Artful Journeys Week 35 - Sweet Memories

It's funny.  When I first started planning this prompt, I was grousing and grumbling about how I was already over it and hadn't even started the damn thing yet, lol.  But once I got started painting it, I knew I had to finish it, because the memories it brought back were ones I had almost forgotten and now I never will.  Before my folks split up in 1976, we used to go to the lake all the time to fish and camp.  One of my most favorite things to do was to catch fireflies after dinner, and while my mother was freaking out about ticks and whatever else she could think of, my daddy was in the bushes with me, helping me catch fireflies.  I never kept them for long, certainly not more than an hour, but that hour was long enough, and the memories are so wonderful...sometimes the most irritating noise, or a seemingly aggravating prompt, can refresh our memories and bring a smile to our faces after all.  

So let me tell you what I did...

I actually painted over a background in my altered book because I didn't like the way it had turned out, so down went 4 shades of red, some orange and some purple...once all that was dry, I then went across the bottom of the page with black, making trees and bushes for my fireflies to play in.  I used a nail art tool and a toothpick to create my little fireflies, then added some acrylic inks to give the image of the setting sun reflecting off the clouds in the sky...I added a few stars as well, then my little quote.  I ended up having quite a bit of fun with this quote even though I was not even close to being jazzed about it when I started.  

The initial layer

After the "trees" were added.

Here it is after the acrylic "clouds" and fireflies were added.

And here with the "stars" and the quote.

Left page

Right page

close up of the quote.

That's usually how it goes for me, although occasionally I will find one that I still don't like even after I'm done with it.  But that's what art and this group is all about...pushing yourself to step outside of your comfort zone and try new things...even if they're only new to you.

So there you have it....my take on this week's prompt.  I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks so much for stopping by.

Later, y'all!!

Artful Journeys - Week 24 - Sail Away

It's hard to believe we're almost halfway thru the year already, and at Artful Journeys we're still have a great time working thru our prompts...well, most of the time.

This prompt...well, this prompt really had me stumped...I don't draw...at least not well, so drawing a boat for this prompt was out of the question unless I used a template...but as I was cruising around Pinterest for a free template of a sailboat, I found this super cute origami boat that I knew would work perfectly for the idea that had finally come to me late yesterday evening!  So I got busy...

First, I painted both pages of my spread with Delta's Ceramcoat in in Caribbean Blue...then I sprayed a couple of paper towels with every blue/teal/green/turquoise spray ink I could find in my box, and even spritzed a little purple down on it, too.  Once those were dry I tore them into wonky strips and glued them down at the bottom of the spread to be the "waves" of my water.  Not bad, but I felt like it lacked depth and dimension, so I grabbed this amazing textured scrapbook paper I found at Michael's, and cut out some more waves, and glued those down between my strips of inky paper towels.  Next, I grabbed a 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper (nothing too thick here, or the folds won't work out right), and cut it into four (4) 6x6 pieces to make my boats...then glued those down in the "water".  I have to say, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  Here are some pics for you, including a few close-ups.

Here's the spread...you'll notice, I did the right side first, not thinking about creating some texture and dimension with the paper towels as I went.  Oh well!

A shot of the left page

I am also including a few of the index cards I completed for the 2015 ICAD Challenge.  I really had a lot of fun making these, and even though I'm behind, I am NOT giving up or quitting.  

Nothing too fancy or detailed here...a painted circle from a book page, a paper doily, a paper circle with some stacked writing, some washi and a stamped quote from a dear friend.

I can honestly say I spent more time painting the wood die cut than on the card itself, lol.  If those were real glasses, I would totally wear them!

Acrylic paints, masking tape, bubble wrap and some India ink

I think this is my favorite from this week.  I wasn't too keen on the original background, so I decided to add more by pressing it down onto my damp inky paper towels, to give it some additional color and depth...one more layer never killed anybody - I'm just sayin'.  I then cut some partial circles and glued them down, added some washi and hand drawn marks, along with the word, "Love".  I used my TH tiny attacher to staple the card to the tag, then glued it down on to the index card using ZipDry.  

This week has been a busy week for me.  The hubby and the kids went up to OK to see his mom, and I stayed behind with the dogs to get some much needed and WAY over-due cleaning/purging done.  My closet and bedroom and the youngest daughter's room were at the top of the list.  When I was done, 13 bags went to charity, and 11 bags of trash went to the curb...it was fucking awesome!  I have one more bedroom and 2 more closets to do, not to mention my "studio" (please read this as the dining room - as that's where all my arting gets done), but instead of trying to do it all in 3 days, I can space it out over the next couple of weeks.  I'll be sure to share pictures of it all when I'm thru.

