Day 63

 

I needed to learn something new for today's challenge. A few weeks ago I found a book about gourd art, so I bought a gourd from our local farmer's market on Wednesday for $1. I used an exacto-knife and pumpkin carving tools to cut out areas, but I decided to leave the seed pod inside. I felt like it looked like the tentacles were capturing the pod. I sanded the cut outs with a dremel and sandpaper. I drew on it with pencil then inked it with India ink, like a watercolor painting. I used black permanent marker in the openings and finished it with an acrylic varnish. It is very different from each angle, so I included two images. I am happy about the finished product and my new skill.

Day 62

Today I needed to work with something that lights up, so I created an illuminary. I used a black marker to draw on a white lunch bag. Inside is a tea light.

Day 61

Today I needed to work with a puzzle. Luckily, I found a blank puzzle last week at the St. Louis Art Museum. I created a whimsical scene with a chef octopus juggling cupcakes. I drew it out and inked it, then modeled it with watercolor.

Day 60

Day 60 finally! My goal was to get 60 projects done by the end of June and I am barely making it, but I did make it. My goal for the year is going to be 104 (2 a week) to possibly 122 (1/3 of my original goal). Today I needed to work with chalk on a sidewalk. I used artist's pastels on my front porch.

Day 59

The challenge for today was to use erasers. I used a kneaded eraser that was brand new. The great thing about kneaded erasers is that they can be sculpted. My students are always turning theirs into interesting animals and such...

Day 58

Today I needed to work with shredded paper, so I decided to use some quilling paper that I had. The finished product is 4" x 6" and it took about 2 hours to make.

Day 57

The challenge was to create something only using items around your bathroom. As an extra challenge I made it in the bathroom. For this project I used an clear travel bag and fingernail polish. Luckily, I have many different colors and brush types on my polish.

Day 56

Today I needed to work with a pair of shoes, so I used my old garden clogs. I incorporated an octopus into the existing design with sharpie.

Day 55

Today I needed to use numbers to create my image. I think it kind of looks like a spider instead of an octopus, oh well. It is brought to you by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 6/9, 7, 8 and 0!

Day 54

The challenge for today was to use papier-mache. I decided to use a papier-mache pulp. It was really difficult to work with. It was like sculpting with cottage cheese then it took several days to dry. I thought that I would be able to sand it smooth, but that was not possible. All in all I was not happy with this product and the resulting project.

Day 53

Today I needed to use a disposable bag to create something, so I used a brown paper lunch bag. I only used a scissors to cut areas, everything is just twisted.

Day 52

Today I made a kaleidoscope image using a pattern with an octopus and bubbles that was repeated 8 times. I colored it with colored pencils.

Day 51

Today I needed to make something cute and cuddly that normally is not. I made this cute and cuddly octopus from a pattern off of pintrest.

Day 50

Finally day 50!! Today I needed to create a 10 word science fiction story and illustrate it. The story is "Falling, the mighty octopus wrapped it's tentacles around the wicked." The man is holding onto the pipe with all of his strength as the octopus kills him.

Day 49

The image is not orientated correctly, but it is the shadow of an octopus that I cut out of paper. The challenge today was to create an interesting shadow and only record the shadow, not the object casting it. My husband helped me by holding the flashlight as I took the picture.

Day 48

I had to create a tangram, which is a 7 pieced Chinese puzzle that forms a square. The entire puzzle is 4" square and I used markers to create the image.

Day 47

Today I had to work with all white supplies in a minimalist style. I used two pieces of white drawing paper and an x-acto to create this octopus.

Day 46

Today I needed to make something out of dots, so I decided to stipple with several different sized pens. I worked pretty small 4" x 3" because it is a time consuming process.

Day 45

Today I needed to take something old and make it look new. To accomplish this, I took an old blue cotton t-shirt and used a bleach pen on it. The effect is a natural orange color with some subtle values. I am really excited about wearing it soon!

Day 44

Today I had to create something out of a piece of junk mail. I used an ad for insurance from the National Education Association. I was able to create this 3D paper sculpture all from the paperwork. I used the envelopes as well.

I'm back!!

Hello Everyone,

I had to take a break from the project because I was directing the spring musical. Now that the musical is over, I can go back to creating. Please keep checking in. Thanks.

Day 43

Today I had to make something out of tape. I used blue and black duck tape. The body was formed around a balloon.

Day 42

Today's octopus was created out of yarn and pompoms for the eyes. It could be used as a pin.

Day 41

Today I had to create a scene under water, so I placed seashells, foliage and an octopus in the bottom of a flower vase. They are submerged.

Day 40

Today I need to create a haiku poem. So here goes...

Mysterious Depths
Camouflaged to conceal me
My tentacles wait.

Day 39

Today I needed to use staples or a stapler in the creation. I decided to make a stapled octopus on a post-it note.

Day 38

Today I needed to create a disguise. No one will ever recognize my husband in this tentacle mustache.

