House No. 49: Turkish Konak

House No. 49: Turkish Konak

ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
049/365; 02/18/11

Konaks are sprawling houses in Turkey built during the rule of the former Ottoman Empire.

Konaks are known for their extended, wooden soffits with dramatic woodwork, bay windows, painted ceilings, wooden domes centered on the roofs, and slit fenestration.

House No. 48: Fairy Tale House

House No. 48: Fairy Tale House

ink on cardstock
3 in. x 5 in.
048/365; 02/17/11

An illustrated love letter to my husband, the literal happy homemaker in my life, who has been working very hard on our house.

House No. 47: City Living

House No. 47: City Living

collage, ink, and colored pencil on upcycled cardstock
6 in. x 4 in.
047/365; 02/16/11

Yesterday, I received a mail art piece from my friend Mim. I was so excited! I was even more excited when I found out that Mim is also doing an alphabet series for her 365 project and started on nearly the same day that I did. So cool.

I so enjoyed receiving art in the mail. I decided that my house today would be mail art to send back to Mim. Well, I decided to make mail art for Mim, and it took so much time that I had to use it as today's house. I was just so into it.

And I cannot believe that I had not used collage yet for a house. It's one of my favorite things to do.

This card is made from a reused manila folder, a page from a Mexican calendar that I received with an order from Rancho Gordo, and lots of scribbling.

So, I have been detouring a bit from my alphabet, but I will be getting back to it soon. I just have a million ideas, and I cannot seem to stick to just one concept.

House No. 46: Japanese Chashitsu (Tea House)

House No. 46: Japanese Chashitsu (Tea House)

ink and colored pencil on upcycled cardstock
nearly 6 in. x 4 in.
046/365; 02/15/11

This postcard is on its way to Carytown Teas in Richmond, VA. Learn more about their mail art collection, and send some of your own by visiting Mail Art Projects.

The brush-looking thing on the left is a bamboo matcha whisk, and the background is the beautiful spring green of matcha tea.

House No. 45: Love Shack

House No. 45: Love Shack

unfired (as of yet) glazed porcelain tile
8.5 in. x 11 in.
045/365; 02/14/11

Happy Valentine's Day. My house today has a two-part back story.

Part one: This evening, I took my VSU 2D Design class to Paint and Play to make decorative tiles. They have been working on an exhaustive series of square images on theses that they have chosen for the semester. The tiles are meant to be a decorative study on the same theme that have the added benefit of a process (in this case, the firing) over which they do not have control. Since they have been working in relatively small square format, the tiles will fit in perfectly with the rest of their body of work.

Part two: I am working on a series of tiles for the back splash in our soon-to-be kitchen. Today's house will fit in with the tiles. They do not really have a theme, per say, just things that I like and would want to look at while I spend time in the kitchen.

Here is the first tile that I glazed for the back splash:

before firing

after firing

And guess what ... tonight, when I opened my Valentine's Day present from the werePanda, I found gift tiles to Paint and Play to make five more tiles. Pretty sweet.

So today's little tile house will be a permanent fixture in our house, which is a whole project in itself.

House No. 44: Jōmon Pit House

 

House No. 44: Jōmon Pit House

ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
044/365; 02/13/11

The pit dwellings of the Jomon era of Japanese prehistory which ranged roughly from 14,000–300 BCE. The houses were built of wood supports and thatch over a shallow pit. 

This is another example of the utilization of geothermal heating, similar to that of the earth berm. I think that it is fascinating to discover that humans worldwide often discovered and developed the same techniques and that often the basic use of natural resources are so effective that we revisit them now.

House No. 43: Russian Izba

 

House No. 43: Russian Izba

ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
043/365; 02/12/11

Izbas are Russian log cabins built by peasants in the countryside. Many are ornately decorated with painted woodwork. The houses were built without saws or nails because the steel was so expensive. Instead, the logs were notched with a hand axe and fit together. Ornamentation was whittled by knife.

Some izbas, called chicken leg izbas, are built on stilts. These are the inspiration for the magical house lived in by Baba Yaga, the witch of lore from Eastern Europe. I love these stories and the imagery that they conjure up. The tales may find their way into some illustrations quite soon ...

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.

For You Friday: Square Paper House Template

For you to use ... a square paper house template that I made and that I am using for today's post. For best results, print on card stock and fold with folding instructions facing in, or cut it out and use it as a template or stencil to mark your final paper.

If you create something with the template, please send a photo for me to post!

House No. 41: Kerala Houseboat

 

House No. 41: Kerala Houseboat

ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
041/365; 02/10/11

In Kerala, India, waterways are a major source of transportation, and the backwaters of Kerala may be cruised by houseboat.

The boats are made with coir and bamboo and held together by knots. Some of the boats are up to one hundred year old.

Many of the boats are very decorative and the coir is elaborately woven and appears delicate, looking almost like lace. What a romantic way to travel.

