Vol. 2, No. 50, February 19, 2017

2050 - Birthday Bow.

I was deciding what to do today, and wasn't coming up with anything great. It is my cousin Bianca's Birthday today, so I thought that would be a good theme, but the project just wasn't coming to me. At this point it was 5:30 and I was going to a 7:00 movie, so I had to get moving on whatever I was going to do. I saw an old 31 catalog on the table and decided to recycle it by cutting a page up to make a bow that could go on a present.

I got the bow finished just as my ride arrived for the movie, so I brought it with and photographed it on the snack counter at the theater.  Then, I left it at the theater for someone else to find.

P.S. We went to see Sing! It is a very cute movie.

Vol. 2, No. 49, February 18, 2017

2049 - A view of your city. Soaring Eagle. 

On Tuesday,  I stopped in Darwin on my way home from work. As I was leaving, I noticed a Bald Eagle soaring above town. Since my challenge this week was a view of your city, I knew I wanted to make something eagle related, so I took to Pinterest for ideas. One of the first projects I saw was a collage. I fell in love with the idea of making a torn paper collage using magazines. I didn't have time/motivation to make it until today.

It is a 4"x6" collage. I plan to make some more of different subjects, to create one larger artwork later.

Vol. 2, No. 48, February 17, 2017

2048 - A view of your city. Water House. 

It was a beautiful day today, 60 degrees in February! So rather than make art inside I went out and used the first thing that caught my attention, the puddles of melted snow. 

I walked through the puddles, then used my footprints to "paint" my house from memory. I included a Google maps picture of my house for comparison.

This was project was quick and easy, leaving me plenty of time to sit in my hammock swing and read my book.

Vol. 2, No. 47, February 16, 2017

2046 - Artist Inspiration.

Today was an art club day at the Winsted Arts Council, which meant that I got to teach 4 kids in grades 1-3 about Joan Miro. We made prints inspired by his work. I took my printed paper to play practice and made greeting cards. 

Vol. 2, No. 46, February 15, 2017

The original Photo

The Advertisement

2045 - A view of your city. Advertising Adventure.

Today, I had a grand plan on making a magazine collage of a bald eagle. However, I had to get some stuff ready for my Thirty-One BAGGO Party next week and work on my taxes. By time all of that was done, it was nearly 8 pm and I was too exhausted to do the collage. So the collage will be tabled until later in the week.

So now I'm back to today's project. Fortunately, one of the things I had to do for the party was create an advertisement for Facebook. I actually had fun getting it ready. The BAGGO theme is Spring and Banana Splits. To make the ad, I set up a "stage" with a catalog, bingo cards, and a new wallet. Then I went to DQ to get a banana split. They sort of made fun of me when I said that I NEEDED a banana split. Anyways, I got it home, placed it on the wallet, adjusted the lighting and took a picture. Then it was to the computer for editing. I brightened the picture, removed the background and added text, creating the final add. So, while this wasn't my original project plan, it is still creative and in my book it still counts.

I guess this can also count for the #64millionartists challenge, be cause DQ is something that I see around town.

Vol. 2, No. 45, February 14, 2017

2045 - A view of your city. The Heart of MN.

Continuing to use twine as part of my #64millionartists challenge, I did a project that has been on my art bucket list for a while: MN String Art. I found a scrap of wood at the theater, got a friend to cut off the bad edge and sand it. Then I spray painted it gold. I found and printed a map of Minnesota, taped it to the prepared board and started pounding in nails around the boarder and in a heart around Darwin. Then, I gave the nails a quick coat of gold.

When it was dry, I started winding twine. I quickly discovered that the twine was too thick and would not work for this project, so I adapted. I used string for the woven base, and the added a twine boarder and a twine Celtic heart knot.

10.5" x 12"

Vol. 2, No. 44, February 13, 2017

2044 - A view of your city. Twine-pressed Hearts.

This week, the #64millionartists challenge is to make something inspired by where you live/work. Today, I found twine at school and used it to represent Darwin, MN and the World's Largest Ball of Twine Made by One Man.

I wanted to play with clay, my original thought was to just make a large heart-shaped slab tray, with twine impressions. However, the heart was cracking and I wasn't happy with it, so I cut out a circle, impressed it with  a heart cookie cutter and made a small tray. Then I had lots of clay scraps that couldn't be recycled because of the twine scraps, so I cut out multiple hearts and make a mobile. Once the pieces are fired, I will glaze them, retie them with twine, and post an update.

Vol. 2, No. 43, February 12, 2017

2043 - Nature's Art. Make something with natural objects. Berry Heart on Ice.

