goblins & Other Spookies"
As most of you know, Halloween is not my favorite holiday, and it is hard to get in the spirit of it, when we never have trick or treaters way out here in the sticks where we live.   Of course, my neighbors are all decked out decorated and told me they were anticipating some children this year.  I told them not to hold their breath since in over 20 years we have lived out here, we had one trick or treater and that "child" is in her 20's will be getting married next weekend!  Now, of course they use that excuse to buy candy and feel good about it "just in case".  But since NO children live down here at the far end of a very dark rural road, the likelihood of seeing little ghosts and goblins is quite marginal for us. When we lived in the suburbs of Dallas, I loved all the little kids and had fun handing out candy to them, taking pictures and trying to get into the spirit of it all.  My fur babies weren't quite as receptive, but at least I did love those cute kids coming up on the porch!

EPIC FAIL

So I had some trouble with this. I have very little ephemera for Halloween, save for some cute things I got in happy mail this past week.  But none of that spoke to me.  So I did manage to draw this first thing, get it colored, and then hated the entire thing.  This was a dismal fail...but I'm going to show it to you anyway.....  it WILL get some gesso all over it very soon, I promise.  I find it to be hideous and like nothing about it whatsoever.  I used Copic and Aqua markers.There was bleeding from the adjacent page and streaks I could not obliterate without dragging out the paint too.

While talking with Melody on the phone, an idea hit me, so I whipped out my trusty pencil and grabbed black, red and white acrylic and managed to complete this new mess for you.  I'm so over Halloween. Thank goodness it will all be over next week.  The following one says it all...about my mood and inability to deal with Halloween right now.  Sorry folks. Hopefully next week my Muse will be re-enthused after spending four glorious days with the gals making art and having great fellowship with them.

LYNN made this super cute page and says: "I used scrapbook orange paper and the bats and ghosts are glimmer stickers. Washi tape at the bottom of the page. Hope you enjoy and see what the others came up with."

SHANA and her Muse were working overtime this week and came up with this really fabulous spread.  She says:  "Playing in my hot press watercolor handmade journal with aqua markers and watercolor pencils. I knew I wanted to make a goblin but I wanted him/her to be cute, and "pretty much everything is cute in a pink tutu!"  And how right she is.  This is super cute!

 

MELODY has a double entry for us tonight.  We saw her background earlier in the week and were stoked to see what she did with it.  But she says that her Muse must has flown off into the night with a vampire bat or Count Dracula, because this is how she feels......


And here's her spread.  She thinks that is her own blood on there after her Muse cut her throat. 

I think the general consensus is we're all happy Halloween is about over.  We have no more dark pages in us and the spooky ghosts and goblins have departed from our repertoires.  We are hopeful, though, that some fun and magic remain in YOUR imaginations, so be sure and show us your successes...and your failures.  We did.

Be safe, and have an artful week!

ARTFUL CHICKS
~~Betty, Melody, Lynn and Shana

Week #41 - Black Cats and Bats

Hey, y'all, Melody here, bringing you our prompt for this week!  We thought that since October is now in full gear, we should have a little fun with Halloween stuff, and so we thought we'd start off with black cats and bats.

Most people despise bats, mostly due to a fear of the creatures, but in all actuality, they're quite the helpful creature, not to mention that superstitions say if a bat hits you or lands on you, it's supposed to be good luck!

Black cats have long been considered to be witch's familiars, often thought to have such a personal connection with their "witch", that they would do the witch's bidding or even serve as a guardian for her.

Just a little useless trivia info for y'all before we dive into the art of the week!

Let's start with Betty, this week...she pulled off a super cute spread for this week, unleashing her wicked sense of humor.  Here's what she said..."I really don't like Halloween that much, although I love the candy (who doesn't, right?)  We never have trick or treaters way out here in the sticks where I live, but I always buy at least one bag of great chocolate candy...just in case.  Mind you, in the 20 years we have had ONE trick or treater, and that was a neighbor child who was 2 and she is getting married on Halloween!!  So lucky us...we get all the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!  I already helped scarf down the candy corn.  So there!

I couldn't get too motivated for our prompt this week and with Melody's urging to throw on a snarky attitude, at 3:00 am this morning I produced this bat-s**t-crazy bat for you.  I quickly sketched the bat on the cover paper of a Bristol pad I salvaged, painted with all acrylic paint, with a neon paint pen for the highlights and letter, along with some glow in the dark green on his ears (and it really does glow, I promise).  He is lusting after a particular beauty's neck, with his friends not far behind.  So watch out my pretttttyyyyyyy.....

Enjoy what the other girls have created for you this week, with the hopes of providing some kind of inspiration from deep within your dark side...or your snarky side, like me.  Make it a great week, everyone!

Next up we have a spread created by the amazing Miss Lynn, and OMGeeeeeezy!  Here's what SHE had to say about her spread for this week:


"I'm happiest when I get to cut out my prompt.

For this I glued down orange paper and cut out some Ms. Hello Kitty bats and faces. Did a shadow first then cut the stencil. Cut out Happy Hallow and it was done.

What I really think of this spread is that it is CUTE!  Thanks for looking and make sure you go see what the other girls came up with this week. One word..CUTE!!"

Next up is the super talented SHANA who has hit another one right out of the ballpark!!!  Take a peek at her blog HERE and see this fantabulousness!

Finally there's my offering for this week...anyone that knows me knows I love all animals...although I am NOT a huge cat fan.  Now before you call for my head, please understand, I love cats...but I don't want to own one...I just want to pet them and walk away.  But while I was bouncing around on Pinterest looking for a good image of a black cat, I found something that just grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go.  Once I had the image, and had it fussy cut and glued down, the words came to me almost immediately, and I ran with it....so here you go...

And there you go!  Our collective creative talents on one page, just for you!  Let us see what you create, and let us know what you think!

Later, y'all!!!