House No. 72: Outside the Home

House No. 72: Outside the Home
black and white ink or finely corrugated cardboard

10 in. x 10 in.
072/365; 03/13/11

A few years ago, when a new couple moved into the neighborhood and a few of us were stopping by individually to welcome them into the area, a couple of friends of mine and I were asked by the new lady of the house if we worked outside the home.

This question lead to peals of laughter amongst those of us who were asked, a catch phrase for our lexicon, and an attempt at hosting for the woman a welcoming dinner dressed in 1960's attire. A dinner to which she never showed up, I might add. Perhaps she was not one to venture outside the home. We enjoyed our nut-encrusted cheese ball in our pearls, sweater sets, and aprons without her. The couple moved to NoVa.

Anyway, the term, while amusing and archaic, is one that I appreciate because it acknowledges that there is plenty of work to be done within the home and that keeping a home has value.

It was this term that inspired my house today, which I masked off before working the drawing outside of the form of the house. And now I must go work within the home before the weekend catches up with me. I have some scrubbing to do and a catbox that needs zen gardening.

Today's post makes me think of this:

Eurythmics - Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves (Official Music Video). 

House No. 42: Achromatic House

House No. 42: Achromatic House

ink on cardstock
1.5 in. x 3 in. x 1.5 in.
042/365; 02/11/11

A black and white house because I wanted to draw circles with a fine tip pen today. Sometimes, you gotta just follow your impulses.

House No. 33: Groundhog House

House No. 33: Groundhog House
ink on paper
11 in. x 8.5 in.
033/365; 02/02/11, Groundhog Day

We take this break from our regularly scheduled alphabet houses to wish you and yours a happy Groundhog Day. And, as I do every year, I wish that Puxatawney Phil would bite the guys in the top hats. Poor little rudely-awoken bugger.

House No. 25: A Room of One's Own

House No. 25: A Room of One's Own

ink on cut and glued repurposed cardstock

8 in. x 7 in. x 10 in.

025/365; 01/25/11

In honor of Virginia Woolf's birthday, my house today is a home for creativity. In the paraphrased words of Woolf, one must have a little money and a room of one's own to create.

Our creative room is not only a physical space in which we may work but the room to evolve and grow and the space for independence and free thinking. Woolf made her room in a lodge at the bottom of her garden at the country house she shared with her husband.

My house today is loosely based on that writing lodge where Woolf wrote some of her best known works. I realized while working on it that today's house is the first in which I have done an interior.

House No. 21: House Call

House No. 21: House Call

Ink on cotton rag paper (more paper swag, this time from Crane)

5 in. x 4 in.

021/365; 01/21/11

The call is coming from inside the house!

House No. 16: Flying House

House No. 16: Flying House

ink on paper

6 in. x 8 in. 

016/365; 01/16/11

 

I have been finishing up my submission for the Sketchbook Project this weekend. The theme I chose for my sketchbook is Dirigibles and Submersibles. I added a home zeppelin to the last page.

House No. 12: Starter House

House No. 12: Starter House
ink on repurposed chipboard
9 in. x 6.5 in.
012/365; 01/12/11

Today, one of my coworkers gave me starter for a friendship cake. A friendship cake, for those who are unfamiliar, is a recipe that calls for a starter that ferments for 10 days, after which you can make additional starter as well as bake a cake. This new starter is then passed on to friends, and they start the process again in ten days. In theory, I suppose the starter could be passed around for generations. Actually, perhaps I shouldn't think about that.

The friendship starter got me thinking of a creative starter, which is exactly what Noah Scalin's 365: A Daily Creativity Journal is doing for many of his friends. People are sharing their work, connecting and even setting up monthly forums. Pretty cool.

With all of this in mind, I created my house today as a creative starter for collaboration. I am inviting everyone who is interested to use this illustration to make something for their own 365 projects, or any project at all. Then please send me a link to your post or email it to me at Madonna {at} TheHappyHomemaker {dot} org, so that I may share it next Friday here and on The Happy Homemaker Facebook page. I can't wait to see if people use this drawing and what they create if they do.

House No. 2: Home is the thing with feathers

House No. 2: Home is the thing with feathers

feathers on repurposed chip board

4 in. x 6 in. x 4 in.

002/365; 01/02/11

Today's home is inspired by birds (making it a birdhouse?) and titled after Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope" is the Thing with Feathers. 

While working on this piece today, it kept reminding me of Meret Oppenheim's Object of 1936.

 Now, while I'm a fan of that particular piece, my true Oppenheim love is Glove (for Parkett no. 4) of 1985.

Perhaps Glove will be an inspiration for another day ... hmmm ...