"It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledged That A Girl In Possession of Some Good Tiles Must Be In Want of Inspiration"

Who knew that a $5.00 bag of 'Rectangular Wood Pieces'

from the craft section of Michael's could be SO INSPIRING!!

I originally bought this pouch of pieces to paint tiny little bibles 

for a Vacation Bible School activity I was prepping for the preschool class.

But I had left over tiles in two sizes: 3/4" x 1.5" and 1/2" x 1"

What to do, what to do??

Well, I like quirky, one-of-a-kind art as much as the next person... 

I was quickly envisioning a collection of tiles with little 

unique, hand-drawn 'somethings' on them...

I could frame them and sell them or just hang 'em up in my art room...

But what to draw? What should the collection be?

How about dogs?

Well, I made one or two dog designs whenever I sat down but then by the sixth, 

Inspiration struck! 

What if I made a collage of animals, each one representing a letter of the alphabet!

Woo-hoo!!

Asking whoever happened to be in the room, "What animal begins with...."

I worked away drawing whatever animal was suggested

and came up with this:

 "Animal Alphabet"

What I love about this is that there's no going back - it's ink on wood - 

there is no erasing, no changing your mind!

I was so excited that I had fitted the tiles in such a way 

to make the whole alphabet fit into a neat li'l rectangle,

well, that is until my darling husband looked at it for less than 2 seconds 

and announced I was missing a letter - his mathematical brain amazes me!

Umm, yes, I forgot the letter "Y", my apologies to the Yawning Yak
who may have been Yearning to be a part of this piece!!

Well, still having several tiles in that little plastic bag from Michael's, what was I to do next?

How was I to use them up? An even BIGGER inspiration struck me!!

Wait for it...

"Pride & Prejudice"

(fineliner pen, watercolour, gouache on wood tiles arranged on chalkboard)

After studying Jane Austen's handwriting I copied some favourite quotes from her story 

onto a few of the tiles, added 'lace' detail to some, and even painted miniature versions of the

three major houses in the story: Longbourne, Netherfield Park, and Pemberly.

 
I included all the couples - even my favourite, Aunt & Uncle Gardiner!

They are all just resting on a chalkboard surface,
I hope to adhere them to a permanent surface soon!

Here are a few close-ups:

The tiles are just about used up, only a couple tiny ones left...

Loving the spark, Boom! POW!! of inspiration!!

♥ Cath-