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.

Day 15

Today I had to use a dollar for inspiration. I could not find a money origami octopus, so I decided to make a shirt for the octopus. The first image has the octopus behind the shirt and the second image has it wearing the shirt. The figurine was too thick to get the collar to close around the neck, but it still looks fun.

Day 14

Today I needed to work with tea. I decided to use Lipton instant tea. I mixed it with different amounts of water to produce a variety of values. I painted with it in the same fashion as watercolor. Lastly, I added the circles by dipping the bottom of a coffee mug in the liquid tea. It added interest to the background and is a visual reminder of the material that I used.

Day 13

Today I needed to create an image that disappeared into it's background like camouflage. I originally just worked with the colored markers in lines, but the octopus was too difficult to see in the photo. Then I decided to add more details on the octopus with gray and black markers. I feel the image has a good balance of being scene and fading into the background.

Day 12

Today's challenge was to work with my non-dominate hand. I was allowed to use any materials, so I used a variety of markers and drew out this octopus in one of my sketchbooks. I still have not figured out how to rotate images, so it is side-ways.

Day 11

Today I needed to make something with my breakfast, so I decided to make octopus pancakes. I drew the pancakes into the skillet by filling a turkey baster with pancake batter. It took a couple of tries to get it to work, but I figured it out. They were delicious!

Day 10

 

Today I had to take a walk and create something from materials that were available to me. My husband and I went for a walk and stopped in at the U of I bookstore. Upstairs they had all types of jewelry and hair accessories, so we made this octopus from headbands that had scarves attached and 2 fighting Illini checkerboad pieces. We left it on the table for others to enjoy. 

 

Upcoming Days

I will be out of town for the next few days taking a group of my theater students to a festival. I plan to keep creating and documenting my creations while I am on my trip. The products will be uploaded on Saturday or Sunday, so stay tuned...

Day 9

Today I was challenged to try to create something as small as possible. I wanted to work 3D, so I first tried with wire. After two attempts with wire I decided to switch to sculpey. This worked much better and I was able to create an octopus about 1 1/4" by 1 1/2".

Day 8

Today I needed to transform an old book into something new. I decided to use an old theater lighting book that I had in my classroom. The technology is incredibly outdated, so I didn't feel bad about cutting it up. The lighting instruments are cut out of the book as well as the tools in the octopus's tentacles. I folded and layered the paper to get it to stand up and used graffiti style duck tape as the backdrop. The octo-techie (theater technical octopus) was drawn and shaded with colored pencils then cut out and glued together to make it more 3D.

Day 7

Today I needed to use a stencil in my work, so I created the octopus stencil. I used the positive and negative image in the painting. The painting was executed by underpainting with acrylics in blue, green, and black. The underpainting was a loose depction of octopus tentacles. After the underpainting dried I used the stencils and white paint in layers to create depth.

Day 6 Project a few hours later

This is a few hours after the initial photo. The details are a little easier to see because of the peel turning brown.

Day 6

 

Today I had to work with the first fruit or veggie that I spotted in my kitchen. Luckily I have bananas on the counter, so I used one to create this unusual octopus.

Day 5

Today I had to make something out of water, so I used some snow. I didn't feel like freezing outside, so I brought it in and worked quickly before it melted too much. The eyes are coffee beans (highlander grogg). I just used my hands to model the form. The melting snow actually helped me stick the tentacles on the body.

Day 4 Project

I can't figure out how to rotate the image in their program, sorry. This is my Mardi Gras Octopus, it even has a little crown!

Day 3 Project

My husband helped me set up a different way to upload the photos, so here is day 3.

Day 4

I am still unable to get any of the images to load. I sent several messages to the blog provider, so hopefully it will be fixed soon. Day 4 asked me to work with a collection of objects that I had in my home. The result was a large octopus made out of Mardi Gras beads from New Orleans. It was a fun project to put together and as soon as I can pictures will be posted.

Day 3

Today's challenge was to make something out of paper without using glue, scissors or drawing on it. I decided to use tissue paper because it can be easily ripped and twisted. I filled the octopus's head with a piece of balled up paper towel and I used water as glue to attach the eyes. It needed a prop for the picture, so I decided to have it crawling on an old fishing reel.

The blog's picture tool is not working to let me upload my photo, but it will be uploaded as soon as I can get it working.

Day 2

Today's prompt was to use use my favorite animal as inspiration. Since I will be using an octopus for the entire project I decided to do something different with it. I purchased a book of Celtic knotwork a while back, so I used designs from the book combined with the octopus form. The mixed media piece is watercolor, India ink to stain the background, and various markers to add texture and depth.

Day 1

Today's prompt was to create something small that fits into the palm of my hand using only supplies that I had on-hand (luckily I have a lot of stuff). I created a 2013 octopus pendant using watercolor, colored pencil, pen, and a jewelry frame that I had. I thought it would be a great project to kick start my year and motivate me to keep creating.