The Mona Lisa

Go ahead, download the clip art Mona Lisa and have fun, avant-garde style.  In the classroom, everyone is a Duchamp. Just pull out the markers and have a go.

Joy!

After forgetting to pick up dry cat food for ma kittehs, I was forced to trudge down to the local Kmart. And having been fortunate enough to have avoided the place for a month or so, I wandered around a little to confirm my suspicion that I hadn’t been missing much.

But I was wrong–there, in the lame excuse for a stationary section, I found a Crayola product I had not seen before: Extreme Colors Ultra-Bright colored pencils! Very vibrant colors, but would they glow under black light? At $3.99 for a box of eight, it was a risk I was willing to take. And I’m happy to report that all of the colors glow fabulously, much better than the iPhone photographs on this page can convey.

Under the black light, the pencil marks are not as apparent and the color glows brightly, even the blue (wish I could say the same for the blue Copic fluorescent marker–a dud!). The illustration above was first sketched out with the Copic fluorescent orange marker the mouth is Copic fluorescent pink. The rest is the Crayola.

Wonder how they would work on nice black paper? Must investigate!

Yes, I just can’t get enough of that old-fashioned black light goodness! Copic sketch markers (black and fluorescent yellow).  Inspired by Victorian silhouettes.

A black cat and her adoring Jack O’ Lantern. In black and fluorescent gouache for a little black light Halloween fun!

I was inspired by old fashioned Victorian silhouettes for this one. Which has me thinking that I ought to track down some good black paper and see if I can cut a similar scene out and perhaps lay in on a fluorescent background.

Luminous Jack O' Lantern

Black Light Jack O’ Lantern, painted with Acryla luminous gouache. I took this photo with my old Kodak EasyShare to take advantage of the night time setting (which the iPhone camera lacks). Not sure if it made much of a difference. The teeth are painted yellow but they appear green.

No, this isn’t the work of a ten year old. I’m tired, and it shows. I spent a ridiculous amount of time this evening trying to track down the source of a mildew like odor in the back part of my house. We’ve had a lot of rain, maybe my house is starting to rot. Oh, well, when life gives you mold, paint Jack O’ Lanterns, drink some tea, and watch The Slave Hunters on Crunchyroll.

Works for me, anyway.

Until tomorrow!

Inspired by a vintage Halloween decoration, this guy is worse than all thumbs, he’s all pumpkins! Keep on truckin’, Pumpkin Man, Halloween will be here soon!

Just a simple watercolor/sketch with the trusty Derwent Inktense pencils. What do you call something rendered in these pencils anyway? Is it a painting? Is it a pencil drawing? Just as long as it isn’t alive!

I wanted this to appear more sinister than it turned out, and so I consider this a sketch for another time. Innocent goat boy accepts a ride in an enchanted pumpkin, but this ride will not end well (such rides never do)

And that is tonight’s “Pumpkin of the Day”. Sleepy time tea and cookies now, while I try to think of the subject for tomorrow nights Jack O’ Lantern. Maybe a whole goat boy fable–something about a clever goat boy who abandoned his family to chase a dragon and woke up in an evil pumpkin patch.