Draw One.Repeat.Add Color.

I am on it this week for Documented  Life!  (You can read more about DL HERE.)

The prompt for this week is "Draw one shape-repeat-add color."  And here's what I did:

This page has some SHINE, let me tell you!

The first thing I thought of was doing the interlaced paper strips...I know it's not technically drawing a shape, but as soon as I read 'one shape', I immediately thought of different color rectangle strips woven on the page.  Egads, that made me so happy!  I painted the strips with different colors of Martha Stewart Pearl Paint, and I knew that if I stuck the strips on black paper it would just make them POP!  And they do...it's glorious!

"I ran where they told me not to run, but I sure had fun."
-The words are from a song called"A Mistake" by Fiona Apple

I had all these bits of left over black paper when I cut out around the woven paper thingie, so I used them to see if my Silks acrylic glazes would show up on the black (that's what the circle shapes...and one lonely heart...are drawn in)...they do show up (clearly)...some better than others.  Then I used Heidi Swapp Color Shine spray on some other pieces just to see if it would show...it does...it's kind of like what happens with Perfect Pearls if you've ever used those...turn it the right way, and there is MASSIVE shine!

I am pretty happy with what I did with the lettering...I was just messing around with some pens I got at the dollar store, but it looked plain with just the bright colors, so I added the black and I like how it looks...  I will have to remember this technique for future use...and take a little more time with it (I see some accidentally squiggly lines that are driving me crazy...)

I really like how this looks!!!  *sound of a million angels singing*  I know it's so simple and could possibly be viewed as another 'middle school art project' (or MSAP...thanks Pamikins for pointing out the abbreviation...abbreviations make me happy!) but I don't care, I just love how this looks!

I did the background of the pages using Neocolor II's on top of a gesso wash...the colors make me squeal with delight!  One day I will own all the colors of the Neocolor II's and rub them lovingly all over my body...that might be too much information...awkward...

I'm super excited because Jane Davenport's Express Yourself workshop has started...at last!  I've been waiting so impatiently, and I'm so ridiculously excited about it that I can barely stand it!  I can't wait to dig in and get down to brass tacks...and then of course to show you all the arty goodness that will no doubt occur!

Now I'm off to work on my Journal 52 page for this week (I'm making myself do it before I start on the workshop...I will not shirk my art journal commitments.  *keeps repeating that last part to self*)...and maybe eat supper...but who needs food when there's arting to be done?

Weather

Find out more about KIOS HERE

The prompt for KIOS today is:

What's the weather like where you live today?

It was unseasonable warm today...it got up in the 60s, and it was sunny all day, despite the weather app on my phone insisting that there were supposed to be scattered showers.  I think I'd like to be a weather girl, because it's the only job I can think of where you can be wrong more than half the time and still not get fired.  

It's supposed to rain the rest of the week, but according to my phone (aka the LIAR) it's going to be 70 here tomorrow.  If that is true, I'm going to be annoyed, because it's DECEMBER!  That should mean sweater weather, not sweaty weather!  I want cold weather...waa!!!

Also in the forecast is creativity...but that's pretty much every day for me...

I'm still working on the bunny page from a couple days ago, but I did make this little washi tape bound book:

I have no idea what I'm going to use this for...but it was easy to make...

I made it out of a piece of  9x12 watercolor paper that I had collaged some bits of paper on, then stamped over...

I don't know what the deal was with the color scheme...it's not my usual fare, but it seems very cheerful, doesn't it?

I like the taped binding.  I've not done it before, and it was so simple that I may have to make up some more!  I love washi tape, but, egads, I wish it was stickier.  I cheated and used matte medium to glue the washi to the pages so that it would actually stick.  And I went over the whole book with clear gesso when I was done with it, just for added stability.  All in all, a cute and easy little project.

I'm so happy it was a short prompt today!  I spent FOREVER with yesterday's prompt (because I am a blabber mouth...) and didn't get to do hardly any art...so I'm chomping at the bit tonight.  

I'm off to work on the bunny page...maybe I'll have that done by tomorrow and be able to share it with you!  Till then, my friends...

Sick

More from the br sketchbook today...

I've been noticing a lot of sketches that have 'extra' lines lately...  

For instance, this GORGEOUS piece by Abigail Larson: 

I love, love, love this style.  I've seen other people do similar things, but this lady's stuff just screams at my eyeballs to love it!  You can see more of Abigail Larson's work HERE.  You can also support her art and buy (me a hoodie or) something HERE.  I don't know this gal, but I REALLY enjoy her work very much and wanted to share it.

