≡ Menu

Dare to be a Bird-Ephant

Can you tell it was a happy day?  No matter what is going on in my world, when I get painty it is always a fabulous day!  These happy hands and my muse collaborated to bring me a bird-ephant with an important reminder!

 

I squirted a bunch of colors and closed my eyes! With my eyes closed I couldn’t worry about what color I was using or if it looked “right”.  The more I painted on the the 18×24 canvas, the happier I felt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon opening my eyes, the swoosh in the middle kept calling to me, so I outlined what I saw.  This animal probably won’t be found in any zoo around here…

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit of white to make my bird-ephant stand out, as if a bird-ephant wouldn’t stand out!

 

 

 

 

 

After doing this canvas I wished it was in my art journal…Luckily, I have a printer, so I printed out a smaller one and headed to my art journal!

 

I started to think about a bird-ephant as I built this quick art journal page.  This bird-ephant doesn’t fit in the usual zoo circles.  She doesn’t fit any one else’s definition and she doesn’t need too fit their definitions!  She dares to be herself!  A big thank you to my muse for giving me the reminder I needed today!

Notice the cool squares?  Those are from Jessica Sporn’s new stencils over at Stencil Girl Products!    Hope you are having a creative day!  Want more creativity?  Take a moment and check out Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day, Creative Every Day Month and One Little Word!

{ 59 comments… add one }

Leave a Comment

  • Cynthia November 15, 2012, 9:37 pm

    That’s. Just. Awesome.

  • Janet November 15, 2012, 9:41 pm

    Very creative. Very fun! Thanks for sharing her/him!

  • Carin November 16, 2012, 12:19 am

    Jawdropping! That is just brilliant, I love it! Yes indeedy, dare to be you, whoever that is!

  • Rinda November 16, 2012, 1:27 am

    That is so cool! I love the idea of finger painting with your eyes shut. And copying your canvas to put in your art journal.
    Rinda

  • giggles November 16, 2012, 7:29 am

    That’s a brilliant message!! We should all dare to be a birdelephant which is by the way so adorable!! Good job!! Love the painty fingies too!!

    Hugs Giggles

  • Corrine November 16, 2012, 7:34 am

    What a great story of your day, YOU ARE a birdephant and your muse spreads it’s wings and touches all of us! Thanks for the story of your painting and your journal page. Can’t wait for Jessica’s stencil to arrive, want to play with those squares! xox

  • NatashaMay November 16, 2012, 7:38 am

    Love it! Such a fun process. 🙂

  • Marja November 16, 2012, 7:38 am

    Brilliant Carolyn., What a creation. Love the finger painting that’s so fantastic to do. And the Bird-Elephant is marvelous, really. LOVE IT.
    lovely greet, nice weekend en big hug
    Marja

  • Nordljus November 16, 2012, 8:07 am

    What a fabulous bird-ephant, and gorgeous colours. And I just love your happy painty hands!

  • Kat November 16, 2012, 8:19 am

    Hello Carolyn, I love the effects you got with this one, it’s so airy, lovely piece!

  • Erika N November 16, 2012, 8:22 am

    I love the happy fingers! It is really how many of us-or at least me and you-feel after getting our fingers all messy in the studio.

  • Jessica Sporn November 16, 2012, 8:33 am

    I don’t which I love more. Your bird ephant Or your painty hands. Love the colors and your embrace of what you saw, rather than trying to make it something recognizable. Love love it. And seeing my squares!! Thank you for using them and the shout out!! Xo

  • Annette G November 16, 2012, 9:28 am

    LOL brilliant fingers and loving your bird-ephant. Happy PPF, x

  • artmusedog and Carol November 16, 2012, 9:48 am

    Very wonderful creation ~ thanks for being you ~ ( A Creative Harbor) ^_^

  • soulbrush November 16, 2012, 11:32 am

    LOVE love this, it has such charisma and spirit -like you I am sure. What a great post! Have a happy PPF and keep on daring to dare! Ooh I like that ‘dare to dare’ that will be my mantra for tomorrow!

  • lynn cohen November 16, 2012, 11:36 am

    Your fingers made me laugh! Thanks for that! The creative animal/bird is wonderful too. Love the page! HPPF!

