How Funky is My Chicken?

Easter came and went.  The kids are older, well into High School.  The Easter Bunny's excitement at our house has devolved as this burnt out working rabbit's effort at "doing her best" has really, sadly, dwindled to the point where she doesn't even use Easter grass anymore, and the baskets were too hard to locate in the garage so oversized Tupperware made do.  And there weren't even jellybeans. Weren't.  Even.  Jellybeans.  Pretty lame.

The Easter Bunny, rather, spent some post-Easter energy doing a little Spring cleaning and purging, and came to the realization that she is in fact, an Easter Squirrel.  No, a Year-Round Squirrel. Tucked behind packages of expired microwave popcorn and a bag of fossilized miniature marshmallows were these two little rubber chicks, meant to be included in the baskets...er, bowls...this year (or possibly Easter 2009).

They were deflated, misshapen and could no longer stand on their own, but trash? No.  I diverted them into my squirreled stash of mark-making tools and objects, things I use to add texture to wet paint, gesso, or gelli prints.

ICAD was the perfect opportunity to experiment with them right away.  First I used them with Distress Inks to make this:

I just pounced those little fuzzy chicken heads right onto the ink pads and onto my card.

Pretty cool!  Then I thought, what if I could be more purposeful with shading and make a face?

I used three shades of Distress Ink:  Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, and Gathered Twigs.

Even though I tried to expand the illusion of the "canvas", I think using a larger format would be more successful.  I used pencil and black pen to define the features.


My Cocoa Daisy kit arrived the other day, and I was super excited because I purchased the Project Art add-on this month starring Dina Wakely's new line of acrylic paints and BLACK GESSO!!
I could not wait to (literally) get my fingers into their creaminess, grabbed an index card and smooshed and smoothed those vibrant colors all over it.  I used a chicken to stipple on some black gesso to add contrast, and wiped a tree trunk on with the left over I'd squeezed onto my work surface.

A few nearby additions including cuttings from a plastic tray insert from a box of Christmas cookies or chocolate, a worry doll and some dictionary page and my latest, most favoritest little piece of art was born!

Yes, I do love my alone time.  Especially when I'm feeling creative and go get lost in my art supplies.

How 'bout you?  What do you like to do with your alone time?

Thanks for stopping by!!
Have a great day!!