So anyway, I've had this 'sketchy' style with the 'extra' lines on my mind for quite a while, and thought I'd try a quick version of it:

"I feel sick and tired, likely because I'm always trying to fit a square peg in a round hole..."

Clearly, I need A LOT more work, but I love the look so much I know I will be revisiting it again and again so that I can get better.  I think I did it a little backwards (aka all wrong) in this piece...I think I may have figured out how to get better sketch lines and therefore a better end result...  I'm going to be experimenting more...  Practice, practice, practice...till your sick of practicing, right?  It's the only way to improve!

I also got my ICAD card done for today.  The prompt was "junk mail" and the card is 3x5:

"I pretend that I'm happy.  It's a lie.  I'm sick of always saying goodbye."  This is water soluble crayolas (the yellow and blue) and then the girl and the green piece are both from the same junk mail envelope.  I was looking at the window of the envelope and thought it looked kind of like a car window, so I stuck the cute little kid in the window and viola.  Recently, I have been seeing a ton of really cool ideas/uses for junk mail envelopes that have the clear plastic window...people are amazingly creative!

Countdown, Day 3: The Gardener

Day #3 of the countdown to 30.  

I was thinking all day about how disgruntled yesterday's post seemed.  That's a good word for it, I think.  That's just how I felt, too.  No apologies!  But I don't want that to be a major theme of my personality.  I'm happy I got it out, because now there's room for different feelings.  

It's good to see that I do have some kinds of real feelings, even if they're not the ones I want.  I'm trying not to let myself push that negative feeling down completely.  If I feel negative, I want to understand why I'm feeling that way.  If I can figure out where the negative stuff comes from, then I can start to eliminate the cause.  Once the negative stuff is understood and discarded, there will be more room for positive things.

With that in mind, here's today's page:

The journaling says: "I'm not sure what they are yet...it's quite possible they're weeds.  But I won't know till they get a little bigger.  So I'm just gonna water them and watch them grow.  And if, in the end, they're no good, I'll uproot them, toss them aside and start over.  No harm done.  It's just gonna take time and elbow grease, and that's ok.  I need the practice anyway, I think.  I need to relearn how to care, then I'll be ready for the good stuff."

So I've decided I'm like a new gardener...a brain gardener.  I don't quite know what's a weed (stuff that shouldn't be there) and what's a flower (the positive stuff), because these thoughts and feelings are so small that it's practically impossible to tell!  But if I work at it, if I take the time to care for them, eventually they're going to grow.  Then I'll be able to differentiate between the two.  Then I'll pull out the weeds and cultivate the good stuff.  In theory, it's simple enough, right?  

I know it will take time and hard work on my part.  Right now, in my head, it's like a chaotic desert with a bunch of tumbleweeds swirling around, littering the landscape, and not much else happening.  But eventually, I'm going to have a garden...a place of peace and beauty and serenity.  Won't that be nice?

Sehnsucht and The Big What-ifs

Despite the fact that I feel like I haven't accomplished much in the past week or so, I feel like I've been extremely busy!  Don't you just hate that feeling of hurrying and rushing but not actually getting anywhere?  I have been feeling like that all week!  I hate it; it's a yucky feeling for sure.  I much prefer the feeling of relaxed, peaceful working, that doesn't feel like work, but when you look up you realize you've gotten so much done!  I'm looking forward to feeling that way again...and soon, I hope!

Yesterday, I had a lazy day, where I did absolutely nothing but sleep and watch t.v. and lounge about.  I am not normally one to enjoy days like that, and I generally find t.v. pretty mind-numbing, but I have to say, I was ok with it yesterday.  I guess every great once in a while days like that are good.

This morning I got up with a little more vigor and washed some clothes and the dishes and swept the floor.  Then that was enough of cleaning, and I moved on to the much more enjoyable work of art journaling.  I love  making art so much, I don't think it's even fair to call it work!  But I digress...  

I've been working on this page for a while now, trying to get it right...  It's in my little scrappy pocket calendar book that I made.  I know I said that I was going to toss it in my purse and use it for on-the-go sketching, but I was wrong...  I just felt the need to get something into it, before I tossed it into my purse.  So in the end, it may still end up in my purse...or it may end up on my desk and I'll have to find another tiny book for on-the-go sketching...  At any rate, here's the page:

The journaling part says: " Sehnsucht...  And so I sit here alone, missing things that once were, almost, almost crying for possibilities that existed which exist no more, longing to know what could have been but never will be.  If I were braver, I would cry out: 'What have I done?  What have I ever done?' but I'm not, so all I do is silently sit here thinking of sad things that are and happy things that cannot be."

