OniOniOniArt

Day 30 (Made it!) Make a trophy and award it to yourself. The Golden Mantispid Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Creative Sprintery I humbly accept. This is the final #CreativeSprint project, and I thought what better way to end it than with the same insect I started with? This pose (which I've seen on the interwebs) seemed a perfectly triumphant fit for a trophy. I sketched the mantispid and then traced and colored it onto shrink plastic. It took some minor engineering to glue it on the wood bead. (And there's the first mantispid in the background) Materials: shrink plastic, colored pencils, brown micron pen, gold ink, wood bead, paperboard, Bristol paper, glue

Day 29 Ask someone to start something for you to finish. I   Bugs For the "illusion" to work, you have to imagine this Cercropia moth is actually Mothra (and perhaps you're about to become the latest casualty). It's like when you "squish" someone's head between your fingers (but everyone loves Mothra, so no squishing). AC supplied me with this lovely sketch of hands that she had done and told me to put a bug on it.  I printed it out from her scanned copy. I then drew this moth separately. A light box was used to combine the drawings and I finished it with colored pencils.

Day 28 Ask someone to teach you something new.  Air Potato Leaf Beetle Vanilla Mug Cake My friend AC was gracious enough to teach me something she had learned to make just minutes before! A mug cake...something I had never heard of. This is the one I made. The beetle decoration is made from a strawberry, blueberry, and mint stems & leaves. For something that came out of the microwave, it wasn't too bad, and I really appreciated the idea.  Definitely something different. I asked AC how hers turned out "..it was okay, not quite a Publix cake, but okay." I agree. But I suppose if I need a fast sugar fix I know what to do. Gone! (except for the berry stains on the cutting board...those'll stick around a while)

Day 27 Make something with another #CreativeSprint-er. Snout Butterfly on a Snout Since I don't know any other CreativeSprinters my friend LJ helped me out with this collaboration. She has nagged me since I can remember to make stuff with butterflies, which I stubbornly refuse to do for snobbish (and hypocritical she points out) reasons. So here's how this butterfly project came to be (through the magic of texts and teamwork): SAG: Think of Bug things. What comes to mind? LJ: >:3 LJ: Butterflies. SAG: Somehow I knew that was coming. LJ: Hahahahaha LJ: Specifically a butterfly standing on a long piece of grass with its wings closed. SAG: I’ll have you know there are already two butterflies featured in this project. One is an origami dollar & the 2nd is in a pop up card. SAG: [back to the project at hand] 2d? 3d? Is it doing anything silly? LJ: Make the antenna cute because that’s my favorite part. LJ: (I feel so ...

Day 26 Create a frame using any materials. Take it with you wherever you go and use it to capture anything you view as beautiful. Zinnia in the Dirt Patch My frame is made from cardboard, cardstock, gold ink, and glue. The insects are ebony jewelwing damselflies. Sweetwater Park, Oviedo Oviedo Chickens at the Library Creek where it meets Lake Mills A couple of my neighbors Econlockhatchee River - in the backyard Small fern - in the backyard Maceo not cooperating ("WTH is this??") That'll do, cat, that'll do.

Day 25 Make whatever you want but do it in a public place...get someone to take a photo of you making it. I went to the Maitland Farmers Market and completed this colored pencil drawing on a bench in front of Lake Lily. This of course was inspired by American Gothic (appropriate!). Husband and wife are a tiger beetle and mantis. I think they were attracted to each other's predatory instincts.  " My!  How  vicious  you are!" "Not as vicious as  you , my lovely! ...didn't you eat your last husband?"  This creative challenge is determined I will post pictures of myself online. So here I am scribbling diligently. My friend E's dog Stella is in the foreground. You can't hear it but we were treated to some modern renditions on synthesizer in the background. Complete!

Day 24 Break a Rule. This broke two rules: 1. Color inside the lines. 2. I hate yellow. This watercolor painting is based on a bee fly photo I took in AZ. I don't know what species the flower is - it kinda looks like a tassel flower. I have to admit, the first few brush strokes made me very nervous, but then it was quite liberating putting paint where I normally would not. My strokes were freer, less confined, less controlled. Fun!

