A Happy Accident

Hi there. How are you?

If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, you'll know that I'm all about the birds lately. I'm hoping to have a whole new "flock" of them for my 2014 art fair season. To see my whole collection of birds, head here. 

This is my black-capped chickadee. Pretty cute if I do say so myself! I had finished up the illustration and was ready to mount it onto the cradled hardboard support. That's when the "happy accident" occurred. Well, actually, there were two accidents. First off, I cut the paper too short, leaving a bit of the hardboard showing. 

I was immediately annoyed at my stupid mistake and wasn't sure what to do to make it right. I first considered trying to patch in a tiny piece of graph paper to cover the gap, but I knew it would look quite obvious. Then I noticed the second accident....A tiny piece of paper had gotten sandwiched in between the sticker paper and the graph paper and it had created a visible dent. I was officially annoyed. Instead of having a total freak out and ripping the birdie from the hardboard,  I took a step back from the piece and let it be for a moment. Then, I came up with a plan. 

In terms of color, this piece was pretty quiet, so I decided on adding a band of color at the bottom. These were just left-over bits of paper I had from another project. I liked the contemporary pop that these pieces added. But there was still that pesky little bit of paper showing on the right side. In a very uncharacteristic manner, I decided to step away from this piece again. (This is so unlike me...I'm pretty rash and impulsive when it comes to artmaking. I don't often take the time to plan.)

After a bit of thinking, I decided to add a few of my signature abstract flower shapes to cover up the dent and liven up the negative space. I'm not quite sure if it's done yet. I still may add some ink embellishments into or around the collaged shapes or add a typed "nametag" to this, like I have my other birds. I'm just going to sit and stew before I do anything. I can officially say that I love this little guy, and I'm excited to add more collage elements to my next few bird pieces. This was indeed a happy accident! Hooray! 

Have you had a "happy accident" in your art or life? Do share. I'd love to hear about it!

Have an excellent week. Ta-Ta for now!

Accidental Art

I had a chance to sit down and make some art this past weekend. "Accidental Art" measures just 5" x 5" and was fashioned out of magazine. All the bits and pieces were adhered to a warm gray cardstock that I then embellished with a sepia tech pen and a white gel pen.

I'm really into clouds at the moment, and I came about this particular technique in a very accidental manner. I managed to accidentally get glue on a piece of paper and then stick it somewhere that it didn't belong. When I realized my dorky-ness, I tried to remove it but was left with the white residue of the paper. I liked the look of what was left and now repeat the technique on purpose all the time.

Accidental Art is available for sale on Etsy.

I'm hoping to be more active on Etsy and on the blog in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more art.