I saw that word "sehnsucht" on Pinterest, and googled it.  It's supposed to be a German word, which doesn't really have an exact English translation, but conveys the feeling of an intense longing  for a person or place no longer in our life or a longing for 'we know not what'.  When I read that, it made me think of all the what-ifs in life.  What if I chose this thing instead of that thing, how would my life be different?  

I wonder if I am the only person who does this...while at the same time, I'm sure I'm not.  It must be something in our nature that makes us question things in this way.  It's an inherent quality in this type of daydream that we will always view these thoughts through rose-colored glasses...the thought of it will be a perfect scenario, if it were real, it could never be like it is in the mind, because nothing in life is ever perfect.  In our heads, it can be perfect and beautiful and that must be why we have such an intense desire for these people and places.  But if we had chosen B instead of A, we'd probably still be daydreaming about the converse.

I think probably everybody has one big 'what-if' in their life, the one that eclipses all the other what-ifs.  I know I do.  When I get down about it, when I really struggle with it, I try to remember that I do picture things in my head much more softly than they would have been in reality.  There are no hard edges in my daydreams, but, had those daydreams been real, who knows how many gashes and bruises those actions would have caused.  And like the lyrics in the song below say, "the grass is greener, but just as hard to mow."

This is my face...deal with it..

I got to do a really fun set of prompts for my most recent journal page: black & white, self-portrait  and favorite quote or saying.  My love of faces is well documented, so I was excited to get to do another one.  A lot of my recent posts have been me being pretty introspective, so a self-portrait prompt seemed to fit right in with my narcissism!  

I tried to find a good picture, but then remembered I am the most non-photogenic person in the entire world...so I changed the plan and tried to find a decent picture instead...the goal was much more realistic at that point...  Here's the one I ended up picking:

My blurry picture...pay no attention to the mess in the background...it's an illusion...

If you ignore the blurriness of it, this is probably the best picture I've taken in the past 5 or 10 years...seriously...  Most.Non-photogenic.Person.Ever.  It's not a joke people.  Aside from being a decent picture, the other/main reason I picked this one is because it shows the highlights and shading really distinctly.  Thank you, blurry cell phone picture!  You've made my task infinitely more easy!

After all the blabbing to get to this point, here's the page:

My self-portrait...not perfect, but good (enough)

Not too shabby...  Not perfect (I'm looking at you forehead that I made too low!  And you, nose that should be bigger!), but pretty good.  Now that I've taken the picture (thus completing my contractual obligations to the prompts), I'm totally going to colorize this page (with my watercolors, I do believe).  I think that will help to make the page look a little more like me...or at least that's my hope...

As I was in the middle of drawing my face, I realized how little attention I actually pay to my own face.  I mean, I see it every day...I look in the mirror, you know, to make sure I don't have a booger hanging around or something stuck in my teeth and the like, but I don't think I've ever really made a close examination of it before.  I think it's an odd thing to live with yourself all your life and not really know your own details.

I've come to understand that I don't have much knowledge of myself.  I don't really have an awareness of my own opinions on things, or if I do, I don't generally make them known.  I push them to the back-burner.  I suppose it's never been important to me before.  Maybe I'm having an early mid-life crisis, but I have the sudden compelling desire to figure out what it is that I want, who it is that I am (if I was wealthy, or not tied down, or more adventurous, this would be the point where I backpack across Europe...), not the person that I show other people...  I'm well acquainted with that version of me.  I'm longing to get to know the one on the inside...the one I'd be if I wasn't so worried about the thoughts and opinions of others, because let's face it, the one I pretend to be is mostly made up of things I think other people want me to be.  I want to start paying attention to my thoughts and feelings a little better and then let that girl out...I don't want to say the 'real' me, because in the end both versions are technically real...the way a character in a book or play or a movie is real...but I want to quit playing the part.  I want to see who I am when the curtain comes down and there's no audience judging my performance.

Isn't it funny how the mind connects things?  One little blurry picture at the right time spurs a huge idea.  And one huge idea has the potential to slowly bring about change and to set something free that's been locked away for far too long.  

To be honest, I'm exhausted...it's not an easy job to hold up a mask all the time.  And it's even harder to let yourself take off the mask and examine what's behind it...and it's scary too.  Truth is scary.  Change is scary.  If, as John Wayne said, courage is being afraid and saddling up anyway, then I'm feeling pretty courageous right now.  For the first time in a long time, maybe for the first time ever, I'm feeling powerful.  

