Getting Back into Things

Wow!! It has been a long time since I've posted!!!! Life threw me multiple curve balls & I have been doing my best to handle them correctly & not let them knock me down for to long.

Anyway, we have snow here today. Just a couple of inches & it looks pretty.

I have been doing some art journaling. My journals are such a safe place for me to get out all of that crap that replays over & over in my head & heart.

I have been doing Milliandes January 2011 prompts http://www.milliande.com/art-journal-january-2011.html They are fun to do!!

Have a safe, warm day! I'm going to go get a homemade Latte.........

Some Spray Paint & Journal Pages

I am taking Mary Ann Moss's Stencilry & Stitched & Stenciled classes. This is one of the pieces I have done so far. I am working up to the silhouette stencils--making them & spraying them. I have learned how to layer the stencils for some cool effects. I have even made my own designs! A ray burst & a flower mask/stencil. I am having FUN with it!

These next two pages are from my altered book art journal. This page was fun to do. But it doesn't feel done yet. Any suggestions? She has been like this for a while now.


This page I just did yesterday. It's watercolor, gauche & alcohol spritz. It has quite a lot of texture. I put the paint right on the page from the tubes. Some of the paint is old & drying out, that paint left blobs behind. Mostly the yellow. I like this as it is. I think I will scan it so I can use it in other projects. I have never scanned a piece of my art & reused it before!! I'm not sure why I haven't. Probably that inner critic--Darn her!!!

So have fun & don't let your inner critic get to you!!!!

Hello Again

Hey, Hows it going? Yeah I know. It's been a while. I was actually spending some time outside & enjoying the sunshine. But our weather here on the east coast has changed to cool/cold, windy & rainy. So inside days.

It seems odd to me that I have to force myself to get back in the Art habit! So I have been doing a lot of backgrounds or maybe they are just visual pages. I will have to see. I just read this great quote......

"Art may never be finished, but at a certain point you let it go and call it done"

by Julia Cameron

author of The Artists Way & many other helpful books

This page had some paint & ink leftovers wiped on to it. I added the rest as a listen to your gut (maybe I should refer to it as intuitive). I used what ever color paint, pen & pics my hands went to first.

This is my version of a shabby flower. It includes fabric, ribbon, lace & yarn. I used hot (low temp) glue. I watched a video on Vimo by Robin-Marie Smith. And she used a much better glue- fabric tack. I like this technique! You work with what you have & the results are a little different each time.

Happy Happy / Oww Oww

When I sat down to art journal this is not where my head was that day!! But as so often happens, the page has a mind of its own!! I didn't like it when I was done with it. So I just shut the book and left it alone for a few days. That old saying is true, absence does make the heart grow fonder!

This was last night after I took something for it!

This was before I took something!!!!

I just wanted to create last night but my head just kept thumping & bumping!! So this is what spilled out of me!

I feel better this morning!

Helpful Critiques = Journal Pages

Here is a more finished version of one of my "needs something" pages from yesterdays post. I think I'm happy with it.

I want to thank the ladies who commented on the last post. It was very helpful! By the way the rest of you should go check out their blogs & flickr pages. I was wowed by their work!!



This is another journal that I have. This was a kind of fun, playing around spread. To help me remember things about a book I'm reading Better Boundaries, Owning and Treasuring Your Life by Jan Black & Greg Enns
I haven't finished the book yet. It has a positive spin about it. Do you know what I mean?


At Christmas my sister got one of my grandson's a Memory game. After she punched out all of the cards she was left with these big square grid looking pieces. She knew I'd use them for art stuff. And she was right. That's what the grid is from on the above page. I tried stazon ink first - didn't work. Acrylic paint did though!!



On this page I did gel medium transfers of magazine pics. I wasn't sure how they would work because this is very textured paper. But I like how they turned out! I am liking playing with my dip pens & ink again. I want to get a smaller nib/tip though.

See what happens on a snowed in day. While my husband goes out and plows the snow I stay in and plow thru my art supplies! I make him hot chocolate when he comes in!!! Oh and I'm trying a new recipe. It's beer bread. I hope it's good!!!

Isn't It Odd.......

I think it is odd that with both of these journal spreads I like the one on the right but the one on the left needs something.

LIKE

NEEDS SOMETHING

LIKE

NEEDS SOMETHING

I did these after watching Milliande's January journaling videos. I used a wax candle, crayons (kids kind & watercolor) pencil, watercolors,vinyl stickers, acrylic paint, black cat ink & dip pen, stamped some drawer liner with staz-on, my handmade papers, gesso & sharpie poster paint pens.

I just have been puttering around, not feeling creative. So I am trying to show up & work until I find "it" again.

We are getting the beginning of our BLIZZARD!!! It looks pretty but Oh my it's a lot of snow!!

See I Do Still Art Journal & An Ink Question For You

I have been watching the wonderful Milliande work in her art journal. You can see her here http://www.milliande.com/Art-Journal-January-2010.html .

These 2 pages are done by putting masking tape on the page first. Then some ink & acrylic paint. Remove the masking tape. Which is the fun part, trying to decide which pieces went on last down to first!!! I saved the tape & put it in another journal. Then I sprayed the pages with food coloring (the blue). Then I used some Golden Interference blue (fine) on a stamp. Which shows up really well in these pics!? After all of that dried, I doodled with my black cat ink & dip pen. I still want to add more doodling to this.


This is also in response to Milliande. Her circle prompt. There's some security envelope, junk mail (that's where the heart came from), some painted pages, acrylic & gouache paint. Lastly some ink & my dip pen. This also needs some journaling on it! I like this first heart page better than the snowflake page. I ran out of the blue-grey mix of paint I used on the first page.



