After experimenting with my Cuttlebug folders in the Cuttlebug machine, I tried using other objects and found only the folders work in the Cuttlebug machine. So on to the rolling mill which can apply more pressure. Pieces 31 through 34 are the last pieces using Cuttlebug folders. Rolling mill: thirty-five used two brass rings. Thirty-six and thirty-seven used brass texture plates.Thirty-eight a piece of brass furnace vent we used behind a gas stove (next time use more pressure to make deeper impression) . Thirty-nine a piece of book cloth and forty was 1/4 inch hardware cloth. The book cloth is a one-time use because it gets flattened but the rest can be used over and over. Can’t believe it’s day 42 already!

The process is developing as each piece is created. My goal has been to practice every day and learn more about structure and color as it is applied to the neo-tropical warblers and their breeding environment. I worked to Asaf Avidan’s new album, DIFFERENT PULSES. The energy from his work helped me overcome the difficulty I experienced creating the Nuthatch-like pose of this Black and White Warbler on a lichen covered Sugar Maple tree. I used a photo I took at Presque Isle for the tree. The warbler was sketched after a photo by Sue from her blog, Backyard Biologist. With this piece, I learned that I like a more stylized look rather than a “realistic painting” (e.g., Stippling on bark indentations, pen/ink exclusively on the warbler). The Black and White Warbler is really this striking and distinct.

Week four and the finished product of the graphite U.P. silhouette with trees! Slow week with half a charcoal birch tree, a watercolor valentines day card, burnt graphite drawing and the paper mâché sculpture in the works.

Week two and three consisted of pen doodles, charcoal birch trees, and another graphite silhouette drawing but this time with the silhouette of the upper peninsula! An aluminum can and spray paint sculpture, and the start to the wire sculpture. The finished version of week ones watercolor and a new pen, colored pencil, and watercolor tree. And some photography as well.

Week one consisted of a graphite drawing of a human silhouette with trees inside, a handprint watercolor. A yarn sculpture with a wire and sock internal structure and rock base! And if course some unfinished watercolors.

I’ve chosen to do ephemeral art. My first one I did, I wanted it to reflect a beginning, something new/fresh… To me Spring is the new beginning, I love to start things in the spring! With all of these freezing cold temperatures, I wanted to create something that would remind me of spring. So what I did for my first piece was simplistic – but from my photography background – beautiful. I chose a shamrock bloom and carefully placed it in my favorite (crab apple) tree in our yard near some of the naturally fallen snow and waited for the sun to be as a background.

The Redstarts (Warblers) on a Hemlock branch was done to THE GOAT RODEO SESSIONS, Yo Yo Ma…a goat rodeo is when “multiple conflicting elements all must be choreographed and aligned to avoid a chaotic result.” For this context, those elements are the branch design, needle placement, position of the birds, the male and female reproductive parts of the Hemlock, color, ink. I recognize the process is gaining strength. In this third piece, I felt less hesitant in the overall approach to design and balance. However, I’m finding it difficult to adhere to the 3 hr./day rule and tend to work longer most days. This, of course, has it’s consequences. Overall, I’m pleased with the effort and see improvement.

This is a very exciting month! Evolve!, the game that I’ve devoted my 100-Day Project to illustrating, did very well in the Champaign-Urbana Design Organization’s yearly game design contest. This resource and evolution game took first place in the Education category for its scientifically accurate content and modeling, and second in the Innovation of Game Play category. My husband, Keith, and I together make up the Chimeric Creations game design team that created Evolve! With this success under our belts, we hope to Kick-Start Evolve! in the coming year. Here’s a picture of the prototype we entered in the competition.