I just really like birds, okay?!

I am not ashamed of my bird watching habit, which is pretty casual, I'm not that guy with the binoculors...binaculours...binaculors? I don't know how to even spell....HEY SIRI? Spell BI-NOCK-YOU-LORES binoculars. Okay, so I haven't used those things to look at these flying animal objects YET. Wait, that's a complete lie because I did actually use them to look at a Bald Eagle when we stayed at this cute air bnb a couple weeks ago in this video:

What I'm saying is I like birds, but not like in that way. Not that if you look at birds with BINOCULARS you're some kind of perv, but you're just way more into it than me and looking through them for more than 30 seconds makes me dizzy and it also makes me think of Mr. Deetz in the beginning of Beetlejuice when he's whistling and peeping on birds out the window of their new home they just moved into that was previously owned by the Maitlands who are SO not resting in peace. But I digress or I'm gonna go deep into quoting Beetlejuice and we'll be here all day.

Birds.

Beetlejuice.

Battlestar Galactica.

What was I saying? I like birds, that's it. I like watching them (again, not in a creepy way) I like drawing them, I like learning fun facts about them and I definitely like feeding them, too. I buy a GIANT bag of shelled raw peanuts about once a month and toss them out on the deck so we (mostly me and the cats) can watch the birds and squirrels and chipmunks go hog wild at our free (for them) all-you-can-eat backyard buffet. The cats love it and make chittering noises and sometimes I just sit on the floor with them and also make the noise so they feel understood, kkind of like "hey, I'm just like you". They always look at me annoyed thinking I'm making fun of them so I stop out of respect, of course. I would never make fun of them.  

Back to birds, I've been doodling these feathered folks for quite a few years, actually. I think the first time I drew them with serious intention was when I designed a sticker with a Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, and Hummingbird that reads "I'm A Bird Nerd". People seemed to like it and I felt encouraged to keep in making bird merch, as it were. I don't do it just because there are apparently a lot of bird nerds out there just like me, but I actually really enjoying drawing and painting birds along with lots of other animals. It just brings me a lot of joy. And I feel like birds are kind of freaking magical. Dude, they can FLY! Well, so can mosquitoes, but they're the worst and I don't care if that hot take of mine offends you. They are 100% trash and everybody knows it!

Lately, I got into insert drum roll the posh crayons known as Caran D'Ache NeoColor IIs. They are extra fancy wax pastel crayons that are water soluble, so you can wet them if you like and they'll work a bit like watercolors.

In the above video, I was on the fence about these overpriced crayons. I wasn’t sure I liked them at all. But then I was drawing with them more and more and finally on Saturday ART HANG PARTY pop up doing Master Studies with Melissa Martin, it happened: Neo Color 2 Love. I didn't want to fall in love with them but, dang it, I did.

Yesterday, for Mother's Day, my husband took me to Blick's so I could buy more colors (eeeek! yay!) and now I added 11 more magical highly pigmented sticks of wax to my collection (imagine me looking evil and rubbing my hands together like a housefly- another creature that flies but is also absolute trash)

The sketches I've been creating lately have been what I would call an Extra Spicy Mixed Media because it's got way more types of doodle materials. We're talking watercolor, gouache, neo color 2s, posca pens, and probably some other markers and colored pencils. Each page is like an everything bagel of art supplies and I've had an illegal amount of fun creating each spread.

Using a ton of different art supplies, old and new, cheap, mid range, and those "too special to waste" materials and making something wild and free and not caring too much at the results is so freeing. Try it for yourself; I seriously cannot recommend it enough. Just grab stuff, open a sketchbook or grab some loose paper. Pick a subject matter to draw in a representational or abstract way or just make marks and blobs. Honestly, start with the blobs! That will totally get your creative mojo going! At least, it always does for me. Leave all your expectations at the door and just play.

You may find yourself lost in making a mess, a very fun mess, but an absolute total mess. You may find that you think what you made is ugly as heck, but you're smiling because you had a good time and things you create really do seem to hold the energy of the emotions you had whilst making them. Just like food tastes better when it's made with love. Even the ugliest art (is there such a thing?) looks more beautiful when it was made with joy. I promise when you look back on that "ugly" page you will smile if you were having fun. Or maybe you will actually make something that you kinda dig.

I was surprised by my own results when I made these sketchbook spreads. Granted, I've had years of practice drawing birds that it's a comfortable subject matter for me to tackle. Not that I'm some kind of master, but I know that usually I can count on my years of practice to allow me to create a decent result when drawing them. They're one of my "comfort subjects". Everyone has at least one comfort subject. Mine are mushrooms, flowers, birds, and the occasional fruits. Pick a thing you're comfortable drawing and draw it on top of your messy marks and wonky blobs. And then look! Your mucky mess magically turns into a lush background for this subject you're drawing on top!

These sketches/paintings began as experimental blobs and messes just to test out colors and new bougie Swiss crayons, but then something took over and I ended up loving what I made. I was actually proud of my results and have been feeling pulled to recreate this kind of work on bigger canvases or paper because it's a bigger space to create more fun bloops and blobs and birds!

Birds.

Bloops.

Blobs.

and Beetlejuice...because I love Beetlejuice ;)

Have fun and keep playing!

xoxo

Deb :)