The End of December Already?!?

Warm New Year's Eve Greetings Everyone!

It's official, New Year's Eve is here! I hope you had a wonderful year. I had an awesome one! With lots of help from my sweet, smart husband, I published my first book, "Book 1: 61 Days of Barbee's Index Card Art," which has my collection of 2017 summer index cards from Tammy Garcia's Daisy Yellow Art Index Card A Day (ICAD) Creative Challenge. Tammy's an amazing art guru who's led us on a multi-year journey exploring how many ways we can dress up an index card to address her imaginative prompts! My first book is available here in paperback or Kindle, if you haven't already picked up a copy. It's a positive, happy book and will leave you feeling inspired! I am working on Book 2 now which will hold my collection of 2018 summer index cards, as well as special tips and techniques. By the way, Tammy Garcia's fantastic Daisy Yellow Art website, available by clicking here, has many free and paid workshops as well as several prompt series and a plethora of instructional, fun videos, so be sure to check it out and sign up for her year-round free Facebook Group.

With the New Year comes our hopes and dreams for 2019. December was a busy month but I took time to do a few pieces of art which I'll post below on this last day of the year. These were for a Facebook Group I belong to called "Rediscovering Your Creativity Through Mixed Media Play" led by another of my favorite mixed media artists, the very creative, Carolyn Dube. If you don't belong to this group, I recommend you sign up. It's free and fun! Carolyn's website which you can access here also has a bounty of free and paid information and workshops with many YouTube Videos that are informative and fun.

The first art journal page I created in December bears the quote "Big Wishes Cost As Much As Little Ones," the idea of which came during a card I did for the 2018 ICAD Creative Challenge. Because big wishes cost the same as little ones, I have several GARGANTUAN wishes. I wish for (1) unconditional PeAcE, (2) FoOd for every living creature, (3) ShELteR and clothing enough to bring each creature comfort, and (4) LoVe to bring every creature joy and happiness - ALL of these are very much deserved by all the creatures great and small living on our dear Mother Earth. These super HUGE wishes cost as much as tiny ones, so I'll continue wishing HUGE and praying for them into, and throughout, the next year.

NOTE: If you haven't already, please subscribe to my blog. It's a two-step process. Once you enter your email in the box, you'll need to confirm your email address within your email account. Please also subscribe to my "Barbara Hauenstein" YouTube Channel by clicking here. I will be creating some fun videos next year, including ones detailing giveaways of great mixed media art supplies! And, finally, have a fantastic New Year 2019! I look forward to crossing that New Year line along with you and will see you all next year!

"Big Wishes:" This piece was created for the "Art Play Prompt" given by Artist Carolyn Dube on 9 December on her Facebook Group "Rediscovering Your Creativity Through Mixed Media Play." The prompt was to use a book page. I created a background by rubbing several bright colors from my mini distress ink pads into my small (8.5x5.5 inch) Dylusions Art Journal with a small applicator that fits on my finger. I cut the tree top star and the snow from old book and glued them on using a glue stick. Some random stamps were added to the background to grunge it up. I colored the tree, star and snow with watercolor pencils then used a black Copic Liner Pen and a white Signo pen to add details. 

"Deer Santa:" This piece was also created for the "Art Play Prompt" given by Artist Carolyn Dube on 16 December her Facebook Group "Rediscovering Your Creativity." The prompt was to use a triangle. There are plenty of triangles in here - can you count them all?  I created the background and colored in the elements the same as "BIG WISHES" above  and drew some ornaments, clouds and details with a black Copic Liner Pen and a Signo White Pen. 

"Happy Faces:" This face surrounded by flowers (many of which also happen to have faces) was another piece created for the "Art Play Prompt" given by wonderful Artist Carolyn Dube. The prompt was to use a post note and was given on 2 December. I created the background and colored in the elements the same as "BIG WISHES" then outlined and added details with a black Copic Liner Pen and a Signo White Pen. The large flower face on the bottom right didn't turn out the way I wanted, affording me an O.O.P.S. (Carolyn's acronym for an "Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly"). By using the post note, I was able to cover up the face I didn't like and draw a new face over the top of it on the post note. You learn something new every day!

