Purple Cow

I’ve been taking drop-in art workshops that are being offered on Saturday afternoons at The Space in Greenbelt, Maryland. I decided to do something experimental where I did art using a mix of markers and construction paper. So here is my piece, which I call The Purple Cow.

I made the cow using purple and brown construction paper that I drew then cut out using scissors. I used a brown marker for the hooves, nostrils, eyes, and the hairy details on the cow’s tail. I used green construction paper for the ground. I was going to use construction paper using the sky but I couldn’t find any blue paper so I ended up coloring the sky with a blue marker. For the flowers and butterflies, I used pink and yellow construction paper with paper punchers then glued them on the ground. I liked the results and others who were in that workshop like it as well.

Doing this mostly paper collage is such a throwback to the kind of art that I used to do as a child, such as Indian Chief and Owl Collage. It felt like I was reliving my childhood art class in school, which was pretty cool. Taking art classes is one of the few positive memories I have of my school years so I don’t mind at all.

Handmade Cards From the Days of Valentine’s Day Past

Last year I went through my late mother’s old things when I found a huge treasure trove of art I did as a child that she kept all of those years. I uploaded the bulk of them as Throwback Thursday posts over the summer all the way until Thanksgiving Day. There were these Valentine’s Day cards that were among the batch but I decided to wait until today to show them off since it is the actual holiday itself.

First up is this Valentine’s Day card that I did in 1970 that was kept among my photograph and old report cards from the 1969-1970 school year (which was the year that I was in the second grade). It was probably a card that I did in art class. Here’s the front of the card, where I drew hearts on different shades of blue construction paper, cut them out, then glued them on to the card.

Here’s the inside of the card.

For some reason that I no longer remember, I addressed this card to my mother only and not to the other two adults who also lived in the household (my father and grandmother). In case you can’t read my writing, here is what I wrote on the left side:

I love you Mommy.

I hope you had been good.

Happy Valentine.

Love
Kim

I even included this tiny drawing of what looks like a poodle on the bottom left side of the card. It’s one of those “blink and you’ll miss it” drawings. I don’t remember why I decided to do that tiny drawing or why I had chosen a poodle.

The only other Valentine’s Day card I created as a child that my late mother had kept was this fancier looking one that looks like I had done it during a meeting of my Girl Scout troop. (Our troop meetings used to include craft projects along with singing songs, playing games, and acting out plays.) My mother kept this card along with other files from my 1971-1972 school year (which would’ve been the year that I was in the third grade).

The card consists of a white doilie as the base. On the left is a small heart that I had drawn on red construction paper then cut out to glue to the doilie. The top has a white dove that I had drawn on white construction paper. (I know that the bird can be hard to see since it tends to blend in with the white doilie. As you can see, I hadn’t gotten the idea of using contrasting colors in the same piece.)

The right side has two items. One is a heart that has a tiny red construction paper heart that’s glued on to a bigger green construction paper heart then that green heart was glued on an even bigger yellow construction paper heart. The other is my attempt at drawing the official Girl Scout trefoil and I wrote the letters “GS” (for “Girl Scouts”) in the middle.

The middle has a large red heart that has a message that was addressed to my mother only. (I really don’t remember why I rarely acknowledged the existence of my father or grandmother.) The message reads:

Happy Valentine
Mom And
Smile

Your G.S. (which stood for Girl Scout)
Daughter
Kim Keyes

I’m sure that I probably made Valentine’s Day cards other years but those were the only two that my late mother had saved.

My Customized Mask

I had attended a free art workshop that was held at The Space in Beltway Plaza in Greenbelt, Maryland. There were blank masks that could be customized so I did this.

I basically did a bunch of Zentangles based on the tutorials posted on the TanglePatterns.com site. That mask also makes me wistful. I ran into a friend at that workshop. He had just moved into a new place and that very evening he was having over Ric Gordon, who had just recently been reelected to his second term on the Greenbelt City Council just a few weeks earlier, and his wife, Carla. The following day I saw a post from that same friend on Facebook saying that Ric had suddenly passed away, which was a horrendous shock. (Apparently Ric and Carla went over to my friend’s home. Everyone had a good time with no drama. About 20 minutes after Ric and Carla returned home Ric suddenly dropped dead. He has had heart problems in the past and he even managed to survive getting COVID-19 twice in 2020 but it’s still a shock because he seemed healthy the last few times I saw him in person.) The two photos I had taken of Ric and his family at a party the week before are now the last photos I’ll ever take of Ric. I went to an impromptu vigil for Ric just two days after I took that art workshop and by the end of the week I went to his viewing at the local funeral home. In some ways I’m still in shock over Ric’s sudden passing (especially since he was only 41 years old) but he’s yet another friend whom I’m going to have to get used to not seeing anymore because he’s dead.

