This was strapped to the leg of a carrier pigeon and landed in my blog for Pat!!!

I've been taking some online classes.  In one of them there was a wonderful piece of art done by a woman called Pat.  I really liked it & commented, "Holey Crapoley!  This is great!"  Or something to that effect.  Anyway, she asked me how I would illustrate "holey crapoley"!  So, being the crazy person I am, I immediately got on the job!  I looked up Thomas Crapper and found out all sorts of info, like he did not invent the flush toilet, but developed related inventions such as the ballcock.  He heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the bathroom fittings showroom.  Prince Edward asked him and his company to supply the plumbing for his country seat of Sandringham House in Norfolk, thus giving Crapper his first Royal Warrant.  The firm further received warrants from Edward as king, and George V as Prince of Wales and king.  Crapper held 9 patents for water closet improvements, but none for the flush toilets themselves, even though his advertisements implied the siphonic flush was HIS invention!
But was this enough information for me?  Nope.  Further investigation showed that the word crap is actually of Middle English origin; and predates its application to bodily waste.  Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words, the Dutch Krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate; and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter.  In English, it was used to refer to chaff, and also to weeds, or other rubbish.  Its first application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to acrapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.
OK...now I had enough information to do a couple of small illustrations for Pat that would explain how I would illustrate "holey crapoley".  And here you have them!

I'm sure this is WAY more information than anyone needed to know, but it just goes to show what it takes to create a fun illustration or two for a pal!  Hope you like it, Pat!

Strathmore online classes

Strathmore has a site where they offer free classes.  They promote their products this way and get to see new art work.  I took a class on greeting cards with two instructors.  One was Jane LaFazio.  You can see her work at janeville.blogspot.com and the other was the fun Joanne Sharpe.  (Remember her Whimspirations site at Joannezsharpe.blogspot.com?)  Anyway, they were both wonderful instructors with very different styles.  Jane teaches you how to really SEE what you are drawing and is more realistic.  Joanne teaches you how to interpret what you see in a loose, doodly, fun way.  They were both inspiring!  Here are some lessons from their classes:

Card and postcard backgrounds ready for lettering

 One with lettering...the inside says "Smile!"

The Wizard

There are a lot more, but this is a sampling!

Now for the fun stuff!

I was able to take a few online art classes, and continue to do so.  If you look under my Labels on the left to "Old Work" and scroll down, you will see the kind of art I did a long time ago.  I knew I wanted to loosen up my art as I am looking to get back to my roots & create some whimsical greeting cards.  And to dig out those old children's books I started way back when, and get them finished up & ready to get published!  Hopefully this will help with recovering some of my medical expenses in a really fun way!

The first class I took (and am still involved in) is called "Doodle Arts and Lettering".  It's offered by Joanne Sharpe and you can find her at Whimspirations here:  joannezsharpe.blogspot.com   She has been a teacher forever (sorry Joanne!), and is wonderful and inspiring!  Just what I need to loosen up!

So here are some of my homework pieces from her class:

First, in a little ring book of 100 pages, she gave us prompts for making our own doodles.  It was hard for me to doodle!  I wanted to make things look real!  So it was good to get out of my comfort zone!  These are just a few pages:

Leaves

 Hearts

 Stars

 Flowers

And here are some of the lessons:

The one below wasn't from the class.  

I just did it when I had a headache & needed some relief!

Doodling is very zen!

 Before

After 

Before

After

 This was a birthday card for my mom.

The inside reads:  You can wear purple!

Earth Goddess Diva

I'm still finishing up on the lessons in the class!  Her next class, "Draw Your Awesome Life" starts at the end of October!  Luckily her classes are "forever classes", so like buying a book, you have access to them forever!  Whoot!

Birthday Gift for a pal

I decided to make a mixed media piece for a pal's birthday.  I sent it with an easel, but his DW said she was gonna frame it!  LOL!  Here's some pics:

First I beaded the heart

Then I painted the panel

Added dangles & testing where it should go

Finished piece

Piece on easel