Letting Go

With the completely horrible version of the prompts (neon, money, stickers) for this week out of the way, I shook off the ugly page mojo and made this page:

She remembered that it was ok to let go of things when the cost outweighed the benefit.

I would have never guessed it in a million years, but I am really enjoying the neon backgrounds...even on my previous page...you know, the shamefully horrible one...  

I like this page SIGNIFICANTLY  better than the first one.  It's much more 'my style' than the last attempt was for sure...I don't know what my creativity was doing the day I made the first page, but good gourd, don't let it leave me like that EVER AGAIN!!!  

I like that this page is another step in the direction of my personal goal to remember the journal part of art journaling.  

I've been thinking recently about how much I struggle to keep things (and people, sadly) in my life that don't really need  to be there.  I chase after things that don't want to be caught, and fight as hard as I can to hold onto them, to keep them around no matter the consequences.  Part of it, I think, is that I'd feel like a failure if I couldn't maintain these stressful relationships.  I've always kind of been the glue that holds things together...and having one side do all the work is not easy and it's how it should be at all.  In the past few weeks, I've been kindly told by several dear people that things 'are not always about me'.  I don't know why I have such a hard time accepting that.  It's a simple fact, really, but also profound.  Sometimes we just get the brunt of conflict that has little, if anything, to do with us.  We're just the person that happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  

It can really stink to be a caring person, because there's a very thin line that separates being caring and being codependent, where I start to think that I can change someone else's attitude and outlook.  And that's a bad place to be.  It's not my job to continually try to fix other people's problems.  Not that there's anything wrong with helping people if I can.  The problem is that it seems to be all I ever do.  For starters, it's kind of egotistical...it's like saying I can live that person's life smarter than they can...  I've got my own problems!  O meed to go fix them!  Additionally, if you start bailing people out too often, they quit trying to help themselves...you become an enabler and you start drowning in issues that were never yours to begin with.  And a person can only give so much...eventually, if nobody returns the favor, you're completely empty.  I've been riding on 'E' for a while now.

So I've decided to quit being glue-like and start being more like velcro.  Because velcro has two parts and neither part sticks without the half it matches.  I have needs and wants and problems too.  So I'm going to work on finding things that have a give and take.  This doesn't just apply to people either.  

There are other things I can think of that have no real benefit...I just do them because I've always done them.  And, honestly, there's not time enough in the day to do things just because they should be done or because it's the way it's always been done.  I'm going to liken this to making your bed in the morning.  Your whole life you've woken up and made your bed.  What's the point to it?  You're just going to get back in it and mess it up again!  But you've heard 'GO MAKE YOUR BED!' every day since you were a kid, and it's a habit and it's just the way things are done.  But really, why?  The world isn't going to stop if you just toss off the blankets and walk away.  I'm going to try to get rid of all those little 'go make your bed' situations in my life.

Some person out in the world, who is much smarter than I am said: When you say no to something, what you're doing is making room for yes.  Basically, you're making room for more positive things.  I've come to the realization that there are some things I'm finally ready to scream "NO!" at.  And I'm sitting here tonight, dreaming of all the good things I'm making room for, just by simply letting go.

Stop looking for roses and 'April Showers...'

Just wanted to share a couple pages really quick.

This first one is all thanks to my friend Boo and her lovely comment on one of my recent posts.  I was contemplating my old lady-hood and feeling a little blue about my life, and her comment made me feel so much better.  Ok, first it made me cry, but then it made me feel so much better!  Boo, if ever we meet face to face, you must be prepared for the most gigantic squish you have ever been squished!

And so here is my Boo inspired page, to make me always remember the kind words she said:

Everybody should be lucky enough to have a friend like Boo to tell them just what they need to hear at just the right time!

My second page is for the prompt "April Showers Bring May Flowers" in one of the wonderful Facebook groups I am in:

My poor flower is a little droopy, but she's been rained on all day!  I think eventually I will add more to this page, but I'm not quite sure what to do with it yet...  Any suggestions?

In My Dreams I'm Free

"In my dreams I'm free and I like the feeling."

The prompt for this page was DREAMS.

I started by doing a gesso transfer of the image of the little girls face.  And I got impatient and started rubbing the paper off before it was completely dry...hence the image not being all there...but it's ok, I kind of like it that way.  I went over the page in a couple different colors of alcohol ink after that.

