21 Secrets

I started a new online class called 21 Secrets, its 21 classes that you can take anytime from now until the end of the year.

The first class I dove into was Dina Wakely's Intuitive Painted Layers. Here's my attempt:

It was fun and gave me some new ideas to try, especially if I get stuck and don't know where to start.

I'm using exsisting Art Journals that I've started since I have so many. Maybe one will get filled up! I don't know what that means, maybe that you get to start another one. Anyways, I'm hoping to learn some new techniques and just play. My friends from Journalfest are playing with me so that will be fun to see what they do too! Stay tuned for more from 21 Secrets!

Fixed page

This is a journal spread that I have tried to fix several times. You know what they say, "Third times a charm". I guess it's true, because I finally like it. That's the beauty of paint, if you don't like something you do, just paint over it!

First Video Journal Flip!

Good afternoon everybody! This is my first attempt at filming a journal flip. Since none of my art journals are filled yet, I picked a Remains of the Day journal to show you. This is an online class taught by Mary Ann Moss. I've had a lot of fun making these journals. If you like it I'll flip through some more.

I tried to get fancy and edit it with title and credits but then the format wasn't working. I'll figure this video thing out someday.

Journal pages

I've been working on some pages with the help of my cat, "Baghera". He's such a help! He would try to get right on top of what I'm doing if I didn't suggest an alternate location. I can't tell from his expression if he's impressed or not.

Here is the finished spread. The page on the right has writting on it, but I did it with a grey gel pen and it's hard to see in the photograph.

And here are a couple pages I did awhile ago, but don't think I ever posted:

I'm going to work on my Remains of the Day journal, so I'll post those soon! Hope everyone is being creative today!

I'm here

Yes, I'm still here. I've been dabbling in this and that. I haven't felt like I've finished much but I'll post what I've got.

This was a completed background that I finally added some text to. I've been collecting quotes and inspiration on Pinterest, if you want to follow me on that site too.

This is a journal spread from a lesson in my 'A Lovely Dream' online class taught by Suzi Blu. I really wish my photos turned out better. I'm open to advice.

I think I'll work on some Remains of the Day journal pages today. I'm having a hard time focusing on one media, but that's fun too!

My precious pooch is laid up at the hospital with an uncertain future. His back legs are not working and the surgery he had will hopefuly improve his condition. So I did a journal page with him in mind, inspired by Samantha Kira Harding's video.

A Lovely Dream spread

I've added some layers to my Lovely Dream spread. Lots going on but I'm pleased with the result. For those of you new to my blog, this is a class I'm taking from Suzi Blu. It's an online class so you can complete lessons at your leisure. No pressure. However, if you keep up with the other students, it's kind of fun to see what everyone is working on at the same time. It's a lovely commumity of supportive artists and art students.

Recently I completed a painting for my Mom's birthday. Here it is below. She is featured in the painting with her partner Ralph. They recently went on a vacation that included London.The background is an image transfer that I painted around.  There are several personal references included in this piece, which made it fun to do.

In addition, I've been having lots of fun working on Journals. I will post them in more detail as I give them to my friends, but for now you just get a glimpse.

Remains of the Day!

I've been having so much fun taking the Remains of the Day class offerred on line by MaryAnn Moss. I've already completed two journals, and there's no telling when I might stop. The journal is a mish mash of scraps of paper, epherma, fabric, and junk sewn together to make a journal. The idea is to put your everyday happenings in it, from the mundane to the exciting. Here are some pictures for you.

So now I just have to fill it up! I'll post more pictures as that happens. It's been fun taking pictures of mundane things just to have some photos to add. Everyday can be a photo op.!

Journal entries

I find myself draw towards posting pretty drawings, not focusing on the journaling aspect of my art journals. I've got some finished journal pages done that I thought I'd share. It feels good to complete something, even if it might not be as interesting as a drawing. There is something about words, writting, text that I really love though. Just the look of it, I don't even have to read it.

This is a quote from Orly Avineri from a class I took at journalfest. Some students really wanted to know the next step, or what the final outcome would be and she wouldn't tell us.

The journal entry above I'd previously posted without any wording.  In case you can't read it, "If we all spent as much time feeling beautiful as we did feeling ugly, the world would reflec that back to us. Focus on what you like about yourself and live your life from that place. Go forth and be fabulous!"

Have a creative day!

I carved a stamp!

Here is my first attempt at stamp carving. I think I like it. What should I carve next?

Here are a couple pages from my 5"x8" Moleskin journal. It has thicker pages for painting, which I really like. It also has the least amount of entries in it. I guess I tend to save it for drawing/painting vs. collage so it's not as convenient to do a quick page.

You can't read this one too well, but it says that I've noticed that my girl's eyes are too rounded on the bottom. Once you see these things, it's hard not to see them. It's good though to be able to look at your stuff and see where you can improve.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you had a blessed day.