This is from an altered book. I love using books this way. The journaling "paper" on the right is a dried up baby wipe (a CLEAN one!!!) that I use to clean my brushes off on.
Does anyone have experience with the acrylic inks or drawing inks in various colors? I see Milliande uses them a lot. If you have used them is there a brand and/or color that you like? I was given a Dick Blick gift card for Christmas! I have a list going. So far I have Pan Pastels & the "knives" for them, sharpie poster paint pens in white (med & fine point) & maybe some Blick studio by Fabiano sheets of paper.

Scrappy Journal

I took Mary Ann Moss's Remains Of The Day on-class. It is an EXCELLENT class with PDF's, video's, class blog, yahoo group, & flickr group. You can find info about the class & her other classes on her blog .

http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/

In this class the pages are from paper scraps that gather in your stash & can't bear to get rid of. They are then sewn on or together to make the signatures. There are places for journaling, tucking in receipts or goodies from your day, pockets & anything else you want to add.

The cover has a paper base with the fabric being a kind of slipcover. The idea for the cover is to again use the fabric scraps in your stash. Then sew it down "guerrilla" style. A Mary Ann Moss phrase.

My pics are in the reverse order that I wanted. Oh well. This one below has my first "ticket" from my new POGO printer, a Christmas present from Sam. Plus some fabric & painted paper scraps.

This is one of my favorites. The butterfly is a note card.

This has a clear pocket.

This is my first page. Mary Ann had a pic of herself on her first page. I did the same thing!! I found this in an old Smithsonian mag.

Here is my cover. All wrapped up & cozy.
I had made some journals inspired by Mary Ann's. But they just didn't have "it". Now I understand her methods. She has the amazing ability to make order out of chaos. I think a lot like her but am unable to break it in to steps like she does.

She's my Art Hero!!!

A Journal Page

This is my first spread in my journal for the workshop at ArtistsoftheRoundTable@yahoogroups.com . We are working on Lynne Perrella's Artists' Journals & Sketchbooks.

Is Your Ribbon Wrinkled?

I am trying to do the whole reduce, reuse recycle/upcycle. So a lot of the ribbon I acquire looks like the ribbon in this picture.I found out that my flat iron is perfect for bringing this tired, wrinkled ribbon back to life.
Just a few seconds thru the flat iron and ta-da . Refreshed ribbon!!! Just thought I'd pass on this recycling tip.

See my shiny, happy ribbon!!!!! Now to find a project to use them in, hhhmmmm................

Words & Art

I saw this picture and this journal page just over took my brain & I had to get it on paper! It is kind of funny that I reference holding glass crystals up to the light. We had just recently watched the movie Polly Anna http://www.amazon.com/Pollyanna-Eleanor-Hodgman-Porter/dp/1434609723/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251304316&sr=8-7#
The always look on the bright side little girl!
This is currently my favorite, favorite page I have done. This is my go to word. It works under any situation. Good,bad, happy or sad. It is always good to take a step back & BREATHE. If it is a positive situation this helps me to remember & savor the moment. If it is a rough situation it helps me to clear my head & think.

So take a moment & BREATHE today!

Oh to be an Art Journal...................

Where it is Beautiful to be Fat & Lumpy!!!

These are just some of my well loved art journals! I do the covers last. Need to do the cover on the larger red covered one, as well as my The Decorated Page workshop art journal cover. That one is falling off the stack in the bottom picture. As I look at the pictures I realize that I need to do more edge embellishments.
How many do you have?

Art Journaling

These pages are in my journal-altered book for The Decorated Page (by Gwen Diehn) workshop over at the

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtistsOfTheRoundTable/

The first is just a silly doodle page. It started with pouring acrylic paint on one page and smooching the book closed. I guess this is a little like cloud watching.

The next 2 are inspired by the 4th of July (bet ya couldn't guess that). The flag is a folded flap & I have written about the fun I had on the 4th on the back of it. It also is a sort of experiment with black paint and working with a dark background. The page on the left is painted with artist grade acrylic - has sort of a satin look & feel to it. The page on the right is cheap craft acrylic - matte & has a chalky feel to it. I used watercolor crayons to draw on it. Next time I want to experiment with what pens/paints will write on the black background. Do you have any suggestions?

Remember Headstands?

I remember how much fun it was to jump & tumble around. Carefree & laughing.
This is just a quick sketch in response to the prompt Headstands on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blissfully_Art_Journaling/?yguid=293415097 Kim provides some great prompts some are fun, some are deep thinking & some are globally thinking.

I really enjoy art journaling!! I have some canvases that are looking at me, trying to tempt me! I will have to listen to them soon!

Overwhelmed?

This Art Journal spread is in response to Kathryn's prompt at True North Arts http://collagediva.typepad.com/truenorth/2009/05/creative-kindling-quick-easy-ways-to-get-your-creative-mojo-heated-up.html

http://christinekane.com/blog/ Christine Kanes blog is really interesting. Go on over and take a look. I have signed up for her emails. It is nice to get something positive in your inbox!

Scavenger Hunt Results

Over at http://sarahwhitmire.blogspot.com/2009/05/soul-journaling-prompt-tools-and.html you will find the items needed for your own journal spread. There are 17 items to hunt for and use to create with. Here are just a few: something plastic, something shiny, something that starts with the letter A. Can you find those items in my journal pages?

For my Soul Journaling yahoo group journal I decided to use the binder clip & cereal box journal. I also use some of the junk mail to make pages. I will see where Sarah takes us this time!

Morris Dancers

Click the title to get to the YouTube video. This is another spread in one of my art journals. The prompt is from Milliande at http://milliande.ning.com/ . As I watched this clip I was to think about form, movement, color, shape & emotional response. So this is my interpretation. The picture is my mom! She is so beautiful!

This book is almost full!! I like this size. I still have to get more books to journal in.