Then I glued down some ephemera.  The top heart is crackled, with teal as the background and red over top...it's kind of hard to see in the picture.  The bottom heart is a book page where I did a crayon resist over a Tim Holtz embossing folder and sprayed with Dylusions spray inks.  The purple is an ATC size piece of manila folder.  I wrote the word "Free" on it, getting the lettering style inspiration from something I saw on Pinterest.  I went over it with alcohol ink.  After I glued that in, I wrote the rest of the journaling.  I am becoming lettering obsessed, as per the plan, and I like the lettering on this page pretty good.  I have to work on spacing things out a little better...perhaps if I had a plan before I started...or did a pencil sketch first...I'll work on that...

Lastly, I found a really nice and easy tutorial for how to make the little paper butterflies HERE.  (I love origami!)  I sprayed them with Dylusions to match the crackle heart and glued them down...and that's that.

A Little of This and That

I hate it when life gets in the way of creativity.  It's very frustrating on several levels.  I've been doing a little bit here and there, and here's what's come of it:

"Life is a balancing act...one that always seems to keep me on my toes."  This is done in watercolors, and I am super happy with that ball...it's my best accomplishment this week, I think...

I give up on the balancing act and have decided to only do arts and crafts and forget the rest.  I watched a video on FORCE drawing, and this is my poor attempt at it...although I do have to say, she really does appear to give up...

I drew this using a chisel tip and a fine tip sharpie in just a few minutes.  I really like the look of her, and I will have to remember to pick up a pen or pencil and do some quick sketching...sometimes they turn out pretty good!

My attempt at working on lettering.  I have terrible handwriting, and lettering is something I am going to work at ...this is my first attempt at using a liner brush and watercolors, and for me (and my terrible handwriting), it's half-way decent.

This is my absolute least favorite thing I have done in a LONG time.  I hate it...no, that's not strong enough...I LOATHE it...with every fiber of my being.  I thought I would include her to show that they're not all gonna be winners, and that's ok.  You just gotta keep going and remember that art is fun and doesn't have to be perfect or good...just keep learning, playing and practicing.

So, what did you get up to this week?

Prompt6ix #10 Page

I just finished my Prompt6ix #10 Page (you can read more about Prompt6ix  HERE):

It is BRIGHT!

Before I go any further, I just gotta say how much I love the Dylusions spray inks.  They are so easy to use and in great colors...  I've had a fun time experimenting with them!

This is the first time I've done a two page spread.  It was a little difficult because I did it in the journal I made, and there is a hump where the pages connect...I think it would have worked a little better in the middle of the journal, as opposed to close to the beginning, which is where I did it...less of a hump in the middle of the book (or on one of the middle pages of a signature), but I didn't think about it and here we are...  I don't mind so much, but I will know for next time.

Here's a close up of the left page:

And the right page:

This is the breakdown of the six prompts and how I used them:

1. Lyrics- I have lyrics from 3 songs on the page, "Your Color" by Mama Kin ( 'The silence pushes into me'; 'You go your way and I'll go mine.'; 'Now my footsteps echo in the hall'; 'I miss your color most of all' ), "Don't You Cry" by Guns and Roses ('You'll be alright now sugar.  You'll feel better tomorrow come the morning light...'), and "Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele ( 'I can't help myself I'm looking for you').  I love this prompt to use lyrics in the page...  I am a lyric junkie!
2. Museum- Is in the journaling, which says: 'I realized my mind was some sort of horrible museum where no one curated the archives of what stayed and what faded away.'  Those are my words, inspired by this image: that I saw on Pinterest
3. Kaleidoscope- For the background, I cut out a paper snowflake and used it as a stencil!  That was A LOT of fun, and I am going to have to do that again!  ...and improve my snowflake cutting skills...snow flake intricacy, here I come!
4. Tag or Label- On the left page, there's a label (that has the G&R lyrics on it)...I hand cut two bigger labels to go behind (the blue and black outline) the label punch (green part) that I already had to try to balance out the black of her hair on the other page.
5. Lime Green- In the background and her hair and the book page ephemera...again, I love you, Dylusions spray inks!
6. Tape- I used some washi tape with music notes on it that I had.  Woo hoo for kismet!

On a side note, the other night, my husband woke me up by violently shaking me and was saying: "I let it out!  I let the snake out!" over and over...  He had apparently been dreaming some really weird dream about a snake being lose in the house and crawling under the bed...he was freaking out!  After I realized the house wasn't on fire and there wasn't an serial killer in the house, it was hilarious! 

