Using A Sketchbook Again

Many of you know that google reader is going away.  I have used Net News Wire which is only for the Mac and Bloglovin which I think works for both systems.  I am sure there are others out there.  Lately I have just been putting all the blogs I read in my link list and just go to them from my own blog. It doesn't tell you about updates so that won't work for everyone.  If you've found an awesome reader please share.

My journal is full of backgrounds and often I don't know what to do with them. The backgrounds are so beautiful I think simple is best.

This page started with a spray ink background with the birch trees stencil.  I added decorate tissue around it and then some images. I am not sure if this is done yet.

This was painted newspaper. I saw this turtle and butterfly in my stash and loved it on this paper.



Another shot at the painting, I am sure you are getting tired of seeing this.   I promise the next pic will be the last.  I added the tree, made the square stones round and covered up the barn. I am not sure what I will add in that green area, more animals, flowers, my hammock nothing seems right yet so I will sit with it for awhile.

For awhile I have been toying with the idea of doing a sketchbook again.  Inspired by my friend Lynn's book, "One fish taco and a half an order of guacomole" I thought of drawing in public again and trying people this time. About all I did was think about it though. I am in a group on Facebook with April Cole and they are going to do a sketchbook challenge in April. So I thought I might take part. There is nothing like a challenge to get you moving to do something you keep thinking about. Then my friend Connie did this post on her sketchbook and I took the plunge. I had a book I got at Hobby Lobby last fall that is perfect.  Its like a moleskine with sketchbook paper, it opens flat has a pocket and all that jazz.  So I decided not to wait till April and begin now.  I am using pen like Connie suggests, these are rough drawings, just a part of my day.

What was on my messy desk was my first sketch.

The next day it was my mug at a coffeeshop and a quick sketch of my kitty sitting on my lap.

A kitty again and some scenes from my yard that I might eventually add to a painting. I am really enjoying doing these simple sketches.  Maybe its time you picked up a sketchbook again.  Why don't you join me and share bits of your sketchbook too!

Saying Goodbye

I had to say goodbye to my boy Flynn on Tuesday. This is the last picture I took of him. He was the first dog that was just mine. He was my mothers day gift fourteen years ago. We spent so many great moments together. walked together, herded sheep together, traveled to many states, camped together, and so much more. He was my companion and my friend and he has left a huge hole in my life. I like to think he is off chasing sheep in a huge pasture in the sky.  So long Flynn you were the best dog ever.

The house has been so quiet, I have had a hard time getting used to it all. After a session with my coach where she suggested a memorial rock or something for my garden to remember Flynn. It being winter I thought of something else, an altar.  So I collected all my border collies and added Flynn's picture and a little sheep for him to chase.  It will do for now.

Then I turned to art which I have missed.  It felt great to be working on my journal again. I loved how this background turned out. I didn't quite know what I wanted to add to the page.  It has been awhile since I painted a face so it felt great to be painting again.

I played with this page some more. I am not sure what will come next but its fun to play with.

Happy Birdies

Its been a rough few days, on Thursday I had an emergency trip to the dentist which led to a visit with a root canal specialist on Friday. My worst dental experience ever. I was having dental surgery to clena out an abcess and deal with a problem root. The novacaine was not working so I had to endure the surgery with nothing. It was a horrific. Recovery has been slow too. I can eat a little better now but my mouth is still sore. what an ordeal that was.

Needless to say there has not been much art created around here. I have been drawing and coloring in these little birdies on old book pages. I think they look happy.

I started with a shape in charcoal pencil and used various mediums to color them in.

This one I modeled after the Eastern Blue bird. I gessoed the page first and then used gelatos. I think the gesso makes the color come out richer.

This is a piece of watercolor paper that I am playing with. I started with golden fluid paint and Daler-Rowney Inks. This is just a first step, I'll be adding many layers after this one.

I've been into knitting a lot this winter. I really fell in love with Dr. Who and there are some fun things to knit from the show. I decided to start with these

Since I am not a pink kind of girl I chose this yarn, its a merino wool/mulberry silk blend in a beautiful shade of teal. The yarn feels so luscious.

