Seven and Seventeen

Doesn't everyone eventually draw pears in their art journal?  Well, I just did.  Here's my pears drawn and painted with Derwent Inktense Pencils:

I've said it before but worth saying again - I LOVE Inktense Pencils.  The colors are so vivid!  They also now have Inktense Blocks.  I don't have any of those yet but they look like they would be lots of fun.
I rubber stamped on tissue paper and glued it down with matte medium.  I use Daniel Smith Matte Medium for gluing down lightweight paper items.  I then glued down some postage stamps with a pear image.  I did that to help tie in this page to it's facing page where I did a Pear collage.  Here it is:

    I did the background with several layers of craft acrylic paints and gesso.  Both pages were started off with a layer of gesso so the medium I applied wouldn't sink into the paper.  I used some punchinella (sequin waste) to add some dots interest to the background.  I stamped the pear/poire stamp (Stampers Anonymous) on tissue paper and glued them down with matte medium.  I stamped the sketched pear stamp (Art Impressions) 3 times on decoative paper and cut them out and glued down.  Then added the three postage stamps with pear image to the lower left corner.  Collage didn't look done..needed something on the top left.  I was walking by the buffet and there's a bowl of tickets my niece use to play with and noticed some that seemed the right color of yellow so grabbed them.  Glued them down and softened the edges with an inkpad and stencil brush and called it done!
This was a good exercise for me as I pretty much never use yellow.  Green - all the time but not much yellow.  Always good to use a color you don't usually use.  Helps me to appreciate the color more.  Also, always good to try to draw something...practice makes perfect, right?  Not that I want to be perfect but hopefully keep improving!
Thanks for taking a look!
Enjoy Memorial Day Weekend!

Color Wash, Gesso, and Stencils

I am enamored with spray colors in my journal!  I'm having fun with a couple dif kinds but I have to say Adirondack Color Washes by Ranger are my favorite.  The colors and the way they react with Gesso just make them way TOO COOL!
I've learned so very much about art journaling from my friend Paula, aka Journal Artista. Check out her blog HERE.   Not only will you see some great journaling but you'll find links to her YouTube and UStream videos where you can find a wealth of info on art supplies, techniques, and art journaling.
One of the key things I've learned from Journal Artista is about layering.  I'm nowhere near as fearless as Paula when it comes to layering but I'm working on it!
Here's a journal page I made using many layers of Gesso and Color Wash:

I used Wild Plum and Stream Color Wash.  And I was using White Gesso made by Daler and Rowney.  The stencil I was using is a Tattered Angels stencil - from their Ironworks package of stencils.  

I started off this journal page with a layer of Gesso on the page.  Next I just played around with spraying over the stencil with Wild Plum and Stream Colpr Washes, and Gesso.  The cool thing about Color Wash and Gesso is that when  you paint Gesso over anything with Color Wash the Color Wash bleeds through.  My final layer with the stencil was where I sponged Gesso over the stencil in an area where I had got a little heavy handed with the Wild Plum and it was really dark.  Be sure to either let each layer dry or dry with a heat gun if you want the colors to not blend together.  

Along the left side I  painted a vertical stripe of Gesso and while still wet rubbed with baby wipe to blend some of both colors of Color Wash.  I couldn't stamp over it as Color Wash would bleed through the Gesso and the stamped letters would be hard to see.. So I used some Grungeboard letters from a Tim Holtz idea-ology pack called "Mixed Minis" for the word COURAGE.  The little key and the two florishes are from that same Grungeboard pack.  Painted them all white with Gesso and glued them down.  Hit it with a few light sprays of the Color Wash so Grungeboard pieces aren't so stark white.  

You might need to click on the picture to enlarge if you want to see it, but, I hand wrote "Courage is KEY" as that is what I was thinking about as I made this page.

Thanks for taking a look!

Hope you are all having a creative week!  

What I want to try next is Tim Holtz Distress Stains.  Looks like one could get some cool backgrounds with those.  I don't have any yet but I noticed they are on sale at one of my favorite online stamp companies - Red Lead Paperworks.  Check out the sale HERE.  Soon as I have some spending money I'll be heading there!   

