I made a few collages

I got back from my trip on Tuesday but I have really been swamped. This is the first chance I have had to do a blog post. On most evenings I worked a little in an art journal. I found it so relaxing after a long day of biking or sightseeing. I'll have lots to share from my trip in the coming week.

Whenever I go on a trip I take some art supplies with me. I have a Ziploc bag full of collage materials that I bring. After this trip I realized I need to add some new things to it. I had very few focal images but a lot of scrap to make backgrounds. These are all in a moleskine wc journal. I never really liked the paper so with collage I just cover it all up. Here is the first installment.

These last two are just backgrounds, I really did not have anything to put on top so I left them for later. Tomorrow I will share some more.

We Finally Had an Art Date

My friend Jolene and I have not managed to get together for an art date in over a year. Sure we tried but several times those dates had to be cancelled for one reason or another. We finally did it though, we met on Wednesday night and I forgot to take any pictures.

We exchanged books and magazines so we now both have something new to read. She showed me how to make transfers. Every time I have tried before its been less than satisfactory but this time got perfect results. I am so excited about finally being able to do this. I showed her how to make stamps with craft foam and she had fun with that. She worked on a journal page and so did I.

Here is mine along with a found art portrait, even the castles came from the background. I like how that happens.

Tomorrow we are headed out on a small vacation to northern Idaho. I'll have my computer but am not sure if I will run into any internet access. So blogging will be sparse or non-existent. I probably won't get 30 portraits done this month since I am now going on a vacation but I will still continue to do them when I can.

B.F.'s Daughter

I finished up the altered book journal that I have been working in.  These are the last pages.

I kept the title page so you could see this was called B.F.'s Daughter by John Marquand. I did another doodle over a wash of watercolor. I am really enjoying playing in this way.

This portrait was done on old book pages with pastels. The background is acrylic paint.

The borders on the page were paint chips cut up and then painted over. I like how they add dimension to the page.

This was started long ago, it is found art and by that I mean the woman was pulled from the background. At the time I figured she was giving birth to a baby or a new idea.

This self-portrait I did completely with white gel pen.  I used an old photograph of myself as the model. I was feeling particularly blue at the time so it seemed fitting.

This one is another self-portrait from an even older photo that I found lying around. I thought I would try a face in watercolor.

This is the last page in the book, so I can happily say that this journal is complete.  Ah now I can start a new one.

Tea Party at the Stillwater Mansion

Last week I attended a very special birthday party for my friend Joyce.  It was held at the Stillwater Mansion here in Idaho Falls. We met for a ladies tea and fun was had by all.

One of the first things that Miss Tonia does is dress you up proper with a hat and gloves and jewels and perhaps a shawl to round out the ensemble.

This is Joyce, the birthday girl.

Francie her daughter came in from Northern Montana for the event.

Gina is her granddaughter who came form Pocatello, Idaho

This is a friend Cheryl who is from Idaho Falls.

Then her other daughter and my friend Kate.

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Now here is yours truly, don't I look dashing.

Here we are all of together in the parlor. Joyce had so much fun she wants to do it again next year.

We had an great time eating all sorts of wonderful treats and drinking the most fabulous tea.  What a wonderful way to spend your birthday.

Sunday Sketches

Here is todays sketch and the portrait for today, I figure it can do double duty.  I used Inktense pencil on  everything except the skin.  At first I was just going to leave it the color of the paper and then changed my mind.  For the face and neck I used chalk pastels.  I had not used them to do a face before and I like the look they give.

I have a bonus sketch today. I have to work on a traveling book and the theme is patterns so I thought I would do some paisleys for my pages.

Since I have never drawn a paisley I started a practice sheet. I have one of those dover coloring books with paisley in them so I used that for inspiration. At first I drew them on white bristol board and then added a wash of watercolors. Then I added some over the watercolors. I am not sure which way I like best. I kept adding more and more paisleys. It just like doing a zentangle, very addictive. Doesn't this look like fun. I had lots of fun with my sample, now I need to tackle the book pages.

