I Am Going To Creativity Boot Camp

First some more journal pages that I did before I get to talking about Creativity Boot Camp.

I have had this image for awhile. it came packaged with some Buffalo Fiber that I purchased to spin. Yes you can spin buffalo, they have a very soft down that is very warm. The background on the page was done with some glitter mist, colorwash and walnut ink sprays. I love playing with them. I use Golden fluid to paint the moon. Writing in acrylic ink with a dip pen.

















This page came about from the picture and the thought of taking time out to re charge to cultivate those dreams we all have. I used a ZigWriter pen with this.


BOOT CAMP BEGINS. 

I heard about a Creativity Boot Camp on my friend Kim's blog.  It is run by Maegan from Madeline Bea Photography. It sounded like its going to be really good.  It runs for 2 weeks and there is work to be done everyday.  The class is free so if you are inclined go check it out.  It started on Sunday but I figured I could easily catch up.



















Day 1 the prompt was Ivory. I took a piece of paste paper that I made last year and sewed it to the page. It had all these angular spots that seemed tusk like. I added sticker letters that look a little crooked  and then journaled.  An easy page. Now on to day 2 and then I will at least be caught up.

Day 2 was to write about owning the artists title. So I wrote about it and how I have dealt with it.

















The prompt for day 2 is Picnic.  I decided to go on an artist picnic and take you along.  Now tell me what will you bring?

Lots of Art Going Around Here

I have been in the studio a lot this past week and weekend. I actually have more done than these but I haven't taken pics of them yet. I seem to be just in the flow lately and that has been wonderful. I am almost done with the paper bag journal I have been working in. I feel the urge to finish those last few pages. Maybe that will happen this week.

 This background was spray painted previously.  I found this image of British School children and it reminded me of my own stint in a uniform.  I had attended Catholic school for the first 4 grades as a child.  I don't have many pictures from my childhood but did find this one that seamed to fit.  The writing was done with a dip pen and white acrylic ink.

















This page evolved over a long period.  For awhile it was just the mermaid.  Then I was testing some rub-ons for another project and used this page.  The image of a woman drawing in the sand is a favorite. I thought I would try my hand at a poem for this page. Just a simple idea of what the woman might have been doing.

















I started this in Sharon Tomlinson's class All about Faces.  It was a bonus video on layering many different napkins.  It was an interesting exercise but I didn't know what else to do with it. Then the other day I saw a women right in the page.  In this shot I just traced the lines that showed up. I was pretty excited about finding her and couldn't wait to get out the paints.

















I am really happy with the way this turned out. I may have to try this on a canvas.

The Owls left us

The Owls have left the nest.  They may still be in our yard in one of the other trees but they are harder to find.  Its been so windy I have  not taken the time to go look for them.  I miss them being in the tree with the  nest.  I could count on them always being there.














I did this page a few days ago and forgot about it. I loved the frivolity of the girls in the picture.  Women friendship surely are the best.











This was a background I did with excess paint. I added the silhouettes with spray paint and it sat for some time. I was feeling down this afternoon and seemed to just be venting on the page so that is how it got the title.














I had spray painted this background last year sometime. I looked in my drawer of miscellaneous images and I found this image. Then I decided to do a page on this woman and my mom. It was only recently that I found out my mom had been on the Major Bowes Show. It was a talent show in the 30-and 40's and was in New York. She was a singer and all I know is that she lost to a dog act. I imagine her thinking back about that moment in time. She never told us kids about it while she was alive.

We are still having rainy colder weather still. For those of you having nice warm weather I sure do envy you.  Enjoy the sunshine for me.

Wednesday Musings

I am loving my new clean studio. It really makes me want to work in there. I am trying hard to keep everything orderly and put things back where they belong once I am done using them.

 I tried something different with this page.  I have some walnut ink in spray form that I have never used so I tried it with some sequin waste and some stencils.  I left it overnight and it still did not dry completely.  I do not know if that was because it was over acrylic paint or if I had sprayed too much.  I thought I would use matte medium over the spots I thought were dry but they were not and  it smeared. I think I need to play with this a little more or even see if there is some  info on the net about it.  I really liked the look it gave me.














In this one I used a spray painted background and used this image that I thought was quite comical. It led me to thinking about the connection I have with art.  I really didn't think I would write about that.  Some times pages take you somewhere you had not intended to go. That is what I love about Art Journaling.

I was over at my friend Amy's house and saw the towels she was weaving and got inspired to get back to my loom. I am in the process of threading it but thought I would give you a sneak peak at the colors. These are going to be kitchen towels and I think they will be quite nice.

Gone to the dogs

It was bring your animals to church day. I had not known about it so Flynn did not come to church with me. During the service I drew a Raven. Most of the pets were dogs and they all seemed to sit in the same part of the sanctuary. When a song was finished or an important point made it seemed like one of the dogs would bark just once as though they were saying well done.

There was a ritual and all the animals received a tag to wear with a prayer for them. It was pretty cool. So Raven got his own tag and I took some home for the cats, sheep, owls and Flynn. I have hung my pets tags with my prayer flags in my backyard.

This morning the magpies were attacking the owls. Unfortunately I think the mama owl has been feeding the branchlings baby magpies.  The Owl are getting big and we figure pretty soon they will be gone.  Sure wish we had noticed them earlier.












I never tire of looking at these guys and taking pictures of them.

The Dancer

I experimented with this page. I added a image from a magazine and then painted ove it. Then I tried using a dip pen. I have heard people talking about using them on their pages so since I had one I thought I would give it a go. I ued two different nibs and had fun. All my white gel pens seem to have died, its annoying to say the least. I had to paint the outlines in this piece and I am not that great with fine lines.


















In this page I took an image I liked and built the page around it. The image of this woman sleeping seems to evoke peace and sleep and wonderful dreams to me. I like how comforting she looks.

I have started work on a canvas, I just pulled out colors and lathered them on.  I am trying to use supplies that I rarely use or that are really old.  I'll be taking pics as I work on this piece and then show them all at once.  All I have is a background and then I have no idea what comes next but sometimes that is the fun in it.

I wrote most of this post on Saturday and today I did not do any art in the studio.  Every once in awhile I get this cleaning and reorganizing bug in my studio. It all started with buying a new storage container and that lead to getting more today and redoing how I store several things. Which led to cleaning everything, bookshelves drawers, floor etc. I worked at it all day and it still needs some work but I am too darn tired to do anymore.  The next thing I think I will do is go through those drawers that have things I never use anymore and gift those items to someone.

Do you have things stored in your studio that you never use?  Maybe its time to pass those goodies on to someone who would love to use them.

Its coming up purple around here

During my convalescence I have been watching lots of art videos on YouTube.  I can take only so much inspiration before I really have to make art.  Last week I did quite a few backgrounds in my paper bag journal. Since I couldn't go another day without doing any art I decided to work on some of those backgrounds in my journal.   I picked these two purple backgrounds to work on.

This is what I started with, 2 pages of purples and blues. The page on the left was not really that dark.

















I decided instead of covering this lovely background up with collage I would look for the art hidden in the background instead. I found these three ladies just wanting to be seen.  I wrote "although they were sisters sometimes it felt like they were miles apart."














This one had an angel in it. I keep seeing angels lately. This is the second one I have found this month. I do not know what that means but if I see em I will paint them. I  really enjoyed working on these two pulled art pieces.

Groggy but fine

Just popping in to say everything went well this morning, now I think I will go back to sleep. Dave took a couple days off so he is treating me just like a Queen needs to be treated.  I'll be back when I am more awake.  zzzzzzz