Today, I picked little red berries off a plant in my yard, and then arranged them on a heart-shaped piece of ice. I placed the installation on the corner so that people driving, or more likely those walking by as it is only 5" x 4", could enjoy it. 

Vol. 2, No. 42, February 11, 2017

2042 - Nature's Art. Make something with natural objects. Snow Heart.

The weather has been in the high 30's this weekend, making it great weather to get outside. It is also making the snow melt, which is softening it up, making it great for snow sculptures. I made a standing snow heart and finished it off with a spray of red food coloring.

It rained after the heart was finished making it loose its color, but the heart itself is still sanding at
13.5" x 11" x 6".

Vol. 2, No. 41, February 10, 2017

2041 - Play-Doh Hearts.

I was babysitting today and B wanted to play Play-Doh, So, I decided to do my project at the same time. Working on a Valentines Day themed mat, I rolled some coils and then started to braid them to make the top right heart. B saw my braid and told me she loved my Rapunzel hair and wanted to make one too. So I helped her roll coils and braid her own heart (bottom left).  Very quick, pretty easy, and when we were done taking the picture, we smashed them back up into the container.

Vol. 2, No. 40, February 9, 2017

2040 - Nature's Art. Make something with natural objects. Fruit Heart.

I had fruit for snack today, before I ate it, I arranged it to make a quick heart. Then I ate it and it was as delicious as it looked.

Vol. 2, No. 39, February 8, 2017

2039 - Nature's Art. Make something with natural objects. Pine Heart.

Today would have been Granny's 77th Birthday. So, even though it was really cold today, I decided to go to the cemetery and make art with her.  I gathered pine cones and fallen branches from around the cemetery and created this small heart installation at her grave.

Vol. 2, No. 38, February 7, 2017

2038 - Nature's Art. Make something with natural objects. Heart in the Snow. 

February is heart month, and February 7-14 is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week. My sister Margo has CHD. So this week, in addition to #64MillionArtists' nature, I am creating hearts for Margo. 

It snowed today, just a light dusting, so I was able to actually draw in the snow! It is fairly small, about 2.5 ft sq, and was made using only a stick and the snow. 

Vol. 2, No. 37, February 6, 2017

2037 - Nature's Art. Make something with natural objects. Footprints in the Snow.

#64MillionArtists is sending out a weekly challenge every Monday. My goal is to make at least one project based on their challenge each week. This week is Nature. It's really unfortunate that it is cold this week. I guess that means I will just have to work fast when I go outside.

I was hoping for a light dusting of snow so I could actually draw in the Snow, but since that didn't happen, I settled for walking in the snow. It turned out to be a lot more difficult that it sounded. The snow had a hard top layer from all the melting that has been happening, so walking was a lot more like stomping. I added some color to make the design more defined and then photographed it from above. The drawing is about 10 feet tall.

Vol. 2, No. 36, February 5, 2017

2036 - Football Food. My family hosted a Super Bowl party. The main course was a taco bar. I prepared the refried beans, sculpting them into a football, creating the laces with string cheese.

Vol. 2, No. 35, February 4, 2017

2035 - Make a Wish. In honor of World Cancer Day, I decided to make a Relay for Life Luminary.  I didn't have a blank bag, so I drew on tracing paper that I can attach to a bag later.

Vol. 2, No. 34, February 3, 2017

2034 - Jewelry Repair/Design. I had some fewelry that was in need of repair, so for today's project, that's what I did. The Time Turner Necklace and the rosary just need jump rings replaced (that was easy). The bracelet on the other hand, need a complete redesign. It had broken and half the beads were missing.  So, I found new string, beads, and some chain and redesigned  the whole thing.

Vol. 2, No. 33, February 2, 2017

2033 - Quilted Colors. Today's project is an example for my art club. I used watercolors to paint a large piece of paper, incorporating 6 different painting techniques. I used Epsom salt, table salt, wax-resist, rubbing alcohol drops, water drops, and blotting with a paper towel. Each technique created a different design on my paper. When it was dry, I cut the paper into triangles and rearranged them in a quilt like pattern on black paper. I loved how it turned out and I hope that the art club collages will be just as great, I know that their painted papers are awesome.

Vol. 2, No. 32, February 1, 2017

Yesterday was a great transition into February. This month, I am going to create my own challenges. Today's challenge: Make a time-lapse photo-collage. On January 1, 2017, I began taking a picture of a tree in my yard. I took a picture from approximately the same spot every day. Today, I took all of those pictures and combined the in Photoshop to create my collage. This sounds relatively easy, but due to slightly different camera angles, things didn't quite line up. So, I would not call this a success, but it is finished, and I will try again next month. Maybe by the end of the year, I will have this mastered.