"Christmas Blessings:" This piece was also created for the "Art Play Prompt" given by Artist Carolyn Dube on 16 December in her Facebook Group "Rediscovering Your Creativity." The prompt was to use a triangle and this was the second journal page where I addressed that prompt - lots of triangles here, ha ha! I created the background and colored in the elements the same as "BIG WISHES" and outlining and details with a black Copic Liner Pen and a Signo White Pen. 

InkTober 2018 and Favorite Videos

Greetings Dear Friends!

I hope everyone's doing well. I can't believe how the year is flying by! I've been very busy participating in InkTober 2018 which began 1 October and runs all month. It’s all about creating one inked piece of art every day in October. It's a great way to get Christmas card designs done or do some Halloween art. Below is a collage of my first 18 pieces.To learn more about Inktober and see a list of prompts and rules, click here. I love the prompts because they are challenging and make me think about how to create a drawing that references them but you can ink anything you like to join in the fun! There are several Facebook groups for Inktober, I selected this one and also post to instagram @barbarahauenstein. Instagram is a bit new to me, but it's a great place to see a lot of Inktober art!

FAVORITE VIDEOS:
I began following an excellent artist on YouTube lately named James Burke. He's doing a different kind of InkTober where he writes a rhyme a day and then paints it in ink on his "James Burke" YouTube Channel. It centers around an easy to draw character named Daisy. He has another series of YouTube Videos about "How to Draw" different seasons' items. For instance, in the video here, he shows how to doodle simple shapes for Halloween. During all his entertaining videos, James Burke gives a lot of hints about drawing, painting, mixed media and other important creative things.

Well, that's it for now. I hope you all keep on enjoying creating and have a wonderful Halloween!

-Barbee

ICAD 2018, 00-61 (All)

Hello again dear friends! 

I completed one index card a day as part of my 4th year doing the Daisy Yellow Art (DaisyYellowArt.com) Index Card A Day (ICAD) prompted creative challenge! I have to give another BIG SHOUT OUT to my dear friend and Art Guru, Tammy Garcia (she is Daisy Yellow Art)! YAAAAYYYY Tammy - we had another excellent year of ICAD in 2018!! Thank you, ThaNk YoU, THANK YOU!

Here's one summary collage of ALL the index cards I made.  I added the cover card plus 61 cards made in June and July so have 62 cards represented here. I re-stacked the first collage so it turned out slightly different from my last post and added 5 more collages in an iPhone app called Pic Collage to get this one gigantic summary collage.

I listed some tips in my last book, “61 Days of Index Card Art,” available at Amazon online in 6x9” paperback as well as digitally in Kindle format, and will have more tips and tricks in my upcoming book of 2018's collection, which I'm currently working on. I'm also planning a companion coloring book of black and white copies of the 2018 collection. I hope you enjoy this collage. The prompts are freely accessible on the DaisyYellowArt.com website along with many other wonderful free and paid tutorials, prompts and other products. A fun challenge is to match up this years ICAD prompts with my huge collage!

If you haven't already, please enter your email in the box on this blog titled "Follow by email." You must then go to your email and confirm by clicking the link in an email asking you to do that to receive blogs directly to your email. You may only see the "Follow by email" box if you are viewing this on a computer or clicking on "View as a webpage" on your phone or tablet. I will be posting some giveaways of stamp pads, art journals and other fun things in the coming posts, so be sure to sign up!

Thank you for stopping by!

ICAD 2018, 00 thru 09

Hello lovely friends and happy summer! It’s fun to be creating new index card art as part of the 2018 index card a day (ICAD) prompted creative challenge! I started doing this 61 day challenge in summer of 2015, so this is my 4th year creating a card a day during June and July. My friend Tammy Garcia runs this fun event by posting prompts and themes on her Daisy Yellow Art website each year. Everyone can join in for free and post creations on their own website, Facebook page and Instagram Account.

Tammy also runs a paid event that includes extras, like videos and inspiring emails, which may be purchased to gain the full benefit of this challenge. The paid one includes a Facebook group where you can post your ICADs and see what others have posted. It provides a wonderful air of comaraderie with about 300 people from around the world joining, and I enjoy seeing many friends I’ve come to know tremendously! I also like to donate a bit more money to Tammy’s “Tip Jar” to support her efforts in all artistic things! She has several other promoted series listed on her website - all are free to join.

