Guess what color...

I'm making some 4x4s for a swap with some of my Ustream art pals.
Just finished the backgrounds.
Can't show them to you yet so as not to ruin the surprise for anyone.
But I'm guessing you can figure out what color they are from this pic:

Yes I am a messy artist!  And I think it's more fun when I make a mess...lol!

Get Your Art On - days 4,5,6,7, & 8

Okay, finally time to post some more Get Your Art On days!  Blogging is definately going to be the challenging part of this for me.
Day 4
Decided the Tim Holtz die cut gears would make great fireworks.  Kinda difficult to see on the scan but made them sparkly by gluing on sparkly bits and glitter glue.

Day 5 and 7
I worked on these pages Tues and Thurs and forgot to scan in between.  Now I'm trying to be sure to scan what I did that day each night, whether done or not.  They are in my Bird Altered Book.

Day 6

I had alot of appts and errands this day and was pretty worn out when I got home.  My art for this day was art preparation.  Time to recycle some magazines so went through cutting out words, phrases, and images.

Here's a few words:

And a few images:

They'll end up in some fun collages one of these days.

Day 8

This is a journal page inspired by song lyrics:

I'll put the lyrics on the opposite page of my journal.  I don't know how I ever found this song and lyrics cuz it's not my usual style of music.  Just goes to show...step out of your usual now and then, might find something you really like!  You can check out the song on YouTube HERE.

Today's Get Your Art On is outside drying and not done yet so it'll get posted another day.
You can read all about 30 Days of Get Your Art On HERE.
Join in!  You can start your 30 days at any time!
Thanks to Traci Bunkers for the inspiration!

Have a GREAT weekend!

30 Days of Get Your Art On - Days 1,2, and 3

I am taking part in Traci Bunkers 30 Days of Get Your Art On.  You can read all about it on her blog HERE.
I can get my art on everyday, not a problem if I just focus and I REALLY want to do that.  But blogging each day just isn't going to happen so will post every few days (or maybe weekly).  But that's okay, this isn't about daily blogging!
My goal is just to spend some art time each day - minimum 30 minutes to whatever works for that day.  And to have fun doing it!
My first three days were playing in my art journal.
Here's Day 1:

The background is watered down craft acrylics.  The tree and trunk is Derwent Inktense pencils.  The small trees at the base are stamped with pigment ink.  And the words are hand written with a Sharpie pen.

Here's day two:

I first covered the page in gesso.  Then a layer of Golden's Diarylide Yellow fluid acrylic.  Drew on the flames shape and then highlighted those with Derwent Inktense Pencils.  Once done I used Golden's Dioxazine Purple fluid acrylic for the night sky.  Even though it looks black in the scan it is a very dark purple.  

Here's day 3 (completion of what I started on day 2):

I'm not sure why I ended up with a Halloween type theme in July, except that I let my muse take me there, and I really like Halloween stuff, especially skeletons.

I stamped the skeletons in white acrylic.  Cut out the big heads from some scrapbook paper I had leftover from a previous Halloween page (you can see it HERE).  Stamped the stars with lavendar pigment ink.  Then glued the heads in place.  Last thing was to stamp the words with a black India Ink inkpad.  

So there's the first three days!  I look forward to lot's more art in the next 27 days...hopefully it'll be a habit to fit art time into each day by then!  It's a peaceful and relaxing activity for me.  Not only helps me to quit overthinking all the negative thoughts in my head, but it's fun!!!

Join in!  You can start your 30 days at any time!  Once again - you can read all about it HERE!   

Thanks for taking a look!

Island Hopping, Aloha and Passion Flower

Seems I've been more into art journaling than blogging lately, so, have a little catching up to do.

I've been hanging out in semi-sunny Oregon making journal pages about Hawaii.  My mom and a couple cousins are planning a trip to Hawaii that is coming up soon.  I like their approach to the whole Hawaii theme!  But a trip there is not in the stars for me right now...maybe another year.

Here's the first page, titled Island Hopping:    

The background is iridescent acrylic paints and Color Wash.  The white strip is decorative tape (which I had to get as it has one of my fav tropical leaves and a Sea Turtle-I adore Sea Turtles-on it).  The maps of the Islands are images I got off Google.  The full image of Hawaii is a postcard I made from the front of a  tablet I got in Hawaii.  I've also stamped some tropical images here and there.
And, as you can see in the following image, the postcard flips up the reveal the Island Hopping title and a stamped postoid of the state fish of Hawaii, although I did take it upon my artistic self to alter the colors.  And, as you can see the opposite side of the postcard shows a Hawaiian scene with palm trees and a hammock I wish was outside my door!

Next is a page I made from an ad I saw in a magazine the other day.   The background is again iridescent acrylic and Color Wash.

I tore the main image out, then tore strips from around the edges.  Usually I would color the white edges but in this case I really like the way they look left white. Before I glued the image of the surfer down I stamped the wave 3 times with acrylic paint.  I had the letters left from a set of grungeboard letters and I painted them white with a Ranger dauber bottle of acrylic paint.  Then glued them down.  Last thing was to put a Hawaii postage stamp on white cardstock and then cut out with postal decorative scissors.
And, Voila!  It was done!

The last page is one I made using an image from the cover of a catalog that I have been saving since 1997.  Yep, I said 1997!  I was surprised when I saw the date on it...whoa was that ever TREASURING!

I made the background using two shades of green acrylic paint.
Then, using a technique I learned from DeDe of Inkwell Studios I tore the image out, glued it down with gel medium (it wrinkled more than usual-I think I got it too wet...).  Then went back with the 2 shades of green acrylic and painted around the edges.  Alot easier than fussy cutting - I think that's what had me treasuring this picture all those years.  No way I could cut around all those stamens or whatever they are.  Then I drew the letters on with pencil, painted them with acrylic, then outlined in black with a Sharpie pen.
I still need to do a little touch up where the torn edge is but wanted to post it here before I move on.
Dede's blog can be seen HERE.  She is an amazing artist and shares so much knowledge on her UStream shows.  You can find the link to those on her blog.  She is alot of fun to watch!

Thanks for taking a look!
Hope all my Canada friends had a wonderful Canada Day!
And hope all of us enjoy the Fourth of July weekend!

Go create something!