Vol. 2, No 31, January 31, 2017

Day 31 - Go your own way. Create your own challenge for someone else. We had auditions for the Litchfield Community Youth Theatre show, Lion King Jr. I challenged myself, and the others who were at the registration table, to create miniature models of fruit using polymer clay. I had two friends take me up on the challenge. Erin made a strawberry, kiwi, watermelon and grapes; Julia made a banana; and I made cantaloupe. When I find time, I will be turn the fruit into wine glass charms.

Vol. 2, No. 30, January 30, 2017

Day 30 - if you could see me now. Create a picture of yourself on January 1, 2018. This was hard. I know where I would like to be, who I'd like to be with, and what I'd like to do, however I didn't know how to draw it. Instead I drew a quick bookmark. If there is wine, a good book, a warm fire, and fireworks  (literally or figuratively), I will be happy.

Vol. 2, No. 29, January 29, 2017

Day 29 - Finding light in loss. Dance to the song 'Forever More' by Moloko. Write for 5 minutes about/to someone you no longer speak to but wish you could. Stand outside, turn one slow, steady, full circle on the spot and film what you see. I went to Darwin Hill to make my film, because I like the view from on top of the hill. I combined a poem inspired (not sure that is really the right word to use here) by my writing, the dance song, and my film to create a short movie. It's not great by any means, but the message behind it is "DON'T FORGET TO SMILE."

Vol. 2, No. 28, January 28, 2017

Day 28 - Where are we going? Go for a walk without a destination in mind - walk purely for the act of putting one foot in front of another. On your walk, look up every two minutes - what do you see? What changes? Take photos if you like. Or just remember the views. What does it feel like just to walk? This was difficult for me today. I went to the High School One Act Sub-Section competition today, and with so little time between performances,  I didn't find time to walk. Plus, I like to make something every day and I didn't want to make another photo collage. So when I got home,  I walked a loop around inside my parents house for 2 minutes. I ended up in the office when the timer went off, so I looked around for something to make something. I found a strip of backing from a roll of postage stamps. I folded it up to make a small origami star, then I returned it to the desk for someone else to find.

Vol. 2, No. 27, January 27, 2017

Day 27 - What do you think? Play a game of photo association. This was fun but still a little challenging. I did it as a challenge on Facebook and got 9 friends involved. I started off with a picture of an open book and we ended with puppy chow. One of my favorite explanations was from 12 (wine) to 13 (book) Book Clubs - where women gather to drink wine. There were no book clubs handy at the time, so we had to settle for a book. As we went along, I made sure that all of the transitions made sense to me, even if they didn't to anyone else.

Vol. 2, No. 26, January 26, 2017

Day 26 - Joy Division. Invent a new feeling and think about how we would experience it. Write a dictionary definition with the made up word, and a description of how it feels. My word is amodinox. I created it from the Latin words for Love, Hate, and Sleep. I really love sleeping, and it is always hard for me to get up in the morning. However I hate going to bed. Well not actually going to bed, but getting ready for bed. It is such a lengthy process, but I can't just skip it. So in comes my feeling of amodinox. I typed up the definition and glued it into an old dictionary at school. It is even in the right place alphabetically, I just had to cover up part of the definition of amnion. 

Vol. 2, No. 25, January 25, 2017

Day 25 - Can you hear me? Take a photograph that conveys 'LOUD'. It was snowing today, which made me think of one very loud thing, the snowblower. Of course, I couldn't get it started today, so I had to take the picture of it just sitting there, but the onomatopoeias make the picture a lot more fun.

Vol. 2, No. 24, January 24, 2017

Day 24 - Draw what you feel. Find an object. Then close your eyes and using touch alone, draw your chosen object. I found a penguin sculpture at school and drew it 3 times with my eyes closed. The first attempt, I used color. That was the most difficult, because I had to lift the marker, whenever I changed colors. Even with using my finger to mark my spot, I got off. The second was better, but I got interrupted part way through. The 3rd attempt was the best, mostly because I had a much better idea of the shape. I don't have a picture of it, but I also threw a pot on the wheel today with my eyes closed. This was easier than drawing blind, because my hands never had to leave the pot.

