Tuesday, December 30, 2008

An Addition to My Recycled Journal


I am working toward the create everyday way of thinking and doing. I have to remind myself that to create everyday does not mean I have to finish something everyday. I want to incorporate more of my drawings into my art. I usually avoid drawing in my altered books because then it would have to be permanent. (Yes I question this line of thinking too. The stable voice in my head says you could just rip the page out or gesso over it you know.) So I did this piece on another ripped out page of that yucky art book, to add to my recycled journal. I will do something else on the other side, hhmm what will it be? I am growing to like my green girl.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

A Quick Doodle with My Grandson


This was one of those pages that I prepared a while ago. My grandson loves to draw/write/color. He sticks to it for a while - he's 2yrs old. So in 2 yr old time I was able to write and doodle this much. I'll finish it up later. All of the border items seemed perfect. He loves kitties and the wording just seemed to flow.

More Painted Papers





I have done a few more of these pages. I did notice that Kathryn used a red on most of her pages. I'll have to ask her if she meant to do that or not.
These are all pages from an art book. I didn't like his art work so I make mine over his!
The top pages are done with acrylics, gesso & bubble wrap. The orange one is torn paper, a little gesso that I scribbled in & acrylics. The bottom is gesso that I stamped into and then put the gesso filled stamp onto the other paper (I am sure this has some official art technique name), acrylics & bubble wrap.
What a creative gift that Kathryn gave us. I sure do appreciate all of the thought and work that goes into our weekly prompts. I look forward to what the new year brings.

Friday, December 19, 2008

HHMMM

I finished what I was to do for the award. And as I am going through the process I had a thought (yes only 1 thought!) is this the cyber equivalent of a chain letter? I feel pleased to know that Michi reads my blog and wanted others to know about it. It was a good day to visit so many blogs. It is cold and rainy here. The rain makes me feel old. Plus it was dark and dreary all day. Now to create.... either art or cookies?

An Award !


WoW !!! Michi at http://michirhymeswithpeachy.blogspot.com/ nominated my blog for The Marie Antoinette A Real Person A Real Award !! Thanks you so much Michi.
Here are the rules for this award . . .1. Please put the logo on your blog. 2. Place a link to the person from whom you received the award. 3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs. 4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog. 5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them.
My nominations are:

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Painted Papers

Well these are 2 of my painted papers to use in my Soul Journal. Plus a kitty tail. She usually has paint or glue on her somewhere. I enjoy doing backgrounds. I struggle with the composition part of a page. On my work table I have the torn out pages from a book to help protect the table top. (The table is already covered with an old shower curtain. So I guess I am protecting the shower curtain!) I use these papers as a place to glue, to check the color of a pen, to protect things when painting & to glue down the bits of paper that always accumulate. You get the point. These end up being background papers eventually.

I also like to do canvas work. Recently abstracts with acrylics & mixed media. Which, to me, is like making backgrounds. While doing backgrounds I have to remind myself that repitition is better and to try and create numerous "sweet spots".

Monday, December 15, 2008

Gesso, Texture & Shaped Pages

This is the result from latest prompt at
http://www.collagediva.com/souljournal/ . I used cupcake liners. (side story - I have a lot of these because my youngest son used to work for a restaurant and they were getting rid to these. So my son brought home a box full because he knew I could use them!!!!) So cupcake liners, paper doily things & a net bag from oranges. I glued these down first. Let that dry and added a layer of gesso. When I was using the heat gun I found that it scrunched up the netting. It was pretty cool to watch!! Then a couple more layers of gesso. I shaped the edges of the pages. I left a section at the top of the first page because it looked unusual. I realized that I need to change the shape of more of my pages!!! I will most likely do that in my recycled journal first. I have found that I am taking more "risks" in that journal. I think because I know if I don't like the result I can easily remove it and even (oh no!) throw it away.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Fixed?

Well I think I fixed the blog roll issue. I am not all together sure how I did it. But it is done.