My friend Cyndi from Salt Lake and I were going to do these at the same time.  I decided to head over to Ravelry, its an awesome site for knitters and crocheters. I thought I'd start a group where we could knit this together. I never imagined that 58 other people would join in. What fun. Its great to see these fingerless mitts made in so many different yarns.  I am having  fun with it.

I ended have to start over several times but now I think I have got the hang of it.

Hanging In There

Still hanging in there, this old body of mine is having a hard time re-adjusting to this new plumbing I have or perhaps I should say lack of plumbing. I have been reading a lot, knitting and doing some beading. These are all things I can do in my chair in the backyard. I haven't really felt like doing any art, although a couple art journal pages have managed to pop out of me.

This face is all gelatos otherwise known as oil pastel. I like the soft look it gives. The only problem with using oil pastels is they are so hard to write over.  Only a copic marker seems to do the trick.

This page I had started before my surgery and decided to work on her this morning. The background is made by layering several colors of acrylic paint, adding a stencil, spraying with an alcohol/water mix and blotting off the excess.  It takes off some colors and not others.  Its a fun way to start a piece or artwork. The figure was found in the background.  I love it when that happens.

Do you find your art often surprises you?

Gelato Backgrounds

This page was done awhile ago, I used Faber-Castell Gelatos on the girl, the background was done previously. I think it was a colorwash experiment.

I didn't do much art while in Yellowstone but I managed to do lot of initial backgrounds. They are all done with gelatos and I just smeared the colors with my fingers, no water was added.  These too involved a base layer and then adding circles and blending.

The one on the right was playing with lots of different colors and stripes.  The one on the left just blocks of colors.

These two are more of playing with stripes and layering color on top of color. On the left I added black to cool colors and the right purple to warm colors to mix it up a little.

Here I was playing with pinks and red and adding white on top in squares and rectangles and more experiments on adding blending.  I really had fun doing all of these and seeing what this medium can do.

This is how I made a page out of this background. It was for a prompt at my Ning site. The prompt was to use a silhouette on your page. I added stamping to the background, some paper scraps and words and some charcoal.

I think you learn a lot about an art supply by using it over and over again. This is just the beginning of my experiments with this fun new supply.  How about you, do you just try something once or do you really explore a art supplies capabilities in depth?

A Few More Backgrounds & International Fake Journal Month

Its been a busy week so I haven't much to show today.  The following are some backgrounds I have been with making with ColorWash and  Stencils.  I found a new set of cut paper that make great stencils. So I took them for a test drive.  My next online class is going to cover using these tools so I have been putting them to the test in all sorts of ways. Here are just a few of the samples.

I did manage to do a journal page yesterday. It was another one of those dreary days that have me fighting off a little depression. First I stamped the bird, its from a Martha Stewart stamp set. I colored it with water color crayons. I added chalk to the background. Next it was sprayed with hair spray to set the chalk. Then I could use the gel pen on top. It was a fun little page and I felt better after having made it.  I just love how art journaling can do that for you.


International Fake Journal Month
I just learned about this a few minutes ago and it sounds like it could really be a blast to do.  Its starts tomorrow so there isn't much prep time.  I am also not sure if I have the time to do it but the idea is intriguing.   So what is it all about? This is taken right from their site.  "Basically it’s a free pass to put anything in a journal that you might not otherwise put in. At least that’s one way to see it. From April first to April 30, you are encouraged to keep a fake journal different from and outside of your regular visual journal."    If you ever wanted an alter ego here is a place to play with that idea.  Check out the site here for more details.

Finally Some Art

I finally have some art to show, these pages and painting have been done over the last couple weeks. It feels great to be able to sit long enough to paint. When you can't do artistic things you crave doing them even more.

I have been trying to explore red but this page came out a bit too orange.  The face came out really sad and depressing so I repainted the whole face and she still looked sad so at that point I gave up thinking well perhaps she is what she is and I just let it be.














I was trying to use the Pam Carriker technique from the video I posted last week.  Alas this was the wrong  kind of paper to use. The paper started to fall apart with all the water.  I think that technique would work well with watercolor paper but not a manila folder journal.

 Do you remember me showing this background? Well I finally got around to painting something on it. This was pulled art, I saw the image on the left first and then it seemed another woman wanted to be there too.