I think I must have been thinking about that when I was doing her eyes, because now when I look at her, I think she has creepy snake eyes!  Maybe it's the lighter color around the pupil?  I don't know...I may have to revisit those eyes and see if I can make them less snaky.

Playing with colors and shapes

I just recently got the Dylusions spray inks.  I can't express how AWESOME they are, and I know I haven't even scratched the surface of fun things you can do with them!  I've just been spritzing all willie nillie!  They are so vibrant, the pictures don't do them justice.

The first page I did with them, it made me want to go crazy with color choices, so here's what happened:  

"What you think of yourself is much more important than what other people think of you."

She's not my best girl by far, but I had a lot of fun using the crazy colors...I will have to revisit the crazy color girl face for sure.  I think I can do it better than this one, and I am excited to try!

This is the second page I did with the Dylusions:

"I meant to behave but there were so many other options!"

I really like how this one came out!  I love that quote so much...  The colors are really cool...  I like the packing tape transfer method a lot...  My favorite thing is the doodled tree.  I love that the colors come through the packing tape and the tree shape...  I think it's so much fun!

I don't know if anybody else has seen any of Dyan Reavely's videos (she's the lady behind Dylusions), but she seems like she'd be such a blast to be around.  She's got so much personality...in a world of cheerios, she's a fruit loop...  And I love her for it!

Reciprocation

Two posts ago, I talked about the wonderful mail art that I received from my friend Cheryl...and how I forgot to take pictures of what I sent her because I was so excited to send it, my brain just went crazy!

Thankfully, Cheryl took some really great pictures and is letting me use them so I can share the girls with you. (Thanks, Cheryl!)

First up, the envelope:

Why hello...

I tried really hard to do good lettering on the addresses instead of just using my normal handwriting, which looks something similar to a 12 year old boys...after I did that, the back of the envelope just looked so blank and boring that I had to make it a little snazzier!  I'm really happy with that thumb...hands are the hardest to draw (I think so anyway), and hers is a little wonky but woo hoo for that thumb!

Next up is a girl on copy paper:

I think she's got that 'come hither' look.

Cheryl makes such wonderful collages that I thought she might like to have a girl to use in her art.  That's why I sent one just on copy paper.  

It works out really well to start out using copy/printer paper to practice your girls (or anything you want to practice, I suppose).  For one thing, it's cheap, so if you mess up or aren't happy with the end result, you can toss it without bemoaning the loss of watercolor or other more expensive paper.  For another, it's easy to draw on because it's smooth and you don't have to worry about funky textures getting in the way and making you have weird/off lines.  And the best part of all, if you do make a good girl on copy paper, you can cut out your girl and stick it to a canvas or journal page and it's so thin, no one will be able to tell it wasn't drawn on directly!  I don't do all my girls on copy paper first (not anymore), but if I have a page that's has a heavy texture or a very dark background, I definitely do!  So that's my shout out to copy paper...Hooray!

And last but not least, here's the girl I did with Cheryl in mind specifically:

Cheryl's Bohemian spirited lady

This girl is probably my favorite girl I've done to date.  One, because I can see where I'm improving, and it's nice to see my girl face obsession is paying off...I've made a lot of questionable faces to get to this point!  (Her hair makes me so happy I could squeal like a pig in mud!)  Two, because it was the first piece I've done with someone (my muse Cheryl) in mind while I made her.  And three, the most important reason of all, because I got to send her off to live with such a sweet, kind person!  Cheryl is so nice and says the best, most encouraging things about my girls!  I think I would want to do art even if nobody liked it, but to hear positive things about what I do...to know that someone likes my girls so much that they want one for themselves ...it warms my heart and makes me want to keep going and keep improving and just paint the sky with happiness!

Thank you again Cheryl, for being my first mail art giver and recipient!  I can't think of a nicer person to have as my first!

Gaudy Girl

Hey fabulous and glorious and magnificent people!  First I want to say thanks for all the kind words concerning my last post.  You all really brighten my life up in amazing ways...and I appreciate it so much!

I just want to share my entry to the Daisy Yellow "Gaudy" challenge (learn more HERE):

Yowza...that's pretty darn gaudy...

This was a fun challenge for me, especially considering the droopy way I've been feeling lately.  I needed a little pepping up, and I think this is definitely fun and peppy...and bright.

I used a much bigger brush than I'm used to on this page, and I had a good time with it!  I actually like how the hair turned out, so I may have to finesse it up a little bit and add the big-brush-hair to my regular rotation.  I also like the way some of the paint scraped off...it started out as an accident, but then I thought it was kind of interesting looking, so I scraped off a little more in different places.