Day 23 Go outside and make a shrine to nature - leave it for someone to find. Bugaku Bodhisattva Shrine Umm, yes, this is the bodhisattva dedicated to imperial court dance of the insect world; the shrine being located on a spanish moss-laden oak tree (bugaku are traditional imperial court dances in Japan, I couldn't resist the bug pun). It kind of looks like a scarab beetle, so let's go with that. Hurrah Nature! One tarsus holds a "sacred branch" (dead fern leaflet), one holds a "sacred fan" (piece of lichen), the middle pair of tarsi are clasped in an inscrutable mudra. The legs are crossed in front. What better animal representative for a bodhisattva than an insect? (Ok, perhaps a spider...octopus...centipede...nevermind). This was created in the Econ River Wilderness Area since I had plans to visit it today anyhow. It did not get left behind for anyone, however, because of the recent upsets caused by the overuse of cairns (as trail...

Day 22 Make a Mustache and get a picture of yourself wearing it in public. No, I try to limit the number of photos of myself online to as few as possible. Luckily, Senor Crickor stepped in for me to keep with my bug theme.  Senor Crickor poses with his mustachio-on-a-stick Senor Crickor takes a selfie Senor Crickor without all the embarrassing accoutrements SC is made of paper clay, metal wires, and acrylic paint. His accessories are paper and wire. And yes, that's tape I used to make him hold onto his things, no need to point that out. Special note: I am indebted to LJ for the word "crickor."  I can now no longer think of crickets without thinking... crickor!

Day 21 Make something and send it snail mail to someone. "Just thought I'd send a note...to bug you on your birthday" My Dad's birthday is October 22nd so I thought making a pop-up card to send him would kill two birds with one stone here. I'd been wanting to make a pop-up for a while now, but never got around to it. The front of the card contains a line drawing I did in India ink of the beetle that  refused to die  in my Dad's pool drain. The inside contains printouts (party hats included) of photos I took of bugs (and a scorpion) while I was in Phoenix. They were glued to cardstock and cut out with scissors and an x-acto knife. The background is a topographic map of somewhere in AZ. Also wik: art papers, parchment paper, jellyroll ink, string, glue. This isn't a perfect pop-up, ideally the scorpion and beetle should have been glued to the bottom with tabs (for better opening/closing functionality), but they look better this way! ...

Day 20 Find a creative way to give someone a compliment. I sent this to my good friend LJ via email, to which she replied:  "HAHA...I love that! Such a helpful diagram!"  It was the only bug-related compliment I could think of (and LJ  is the bee's knees). Then I got to thinking about how odd a phrase "bee's knees" is. This  informative and entertaining website  helps explain its origins. Materials: textured cardstock, wing printouts, acrylic paint, glue.

Day 19 Make something for another #CreativeSprint-er. Dishcloth Moth Pin Since I'm not on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media, I don't know any other Creative Sprinters, but my dear friend Moth asked me about it this morning, so I'm making a moth for her. Materials: a dishcloth, brown India ink, thread, glue, metal pinback

Day 18 Make something and trade it for something you want. Incomplete! Yep, I used paper clay again and it isn't dry. Hopefully it won't take two days like the Halloween dish. I'm already playing catch up from my day of travel. 10/20/15: Finished! It's a domino cockroach, which is actually cute for a cockroach (believe it or not I have a cockroach phobia). Composed of paperclay, metal wires, a metal pinback, acrylic paint, and varnish. Tomorrow I will attempt to trade it at the botanical garden where I volunteer. 10/21/15: The Trade The pin was traded for this sketch of yucca and grass by fellow garden volunteer L. I requested a bug on the leaf.

This was my last full day in AZ. We did not stay long at the Mogollon Rim (pronounced "Muggy-own" according to the city of Payson's website and "Moogy-on" by my Dad), which is part of the Colorado Plateau and divides AZ into its cooler northern and scorching southern portions. We saw the small dam and spillway, took in the view at a couple of overlooks, and headed to Tonto Natural Bridge. The Tonto Natural Bridge is a cave-like structure 183 feet high and creating a 400 foot long tunnel that is 150 feet wide at its widest point according to this pamphlet I'm reading. Pine Creek runs under the bridge. We had to climb many precariously smooth boulders, steep areas, and use narrow footholds to pass through and then traverse the creek's edge past the bridge to a waterfall. Entering the tunnel Looking back at some mossy rocks and boulders from the tunnel's edge Inside the tunnel  Looking through the tunnel from the other si...