  • Anoeska November 16, 2012, 11:45 am

    Love your painting, your journalpage and most of all I love seeing your process!

  • Judy Shea November 16, 2012, 12:26 pm

    What a fun, paintful day. You really took it somewhere that I want to go. The word “dare” seems to be coming up a lot lately. A great page for an end of the week.. Happy Friday! Yay, for Jessica’s stencils. Can’t wait to play too.

  • Terrie -Creative Explorer November 16, 2012, 12:37 pm

    Oh my goodness – those painty fingers just scream FUN! Then I scroll down and see the birdephant – FUN! Then I scroll down and see the journal page – FUN! and a good reminder. All in all, a FUN start to my day and inspiration for the weekend.

  • Jo November 16, 2012, 1:49 pm

    Very cool, Carolyn!

  • MissyK November 16, 2012, 1:57 pm

    That is very cool AND inspiring!!!

    Karenx

  • Faye November 16, 2012, 2:05 pm

    Carolyn, when I saw those painty hands, I just knew this would be a fun post to read. I was right. I think your finished results are fantastic. The colors are so beautiful. I can’t wait to try painting with my eyes closed.

  • Linda K November 16, 2012, 2:15 pm

    what a really fantastic piece of art, process and birdephant-Love this!! And your happy hands and finished page make me smile all over! happy PPF and AJED!

    • Carolyn November 16, 2012, 2:16 pm

      It really takes the pressure off if you aren’t looking!

  • Bleubeard and Elizabeth November 16, 2012, 2:47 pm

    Ever since I started hanging out at your place in blogland, I have been interested in stencils. Funny, because I never gave them a second thought before. But you use them in such clever ways. And of course, that journal page is fantastic, as is the canvas.

    I’ve done basically the same thing with paint, only I closed my eyes and picked three different colors of acrylics. It is fun to see the color combinations I come up with when I do that.

  • Christine November 16, 2012, 2:55 pm

    I think this one’s part flamingo! Love the colours too.

  • Anne November 16, 2012, 2:56 pm

    Fabulous painting and journal page, love the concept and colors!

  • Denni November 16, 2012, 3:03 pm

    What a wonderful bird elephant! So cute! Who knew there was such a creature. It does look like your world is a lot of fun. Happy PPF!

  • sharon November 16, 2012, 3:12 pm

    Love the painty fingers and the faces on them. Your bird elphant is gorgeous and the journal page is great love the dare.

  • Suzy November 16, 2012, 4:12 pm

    Carolyn such a fun post! Love that you were painting blindly, trusting the process. That’s a wonderful idea to print a copy and incorporate it into your journal page. Good job! Happy PPF

  • Marji November 16, 2012, 4:55 pm

    Love the Birdephant! So needed your wonderful inspiration today! Paint on your fingers = happiness. Happy PPF

  • molly November 16, 2012, 5:30 pm

    brilliant– i think a birdephant would make a glorious pet! love the colors, too!

  • Rita McGregor November 16, 2012, 5:49 pm

    Oh, I just loved this! No wonder you have happy fingers!! 🙂

  • Terri Morse November 16, 2012, 5:51 pm

    Birdephant almost reminds me of a pterodactyl! I feel like a birdephant sometimes – I don’t exactly fit into one category 🙂 The colors are fantastic! Hugs, Terri

  • Debbie November 16, 2012, 6:10 pm

    Very cool! I love following your process along and seeing how you integrated your painting into the journal page. So fun!

  • Tracey Fletcher King November 16, 2012, 6:37 pm

    love the bird ephant… cool to see it emerge form that wonderful textured background and the page in your journal just extends its wonderfulness … xx

  • Rita Barton November 16, 2012, 8:34 pm

    beautiful, beautiful! And the hands are so cute. Love!

  • Laurence November 16, 2012, 8:48 pm

    Fabulous new specie and such a cool birthing process!!!

  • Wanda Hentges November 16, 2012, 9:09 pm

    Wow!!!!!!!!!! Totally Wow!!!!!!!!!!