Sing Sing Sing

Seems like every once in awhile I forget how much I like to create with tags.  Before I got into art journaling and atcs and was mostly a stamper I used tags ALL the time.
So this week I have been playing at creating with tags.  Here's one I used for a page in my bird themed altered book:

The book is filling up and getting thick and has stuff sticking out of the edges like the ribbons and yarn on this tag.  Love it when an altered book or art journal starts to get to that point!  I don't know...maybe makes it feel more cherished to me.
For this page I chose a page that I had already put some leftover patterned paper on - I do alot of backgrounds ahead of time, using leftover paint and papers from other projects.  Or sometimes just to try a backgound paper idea or technique I want to try.  Also helps me sometimes when I can't get started or come up with a creative idea to just start out by making backgrounds.
I took a standard shipping tag and covered it with sheet music using gel medium as the adhesive.  Once good and dry I cut around the edges of the tag to trim off the sheet music.  Then repunched the hole, stuck one of Tim Holtz idea-ology reinforcer stickers over the hole,  Next I stamped the "sing sing sing".  I screwed up the second "sing" so had to rescue that by gluing a K & Co bee over the G I messed up.  Then glued the K & Co bird and nest image onto the tag.  I had a strip of scrapbook paper with music notes on it.  Tore the edges for a more shabby look and glued it to the background.  Found some coordinating ribbons and yarn for the tag.  Once I had those attached through the hole I glued the tag down.  That's it!
Thanks for taking a look! 

Crate Label Birds

Happy May Day!
Here's a spread in my Birds of a Feather altered book.  The crate label images are from a little calendar a friend sent me.  I decided it was time to quit hoarding, eeerrrrr, uhhhmmmm, I mean TREASURING (I don't hoard!) and give them a place of honor in my book!

For the First Pick page I applied Golden acrylic to the background with an old hotel key card.  Scraping the paint on this way is my current favorite way for putting down acrylic phint in my altered books or journals.  Then I used sequin waste and a heavy inking of a foam brush to make the black boarder.  I stamped the word "spring" across the top and stamped a bird themed postoid rubber stamp all over before glueing down the label I had cut out with deckle edge scissors. (you might need to click on the image to enlarge it if you want to see the stamping as it didn't show up so well in the scan)  I glued everything on these pages with matte gel medium.  I glued a flower I had die cut out of an old book page and then painted with same red paint as the background in the upper left corner of label.  

For the Kentucky Cardinal label page I chose a page I had already covered with black patterned paper and glued the label down.  I die cut a bunch of flowers using Sizzix's Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals die.  Sprayed them with Cranberry Color Wash (made by Ranger).  I glued them around the label, and cut one in half to glue on the side of page to sort of pull the white edge into the design.

Thanks for taking a look!

I hope you had a creative weekend! 

It's okay to color outside the lines!

One (of many) things I've learned as a mixed media artist is that precision is not always necessary or desired.  I need to remind myself often that "Art has no rules".  And, while I'm sure many artists would disagree with that I know it is how I want to create.
Having an art journal really helps me with that.  I love to experiment in my art journal.  Especially with backgrounds.  And since it is MY journal there definitely are no rules.  If I mess something up I can look at it as a flopportunity and go with a different idea or adapt my original.  It's not like I ever have to show it to anyone - that's up to me.

Another way to free things up and let the attempts at precision go is to color outside the lines as I did in the postcard you see below.  

I doodled the image first with a fine point black Sharpie.  The design was inspired by a blog I get alot of inspiration from - Geninne's Art Blog.  She share's great examples and ideas of color, texture, shapes and design in her art and photography.  Once I had the flowers drawn I painted the whole thing blue (didn't show up on the scan) and left it pretty wet so I could let the other colors bleed onto the paper.  I love playing with watercolors and watching how they run together on the page.  I really like how it looks when colored outside the lines.

Another fun way to make these flower doodles is to make the background first.  You can "splotch" some splashes of different colors.  Then you can use those splotches to decide where to place flowers (or not-remember no rules!).  I have the background page painted for a journal page:

  I'll be doodling on it the next couple days and will share the journal page when done.