Vol. 2, No. 23, January 23, 2017

Day 23 - Perfect Day. Create a perfect day made by sounds you would hear. Today I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on sounds that I love to hear and activities that I love to do. I wasn't sure how to present it, so I  just wrote it all out on tracing paper and painted the back with watercolors, creating a sun catcher. 8" x 10"

Vol. 2, No. 22, January 22, 2017

Day 22 - Dream small. Make something that fits in the palm of your hand using only the materials available in your immediate environment. Today I was taking down the Christmas decorations at my parents house and redecorating the foyer. As I was sitting up on top of the closet waiting for something to secure the trombone in place, I found a piece of green wire. Using just my hands, I sculpted the wire into a spiral tree. 1.5" x .75"

Vol. 2, No. 21, January 21, 2017

Day 21 - Word up. Collect a series of words from your day and create something with them. Today I had a Girls Day with the Toenjes'. As I went about my day, I forgot to "collect" words, so I ended up making astory about our day using each letter in GIRLS DAY OUT as the base of the next word/phrase.

Vol. 2, No. 20, January 20, 2017

Day 20 - Making tag. Make something using 3 objects. Then have someone else make something using one of the same objects and 2 new objects. I made the first sculpture and posted it on Facebook, to get others to join in the fun. I only had 5 people participate, but I filled in creating a sculpture after each of theirs, for a total of 12. We started with paper, clothes pins, and magnets, and ended with a pencil, Kleenexes, and a hair band. I combined all of the pictures into a photo-collage.

Vol. 2, No. 19, January 19, 2017

Day 19 - Moodsong. Write a chorus for a song that describes how you feel today. Today was a good day. The sun was shining and it was warm outside. It was a Mass day at school today and Fr. Paul greeted everyone with "Happy Summer". It seemed appropriate for my mood, so I took his phrase and added it to my song (I had to add 'Bro' for the rhyming affect.) The words are written with a poster paint marker on black construction paper, with a chalk halo. 8"x10"

Vol. 2, No. 18, January 18, 2017

Day 18 - Somewhere over the rainbow. Make a rainbow out of food and make something that will brighten your day. I used a variety of fruits and vegetables to make this rainbow flower. Red-Apple, Orange-Sweet Potato, Yellow-Squash, Green-Zucchini, Blue-Blueberry Skin, Purple-Blueberry Inside. The layers are all wrapped up and held together with peanut butter. 2"x 4"x 1"

Vol. 2, No. 17, January 17, 2017

Day 17 - A cup of magic. Create a recipe for happiness. For this one, I thought about things that make me happy, and then combined them into a cute recipe.

Vol. 2, No. 16, January 16, 2017

Day 16 - What's funny? Make someone laugh. Not my joke, but it is my photograph. This one took a while, because I had to find a good joke that was actually funny. I read through a bunch, found a handful that made me laugh, and then tested those 5 out on my family. This one was the winner. Then I got Phillip to pose with freezing cold water while I got the picture.

Vol. 2, No. 15, January 15, 2017

Day 15 - What are you listening to? Make a mix tape. This was a fun project. I spent lots of time making my playlist of songs that have significance to me or that I just plain like. Then rather than just writing down the list, I made a 16 second mash-up of all the songs on my list. I used a word or phrase from each song to make short story. I called it my snippet version of my mix tape.

Rosanne's Create 2015 Mix Tape
I lost my money {Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker}
going insane. {Like Its Her Birthday by Good Charlotte}
Hey bartender! {Bartender by Lady Antebellum}
Don't worry {Can't Feel My Face by The Weeknd}
I was sweeping up {We Danced by Brad Paisley}
my phone. {I Like the Sound of That by Rascal Flatts}
I don't really wanna {Meet Virginia by Train}
hate you. {I Hate U, I Love U by Gnash}
What do you mean?? {What Do You Mean by Justin Bieber}

Vol. 2, No. 14, January 14, 2017

Day 14 - Love, Me x. Make a self-portrait which shows up to 5 of your best qualities. I wasn't feeling super creative today, so I just made a quick photo-collage. By quick, I mean that I spent over 30 minutes, trying to take the perfect eye picture, and then using multiple attempts to get the words just right.

Vol. 2, No. 13, January 13, 2017

Day 13 - Lined Up. Collectively write a story. I was babysitting the Miller Littles before school today. After they were dressed and ready to go they got to choose something to do like watch TV or play. They all chose to help me write my story. Each color in the story is a different person.

Vol. 2, No. 12, January 12, 2017

Day 12 - Scrap Band. Create your own instrument out of items around you. At  work today, I found some old ceramic glaze samples, wire, hot glue, fish-line, and a spatula. I combined them  to make chimes. I finished it all off with  some gold paint. 23"x8"x4"

Vol. 2, No. 11, January 11, 2017

Day 11 - Just imagine. Inspiration = What you see off in the distance when looking from up high. During my prep time while i was subbing, I went upstairs to look out over the town. I made a Zentangled bookmark using patterns I saw in the distance. 2"x6"

Vol. 2, No. 10, January10, 2017

Day 10 - You are what you eat. Make or share a recipe for a dish that you consider as part of your culture. I really wanted to make something, but I didn't have any ingredients on hand. So, I settled for sharing one of my favorite recipes, Lefse. I'm not Norwegian, but I love recipe and have been making if for many years, therefore it is sort of like my culture.

