59 Cootie Catching…

I didn’t know the name of this paper-folding thing I’ve been making at work today. Apparently my google search says it’s called a ‘Cootie Catcher’ huh? Sounds american to me – surely this isn’t what we called it in our play ground…cooties were like the ‘lurgy’ if I remember right?

Anyhow, I spent the best part of Friday and this afternoon working up some designs based on these cootie catchers…so I could probably fold n make one with my eyes closed. Actually Rick has asked if he can test me so I’ll let know how good my blindfolded-cootie-cacther skills are later.

I base todays heart art on a 4 grid setup of the folds created when you make a cootie catcher. I then coloured with my vibrant 99p pack of felt-tips and added water. (yes still excited form yesterdays heart-art). If you want to see it before I added water click here and if you want to see how many tester cootie catchers I made click here!

58 Love on the inside

I’ve had a well-deserved relaxing day at home with my man, just being us and doing some home-sweet-home kinda stuff really. I’m feeling quite connected to my inner spirit and true loves.

My long-love for tattoo art (my first piece of ‘published’ work was tattoos designs) and for the admiration I have for those passionate about what they do – I’m probably directly inspired by today being the the 1st day of filming for the new series of NYINK.

I’ve drawn this in pencil draft in my water-colour sketch book. Then over-drawn with ballpoint pen and coloured with (a limited selection of) felt-tips. I’ve then played with a fine paintbrush and some water…it’s the first time that I’ve really explored this style of colouring and am really pleased with the final piece. I know that I need to practice drawing the scales and get that flow right, but overall I feel like I’ve discovered something new about myself.

If you want to see more close up shots of this please click here

57 What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger

While I find the title of this post quite dramatic to my actual reality, I do connect with it. This post is dedicated to everyone who has to ‘deal with stuff’ sometimes and everyone else that feels low deep down, angry, sad and frustrated. This is a kind of expression of a passing storm, something that I don’t really do…a show of when I hurt. Since my geekhearts a day art is to be honest and created upon my daily inspiration I’m stepping into unfamiliar ground and letting myself out there…balancing out a postive I suppose.

I’m feeling much better thanks and no I’m not in the mood for talking about it – I don’t dwell on negativity. I have produced what I think is quite a beautiful heart today from it – and the sun always rises in the morning…

Black ball point pen a little water splashed from a paint brush. I held the paper up and turned it around to get the streaming affect.

Love and respect x

56 Doo-re-mi-doodle

Today my friend Carin introduced me to an amazing little blog and I was intantly drawn towards Julia Rothman’s swirly swallow wallpaper

I’m also going out for a meal with the girls at work tonight and feel quite disconnected from my usual routine of going home, dinner and working again.

Blue pen in my sketch book…swirls and frills thats what little hearts are made of…

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That’s what little boys are made of !”
What are little girls made of?
“Sugar and spice and all things nice
That’s what little girls are made of!”

Traditional English Nursery Rhyme

55 Mudpies and confetti

I loved making mud pies when I was a nipper…!…I’ve already introduced our niece to the fun too, despite the ‘ewwww?!?’ from mummy. Today I got pretty close to the mud and used up some heart confetti stored away for a couple of years now… (yes beloved eco-warriors-the biodegradable earth-friendly stuff!).

So I couldn’t decide between either of these photos and  am spoiling you with two xx let me know which you like best!

54 Amber Ambrogina

Today my heart art is dedicated to my mother-in-law-by-commitemnt rather-than marriage. Since the some 11 years ago that we met, my boyfriends mother has been an inspiration to me in so many ways, with her support, encouragement and down-to-earth wackyness. Milena Ambrogina Di Palma is proably one of the most loving, strong-minded, dedicated women I’ve ever had the privalge to get to know.

She gave me this broach as a gift quite a few years ago and I’ve aways loved it, today I’m wearing it along with my newly aquired amber earings. It’s only today that I’ve appriciated the beautiful silver hearts. Thank you for all you do xx

53 Howdya-doodle-doo

No pencil -just ink to paper today and I just rolled with it. Quite randomly made-it-up as I went along. I wanted to try and be a spontaneous and thoughtless as possible…hopefully I’ve not been directly inspired by something today just being me in my sketchbook.

52 How does an orange peel…

…when it has a crispy shell?

Is this the red sea or am I just seeing red?  I wonder what melts in a milk-chocolate mouth?

This post is dedicated to my sister, Rachael. We used to love this Smarties t.v ad and being around 9 and 7 years old – it was a great backchat – ‘only Smarties have the answer’!

I didn’t have to re-watch the t.v ad on you tube as it’s imprinted to my brain! I’ll paste it below – see if you remember it too!..I know Karl knows it too! :0)

51 Loopy Lace and Wunderkammern

As you’ll know if you’ve read yesterday’s post – I’m reading my I wonder book.  I’ve had the word ‘Wunderkammern‘ stuck in my head all day…a bit like when you get a song stuck in your head…but a word..not sure if anyone else ever get’s this – but I’ve always had it for as long as I remember. Every now and then a word gets stuck. We’ve also been watching (for the first time) Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (total coincidence I promise!)…I’m rarely in charge of the t.v remote!

Anyhow – I relaxed and spent time drawing my loopy-lace font that I’m occasionally developing….and turned that into my heart art today. I’ve brought it into pshop and made it into a sort of ‘wonder’ as I try to establish what it is I want to do with it….so it’s here lost in space and time in a sort of ‘in-progress-loopy-lace-font’ heart art today.

50 Eye of the beholder

This time last week I’d been to the museum of everything. I’d seen some amazing, beautiful and bizarre things – from photos of victorian midgets and deformed people in the circus, from a stuffed lamb with 2 heads to a room filled with all-singin ‘n’ dancing miniature fairground rides. Slightly freaky I would say…but definitely a wonderful experience and highly recommended.

A memorable point of the show was when I was in the small room filled with a collection dolls and I imagined how at some point a child had probably played with each one and how loved they had been. The room was pretty lonely – empty for visitors – I can only assume that most found the deformation, missing limbs and dirty faces slightly uncomfortable? This made me aware of my naturally positive view of things.

Todays heart art is inspired by that experience, combined with my treat of finding time today to read my Marian Banjets book called ‘I Wonder’. Today I connected with the ‘I wonder’ theory set out in the first chapter, the below being a little bit of my favourite;

We need to allow the mind to wander into it’s unnatural conclusions, surprising us with leaps of thought and the childish joy of unknowing. Curiosity, that once impious act that dares to question what was given, is the key to the fantastic.

So if I’ve managed to keep you reading for this long – big pat on the back! Hopefully I’ve made some sense – and through kind of ‘wonder’ and self-analysis it will explain why I have produced this heart art today…

The beautiful  brushes I used are available from brusheezy for download:

Pimbo’s Demon Brushes

Dark Wing brushes