And I'll keep reminding myself to not worry about how precise it is and not take myself too serious.

Art has no rules!

Thanks for looking at my blog!  Have a great and creative weekend!

 

DIY Postcard Swap 2011

Here's examples of the postcards I made for ihanna's DIY Postcard Swap.  I made 10 postcards for the swap and they were all a variatiom of these 4 designs.  They were all sort of a spn-off from some pages I was doing in my bird themed altered book (I'll post those soon).
They all started with watercolor backgrounds.  I sprinkled then with salt while wet to make some fun designs.  Then found some of my fav bird stamps, stamped them on tissue paper with permanent black ink, then tore them out.  This is a trick I learned from a journal artist friend, Kerri .  Once you have the tissue paper image you can "glue" it to your background with gel medium.  I like to use matte medium.  This process makes for a lot sharper image when putting an image on cold press watercolor paper which has a rough texture.  I stamped or wrote the words on each card.  They went out in the mail on the 8th so are making their way to thier new homes!
Thanls for taking a look.
Have a fun and creative weekend!  

Life Happens in Real Time

It's too true, huh?  Life happens whether you are ready for it or not!  Might as well be ready!

Here's a journal spread I did using watercolor pencils, watercolor crayons, and Inktense pencils, along with Gesso and acrylic paints.  I used all those mediums for the background - many layers in the style of my friend Journal Artista.  The designs on the background are gesso and craft acrylics (the green is all craft acrylics) - freehand and used bottle tops for the circles.  I collaged and sanded a clock I cut out of a magazine on the "in real time" page.  The words are all adhered to corrugated paper I tore the top layer off before painting with gesso.  LIFE and REAL were stamped with gesso and acrylic paint.  HAPPENS and IN are adhered to scraps of coffee to go sleeves painted with gesso.  And those words and TIME are all letters cut out on a die cutting machine.

I think that covers it!

Hope you enjoy!

Remember - your LIFE is happening right now!  Celebrate it!!!   

I did it again!

Old age must be going to be smooth sailing for me cuz this stuff in the middle sucks!
I just spent another week in the hospital with fluid in my lungs and intraveneous antibiotics for an infection that also got my diabetes way out of whack.
This after a month in hospitals and rehab over Christmas and New Years!
But I'm home now and on the mend and taking care of myself so no more hospitals!

And some journal pages to post real soon...much more fun than talking about hospitals!!!

Time for some Postcard Fun!

Ready to jump start your creativity?
Looking to get some really fun mail in your mailbox?
Looking to try a new background technique or make
some art to welcome spring to get past the winter doldrums?
How about a Postcard Swap?!?


Check out the Postcard Swap IHanna is hosting.  You can read all about it here.

Hope to see you in the mail!

Songbirds

After a long period of time, I finally have something to post here!

It's taken me a long time to get my creative mojo back after being so sick for so long.

I've had plenty of ideas but not very good at executing them.  I've spent alot of time sitting at my art desk "thinking".  But one day I got going and have been working on this page in my Birds Of A Feather altered book.  The birds on branches are from a large sheet of Cavallini paper (my friend Debbie sent a bunch of the images to me - very cool stuff!).  The background is sheet music.  I tore some pieces, applied gel medium to the center of the pieces and pressed them onto the page.  When dry I tore off the edges that weren't glued down for the torn edge look achieved.  Then painted purple with watercolor crayons.  Next I put down the 3 stripes of tape (some green tape with birds on it).  I wish the tape wasn't shiny - maybe I'll finish with matte medium to see if that tones down the shiny.  Next I glued down the two bird images with gel medium.  Last I had some die cut birds I glued on with gel medium.  I just got a die cut machine before I got sick and have barely used it.  I don't have many dies but did just get an alphabet and used it for the letters for "Songbirds".  I used glue stick to apply them.  I figured I would make a huge mess using gel medium on something that small.  I'm  messiest enough as an artist as it is!

Thanks for taking a look.  I hope I'll have art to post more often going forward.  We'll see...