I used to make Lefse with Granny and continued on my own after she died, but I've never found a recipe that I really liked. So, this year, I studied lots of recipes and with some guessing, developed this recipe. It turned out great, by far the best lefse I've ever made.

Vol. 2, No. 9, January 9, 2017

Day 9 - Into the light. Use a light to create interesting shadows. While my students built lego sculptures, I drew shadows. I laid a crumpled piece of paper  on a larger paper, then traced the shadows. I took the traced lines and made mini drawings. My favorite part of the picture is probably the city, but the hedgehog and bear are cute too.

Vol. 2, No. 8, January 8, 2017

Day 8 - Get up and dance. Dance to or make something inspired by your favorite song. It was hard for me to choose a favorite song, but with Margo's help, I settled on "All Star" by Smash Mouth. It is a family favorite, in fact we taught it to our first foreign exchange student while sitting in Olive Garden. The picture is kind of hard to see, but it is a dull screwdriver ('not the sharpest tool in the shed'), which I used to draw 'a finger and a thumb in the shape of an L' on the printing plate. I got the idea from a logo I had seen in a video sent to me today by Becca. 

Vol. 2, No. 7, January 7, 2017

Day 7 - Storytime. Find an object around you and tell a story about it. I originally wanted to write about a rosary I had made, but I didn't have the rosary at my house, so it didn't really work for today's project. I was wracking my brain trying to find something else to write about when I saw my pillowcase dolls sitting in the corner. They hold lots of good memories for me and I immediately knew I had found my object. I decided to write the story in the perspective of the dolls to make it more fun.

Vol. 2, No. 6, January 6, 2017

Day 6 - ABC Go. Complete a game of photo tag inspired by the alphabet. I invited friends on Facebook to help me complete this challenge. I was still waiting on a few letters when I was ready to go to bed for the night, so I granted myself an extension. Sometimes you have to be flexible. Anyways it's my marathon, so we follow my rules.

I would like to give a big shout out to everyone who helped me collect photos! It was a lot of fun to see what you found. Some of the letters were repeated, so I just chose my favorite for the collage.

Vol. 2, No. 5, January 5, 2017

Day 5 - The golden conversation. Go to the fifth text in your inbox. Write down the first sentence of the message on the right hand side of a page vertically, using a line for each word. Now use the page to write a poem with each line ending in one of the words.

This text was from my brother. Okay I'll be there by then. My poem is inspired by a conversation that I recently had with someone. The poem is mounted on paper painted with watercolors. 8" x 10"

I make art and I think it's OKAY.

It may not be perfect, but I'LL

continue to try. It can't BE

awesome all the time, so THERE!

Power tools are hard to come BY

but if I get some, I'll make cool art THEN!

Vol. 2, No. 4, January 4, 2017

Day 4 - A deeper shade of blue. Take a walk and see how many shades of blue you can see.  I was subbing today and spent 30 minutes of my prep time touring the school, keeping an eye out for anything blue. It was a pretty easy task as the school colors are blue and red. During my walk, I took 20 pictures showing over 50 shades of blue. When I returned, I combined the pictures in a photo collage.

Vol. 2, No. 3, January 3, 2017

Day 3 - Seeing is believing. Draw what you can see from your window. I did today's project at work, using the view right after I got there, about 7:30 am. You can see splotches of light starting to break through the clouds. I decided to eliminate the buildings, cars, and parking lot and focus on the beauty of the lake behind it all. My drawing is a 5" x 7" graphite on paper.

Vol. 2, No. 2, January 2, 2017

Day 2 - Up in the air. Build a tower as tall as you can. Today was family game day at Grandma's. We played dominoes. Since they were out, I decided to make a dominoes tower. My tallest tower made it to 36", unfortunately it fell before I could take a picture. Here is my dominoes tower at 31".  To go with the mini #CreativeSprint "say hi", I also made a dominoes wall that spells hello.

Vol. 2, No. 1, January 1, 2017

Day 1 - Have you heard the news? Today I started the 64 Million Artists January challenge.  Today's challenge was to write a newspaper headline for the new year. What it boils down to is good health, good art, and good luck. Happy New Year!