A Mouse's Dream

And now I will give my answer to the perennial question of what mice dream about. My daughter says this is creepy and maybe she is right.......but the mouse looks happy enough to be jerking the cat around by the strings for once!



Here's Sandy Shaw's Puppet on a String:





What do you think mice dream about?


Linking up to Friday Sketches, Paint Party Friday and Illustration Friday where the inspiration was puppets!

Mice Amongst the Poppies

What fun to try my hand at painting some tiny mice scurrying around in a poppy field. I started with putting masking tape around the edges of the paper. Then I put in a lot of the grasses with masking fluid and a fine brush. Next I started painting in the vivid poppies with watercolor. And the background, and the little mice.

Next I removed the masking fluid....what fun!

Ripping off the masking tape was tricky but fun too.  Then I really felt I needed to put in more detail in pastel and I really wanted more vivid color with the poppies...so I grabbed my pastels and went to work. Enjoy them! Squeak squeak

Mice Amongst the Poppies, mixed media, 9 x 13'

Linking up to Illustration Friday under the theme of SUMMER  ..... and to Paint Party Friday! Click the button and come join in the fun....you can buy this print at Redbubble HERE

Harvest Mouse

 

Working with masking fluid can be fun. I find it gives a lovely texture to animal fur, like with this harvest mouse. I wanted the husks of corn to have lovely pure white highlights too so I go to work with my masking fluid. I love watching the stages of how others create their art works so hope you enjoy seeing how I did this.

Next I started putting on several layers of watercolor.

Then I started peeling off the dried masking fluid. I really love doing that! The mouse is really starting to come to life here.

A bit more yellow in background and foreground methinks. A few details sketched in with black pen. Then let me peel off more of this delightfully stringy masking tape .... and voila!



Harvest Mouse, 12 x 18', watercolor

That's all folks! Turned out rather interesting I think.

Linking up to Crafting Along and Paint Party Friday so come check out a bunch of amazing artists!

Buy prints and cards of this adorable harvest mouse at Redbubble by clicking HERE.

Holiday Crafting for Animal Lovers

The summers are absolutely boiling in Baltimore, which is why I get all excited when Fall rolls around, the air cools down, and I can cook up a big batch of pumpkin soup and start sitting by the fire crocheting animals. Firstly, for Halloween I created the unscariest witch on earth - Hello Kitty looking cute as a button (The Hello Kitty Witch Pattern can be downloaded over at Armina's blog).

Next I got myself all in a tizzy thinking about Christmas, snow and icicles and hot chocolate, and crocheted Mr and Mrs Mouse. As soon as I'd finished I fell madly in love with them. Next I photographed them in a pile of packing peanuts in front of a mini tree and they behaved impeccably.

They say you should never work with children or animals and they are so right.

My daughter insisted that our guinea Peanut would be great as part of this festive photo session but, well, let's just put it this way: Peanut would not be a winner of America's Next Top Model. As soon as she was put down she scurried under my carefully constucted pile of packing peanuts, scattering them a foot in the air and sending Mr and Mrs Mouse flying. Next she started eating the packing peanuts. In the end we hid a grape underneath the fake snow so she nibbled on that while she posed. The results are adorable and so worth it, don't you think, Tyra Banks?

Mr and Mrs Mouse pattern for download here.

What are you working on at the moment?

Linking up with the Christmas Holiday Linky Party. So come and join in the fun: