Found - A Behind the Scenes Look

"Found" 6x6 inch encaustic painting on 2" cradled wood panel. Prints available here.

finished piece on the wall

sketch with colored pencil added

initial sketch in my notebook



As promised, here is a glimpse into one of my works in progress. This piece, "Found," is not only the final piece in my 6-part series, but it is also my Found Art Friday entry (I will post it again!). Gosh, isn't it funny to see how different the final piece is from my original sketch!?! I actually started out with a fairly similar rendition, but I found myself starting to etch in a series of rectangles into the wax, and before I could stop myself, I was adding color, then silver leaf, then gold leaf, then... this is what emerged. Right after I started etching the grid, I was thinking, "oh no, what have I done?!," but I'm really glad I took a risk with this piece. If not in my work, then where?

And, yes, FOUND is our FAF theme this week. Please email me a link to the piece you create on your blog (or send a jpeg if you don't have a blog), and I will share your work. :)

Found Art Friday - ORDINARY

"Do You Think I'm Ordinary" by Emma Talbot.

"Laundry" by Pippin.

"Random Influences" by Megan Woodward Johnson.

"The Widsom of Ordinary Things" by Cathy Nichols (me).

"Peaceful, Ordinary Day" by Christophe.

What a beautiful group of pieces for our "ordinary" theme. And thank you all so much for participating on such short notice. When the random word generator popped out "ordinary," I was disappointed at first. I thought, 'gee, isn't this the antithesis of everything I try to say in my work.' But then I started to think about how much beauty and magic exists in each "ordinary" moment. So for my painting, "The Wisdom of Ordinary Things," I looked out my window and started painting the scene. And, in the spirit of FAF's serendipities, Christophe took a photo of the same rooftop that I painted (but from the upstairs bedroom). :)

Beautiful work, everyone! And please stop by the blogs of our contributors. The artists not only posted their work, but commented on the process of each piece -- I love what everyone had to say about their paintings this week!

Found Art Friday - Everything Blooming

Good morning out there, and happy Found Art Friday! Our theme this month is -- quite inappropriately with all of this snow and freezing weather -- "Everything Blooming." So I'd like to send out an extra big thank you to all of our contributers for digging deeply into their memories of lost warm, springlike days to create these beautiful bouquets.

"Rebirth" -- Encaustic & Mixed Media on Wood Panel (flowers are blooming in her wings!) By Cathy Nichols.

"Everything Blooming" by Claire Ishino.

"Spring is in the Air" By Megan Woodard Johnson.

Flower Bouquet by Pippin.

"Just Under the Surface" by Heather Kirtland.

"Tokyo Bunny" by Emma Talbot.

"Hello Spring" by Christophe.

"Everything Blooming" by Tara Leaver.

Thank you, again to everyone who participated this month in our little Found Art Friday experiment. For next month's theme, I thought I would up the "randomness quotient" by asking everyone to suggest a theme here in the comments, and I will pick one of the themes out of a hat for March! So please suggest something, and be creative. All theme ideas are welcome.

Found Art Friday -- BIG LOVE!

Welcome to the revival of FOUND ART FRIDAY: A monthly collection of themed art from blogs, artists and creative people around the world. This month's theme is BIG LOVE, and I am absolutely thrilled that we've had so many contributions! The concept of Found Art Fridays is to create a piece without much planning, allowing yourself to give in to the fun and spontaneity of the creative process. I think the artists here did a tremendous job! Beneath each piece, I've listed the artist's name and a link to their blog or website so that you can learn more about their work. Enjoy!!!
Heather Kirtland 8x8 encaustic on cradled birch.

"All You Need is Love" by Emma Talbot of Little Brown Rabbit.

Mixed Media Love Collage by Tara Leaver of Aquamarineart.

Valentine Card Design by Amanda Lincoln

"Big Love" by Jessie of Jessie Lilac Illustration

"A Little Bliss" -- freeform encaustic heart by me, Cathy!

"Big Love" by Pippin of ArtPippin

"Love is Always and Forever" by Gina Lee Kim.

"Flaming Heart" by Christophe (created with daughter, Annabelle)

"Love Smiles" by Michele Gallagher of Artistique Muse.

Thank you to all of the artists who participated in Found Art Friday this month, and I hope you will join us again for next month's theme EVERYTHING BLOOMING: on 2/26.

Call for Contributions: FOUND ART FRIDAY 1/29

I can't believe January is almost over -- but it is, and FOUND ART FRIDAY is coming up at the end of the week (1/29). The theme is "Big Love," and you are welcome to submit your experiment in painting, photography, performance art or any other medium -- as long as it revolves around Big Love -- for my post this Friday.

In case you are new to my blog, Found Art Friday is a round-up of artwork that I post every last Friday of the month. The theme varies, but anyone can contribute. The idea behind "Found Art" is that it's something done freely without much constraint in a way that allows for serendipity and surprise. So, if you feel like contributing, just be creative and have fun. Then post the artwork on your blog & send me a link (and I will repost) OR just email me a jpeg image (if you are blogless). My email is cnichols19@aim.com.

Happy BIG LOVE!!! Can't wait until Friday!

Happy Found Art Friday!