That's all I have to share with you this week, but I hope you'll take the bull by the horns and work to create a daily habit of creating something new everyday.

Later, y'all!

Artful Journeys - Week #22 - Resists!!!!!

Hey, y'all!  Well, I'm back again, and this week over at Artful Journeys we did resists.  Now I am no perfectionist by any stretch of the imagination, but even this one originally pissed me off...lol.   

I started by trying a crayon/watercolor resist....can you say, "EPIC FAILURE"?  Here, let me show you!

The bottom one was AFTER I tried scraping some of the paint off the crayon, but I am going to say that my crayon was just defective...yeah, that's it. HA!!!

But!  I didn't let it get to me (that's not true - I cussed.  A lot.  Enough that it got the attention of my sailor husband, lol)  but I kept going.

So, just for shits and giggles, I tried it again, this time in my large Dylusions journal.  Um, no, this was even worse than the damn index cards, look

Here's the entire spread...what do you see?  You can SORT OF see ONE damn flower in the middle of the left page.

Oh, look, a swirly, that you can see if you get about 3 inches from the damn page

Here's part of a flower

And I believe this is the flower you can see in the pic of the whole spread.  Gah

So clearly the defective crayon went to a place we shall call "File X".  So, I walked away for the night, disgusted and discouraged and not entirely sure how this whole thing was gonna work out.  How can I blog about a resist if I can't get any resistance?

So, the next morning, after the hubby went to bed for the day, I pulled out some gesso and some Dylusions spray inks.  I KNEW this one would work, because I'd done it before after seeing it on Pinterest!  Grabbing a couple of index card dividers, I tarted them up with my gesso.

Nothing too fancy, just a paintbrush, and a credit card...it was fun!  Then of course, I had to wait for it to dry...luckily I had to go get the kids from school (or unfortunately depending on how ya look at it), so there was an hour of built in drying time...woohoo!!!!!!!!

Next came the inks!  Lemon Zest and Vibrant Turquoise on one, and Ripe Tangerine and Funky Fuchsia on the other!

How damn cool is that!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!

Encouraged by success, I moved it over into my journal on a larger scale, and came up with THIS awesomeness!!!  

Here's the full spread...sweet baby Pete how I love the way this came out!

The left page

The right page

Another shot after I added a couple of elements...I know it's not finished...DEFINITELY needs more, but for now, I'm good.

A stamp from a set called All About Me by Kaiser Craft that I was led to by the amazingly talented Tracy Scott.

It's funny how sometimes, when you're dismantling a dictionary, you come across a few definitions that seem to be talking to you, or about you.

Further encouraged, I took the advice of my dear friend, Betty, and grabbed a white wax pastel, and tried THAT with some watercolor, and got this surprising (to me) result that I also love.

I did this on a big chunk of watercolor paper.  Looking at the picture I realize it's kinda hard to see the white in the yellow, but I assure you it's there!  

That's not all I've created over the last couple of weeks, either!  Check these out!

This is what happens when you art just to art, lol.  I decided to screw around with a different color combination (definitely one I do NOT normally play with) and really shocked the hell out of myself with this spread.  I absolutely LOVE it!!!

This page actually started with that little piece from a journaling card and some leftover pink paint smeared all over the pages.

This one came from me forcing myself to create something when my muse was busy ignoring me.  I figured out later that she didn't care for the way I had rearranged the dining room table (my studio).  Once I put my stuff back where it belonged, I could immediately feel the difference.

So, that's what I have to share with you this week...although, before I go, let me just show you what crazy rainfall will do!

See those black poles, just past the yellow caution tape?  That is where the edge of this parking lot actually is...Those trees are way underwater.

See the fence?  That fence is running down the 3d base side of a softball field...that is completely under water.  Crazy, right?

And as I type this post, it's raining...again.  So, I'm gonna go grab my rain boots and dance in a couple of puddles, y'all go create something beautiful!  Thanks for stopping by, and please, leave some blog love!

Week 21 - Circles

So, this week over at Artful Journeys, our prompt is "Circles"!  Now, generally circles are right up my alley, but for whatever reason, THIS week, I just was NOT feeling it!  I tried painting them, drawing them, cutting them out of painted paper and cutting them out of book pages...still, I hated them all.  So, finally, a phone call with my dear friend and suggestion from her, I had an idea....so I got busy...again.

