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 20 - Use a paper napkin in your background

Well, after a long, stressful week, it was nice to have a go in my art journal.  Our prompt for this week, at Artful Journeys, is to use a paper napkin in our background.  I have a love/hate relationship with paper napkins.  I mean, really, they aren't all that great for getting something clean, but that's what you get when you're on the go, right?  Then there are the paper napkins with designs/pictures on them....they're even less useful...UNLESS you are using them in your art!!  Paper napkins have 3 layers...the printed layer, then 2 others...and we just want the printed layer.  In order to get that, you have to separate the layers....well, the back layer comes off quite easily.  It's the middle layer that does NOT like to leave it's little printed friend.  I have found the easiest way to separate the middle and front, is to lick my index finger and rub it against my thumb, then pinch the napkin and SLOWLY separate my thumb and finger.  Sometimes it takes a couple of tries, but it's what works best for me.

So earlier in the week I received a cute little cocktail napkin from a member of one of the groups I'm in.  Beautiful butterflies all over it.  So I knew I wanted to use that in my spread.  From there it was just a matter of what else I wanted to throw down onto my pages.  I can't give you an exact supply list, sorry, as some of the things I used came from happy mail, or as extras in one of the swaps I participated in, but I think I can come close.

So, of course, there was my Large Dylusions journal, Liquitex acrylic paints in Medium Magenta, Titanium white and Amsterdam paint in Turquoise.  drywall tape, tissue paper, Tim Holtz photo booth images, book pages, Tim Holtz rub ons, some sort of material stuff with glitter on it, a rubber stamp with black archival ink and of course my paper napkin.

Once I painted my background, I went thru and painted some circles onto the page, but alas, they were WAY to dark, so I cut some circles out of a book page and laid them over the painted circles, then painted on top of them.  Then I came thru with my drywall tape, weird material stuff, book pages and tissue paper, just tearing and laying shit down where it seemed like it needed to go.  There was not a lot of "planning" with this spread after the napkin was picked out, I just let it happen.  

Now for my napkin, I didn't follow the usual rule for putting them down.  I laid down some glue with my trusty UHU glue stick, then laid my single layer down on top of the glue, gently smoothing as I went.  I like doing it this way, because I tend to get pissed when I can't write over the top of my work.  Then a little while later, I came back to my napkins and began pulling(tearing) at the edges of the napkin that weren't glued down, ripping away the leftover and leaving behind part of the napkin and creating a look that I really like.

The Tim Holtz photo booth pictures actually came into play as an afterthought, as I thought that my spread was lacking something....and I was right.  The minute I laid those 2 pics down on to the spread, I knew they would finish it for me.  

I have included a bunch of pictures below so that you can see the various elements and layers used along the way...I hope you find some inspiration here, and thank you so much for stopping by to look.  Don't forget to leave me some love!

Here is a shot of the entire spread.

A shot of the left page

A shot of the right page.

A close up of the butterfly napkin on the right page.

And on the left page.

A shot of the drywall tape painted with turquoise paint, and that weird thick paper like material.  You can't see it in the picture, but the design on it is white with glittery silver accents.

You can see the design in this pic

A close up of the rub-on and other elements.

Another closeup.

Here you can see where I laid down the paper circle over the top of my painted circle.  The circles were just too dark for the page.

And one final close up.

So there you have it!  I hope you enjoyed this week's spread.  I can't wait to see what you create!

Happy arting, y'all!!!!!

Artful Journeys Week 19: Write a Limerick

So, over at Artful Journeys this week, the prompt is to "Write a Limerick:  Good or bad, we don't care, but stretch your mind".  Well, this was NOT an easy thing to do.

I'm sure all of us have heard some pretty raunchy limericks in our time, but when I went to write mine, I had to stop...what the hell is a limerick, anyway?!?!?!  Well, dictionary.com says: "a kind of humorous verse of five lines, in which the first, second and fifth lines rhyme with each other, and the third and fourth lines, which are shorter, form a rhymed couplet".

Well, ok then...what this definition doesn't tell me, is that lines 1, 2 and 5 should be 7-10 syllables, while lines 3 and 4 no longer than 7 syllables.  So began the painstaking racking of the brain, trying to make something work.  Now, as a child of ADD, and the mom of 3 kids with ADD, I do NOT think shit thru like normal people...I just don't.  My brain skips and hops and moves from topic, to task and back to topic again, with no problem whatsoever...and since the kids also have ADD, they have no problem keeping up with my train of thought or my seemingly discombobulated conversations.

We are supposed to tell you each week when we do our blogs, what our thought process was...and usually, for me, it's just something that happens...there really ISN'T a train of thought leading to the station of the completed spread.  THIS WEEK, however, is different.  This week, as I was trying to think of something clever, all I could come up with was: a pink elephant with a dime who bought a lime.  So randomly throughout the day, I'd run it through my mind, but if I focus to hard on something like this, I can't come up with a damn thing, so I'd run it thru, then let it go...no point in giving myself a bloody headache over it, right?