MIA

If it seems to you like I fell off the earth the last month or so I must tell you it feels like that to me too.  And I sort of did!
I got really sick in December and ended up in a hospital or rehab center from Dec 11th until I got to come home Jan 7th!  Not much of a Christmas or New Years for me this year.  I'll have to get healthy and make up for it next Christmas and New Years.  Fortunately I hope to have the opportunity to do that.
As I work my way back to healthy I hope to include creativity so hope to post here. 

NaNoJouMo

I've been a little lax about scanning lately. I started a new job last week and put in 40 pretty intense hours of training at the computer so didn't want to put much more time in. But this weekend I got a couple pages scanned so want to share them with you.

NaNoJouMo day 19 the word was FRAY.  Since I was feeling a little frayed from a week of training I extended it out to FRAYED and the page above is what I came up with.  The background is watercolor pencils.  Then I used a piece of mesh fabric with frayed edges.  The word is on a piece of ledger paper that I first drew a bunch of lines on with a sharpie and a ruler.  Then tour it out of the ledger paper and inked the edges with a black ink pad.  Then I stamped the word "frayed" on the paper and adhered it and the mesh down with gel medium.

NaNoJouMo Day 13 the word was MYSTIQUE.  Below is the page I made inspired by that word.  I decided it should be a tribute to the ever mysterious, ever powerful Feminine Mystique.  And I wouldn't want to say anything more about it and take away from the Mystique!

The background is watercolor crayon.  I then covered the whole page with used postage stamps stuck down with gel medium.  Stuck a blue border of stamps on 3 sides with more gel medium.  Then printed the words on a piece of ledger paper and cut it out with postage stamp decorative scissors.  Edged it with teal ink and stuck it down with gel medium.  Last step was to put more stamps down on and over the edges of the ledger paper.

I'll share more as soon as I have a chance.  I want to thank Dawn again for sharing NaNoJouMo with us.  You can check what she's posted for it all month on her blog here.  Thanks for taking a look.   

Equanimity - NaNoJouMo

Here's another page I did for NaNoJouMo.  You can find more info about it in previous posts or there is a link on the sidebar of this blog.
The prompt for this page was "Equanimity".  I had to look it up to make sure I knew what it meant.  Good thing cuz not sure I did!
I used watercolor crayons, white acrylic and a brayer for the background colors and layers.  The collaged flowers and circles are cut from decorative paper.  And various rubber stamps were used on each layer.  The words were stamped on last.
I really like how the colors turned out.

With NaNoJouMo I find that I don't journal and/or create fast enough for a daily prompt.  The goal is not to complete a page everyday but to journal everyday.  I am doing that and I will keep a list of all the words but I don't think I'll make a journal page centered around each one.  My goal with art journaling is to create no pressure art so words that don't do anything for me would be pointless for me to journal about.  That's not to say that I won't challenge myself and use words I wouldn't normally, just that I'm not going to make something using every word.  But I don't think of that as the true goal of NaNoJouMo - I think of it as a way to explore your own journaling and to get in the habit of journaling everyday and it is working wonders for me to that end.  It is so good for my heart and soul to make a point to be creative everyday - whether in a few hours stretch or even just to fit in 20 minutes on a stressful, rushed day.

My best words to offer to you - take time to do something you really, truly enjoy everyday.  Make the time!  You'll realize benefits.  Being happy isn't always a given, sometimes you have to reach for it and take it in whatever small bits you can get it, and build from there.

Library book sale at the expo center at the fairgrounds this weekend - I'm hoping to find some cool books there for inspiration and art materials for some bargain prices.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

NaNoJouMo - CHOICE

Here's another page for NaNoJouMo - Dawn DeVries Sokols' prompts for journaling everyday this month - you can find the original post here.  And be sure to check out her blog here to see lot's of link to what others are doing for NaNoJouMo and lot's of inspiration.  All the daily prompts are posted there too.
                                                                  

The background for the page is a rubbing from a rough surfaced picnic table.  It doesn't show real well in the photo but it shows the wood grain.  I drew squares of various colors on the background.  Stamped out the word "CHOICE" on squares of scrapbook paper.  Edged them in various colors and glued them down.  Then I printed the words for the rest of the page on a couple dif pieces of patterned vellum and attached those with brads.