New pages

I've been working on finishing some pages I'd started earlier this year. Here are a couple without any journaling, but somewhat completed none the less. The first is a girl I drew on a newspaper menu from our local pizza parlor that I doodled one night while waiting for pizza. She turned out much more exotic than I thought she would but I like how she turned out, and I like that she is different from most of my other girls. Maybe it's the lushous lips. The ink under her left eye also ran when I varnished her but I left it cuz it made her seem more mysterious.

This next one is one side of a journal spread. She is a spiritual wise woman. I'm not sure what she might have to say yet.

I've got lots of ideas brewing in my head right now. I hope to have some time to get them out this week, or at least start on some new projects. Christmas is right around the corner now, I usually try to make most of my gifts. Not sure what to do this year. More soon!

Journalfest part 2

Alrighty, here is some more about Journalfest. Day 2 of Journalfest I took a class from Orly Avineri called Text and Texture. We got to play with lots of different media; paper, ink, paint, modeling paste, and pens. Here are the two spreads I did.

This one has to do with using other languages to convey meaning. On the left is several words in hebrew, and on the right is a mayan glyph. You can't see all the layers in the photos but there is a lot of texture in this spread.

In this spread we looked for symbols in our handprint that could make up letters in our own personal alphabet. On the right we were just to make up an alphabet. It was fun to just quickly let whatever come out onto the paper. I think it does look like an actual language.

Here are some of the great people I met. We had lots of fun at meals and in the evenings journaling together.

Valerie, Colleen, Corry, me, and Lori



Journalfest part 1

I'm back from Journalfest! I had a great time, learned a lot and met people from all over the country. Here are some pictures from Fort Worden in Port Townsend, WA.

This was the view from my room.

And my teeny tiny room:

This is the dorm building where I stayed:

The first day I took a watercolor class where we had to do blind contour drawings of ourselves. For those of you that don't know, blind contour drawings are where you can't look down at your hand while you're drawing and you have to use one continuous line. Here is one of my attempts:

 After we drew ourselves, we had to only use red, yellow, and blue to get all the colors we wanted without mixing them. You could only layer the colors on top of each other. Challenging. Here were my other attempts:

I'll post some more about Journalfest tomorrow!

New painting

I don't know what I've been up to lately that I don't have more to post. I've been working on my Suzi Blu class on Art Journaling. I'm enjoying the watercolors. I love the look of them. I'm starting to gather up all my supplies for Journalfest at the end of the month. So here is my one page that's ready to be seen:

The girl on the left looks a little suspisious of the other. They are suppossed to be friends, without suspision. Oh well. I like them anyway.

NW Quilt Expo

I was lucky enough to have my friend Linda visit me for a long weekend from Vancouver, B.C. We had lots of fun shopping at Fabric Depot on Thursday, followed by Quilt Expo on Friday.

 I have to say I had more fun shopping then seeing the quilts at Expo. I always hope for some inspiration but I really didn't get wowed by too much at the show. I did get inspired to make a Tote bag today though. I'm going to use it at Journalfest in October to hold all my art supplies.

There are two big pockets inside as well as several on the outside. It was good to use my machine again. Maybe I will finish some quilts soon....

A Lovely Dream

I've started a new on line art journaling class with Suzi Blu. It's every other Thursday. You can watch the video for the class anytime you want. So far we have learned how to make our own journal with watercolor paper. Here is my journal with the cover painted.

So far we are working on a journal spread. It is a work in progress. I haven't worked with watercolors much but I'm enjoying it. The girl on the left is a magazine photo that we photocopied and then outlined with graphite paper. That way you don't have to know how to draw to add faces. I did do the face in the middle though. I took Suzi's portrait class which helped me learn to draw faces

What I did last night....

Last night, my partner in crime, Natalie and I revamped some of her spiral notebooks that she needs for starting Middle School next week. Here are several of our creations...

I also finished one of my Suzi Blu class projects. Her next class starts soon so I'm trying to get some of these done so I can focus on the new class. This one is on a 4" x 6" canvas. It features my dog and cat (Ernie and Baghera).

This one is from a previous lesson, it's not completely finished but it might not be for a while so here it is. It's called "Gnome Lover". It's also on a small canvas.



Unbelizable!

I just got back from my vacation to Belize! I brought a pre-prepped art journal to document my trip. I'm in the process of adding photos to it but have done a lot of journaling already. It was great to have along. It helped my get my creativity on! I loved having the supplies I brought with me but missed my paints for sure.

This is the cover of the album. It's mostly magazine scraps with a tag added. I beeswaxed it to seal all the layers together.

Here are some of the journal pages:

I also just wanted to do some art separate from my Belize album. I did a poppy page because I had supplies to create it and I love those poppies:

So that's what I did on my summer vacation!