Day 37

Today I needed to create something using materials from my yard. I decided to paint/draw an octopus on a rock from my front yard. It is made from white paint and black marker.

Day 34 finished

Here is the finished piece from day 34. The octopus was painted with iridescent red, burnt umber and a bright blue.

Day 36

It is side-ways. Today I needed to be inspired by a dream for my image. I have a lot of dreams with tornadoes in them, so I used that aspect. In the image I have a large octopus that is creating tornadoes that are touching down on a country road. All of my tornado dreams occur in fields or back roads.

Day 35

Today I needed to make something ephemeral, so I used Dawn foaming soap. I squirted it out in the general shape then used my fingers to add details and make corrections.

Day 34

Today I needed to use clay in a new way. I decided to sculpt an octopus out of sculpy and attach it to a seashell that I picked up in Florida. This is before it went into the oven to bake. After it is done and cools I am going to paint it realistically. I will post a picture of the complete project at a later date.  This was new to me because I have never tried to bake other objects with sculpy, hopefully it will not crack.

Just because...

I found this picture that I took while I was in Washington a few summers ago. It is a really cool octopus sculpture made out of rocks, seashells and colored concrete. I just wanted to share it with everyone.

Day 33

Today I needed to work with items from my recycle bin, so I used two soda bottles. The first attempt was with the green bottle. I realized that when I used the heat gun on the legs they curled in, so I inverted the bottle. I really like the tentacles, but it doesn't look a lot like an octopus. I used the bottom of the bottle for the clear one. I like the head better, but again the tentacles curled in. Therefore I couldn't heat them up as much and they don't look as interesting. The details were drawn on with sharpie before they were heated.

Day 32

Today I needed to work with toys. I decided to stage an octopus attack between my octopus toy and the white figurine that I bought at Blick's art store. The octopus is putting the sleeper hold on, watch out!

Day 31

This image is side-ways, but it is a pencil drawing of an octopus crawling over a piece of coral. The pencil drawing has a lot of textures and contrast.

Day 30

This is a pencil drawing of an octopus, I kept the values rather light. The focus was on realistic modeling of the form and interesting shapes in the negative space.

Day 29

Today I needed to create a "bridge" that connected to spaces. I decided to use an abstract plaster scukpture that I had in my classroom as the space to bridge. The octopus bridge is made from blue metallic clay and seed beads.

Day 28

Today I needed to use traditional school materials in a new way. I decided to use sticky tabs and an index card. The octopus has some dimension in the tentacles. It is a fun bookmark now that it is done.

Day 27

Today I needed to use thin wire for the project and paperclips were my material of choice. The entire octopus is made of paperclips.

Day 26

This is a mixed-media octopus that is created from watercolor, marker, and oil pastel. I like the mix of tighter and looser areas and the playful colors. I used energetic lines again to show movement.

Day 25

This is a zombie- octopus that I created out of felt. It resides on my purse and provides me with a smile when I look at its goofy teeth and brain sticking out of its head.

Day 24

I needed to work with markers today, so I used several shades of gray and black. The line work is really loose and free flowing because I wanted to focus on the action of mark making in the piece. The spontaneous lines show the energy of the octopus.

Day 23

This is my tribute to the tour da' donut ride that I went on today. Each location (various St. Louis donut shops) are represented in a donut that was incorporated into the octopus. Enjoy, I am sure it will be delicious for breakfast tomorrow!

Day 22

The image is side-ways, but today I needed to create something to wear over the eye. I decided on an octopus eye patch.

Day 21

Today I needed to work with all green materials, so I used three shades of green construction paper for the octopus and another muted green paper for the background. The entire image is made from cut paper and glue.

Day 20

Today I needed to create something that was able to float. My result is an octopus made out of various balloons and tape. I couldn't find a body of water large enough to hold it right now, so it is on my kitchen table. If my hot tub was going it would fit perfectly on it.

Day 19

Tiffany and I decided we needed a 10 word break-up story for the 10 word love story. So here is the conclusion to Sparky and Speckles romance.

Tentacles all licked clean, no more donut, no more love. (By Tiffany)

Once again I created the illustration.

Day 18

Today I needed to create a 10 word love story and illustrate it. My friend Tiffany wrote the following story and I created the illustration.

Sparky and Speckle fall in love over a gooey donut. (By Tiffany)

Day 17

The challenge was to use something that I had in my car, so I used a program from church last Sunday. I really liked the colors on the cover, so I decided to make an origami octopus from it. Three tutorials with diagrams and a youtube video later I finally have it done!

Day 16

Today I needed to make a stencil from a sponge, so I used my old dish sponge. I cut out the form and glued pieces back on for additional legs. I decided to use bleach and stamp onto the fabric. After I stamped the fabric I washed it out and ironed it. To make the octopus more obvious I used Sharpie to add details. Now I can use it as a patch.