Thanks for taking a look.  And be sure to check out Dawns' blog and NaNoJouMo at the links above.

NaNoJouMo - one week down

I've been participating in NaNoJouMo.  You can see the original post here.  It's Dawn DeVries Sokols' idea to give us prompts to get us journaling every day for a month and it's alot of fun!  Check out Dawns' blog http://www.dblogala.com/ to see lot's more about it and lot's of inspiration.
The first week is over.  It started Nov 1st and goes for the month.  Here's what I did for the first day:

I don't usually do anything to the first page of a journal.  Or, save it for last.  But with the start of NaNoJouMo and a word like "Inception" it just felt right.  I went all with words for this one and started with a piece of scrapbook paper.  I used ledger paper for the words and the 1.  Grunged it all up a bit with a stencil brush and ink and sequin waste and more ink.  I think it ended up looking pretty fun for a first page.

Here's another page I did.  The prompt for this day was "Fortune".  And since I'd been saving this fortune cookie fortune (aka hoarding) to use someday this seemed like the perfect time.  You can click on the picture for a bigger image but just in case you can't read it, it says "You will emerge from uncertainty into great peace and freedom.".  I've had alot of "stuff" going on in my life for a few years now and am ready to move past the uncertainty and great peace and freedom sounds wonderful - bring it on world!  

I have more pages in various stages of completion.  I'll share them as I get them scanned.  The challenge isn't to complete a page each day.  The challenge is to journal each day, whatever works for you to that end.  So think about it and check out Dawns' blog - it's never to late to start.  Just Begin Where You Are!

Have a great week everyone!

Book made with Bind-It-All

Here's a book I made for my niece for her 8th birthday.  I made it with my Zutter Bind-It-All (a nifty toy for adding the coil binding) and it was so fun to get to do such a variety of pages.  Take alook at the following variety of pages.

Thanks for taking a look!

willowing.ning.com - Art, Heart & Healing

I've been taking part in the FREE class Tam is offering at willowing.ning.com called Art, Heart & Healing.
Tam is a wonderful person, I just love her! She is so easy to learn from! And a true joy to watch!

Years ago, someone told me I couldn't draw. I think I can pretty much trace it back to a really traumatic experience with a substitue art teacher in 8th grade. Fortunately for me, Tam came along and didn't bother to tell me if I could draw or not. She just showed me how! I have never (or probably not since that 8th grade art class) seriously tried to draw a portrait. But I have to say for a first effort I am really happy with this portrait drawing! I used what watercolor crayons and pencils I had on hand, and not being into drawing people didn't have alot of "skin tones" so I'm not real thrilled with the coloring. Except I do love the hair color! (used my current fav Inktense Pencils for the hair) And I am thrilled with how the overall journal spread turned out. I love Tam's technique for painting and background.

Here's a closer look at the face:  (click on either picture to see a larger image)

Like I mentioned the class is FREE. So head on over HERE and check it out! She might just help you learn something about yourself and in addition to creating some great art you might create a happier you! That, of course, is up to YOU! Enjoy!

Fall is in the air - postcards

It's been cold and wet here in Oregon lately.  And very windy!  Looks like it is snowing leaves as the wind speeds along the process of the trees shedding their leaves.
A friend of mine that is too far away for me to go visit is sick and in the hospital, so I've been making postcards to send her so she'll hear from me daily.  Even got my mom to paint one for her.
Here's some of what I've sent:



                           

Using Inktense Pencils by Derwent

This is the card my mom watercolored.  It's the scene from where/when we met my niece's school bus the other day.

And the following is from a one-for-one swap I participated in at Swap-Bot.com.  It's Inktense Pencils again.

I put one of my favorite quotes about this time of year one the back

"Autumn is a second spring

when every leaf is a flower"

-Albert Camus

Hope every one is enjoying this season.  I think it is my favorite.

Thanks for taking a look!

The Spooky Gallery Journal Page

Ths week the challenge on Ky's blog The Gesso-Dragon is "Spooky" and in honor of this time of year she challenges us to make a journal page honoring something we like about it.  You can check out the challenge and the blog here.

