Free Art Supplies

Recently, while at Home Depot, I decided to pick up some paint sample cards in all the dif shades of white to try out Zentangles on. I usually pick some up whenever I am there but in colors as I love to use them to punch shapes out of as the shapes come out with nice crisp edges and they have such a nice finish and great colors. But this time choose various whites or light colors. I used a Sharpie pen for the following card's Zentangle. I think I'll do a bunch of these and punch a hole in the upper corner and bind them on a ring. I'll use them as a resource when doing more Zentangles as I find it very helpful to look at dif designs to inspire me for what I want to draw in the next space I'm filling in.

And the price is right - free is always good!

Journal pages - tropical leaves

A favorite theme for me, always, is leaves.

Here's some I did for my journal. Having spent quite a bit of time in Hawaii, on Maui, tropical leaves are some of my very fav. Here's a couple I drew on ledger paper with colored pencil, cut out and stuck on journal pages with acrylic gel medium. The backgrounds are acrylic and I was experimenting with light and dark backgrounds with similar subjects. Which do you like better?

Journal and Zentangle

Here's a Zentangle page I did in my journal. I used Pitt brand black pens.

Zentangles

Lately I've been into Zentangling. I find it relaxing and just a little bit addicitng!

I've always doodled. Especially when on the phone. But now I've taken it to a new level after discovering Zentangles. I've never really focused on the overall design of my doodles like this!

Zentangles is a form of doodling. Rick and Maria of Zentangles.com started Zentangle and have made it popular. Check out their website to see alot of Zentangles and info.

Here's a couple of the first Zentangles I did.

And here's an owl I Zentangled. I got the idea from an owl drawing I saw in the Entertainment section of the newspaper.

My Journal

I started a new journal earlier this month.

I made the book using my BindItAll. The covers I made using some fav scrapbook paper I had been hanging onto cuz I liked it so well. Decided I should use it if I like it THAT much! Especially if making something for myself!

I used a tablet of ledger paper for the inside cover, I also cut 1 inch strips and folded them over the edge of the pages before I punched the holes. This give the edge a little more thickness to help allow for the thickness I'll add to the book by working on the pages. Also, then I don't have a stark white edge where the binding is when I paint the background. The journal has 40 pages, so is a big book. I used 10 of lt gray cardstock, 10 lt weight watercolor paper, 10 white cardstock, 10 of India watercolor paper. The working area of the pages is 8 1/2" square.

Once the book was made I started painting backgrounds on various pages. I never start on the first page and work my way through. I randomly pick which page to play with next. And I really like doing backgrounds so go ahead and start there without even always knowing what I'll put on the page. The worse that can happen is I'll have to paint over it if I can't figure out what to do with it! So far I've just used gesso and acrylic paints.

Here's the first page I did. I don't know yet if all the pages will be nature themed but it is a definate possibility. Again I used acrylic paints, and I printed the words on a piece of ledger paper (same time as I printed "journal" for the cover), drew around it with colored pencils and cut it out and glued it to the page with gel medium.

Thanks for looking!

Enjoy!

Another favorite art pal

In addition to my cat, Maui, being my art pal, my 10 year old niece Piper is also alot of fun to make art with.

So, lucky me! I've got two great art pals to keep me company when I'm making art at home!

One of my favorite things about doing art with Piper is her creativity, as a kid she doesn't overthink it! Helps me to do the same sometimes.

We make alot of things - ATCs, Books, altered books (she's working on one about trees), bottle cap magnets, stuff out of clay, and lately Zentangles (more on these in an upcoming post) and sewing.

Here's Piper with a coffee filter she hand colored with water based markers, watercolor paints and a spray bottle of water - she makes beautiful flowers that look like sweet peas with them and we've also used them as background papers. Also, here she is showing some of her ATCs.

My art pal, Maui

Here's my pal, Maui. who is my constant companion when I am creating art at home. She a very loyal and sweet pal and only occasionally a nuisance! Isn't she cute?

New stamps

Here's a page from my bird altered book I made when I got some new rubber stamps.

I prepared the page with white gesso before stamping. And, for the trim, I painted some german gold scrap black to use along the edge.

bird altered book numbers pages

I like playing around with the numbers I find printed on the page so have been using the numbers to decide what to do with some of the pages.

The "4" page are birds I made out of fabric scraps and adhered to muslin scraps I had hand painted. Then sewed to paper and glued that on the "4" page.

The "17" page is 17 of my favorite bird postage stamps I glued to the page with gel medium. I love stamps and love to use them in art.

Bird Altered Book

I've been working on a bird themed altered book for awhile and wanted to share some of what I've done so far. You'll see birds appear in my art quite often.

Here's the covers, front cover, then back cover and spine :

New to blogging

Well, I decided to take a leap and create a blog!
Really quite a big step for me. I'm a very private person plus have a hard time imagining what I have to share with you all.
It's an effort to keep me creating art more often and to share my creations.
Being creative is like my safe harbor and I need to be doing it on a regular basis.
I am a much happier being when I am doing that.
And if one has a way to be happier one must pursue it, right?
So welcome to my little blog...I look forward to sharing my creativity with you!
Kimber