A huge thank you to all of the artists who were kind enough to share their Found Art this Friday! I am enjoying this project so much that I have decided to spice it up a bit by creating a theme for each Friday's "show." I think it sometimes can make us even more creative --especially when working in a spontaneous, free-flowing, synchronistic way -- to have a few limits. What do you think of the idea? Next week's theme will be "HOPEFUL." I hope it inspires you!

Here is this week's FOUND ART:

"Night Fairies" by Kaili. This piece evolved when Kaili was trying to cover up an older painting using pieces of paper and gel medium. The result was this beautiful set of flying fairies upon this great textured background. Read more about her process on her blog.


"April Shower" by Emma Talbot. Emma experimented with cut pieces of paper from magazines for this piece. I think they add an interesting twist to the idea of rain (and I love the expression on the bunny's face!).

Melissa Moss snapped this beautiful photograph while looking for inspiration for her paintings in the backyard. I love the vibrant color, and the intense detail of the leaves reminds me of that same attention to detail in Melissa's work.

"Flower Records" by Veronica Diago. She created this piece by gluing retro-looking circles from a ceiling fan catolgue on a piece of board painted with woodgrain texture. I love the title!!

"Happiness." I added this one in just for fun. It's a snapshot I took of the most delicious cupcakes on earth. We got them from the brand new Crumbs bakery that opened up in town. And, coincidentally, after I wrote this, I found out that their logo is "delivering happiness." Synchronicity!

Have a fantastic weekend! I am so looking forward to seeing what you come up with for "HOPEFUL" next Found Art Friday. XOX

New Sugarzoo Line of Print-it-Yourself Notecards

Printable Sugarzoo "Bunny & Bloom" Notecards now in my ETSY shop.

I'm so happy to announce the release of the first notecards in my new series of Print-it-Yourself items from my Sugarzoo collection! Featured above are "Bloom" and "I Picked these For You" (with Chester the Bunny). To create these notecards yourself, you will just need my downloadable PDF file, a printer and a set of inkjet notecards like these from AVERY. My downloadable PDF file is perfectly formatted to create these cards with the push of a button. Enjoy!!

And, don't forget, tomorrow is Found Art Friday! Please email me your submission by tomorrow afternoon. I'll be posting in the evening!

Happy Found Art Friday!

I can't believe it's Friday already. Christophe has been in France, and the days have just flown by. I am currently on semi-vacation' because my mom is visiting from California for the weekend, but I wouldn't dream of letting down my "Found Art Friday friends."

And, speaking of Found Art Friday, I've had a few people ask me to explain what I mean by found art. To me, found art is 'art' that comes to you in an unexpected way. Maybe it arises through a dream, the subconscious or just plain luck. Maybe it is a surprisingly beautiful or artful moment that you are able to capture on film or a medium because you were in the right place at the right time -- or just because you had your eyes open to see it. But enough talking, I'll let the art speak for itself:

"Breakfast in the Garden" by Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday. This is a beautiful sight Marisa "found" while breakfasting in her sunny California garden one morning.

In the spirit of synchronicity, the image for Marisa's current podcast -- entitled "Trust" -- is also from this same morning garden series!

"Lady of the Lake" by Leah Piken Kolidas of Creative Every Day. In this piece Leah was painting intuitively over a collage and the face of the woman just seemed to appear, as did the feather tattoo on her arm! Leah also has some beautiful thoughts about found art in her post "Creative Muses, Magic and Synchronicities."

"when peacock blue meets a dollop of spring pink" By Gina Lee Kim. I love what Gina has written about this piece on her blog! Gorgeous colors, Gina!


"Carnation" by Alicia Hurst. Alicia found this beautiful flower when she was browsing through the flower market. She says that she usually goes there to photograph flowers but on that day she wasn't looking. The carnation found her so she bought it & brought it home.

Have a beautiful Friday and happy weekend everyone!! Hope you find art & beauty today in your world.

Found Art Friday!

"Panda Doodle" photo by Jacqueline. I love the way that this photo captures not only Jacqueline's doodle (which she did in her PJs), but all the wonderful colors and tools of her great imagination!

"Dream of a Black-Capped Chickadee" by Gina Kim. Painted over breakfast where Gina has paintbrushes ready at all times. So pretty!

"Blackbird Spring" by Emma. Emma's lovely piece began with a blue background, then sprouted crocuses after she saw some growing in her garden as she waited for the color to dry. Then a blackbird flew in from memory. As a final touch she added the cut out words to finish the composition. You can see this painting in process on Emma's blog, Little Brown Rabbit.

"Night Treat" by Christophe. This little beauty was created by my dear fiance using a digital camera and Photoshop. Can you guess the "treat" pictured here? He was very enamored of his dessert. And I was so pleased to see his enthusiasm for my found art project! :)

Just one little tidbit that I want to share about these 4 pieces. If you look at them horizontally, they all have a very similar composition. Even Jacqueline's photo seems to have a black object that looks like a blackbird in the right upper corner. Maybe we were all experiencing a little synchronicity here!

I want to thank all of the artists who participated in Found Art Friday. Not only did I have a great time seeing your submissions, but I love that it helps my blog readers get to know one another, too! And it's just plain fun -- especially on Friday the 13th. Wishing you all a day of serendipity and synchronicity.