I love Halloween and have alot of Halloween stamps I really like so decided to make a gallery page using a variety of those.  The background is craft acrylics.  The pieces are on a variety of card stock and watercolor paper.  I stamped and cut out images and framed them.  Drew the spider webs on and stamped the spiders as well as some of the gallery attendes in white ink.

The Spooky Gallery banner was attached with silver skull brads - love these!  The words "The Spooky Gallery" were printed out from a Word document on cardstock.  The background was colored with watercolor pencils and water was dripped down the page for the subtle black drips.

The larger skulls at the bottom of the banner are clay masks made by a local artist.  Oh wait, that was my imagination running away with me, actually I cut them out of scrapbook paper.  But wouldn't they be cool clay masks?

Spooooooooky, huh?

This page was alot of fun to make and it was alot of fun to get all my Halloween stamps out and look through them.  I got alot more...may have to do another Halloween project!

Thanks Ky for hosting the challenge!

Wisdom Journal Page - more on Inktense pencils

Playing more with Inktense pencils by Derwent  I made this background page.                                     

                                                                                                                                                                       

I started by painting a watercolor paper page in my journal with gesso. Then colored with the Inktense pencils and applied water with a brush and a squirt bottle and let someof the color drip down the page.  I then used some sequin waste as a stencil to make the dots (using pigment ink pads).  And stamped a owl a couple times that I used on one of the collage elements (see journal page below).

Here's that wise 'ol owl in the collaged page, stamped on ledger paper, which 

is used alot in this journal, sort of a recurring theme (the inner edge of each page is trimmed with it also).  The stamp is part of a great set that includes an awesome Raven.  It's available from Stampin' Up and I order through my friend Laurel's website here.  I stamped the

image of the man on a piece of decorative scrapbook paper, tore the edges and glued it down. (he looks Chinese, and wasn't Confucious Chinese and full of wisdom?)  I edged the paper pieces with coordinating inks to what I used on the background. 

I had started this page because I had been playing around with Zentangle letters and had doodled the word "wisdom".  I colored the background of the word with a deep indigo Inktense pencil after I had glued it down as the white background stood out too much.  I used a couple skeleton leaves. one was alteady teal, the other I colored with a pigment ink pad.  I cut the loop off some asian charms and glued them down over the leaves.  Added a used postage stamp and a cut out butterfly and decided that was all the wisdom I had to add to the page! I hope it brings me some wisdom...

Thanks for taking a look!

New favorite art tool - Inktense Pencils

I love using colored pencils and watercolor pencils and thanks to my friend Paula (JournalArtista on YouTube and UStream) I've found a great new pencil I am having alot of fun with.  They are Derwent Inktense Pencils 













They are water soluble and really brilliant colors.  Here's some examples of what I've done with them:

Here's a rather abstract still life journal page, I'm still working on it but wanted to share the intensity of the colors of the intense pencils with you.  If working on a porous paper like watercolor paper I would suggest a coat of gesso first to keep the colors from soaking into the paper.

Here's an example of the intensity of the colors once water is added.  These are a stamped image on a linen texture cardstock. The top image is with water brushed on, the bottom is of the pencils before the water,  You can see how they pop!

Here's another example of before and after the water is added.

If you get a chance, give them a try.  They are alot of fun and really great colors!

In the style of (I hope) Urgent 2nd Class Mail

One of my favorite artists is Nick Bantock.  And one of my favorite art books is Urgent 2nd Class by Nick Bantock.
An online friend, Catherine, mentioned she was reading the book and we decided to exchange some mail art postcards, therefore having actual mail art as they had to go through the mail!
Here's the postcard I made using acrylics for the backround, Nick Bantock rubber stamps, and used postage stamps.  For a last touch of green I used a regular hole punch and punched out dots of green paper and glued them on.  I colored the PELICOS rubber stamp image with Derwent Inktense Pencils (more on those coming in my next post).

And here's the card I got from Catherine.  I love the metallics in the background.  Also the adirondack chair - and check out the sea and sky in that image - wish I was sitting there!.  And I think any collage that includes postage stamps is COOL!

Making and swapping postcards is always a great time!