To see what other sketchers ar doing today, head over to Sophia's blog

30 Day Portrait Challenge

My friend Violette is having a new challenge over at her blog. I saw the post and thought I should do that. A couple years ago Misty Mawn did a January journaling challenge and I really learned a lot by doing a portrait every day. I still dawdled until I saw my friend Janet doing it too.

So on Wednesday I painted this lady. She was painted on red rosin paper which is such a fun surface to paint on. Red rosin paper comes in huge roles and you can get it at Lowes. It is used in the roofing industry but is a great art paper too.

It was after this I saw Janets post about not understanding that this was a self portrait challenge not a portrait challenge and I realized I made the same mistake. Well being the rebels that we are we are just going to do portraits. People always tell me my painting look like me anyways. I can see where I made my mistake as the title of Violette's post is 30 Day Portrait Challenge. Sure she mentions that they are self portraits in the post but I skipped right over that little detail. Anyways I am going to attempt to do portraits all month.

Here is today's portrait, I must have painted her dress three or four times and it kept getting worse. I get impatient with acrylic paints sometimes and try to paint on top of colors that really need to dry first. At these times I just give up and add paper.

To join in the challenge just head over to Violette's blog, there is a flickr group to share your work

Wishcasting Wednesday: What door do you wish to open?

On this wednesday the folks over at Jamie Ridler Studios are asking, What door do you wish to open?

I have a little trouble with this one because I have so many doors open that I feel scattered trying to do it all.  One thing that I have been noticing lately is my words. In my morning pages writings I try to mull things over to make sense of life and so forth and have found some of my words are wish-washy for lack of a better term. I tend to use words like perhaps, maybe, I guess etc.  They are not decisive at all.  I have been trying to change that but haven't made it yet.  So what does this have to do with doors opening and such.

I want to go through the door that makes me more decisive, more clear on the things I want to do and the fortitude to follow through with them.  

To see what others are wishing go here

A Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY
Outside my window... It is raining and we expect three days of the same. I am enjoying hearing the sound of rain. It is so soothing to hear the sounds of water.

I am thinking that I haven't shared a self portrait in some time, so I snapped one yesterday

I am thankful for the richness of my life.


In the kitchen there is not much going on, just a little cleaning up to do.

I am wearing yellow and green starred pajama pants, a sage green top, and my crocs.

I am creating lots of journal pages in my altered book journal. It is almost complete just a few more pages and I'll be moving on to a new book. I love completing a book and of course I love starting a new one too.  They are always filled with possibilities.

I like the old world feel of this one.

This chronicles my creative dilemma  on some days.

You may recognize the crow, well I decided to add a house to the other side of the page.  I used all the paint samples I had picked up to paint my weaving studio.  Even the white for the window came from paint chips.  What a great use for items I would have thrown away previously.

I like to think of these three as my guardians or helpers, or maybe they are just friends who stand by me.

I am going to town in a little while, a trip to the Dr's to get my BP checked, a workout at the gym and a stop at Michaels and Tuesday Morning as I need a birthday present.

I am reading The Discovery of Witches, its a big thick book and a very good story so far.

I am looking forward to getting my loom warped, all 830 threads, it may take all week but I want to get working on the project so I have to get to work on it.

I am hearing Van Morrison in the background.  I love the new software Spotify, it lets you listen to anything.

Around the house all is quiet, Dave has gone to work out and Sarah is still asleep.  Its just me and the animals and the sounds of the house and the rain outside.

I am pondering when I will be able to work in some time to work on my e-book.  I seem to have lost the excitement about it.  I need that back to finish editing it and get it out into the world.

One of my favorite things lately is to spin yarn and watch Doc Martin on Netflix. I am getting lots of spinning done as I work my way through all the episodes of this fun British comedy.  It is set in Cornwall so I am loving the setting as well as the story and all its fun characters.

A few plans for the rest of the week: The usual, laughter yoga on Tuesday, meditation on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday includes my Spirit Book club where we are discussing After the Ecstasy the Laundry which is an awesome book.  Friday I get to go to a Birthday Party Tea at the Stillwater Mansion.   Plus some time for art and other creative projects in between it all.  It will be a fun week.

I hope you have a fun week as well, you can check out other posts of this type here.