When I thought about gaudy, all I could think of was red and gold...for some reason, that color combo stuck in my head.  But when I went to use my gold paint (which is a hundred years old and a cheapie paint to begin with), it wouldn't show up on the red...so then I thought about it some more and thought of a person with way too much make-up on...and this is what happened.  She is completely frightening...and I kinda like her for it!

The Sad Girl

Here's my most recent art journal page:

Prismacolors and acrylic paint on ultra matte black background

And close up:

The Sad Girl

I've been having a bit of a rough time lately, and I didn't want to make a happy page feeling the way I do.  It would be a lie.

Two years ago this May, I lost a very dear friend.  He was the best man I have ever had the privilege to know, and it hurts every day not seeing him and hearing his voice.  

The way my friend's life ended, by his own hand, makes the loss of him even harder to deal with, to find peace with.  I think that the people close to one who commits suicide probably always blame themselves in some way.  You ask yourself if you should have seen something, if you could have said or done something that would have stopped them from doing what they had done.  And the truth is, you just don't know.  You never get to know, and even if you could have, it's always going to be to late to change it.  That's a hard reality to come to terms with.

It's gotten easier overtime, or at least I don't think about it every second of the day.  But still, and probably for the rest of my life, little thoughts pop into my head and there it is again.  I try now to honor his memory, to think about the good things and not the way it ended.  I think it's funny how a certain smell, or the way the light shines, or the way I see the movement of another person can call him to mind so quickly...and I don't think that's a bad thing.  I don't want to forget him.

I've just been having a hard time lately with him not being here.  He always gave such good advice, it was one of the great things about him, and I could use some of his words of wisdom right about now.  I guess that's what I've been thinking about lately and what led to this journal page.

Was it just...a collage?

I have some loverly internet friends that I met by doing art journal challenges.  I am so happy I get to see and be inspired by the wonderful things they make!  

One thing I've seen and really enjoyed are the wonderful collages done by some of my facebook friends...and they inspired me to try my own:

The over view...

And the gratuitous close-up:

I believe I will call you...Puppy Love...

I had so much fun doing this collage...minus the cutting...I tried to go zen with it and just zone out and snip, but I don't think I accomplished that...I was pretty happy when the snippy snippy was done...

My favorite thing is the image of the boy and girl, which I did using the packing tape transfer method.  If you google it, you'll get much better instructions, but basically, all you do is take a toner-based print (go to the library and make a copy if you need to...or do it at work like I did...shh...don't tell!), put clear packing tape over the top of it and then wet the back of the paper.  Wait a minute or two and then start rubbing the wet paper and the paper part will come off and leave the toner behind on the packing tape!  I think this is so neat, because you get to see whatever's behind the image (if you have light spots in the image anyway)!  On a side note, this doesn't work with ink jet printers *sad face*...the internet told me so, but I had to try for myself...the internet was right...it just all comes off when you start rubbing...no adorable goodness gets left behind...

I had a blast doing this collage...so much so that I think I will have to do another one sometime!  Perhaps I can handle the snipping, since the rest of the process is so much fun.

Oh, and before I forget, I would like to give an unpaid (although if they want to pay me that would be great) shout out to YES! paste, which is this awesome glue stuff that didn't wrinkle the paper AT ALL!  Take that Elmer's glue (just kidding Elmer, I love you too...just for different applications...)!  I am definitely going to be using the YES! paste from now one, it works so nicely!

Pinky

Here's my latest page, done and done:

I actually made this art journal (the book itself)...I'll have to post about that some time...

And EXTREME CLOSE UP version:

A couple things about this page...first, pink is NOT my favorite color.  I had done the girl before I did the background and given her pink eye shadow just for kicks...then when painting the body, I had a massive error involving ripping the paper (UGH!) on accident.  I was looking for something to cover that up, when I saw a card one of my coworkers gave me that had a similar coloring to what I had done on the eyes.  So I got out my watercolors and painted the background pink.  I cut up the card in manageable pieces and gave them a little bit of a wash (they were a little too pastel in the beginning) and glued away.  

Second, I am in the process of working on layering.  It's a skill that has eluded me for far too long.  In the past, it's always seemed like my ephemera was just sitting there on the page, not looking like a part of the page at all.  This is the first page I've done where I'm reasonably satisfied with the layering looking like it's part of the page and not an afterthought.