  • denthe November 17, 2012, 8:18 am

    Haha, the fingers with the smiley faces .. love them! And your birdephant is just wonderful! You know, when I see it in close-up I can see a hunched figure in there peeking out from under his cape. Funny how we all see different things ☺

  • Marjie Kemper November 17, 2012, 9:54 am

    Carolyn! I am loving this page… you had me at the photo of your hands… but then I saw that funky bird-ephant and the huge smile broke into a full blown grin. Love your thinking and creativity… it’s a fantastic page!

  • Ginny November 17, 2012, 10:48 am

    I love your bird elephant. So wise! It is great to know who you are and what makes you happy. It makes the rest a whole lot easier.

  • Kat Sloma November 17, 2012, 11:03 am

    I absolutely love seeing how this evolved, and the message that came out is fantastic. Thank you for bringing a smile to my face today. Happy PPF!

  • Maria McGuire November 17, 2012, 11:42 am

    I cannot tell you what a smile this just put on my face! Incredible!

  • Nora Clemens-Gallo November 17, 2012, 11:51 am

    Love your birdephant, it came out great! It’s always fun and relaxing to explore new things while creating.

    Have an amazing day!
    Nora

  • Arnoldo L. Romero November 17, 2012, 2:34 pm

    Your artwork truly reflects the joy it brings you, so it makes it fun to see. Blessings!

  • June November 17, 2012, 3:47 pm

    This is wonderful, Carolyn. I love the colours, I love how vivid they are, and I love that you got all happy (as did your very happy hands!) while painting it. Great idea, too, to use your printer to reduce it down to journal page size. I love the whole idea of daring to be a bird-ephant, and having fun and just being yourself. I love the word bird-ephant – it makes me smile just to say it.

    I’m still playing around with the chevron stencil, by the way. I think you’re right about becoming habit-forming (in the best possible way), and I think (actually, I know) I’m going to want some more of Julie Balzer’s stuff to play with. Thank you so much! And thank you for bringing some fun into an otherwise less-than-fun day.

  • Karen Smithey November 17, 2012, 7:19 pm

    Tomorrow morning, as soon as all the girls have gone home from my daughter’s birthday sleepover, I’m going to squish some paint around blindfolded! I love it!

    I’m having a giveaway over at Art in the Garage to celebrate my 1000th post–hope you can stop by and leave a comment!

  • carlarey November 17, 2012, 11:41 pm

    Your work is always so full of happiness, it makes me smile to see it.

  • sandra sherman November 18, 2012, 12:07 am

    What an inspirational post, love the ‘Birdelephant’ you have created a wonderful journal page.

  • Cowgirl Red November 18, 2012, 1:42 am

    I want to be a birdephant! Terah

  • JKW November 18, 2012, 7:38 am

    Wondrous beautiful creation. The art journal page is very inspiring, especially adding the wordage. Very creative. Blessings, Janet PPF

  • Mari Carmen November 18, 2012, 7:55 am

    Really, really fantastic, Carolyn! It’s a marvelous creation, indeed!! 🙂

  • dana November 18, 2012, 8:07 am

    wow I am currently doing a painting in what I am calling a freed up style for me. I am reading Flora Bowley so am sooooo trying to just work without expectation. This post is EXACTLY what I needed to start the day before I approach my piece again today. what an amazing experience & outcome!
    cheers, dana

  • Marcie November 18, 2012, 2:02 pm

    Such fun…so clever and creative. Love..love..love what you’ve done here!

  • janette November 18, 2012, 5:35 pm

    I love the picture of your happy fingers, and the birdelephant is sensational, now I have something to aspire to. Thank you Carolyn.
    Big love
    AJ 🙂

  • Ayala Art November 19, 2012, 1:28 am

    What a fun post! And love the colors you used this time ♥

  • Pam November 19, 2012, 4:52 pm

    Oh I LOVE your artwork! So happy I found your beautiful blog at the Create with Joy linkup! Love the happy hands too. I love mixed media art and have been wanting to start an art journal. You have inspired me to get going on it. Off to subscribe now.

  • Denise Morrison December 2, 2012, 5:42 pm

    I really love what you did here. This is so inspiring.