I started with some medium magenta and titanium white, and got busy on the first layer of my background, then added some craft acrylic accents in ocean reef blue, turquoise and parakeet.  Then grabbed my "bubbles" stencil by Dyan Reavely, and went back over the background with my medium magenta...so that it looked like this.

So far so good...now using my craft acrylics, and an assortment of discarded lids, I started making circles on top of what I had so far, until I got this.

I actually liked it here, but thought it needed more...so I added more.

Not really liking it anymore...I think it's the white...but at this point, I've decided that I just can't take anymore circles and move along.

I added my quote down in the bottom right hand corner..."I've wasted time, I've wasted breath, I think I've thought myself to death."  Kind of appropriate considering all the hell I've gone thru since I started trying to do this prompt.

Here are a few close-ups of the page...thanks for coming by and looking!

The quote is actually part of a song by The Kongos

Week 15 - "found" poetry

I didn't think about it when I suggested this prompt for the group...found poetry...using letters and words cut from all manner of print sources.  That's all well and good if you have a bunch of sources you can use.  I, however, like pictures...and colors...I buy books for my words...so when I came time to do this prompt, I didn't have anything to cut up.  So, I printed it off on my computer and changed the font for every word....thank God I'm a font ho...I had plenty to choose from...lol.

So, working in my large Dylusions journal, I started work by creating my background using 3 colors....Titanium White, Turquoise and Brilliant Yellow Green...The white and green were Liquitex Basics, while the Turq was Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard Series.  So, grabbing my 1" flat Dina Wakley brush, I started laying down color.  Once it was finally dry (got a little heavy handed with my paint) I cut out and added my words, then traced around them with my Scarlet Lime pen, so they'd jump out a little off the light background.

I hope you like the spread.  Please leave me some love, I love hearing from you guys!

Here's a shot of the full spread....I love how the colors just came together on this....now to figure out how to achieve this without using so damn much paint!

This quote....I think everyone of us feels this way at some point in our lives.

Clarity and a Calendar for April

Every once in a while, I shock the shit out of myself with the art I put onto canvas and in my journal....today was really no exception to that, except that there wasn't my usual string of cussing when I screwed up!

So, I grabbed my large Dylusions journal and started off by gluing down a bunch of paper scraps, then adding paint....

As you can tell, I am not afraid to use some color...and a lot of it!  But, to be honest, looking at it like this makes me kind of nauseous...lol.  That's a lot for a brain to take in right there...but I knew that was only the beginning....the 2nd layer as it were.

Next, I used a homemade "mask" to create my flowers, then put white gesso down between them.  Of course, there were a couple of times, when I got carried away and painted right over one of my flowers, so I had to repaint them, but all in all, not too terrible.

Next came the black....This was the total tip over point for me.  Those flowers didn't just jump off the page, they exploded!  This layer took the longest...mainly because when I first went in with the black, I used my acrylic paint, which dried shiny and tacky, and I did NOT want my page ruined by the damn thing sticking to itself, so I went back over it with black gesso.  I really love gesso...so helpful!

Then I grabbed my white uniball and made little dots all around all the flowers...so far, so good.  But it was still lacking a little something.  Stamps!  I wanted to add some stamps...something I probably should have done BEFORE I did all the painting around the flowers, but you know....hindsight is 20/20...so I grabbed my flower and a piece of copy paper to make a "stencil".  Lining it up over the flowers I then stamped thru the stencil onto the page.

Now I'm getting somewhere!  I don't know if it's finished yet, or not, but I do love how it's looking so far!  Here are a couple of closeup shots....

I have to say, while it's not my first time doing a page like this, it is the first time I've set out to do this, and I am so pleased with the results.

And, since it's a new month, that means a new monthly calendar in the journal....This one was actually quite a bit of fun....Purple and white...that's it...just 2 colors of paint, some scrapbook paper, a punch and some rubber stamps.  In my creative frenzy, I got carried away and punched AND glued down 31 squares for the month of April.  This was right after I'd done the how many days in a month thing in my head...go figure...I blame shit like this on my teenagers...it's more fun than saying I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed...lol.

The big stamp in the bottom right corner says "I love Paris in the spring time"...I don't know if I do or not, but maybe one day I can find out....I'm going to say that I probably do...I can't think of too many places that aren't made perfect by Spring.

That's what I have for you so far this week.  I hope you enjoyed looking...please leave me some blog love so I know you stopped by!  Thanks 

Later, y'all!