My Latest Zentangle

A few weeks ago I had gone to a training with the Maryland chapter of the Poor People’s Campaign, which was regarding a series of upcoming events that are being held next year in an effort to get more poor and low income people voting in the 2024 elections. I was asked to give a brief lesson doing Zentangles for workshop participants to quietly work on during the day while the workshop was going on. (The Zentangles were an optional project.) So I gave the short lesson while showing off the books I had brought with me and the TanglePatterns.com website for those who didn’t want to use the books. I managed to finish my own Zentangle, which you can see here.

It’s been over a year since I last done a Zentangle and it felt nice to pick it up again.

Throwback Thursday: Animals With Words

Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States and I’m going to begin my own personal observation of that day by devoting another Throwback Thursday post to some art I did as a child.

Here are two drawings that I did as a child that my late mother kept for many years. I did these drawings in my school art class when I was in the sixth grade. I was apparently instructed to do some drawings that incorporated words. So I created two drawings incorporating the words “alligator” and “giraffe.”

I did the outline of the drawings with a pencil then colored them in with crayons. Those two drawings show that I was capable of coming up with creative solutions at an early age.

And, on that note, I’d like to mention that for the past few months I’ve been putting up weekly Throwback Thursday blog posts showing artwork I did before I graduated from high school that I found among a file folder that my late mother had kept. I’m starting to come to the end of this batch of early art. There are a few other old art pieces that I want to share but they are holiday-themed so I’m going to wait until the actual holiday arrives before I post them online. For now my Throwback Thursday series of early artwork by me is done. If I find anymore early art that my mother had kept, I’ll definitely digitize it and share here. But for now, it’s the end of this series of Throwback Thursdays.

Throwback Thursday: Puffin, Seagulls, and a Sandpiper at the Beach

This is a drawing I did in high school that my late mother had saved. It was an assignment I did in art class where I did something known as scratchboard or scraperboard.

I drew this beach scene that featured a puffin and a sandpiper standing on the beach. Two seagulls are flying overhead. The ocean, sun, and a sailboat can be seen in the background.

I haven’t done this type of art in years and I’m grateful that my mother had saved it. Maybe I should try this again in the future.

Throwback Thursday: Peace

Here’s another drawing I did as a child that my late mother kept all of these years later.

I did this drawing using a blue ballpoint pen. It depicts a dove holding an olive branch in its beak with the word “peace” underneath. With the ongoing war in Ukraine along with the frequent threats from Donald Trump supporters of a second American Civil War, this old drawing of mine is more relevant than ever.

Throwback Thursday: Animals Fleeing a Forest Fire

Here’s another drawing I did as a child that my late mother kept all these years.

It basically depicts all kinds of animals (such as deer, rabbits, and different types of birds) fleeing a forest fire. I don’t remember why I decided to draw something like this. I could’ve drawn it after seeing a news story about a real-life forest fire or watching an episode of a nature series on television (such as Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom) or even watched the re-release of the Disney movie Bambi in the movie theaters. I drew this one using a blue ballpoint pen.

Throwback Thursday: Girl’s Head

Here’s another drawing I did as a child that my late mother kept.

I did the outline of the drawing with blue ballpoint pen then colored it in using colored pencil. Unlike so many other drawings that my mother saved, I remember doing this one. I had attempted to draw a self-portrait where I drew while looking at myself in the mirror. The result didn’t resemble me very much (or what I looked like back then) but it looked like I drew a girl’s head. It definitely have a cartoony look and it also looked like it could’ve been on a late 1960s-early 1970s pop art poster.

Unboxing the World’s Smallest Spirograph

I found this Spirograph kit at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis when I went there on Labor Day. It’s touted as the World’s Smallest Spirograph. I bought it on impulse because it brought back childhood memories of when I used to frequently draw all kinds of geometric shapes using a Spirograph kit.

I had purchased a regular-sized Spirograph kit as an adult eight years ago partly because I had fond childhood memories of using it and partly because I had purchased it as a fundraiser for the old Greenbelt Makerspace. I ended up using it only once or twice then I rarely touched it. I ended up donating it to my support group for people who are separated or divorced for one of its fundraising yard sales.

So I purchased the tiny Spirograph kit because I figured that it would take up way less space in my house than the regular-sized Spirograph kit. In addition, I found that it makes a great prop for my Disney Nuimos.

I made an unboxing video and I even included my Rocket Raccoon Disney Nuimos at the end to show the scale comparisons between the World’s Smallest Spirograph and a Disney Nuimos. I uploaded it on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Enjoy!