Well, yesterday morning, as I was sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's, I started writing in the back of my planner and got a rough outline, though my rhythm was off a bit...but hell, what did I care?  That was progress.  Then, later that afternoon, I worked it out the rest of the way, and came up with this:  "The pink elephant found a dime, so with it she bought a lime, mixed it in with her Cuervo, held her trunk out like an arrow, then started singing in rhyme."

Ok, so I am clearly not an award winning poet, but we did say it could be a bad limerick...lol.  So this morning I started looking for images to put down with my limerick, and actually found a pink elephant who was holding his trunk out straight, but he looked a bit too maniacal for my personal taste, so I kept looking...then I found a pic of a dancing pink elephant, and suddenly, the marbles quit falling out of the bag and I could see my finished limerick...

The pink elephant found a dime
So with it she purchased a lime
Mixed it in with her Cuervo
Danced a jig and the tango
Then started a conga line!

I quickly wrote it under my original, circling it like 50 times, then got to work, and here's my end result.  I hope you like it!

Week 18 - Go Fly a Kite

I have to tell you, this has been one of those weeks...a crap-tastic walking nightmare of epic proportions....so this week's prompt was a bit of a respite for me, as it let me separate myself from everything else that's been going on, and just play for a little while.

I started in my large Dylusions journal and painted a sky....I really loved how the background itself came out, and it looks like the perfect sky to fly a kite in...

Then I got to work trying to draw some kites to cut out...well, there  was no way in hell that was happening!  They were all wonky and lopsided....then I had an epiphany!

Taking a rectangle of paper, I folded it in half longways, and cut it, starting at the crease, and going out towards the edges...2 cuts and a symmetrical kite emerged!

I was so excited by those damn kites!  Then I used the folds to give them some dimension so that they looked as if they were actually flying

The kites were made from various pieces of underpaper, and look so fun!

See what I mean about the crease?  So much fun!

I also did my calendar for the month of May!  I have to tell you, the calendar almost didn't get done...the goal was to use orange and lime green, which I did in the background under the flowers, but I hated that damn background.  Still not sure what I think of it, but it's as done as it's gonna get at this point.  Here's a few close up shots...

There you go!  That's really just about all I've gotten done this week...hoping to have more art to show y'all next week.

Until then, stay creative and happy arting, y'all!!

Week 17 - Channel your inner Picasso

This was a really tough prompt for me...I'm not a person that draws well.  I'm just not.  My artistic abilities are barely good enough to clue in my "partners" in Draw Something, but sometimes I like giving it a shot.  And I was thinking, oh, well, Picasso, how damn hard can THAT be?  Harder than you would think!!!

But I took a pencil to one of my backgrounds and started playing around...first, I drew a fish.  Extra fins, an extra tail thing...but it didn't look weird enough, so I started adding some extra facial features....extra eyes, kissy lips.....and I got so excited,












I decided to try a crab.  But first...well, first I had to figure out how to draw the damn thing!  So off to pinterest I went, but of course, being an artist who doesn't "draw", my crab looked NOTHING like any of the ones I looked at for inspiration, but it's Picasso-esque...sort of...maybe, so what the hell?  So, again, I started adding stuff...











Then I decided to try my hand at an octopus...not exactly a spot on rendition, but still having some fun...so again I added the extra features..














and THIS is what I came up with!

And since this is supposed to be about stretching ourselves past our comfort zone,  I didn't redo it and try out some "cubism" that Picasso was big into.   This isn't my favorite spread I've ever done, but I don't hate it.

Week 16-Earth Day

Earth day is this week so we decided to do a post in honor of the date. We take her for granted, our planet. And so many people don't even realize or care that they do it.

I was late getting my prompt done. Weather, legal issues and other assorted things distracted me and had to have my undivided attention, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss this prompt. So here's my take.  

I hope you enjoyed taking a peek...thanks for looking!

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.

Week 14 - Doodled flowers!

This week at Artful Journeys, our prompt is "Doodled Flowers"....after that the interpretation is left up to us....fill the page, use just a few, create a border, whatever!  So, after seeing a pretty cool border on some pin on Pinterest, I had myself a little fun...grabbed my large Dylusions journal, my black Dylusions blendable acrylic paint and my white UniBall Signo and got to work....

I started with a skinny brush...1 or 0 maybe...I don't pay attention to that shit, I really don't...I just grab what I think will work and get to going...I'd make a terrible teacher....but, just so you know, I almost never follow recipes to the letter, either...lol.  I'm always adding shit, or taking something out that I know I, or the kids, won't like...it's just the artist in me refusing to go with the flow.

So anyways, with my skinny brush, I drew/painted a border outline....nothing straight or any of that....nope!  It was all squiggly...looked like something my husband had drawn while on shore leave...lol.

 Once that was dry, I grabbed my white UniBall Signo and went to town!  Of course, by the time I was done, there was more than just flowers in my border, but since there were flowers, I figured that was ok...

So, here's my border and I hope you like it. 

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. Please let me know you stopped by and happy arting, y'all!!!!!

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!