 












 This was a challenge because the background was so rich that I didn't want to cover it up. I added white to the background to lighten it up a little.  Then I used some transparent golden fluids on their cloaks so that the background would show through. I am not sure if its done yet so I am going to just let it sit for awhile.  I could add a poem or words to their dresses but I am not sure if I want to.  What do you think?

I have been wanting to step out of the Art Journal and do some paintings either on canvas or wood.  Hopefully this will be the first of many.

Using the Cricut for Crafts and Art Journaling

As I said previously I have been taking a class on using the Cricut.  Most of it has been basic but I have learned some new things.  My goals have been to find ways to use the machine beyond it original intent which I think is for people making scrapbook pages and greeting cards and other craft items.  Sure I will do a little of that but I wanted  more.  Initially I thought I would use it for mostly words for my art journal pages but I am finding other uses now which I think is pretty neat.










Here is a card and tag that we made in the first class.  Very cutsey for Valentines Day.










I made these two cards, the argyle and cupcake ones.  I have a cartridge called Wild Card which has some really fun cards in it. The little box I made and decorated with hearts.  You could put a small amount of candy inside.










These flowers were made by using an ink cartridge with the Cricuit.  First you draw the flower and then change back to the blade and then cut the flower out.  The result is your image is then outlined in the color of the ink. I think I will use the flowers to embellish a journal page.

The other thing we learned was how to use the Cricut for glass etching.  First you cut out an image on vinyl and place the background left over on your piece of glass.  Its like a stencil. Then you add etching solution, wait 60 seconds and wash it off.  Then you remove the background image and your etched image appears.  You may have to click on the image to see the little vine I had etched on there.

This is the piece I placed on to the glass before adding the etching solution.

I took the cut out vinyl piece and put it on my Cricut to decorate it.










and here is the etched glass.

This is a scroll pattern that I cut out full size I am going to use it as a stencil for spray painting.










and this one is another stencil.










and another one I just couldn't stop the ideas from coming.  I can't wait till the weather is warm and I can try these out.










These are a series of things I have cut out to use as stencils and masks.  Don't they all look fun.  These were cut from a cartridge called Storybook.

Here are the stamps I made. I put them on acrylic blocks to use them. These will also be used on backgrounds.  I found that its hard to cut intricate things with the stamp material but these came out fine.

The one thing I have not tried yet is cutting fabric.  You need to iron it on to a paper backing and then you can put it through the machine. It can then be used to applique on a quilt or tote bag or whatever else you can think of. I am having a lot of fun exploring ways to use this machine.

Playing with texture

Another one of the exercise in my painted layers class. I had so much fun with this background. I layered down old book pages, tissue paper, sewing pattern paper, embossed wallpaper, sanded some on the pages, add acrylic paint and re-inkers and played around with the color.

This page was so much fun to do, I love it when I can use many of the things I spend time collecting all in the same piece. I bought the embossed wallpaper a long time ago and this was the first time I have used it. I love the stuff. It really added great texture and I loved the way the ink seeped into all its crevices. I am having so much fun in this class.

Nanowrimo is going good, I have 33746 words with 10 days left to get to 50,000 so I am in good shape. This year I have been just trying to make my goal every day and that seems to be working for me. Its a lot of work I will be so glad when Dec 1st is here.

Further Explorations with Paint

I've been taking an online class with Misty Mawn called Painted Layers. Its a pretty awesome class so far. I thought I would show the work I have done so far. These are the first two backgrounds I did.












I liked how this turned out.













I never liked this one no matter how often I worked on it. I think it was the colors I started with. They are just an odd red and blue to use together I guess.













This is one using a silhouette. I used a stencil for the butterfly and swallow. I like the bird but I think a smaller butterfly would work better. I had taken a swallow stencil I had and cut it smaller so I could use it on different sized pages. I like this tiny one.












Here is my first landscape. I like how the sky turned out. I kept trying to put a house at the base of the mountains but it never looked right and after painting over it the third time I gave up. Overall for a first one I like it very much.

I've been really putting art on the back burner while I work on my Nanowrimo novel but I am find if i don't get to do some art I really get cranky and the writing gets harder. Today I decide I would do art until noon and then write and I think that is working well. I just can't give up this art stuff no matter what.