Friday, December 12, 2008

A Problem with Blog List

On my dashboard I am following 14 blogs, but when I view my blog only 9 are listed. Is this a common problem with Blogger? Can I fix it? I will go back to searching Blogger and then the web for answers.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

My Advent Calendar





This is my twist on the Advent calendar. You can see my twinchies peeking out from under there. I don't feel that this is completely done but I need to take a break from it. Any suggestions??
I was thinking about changing the edges of the flaps or adding .....something!! I think it may be to linear for me.....

Another page


Here is another Teesha Moore inspired page. I like doing these!!! I want to do some more!!
This is in my recycled journal. I have a bunch of pages ready to be prepped and journaled on!! I don't have a notebook (yet) to put these in. I have been eyeing up those binding gizmo's so many of you have. But I told myself I was NOT going to buy anymore art supplies, especially the large ticket items, until I used some the stash I have.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008


I finished my first attempt at a new style. eeaaah....it's ok. I will definitely be trying this again. I can see using this in my doodle journal.
Oh my ,I have 4 no, 5 journals going at this time!!
I have started a recycled journal. Similar to Christy http://averageamericangirl.com/blog/ and http://ingriddijkers.blogspot.com/. Now I have even more reasons to save things!!!

Gesso is the duct tape of the art world





This is before and this is after!!!

This is the taped pages in Sarah's soul journal prompts. I had alot of trouble with this spread. It has been many things. I would work on it and not like it so I'd leave it alone for a while. Finally I pulled off most of the tape (which now included many layers of paint, gesso & stuff), gessoed (again) and used watercolor crayons and it was so easy this time!! The word love on the right was from what we were to write before the tape went down. The prompt was "I forgot to tell you....." http://sarahwhitmire.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html take a peek for your self!

I wasn't able to create over the holiday - family & not feeling well. I did finish my teesha moore inspired piece. (I'll post a pic later when I find my camera) And I have figured out how I want to do my version of the Advent calender!! Now to just start that!!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

A Doodle


This is one of my many doodles. I enjoy doing these. They can be satisfying when I'm not able to do other kinds of creating. There are a couple ways that I like to use to start. If I have a phrase or a word, I write that down anywhere on the page and in any style. Then I make one continuous squiggle around the words. If I don't have a phrase then I just do the squiggle. Then fill in with any design that comes to mind.
I find that the style of my doodles changes with my mood. The darker the mood the more angular the design. The lighter the mood the more swirly the design.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Thank You !!!!

I would like to thank everyone who left comments for me!!! I smiled and got a sense of happiness as I read each one. I appreciate your input!! I often visit others blogs, some on a daily basis. I now know the importance of leaving a comment! Do others feel this way? Or is it because I am new to blog land? Anyway THANKS !!!

The Final Group


Ffeewww, finally done with the 24 twinchies (on a side note, my husband asked me what the heck is twin cheese!!)
These are: Gift myself, gift I was born with, of forgiveness, The Gift of..., of prayer, admired/remembered, of happiness, of kindness, of service.
Now to find out what Kathryn has planned next for us to do with these!!!

A Different Style



I recently "discovered" the art of Teesha Moore. I am so captivated with it. The more you look at a page, the more you see. I have her blog listed on the blogs I follow. This is the begining of my first attempt. I am finding that this is fun & very playful. I like to "try on" different styles and then do my own thing with them. Kind of like shoes!!

Friday, November 21, 2008

More twinchies!!


Yes, more twinchies. There will be 1 more group and then I'll be done with this part of Gifts and Gratitude. These are, from the top to bottom: Gifts from other artists, from childhood, from nature, of time, of friendship, of prosperity, Peace, of lessons learned, of faith.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Twinchies


These are my first ever twinchies. I am used to working on much larger backgrounds. It was a creative challange for me. It took some time and some great advice from the folks on souljournal@yahoo.com . I finally got my brain wrapped around the small canvas. I am following along the journey that the http://www.collagediva.com/ is working on.

Friday, November 14, 2008

First Post

Well I set a goal for myself to start a blog this week. So here is my blog. I enjoy reading other people's blogs. There are many that I want to comment on and can't because I didn't have a blog address. Now I can comment!!!