House No. 40: Mongolian Ger

House No. 40: Mongolian Ger

ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
040/365; 02/09/11

Ger, the home of the nomadic Mongolians, are unquestionably the most luxurious in the history of mobile homes. Created with a wooden structure covered by fabric tarps and rugs, blankets, and skins to insulate the structure, they are lined with tapestries, heated, and furnished.

This is not the kind of camping that you and I know. This makes even an RV look like squatting.

While I have never seen a Ger in real life, there was an amazing facsimile of a Ger interior in the exhibition design of The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353, that I had the fortune of seeing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2002.

I could have moved in right there. The Mongol Empire, they knew how to travel in style.

Off topic, that was likely the most beautifully designed exhibition that I have ever seen. And the artwork was amazing. I was lost in there for hours.

I suspect the Ger may have been part of the inspiration for the set designers who created the tents in the Harry Potter films.

House No. 39: American Foursquare

House No. 39: American Foursquare
ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
039/365; 02/08/11

Foursquare and ten dozen years ago, our homebuilders brought forth on this continent a new architectural style, conceived in simplicity, and dedicated to the Prairie School and Craftsman styles.

About as American as architecture comes, the Foursquare is sometimes referred to as the Transitional Pyramid. It was a widely popular style that was built extensively for over forty years in both the country and cities. Their construction increased even more when they were offered as kit houses in Sears catalogs. You still see them a lot today.

House No. 38: House of Rain

 

 

House No. 38: House of Rain
printed cardstock, glue, plastic box, metallic thread
3 in. x 3 in. x 3 in.
038/365; 02/07/11

Today's house is a transatlantic collaboration piece done with Kirin of Illustrating Rain. The inspiration for the finished piece was the name of Kirin's site.

Here is how we collaborated separated by nearly 4,000 miles: I sent to Kirin a PDF template for a house, which, in turn, Kirin returned by email beautifully illustrated. I printed and assembled the house, glued it into an upcycled plastic cube, glued separated gold thread around the top so that it would look like rain (That inspiration came from the French expression il pleut des cordes or Les cordes de pluie, which translate as it's raining cords and cords of rain.), and photographed it in my backyard.

It was a treat for me to work with such a talented and whimsical illustrator. Thanks, Kirin! Please visit Kirin's 365 project site, In Animate Me for more terrific work.

Monday Meet the Neighbors, Illustrating Rain

Welcome to this week's edition of Meet the Neighbors that posts every Monday here on The Happy Homemaker. It's a chance to introduce and showcase other 365ers and artists by whom I am inspired and with whom I am collaborating.

This week's neighbor is Kiran of Illustrating Rain who is creating an animated inamimate object every day in the 365 project In Animate Me. I just love this project and the work that is being produced.

Whiskful Thinking, day 2

 

Portrait of a Chair, day 7

Stapler Creature, day 17

Cappuccino in a Cup, day 3

See what I mean? Love, love, love them!

A little later today, I will be posting the collaboration that Kiran and I have done. I'm so excited to show you!

House No. 37: Earth Berm

House No. 37: Earth Berm
ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
037/365; 02/06/11

"In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a Hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "An Unexpected Party"

While its most recognizable form is probably the hobbit holes of Tolkien's Middle Earth, earth dwellings, called berms (meaning a mound or wall of earth or sand), have been used around the world for millennia. Earth dwellings are now associated with the green building movement.

Sometimes the earth is "bermed" about an existing dwelling, and sometimes they are dug out of an existing slope or dug and the earth is rebuilt over a structure. They are warm in the winter and cool in the summer, are stable and fireproof, and are largely organic and/or upcycled. If we ever go off the grid — which is not likely, but I fantasize about it sometimes — I want to live in an earth berm. My husband, however, says that it seems rather dirty and that he is not a groundhog.

House No. 36: Dingbat Apartment

House No. 36: Dingbat Apartment
ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
036/365; 02/05/11

Midcentury modern architecture is one of my favorite eras, particularly anything atomic age or googie. It's all just so over-the-top and carefree. Dingbat apartment buildings are wild examples of the kitschy, fun architecture of the fifties and sixties and are prevalent in Los Angeles.

House No. 35: Cotswold Cottage

House No. 35: Cotswold Cottage
ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
035/365; 02/04/11

We now return you to our regularly scheduled alphabet houses. Today's thatched-roof, storybook cottage is typical of houses found in the Cotswold hills of west-central England. Elements of these homes have been replicated in other areas of the world and is now referred to as the Cotswold Cottage style.

House No. 34: House of the Rabbit

House No. 34: House of the Rabbit
drawing in the style of a Chinese papercut
6 in. x 4.5 in.
034/365; 02/03/11, Chinese New Year

Kung hei fat choi!

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. 32: Barraca

House No. 32: Barraca
ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout
8.5 in. x 11 in.
032/365; 02/01/11

Barracas, Spanish for barracks, are traditional, thick-walled houses of Valencia, Spain made of sticks and clay. They frequently have crosses at the apex of the gables and centered religious iconography above the front door. The structures are frequently, though not always, gable-front houses, meaning the principle facade of the house is on the gabled end.