See How They Shine?

Today I've got a spread for my DOCUMENTED LIFE journal.  The art challenge was watercolors and the prompt was "It's water under the bridge."  

Here's what I made:

"All your dreams are on their way...
...see how they shine?"

The words are from the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water", and here's my favorite version, sung by Johnny Cash and Fiona Apple:

I love how this painting came out...not perfect...but still right.

I've been noticing that I add black outlines to a lot of my work, especially watercolors...I think of that as an illustrative style...many people do it...and I love how it looks!

But I've been noticing, especially recently, in old children's books, images like this:

I feel like this picture asks a lot of questions...why are the pigs wet?  Why are they sitting on top of that wood crate?  Who leaves a wood crate that close to a lake...that can't be good for the boards...   Why does the fish care...smug little jerk?  How did he manage to catch two pigs in the same net?  How does he plan to carry them home...look at his muscles...those pigs are almost as big as him...he better have leashes...  Why is his mustache growing upside down? (I actually think that might be an open mouth, not an upside down mustache, but once you see it, you can't un-see it..)

No black outlines...I've noticed this style before, but it wasn't until recently that I thought of it in relation to my art.  And I thought...HOW DO THEY BLOODY DO THAT?  

So this spread was my first attempt at making this non-outlined style of art...and my thoughts on this afterward are that either a) I need WAY much more patience in order to create those crisp lines without using black pen or b) there's some kind of special secret technique that makes this style a million times easier once you know it...

But, despite all that, I still like my painting...  I think that the imprecise edges in has make it look hazy and ethereal...like in a dream...which is (after I realized I couldn't get the crisp lines!) the effect I was going for.  :)

So, my b-day was a couple weeks ago (May 19 to be exact), and I got some awesome things from two of my beautiful friends:

First, from Boo, an awesome doodled cake card:

I love this!  I will always remember how Boo once told me she couldn't draw and how ever since then, she's been proving herself wrong! :)  I love it, Boo!

And then from my Pamikins, I got this assortment of goodies:

I can't wait to use all these goodies!

And a close-up:

These are Wallpaper samples!  I love that textured gold one all the way to the right...it's my favorite one (although the rose one she used to make the card with is right up there too!)...I can't wait to make something special with it!

Thank you ladies for remembering me!  I love you both! <3<3<3

And lastly, I've got a picture of Frida...because I get fussed at if I don't! :)

Ain't she cute?!?

This is what Frida does when I go outside to smoke...sits and stares at me...I think my mom probably trained her to do this in order to add one more person to the list of guilt trippers nagging me to stop...

Then again, she does the same thing when I go to the bathroom (sits outside the door and waits for me), and no matter how much I get nagged about that, it's not gonna stop! (Haha!)

She does the same thing when I go to work in the morning as in the picture above...sits by the door and stares at me till I'm gone...like a little kid watching their parent leave for work.  Don't leave, Mom!  She doesn't sit there all day, but the fact that she waits till I start pulling down the road before she goes on about her business is more than a little heart melting...  

I am always a little uncomfortable with her displays of unconditional love, loyalty, and devotion...I don't quite know what to do with it and always feel more than a little unworthy of it!  And yet, despite that, she persists in her determined, sometimes belligerent, ways of showing me affection.  To the point where I've often wished that humans could see each other with dog eyes because I know it would end all the bad stuff that goes on in the world.  But, for now I will have to settle for Frida...always staring up at me with her loving goo goo eyes, loyal to me for reasons I can't understand.  

It is more than enough.

Playing with dolls and ICAD 8, 9, and 10

One of the groups I'm in on Facebook is having a swap using a template from Stampington.com.  You can find the template HERE, or go to Stampington's site, which has a bunch of other templates, tutorials and free projects to try...I'm definitely going to be visiting that site again soon!

So anyway, here's what I made with the template:

I used modeling paste for the hair, so it has some texture even though you can't see it.  The arm is articulated, thanks to the little paper fastener thingie.  The wing is Angelina film, which is iridescent, (although it doesn't come through well in the photo) and stamped with Stazon.  And paint (acrylic and watercolor), pen, scrapbook paper, and lace are the other ingredients.

I get to swap with my most favoritest Boo in the whole wide world!  I hope she likes it!

And then here's my ICAD's for the past couple days, all on 3x5 cards: 

June 8, the prompt was "city or map", and I did this with an XS Pitt Pen.  The line is from the Johnny Cash song "The Ballad of Barbara" below.

June 9, the prompt was "sun".  This is water soluble crayolas, gelatos, and watercolor.

And today, June 10, the prompt was "list of favorites".  I'm not a list person, so I just had to wing it.  The list is 'favorites today'.  And it says:

1. This French Violet color paint (it's Valspar and the picture doesn't do it justice...the color is a really beautiful purply grey, and I like it quite a bit...my mom gave me the paint)
2. Art jounaling...yeah, that's an every single day favorite, duh!  I haven't had much time in my art journals for the past few days and I am detoxing or something!  I hope I can get some time with them after work tonight!
3. White space in journals...I do love the amazing layered backgrounds that are popular right now, but there's something about white space in journals that just does it for me!
4. My new haircut...yeah, I said goodbye to a good 4-5 inches, and it feels SO much better...I swear to goodness, I could shave my head bald and I'd be so happy about it.  But sadly, I have a bulbous head and bald is just not going to be a good look for me...so I settled for shorter than it was...
5. Summer storms...the kind that leave it cooler than it was before the storm started anyway...I don't want any of that humidity crap afterwards!  
6. Reusing file folders...I did the art doll above on a manilla file folder, and I have about 10,000 more file folders.  I am happy to be able to put them to use, even if it's just one at a time!
7. Line drawings...  I love simple line drawings, even though I am always adding in detail on my own things.  A well done line drawing is HARD to do, (at least to me) but gorgeous!
8. Chocolate milk...seriously, I could drink a bathtub full of chocolate milk and still not be sick of it...I have a problem...
9. buckeye brownie cake!!!  I stopped at a diner yesterday because I just wanted to get out of the house and got a philly cheese steak and a piece of this cake...  Oh.My.Goodness.  I am not even a cake person, and this stuff made rainbows shoot out of my mouth!  It was SO delicious!
10. Sad songs...I am currently listening to Trio, which is Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Rondstadt.  I love the songs on this album (and Trio 2, also gorgeous)...it was one of the first CDs I ever bought, and I wore it out.  Now I'm listening to it on Spotify, contemplating a quick Amazon purchace...