Third, the journaling bit in the lower left hand corner is a quote from a song by Mama Kin.  It says "Love was a cruel mistake."  The irony of it is that while I was writing the quote, I accidentally smeared the pen on the word mistake, so I scribbled it out and rewrote it below...now it's one of my favorite parts of the page...so hooray for some mistakes!  

Be THAT person.

Who are you when no one is looking...be that person much more often.

I finished this page last night, staying up to the wee hours of the morning to finish...I have got to stop doing that!  At least today was Saturday and I could sleep in and make up for it...

One of the things I'm working on is making interesting backgrounds.  I am bad for drawing the main thing first and then trying to fill in a background and not mess up the main image in the mean time...  With this page, I did the background first (like a normal person!  ...for once)...and it was a different experience for me, because I kept seeing parts of the background I really liked and didn't want to cover over...which shaped the way I decided what to draw.

My favorite thing on the page happened by accident (that's always the way it goes, isn't it?).  I was writing the quote journaling in a light colored marker, so it would blend in, but it was too light, so I wrote over it in a slightly darker color...still too light...so I wrote over it again a couple more times.  I like that you can kind of see the original writing underneath...like a ghost image...or when you're taking a picture and the camera is shaky!  I think it looks pretty neat.

Heart Failure

So, here's my Daisy Yellow Prompt6ix #7:

Heart Failure

The prompts this week were:

1. Science - The writing on the parts with drawing.  The top one says "He" (Helium on the periodic table of elements) and "emulsion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium (latex)".  The bottom one says: "Family-Hominidae, Species-Homo Sapien,  Orientation - 2 X chromosomes (female), Age (approximation) -29 years, Status- Deceased, Preliminary exam indicates early life demise due to heart failure, a result of repeated breakage."
2. Balloon - The top drawing is a heart shaped balloon
3. Garden - alluded to (garden/roses...I took some liberties with the interpretation of 'garden')  in the quote (the smaller writing reads: "Heap not on this mound roses that she loved so well.  Why bewilder her with roses, that she cannot see or smell?  She is happy where she lies with the dust upon her eyes." This is a poem by my favorite poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay)
4. Sketch - both images are quick sketches I did, I added the lines/arrows to make it look more like a blue print...I don't know if that comes across well, but I like how it looks and am going to practice this idea more...
5. Resume - everything is written/sketched on watermarked resume paper
6. Argyle - is in the background paint... (you can kind of see it behind the paper with the smaller quote on it)
7. Orange/green - ok, this was by total accident, because I didn't see the notation in the prompt page when I read it, but I actually have orange and green in the background paint! ...I almost didn't add the orange when I was doing the background, but now I'm glad I did...you cannot trick me sneaky, sneaky Daisy Yellow lady...I'm one step ahead of the game I didn't even know we were playing! (haha)

I liked this challenge...I thought of the idea for it pretty fast, which I've not been able to do as quickly with the other two challenges I've done...so either this was an easy one, or I'm building some brain strength!

I'm liking the elements of this page, but I am having a hard time with the "layering"...it kind of looks like the papers are just sitting on the page, not really part of the background...does anybody have any thoughts on  how I can fix this?  It's one of those things I haven't learned yet...  I'd love to hear any thoughts on this, because it's driving me NUTS!!!

Fish Kiss!

I have been sickly and gross feeling for a week and a half now, so it seems I've been much less prolific than usual.  I did manage to get the Daisy Yellow Prompt6ix challenge done, so here's my page:

"Fish Kiss"

This time, the prompts were:

1. Leaves -Pattern in the scrapbook paper hair
2. Job -It's in the quote in black, which says "It's your job to be yourself in a world that's full of everybody else."
3. Brushes - The girls face is completely painted in acrylics (I didn't use my trusty number 2 or my Prismacolors (as is my custom) at all for this!)
4. The Mail -Part of the quote is cut from junk mail
5. Textures -The hair is cut and layered pieces of scrapbook paper and the red background paint is actually crackled, although it's hard to tell in the photo
6. Red -I know it may be hard to see, but I did use some red in making this page. :)

My favorite thing on this page is the two fishes, which are from a scrapbook paper I've had FOREVER... literally the first piece of scrapbook paper I ever bought...and I have been in love with those fishes for a long time.  I especially like the bottom fish, because it looks like he's giving her a little kiss!  So I think that's the name of this piece!

I am having a lot of fun with the challenges and am always on the lookout for other challenges, so if anybody knows of some good ones, I'd love to hear about them!