I plan to make another book featuring my collection of 2018 ICAD art after the end of this event, each with a black and white page to color with colored pencils.

Here’s a collage created in my favorite iPhone app, Pic Collage, with a summary view of the cover card plus the first 9 cards, created the first part of June. You may need to click or tap on the photo to enlarge it. I love this simple challenge where the rules are easy to remember: create something every day on an index card. This is a family event so we keep it family friendly, enabling kids to join in too! I prefer using thick, 4x6 inch index cards.

I listed some tips in my last book, “61 Days of Index Card Art,” available at Amazon online in 6x9” paperback as well as digitally in Kindle format, and will have many more tips and tricks in my upcoming book. You’ll be able to see each card on a page, plus have that great ability to color your own rendition of each card. I hope you like these, I’ll be posting the next few cards soon!

Book 1: 61 Days of Index Card Art by Barbee is now in Kindle format

Wow, the last day of June is upon us!

This week, my husband Bruce uploaded the kindle version of my first book, “Book 1: 61 Days of Barbee’s Index Card Art” to Amazon.com. It’s a collection of all 61 pieces of my art from the June through July 2017 “Index Card A Day” (ICAD) Creative Challenge hosted by the wonderful artist, my creative guru and dear friend, Tammy Garcia (DaisyYellowArt). Tammy has been amazing I’m her encouragement and I do some art every day I’m keeping with her teaching. 

Although the paperback of this book is great to have and give as a gift, having this less expensive kindle version on your tablet or phone is super fun because I always have it with me.

I’m enjoying creating ICADs this June and July again and plan to release another book with these creations later this year. I’m including black and white art to allow you to color too! I can’t stress enough how magical art is for making our worries and pains disappear while we focus on creating fun projects!

You can see my first book advertised on the internet by typing in the following keywords:

“61 days of index card art by Barbee” or tap the the link below to see it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble Bookstore.

Barnes and Noble Bookstore

 Amazon

If you’d like to purchase and download a Less expensive Kindle version to your iPhone, iPad or other device, go to this link:

Kindle version

Thank you all for supporting my artistic endeavors! I hope you’ll enjoy this book.

My first book has been published!

Happy summer 2018 dear friends,

My first book is out, thanks to the help of my wonderful husband, Bruce. It’s titled “Book 1: 61 Days of Barbee’s Index Card Art” and is a collection of all 61 pieces of my art from the June through July 2017 “Index Card A Day” (ICAD) Creative Challenge hosted by the wonderful artist, my creative guru and dear friend, Tammy Garcia (DaisyYellowArt). Tammy continues to amaze me with her talent and dedication to telling the world about the benefits of creating something every day. 

This 6x9 inch, 70 page, paperback book with 61 pieces of whimsical, mixed media, stylized folk art, is available on Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble internet sites (links below) and more. I couldn’t adhere to having a short dedication since so many wonderful people have led me to this point, so I listed family, favorite current artists, and many of you dear Facebook friends and neighbors who encourage me everyday to continue creating art. If you’re name isn’t in here, it’ll be in one of my future books, lol. 

Its been amazing to discover the magical power of art. As I’ve gotten older, with aches and pains and life worries, I’ve realized that when I get wrapped up in the creative process - thinking, planning, drawing, painting, collaging, worry, aches and pain are suspended in time while I create. I hope my little book, comprised primarily of my art with tips and a few notes on each piece, helps others to love creating their own art, too. Doing a book was harder (and more expensive, unfortunately) than I thought, but I enjoyed it and am planning to publish my 2018 Index Card Art and a children’s book. I did not do this for money but rather to share my love of art and urge everyone to create art they love.

If You pick up the book, I urge you to enjoy the art and add your own by doodling in the white space around the pictures. It’ll help you begin your journey of self-expression and you’ll find yourself entering your own magical zone.

You can see my first book advertised on the internet by typing in the following keywords:

“61 days of index card art by Barbee” or enter either of the links below to see it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. I wholeheartedly thank you ALL for being an inspiration to me and hope you’ll enjoy this book.

Barnes and Noble Bookstore
Amazon