AJ Week #9 - Your favorite quote

This week's prompt should have been easier for me to complete, but it wasn't.  In fact, it was downright hard.  Namely because there are so many quotes that really speak to me.  However, as many of you know, life isn't always butterflies, rainbows and fluffy puppies....no, sometimes, life is absolutely shitty and ugly.  

Most of you know me as one who's always got a funny line, or a happy, cheerful disposition, but that's not actually always the case.  We all wear masks, and often times, they are the exact opposite of what is really going on in our lives/minds.  Now, that's not to say, that this quote reflects how I always feel, but the last couple of weeks have been a battle of memories, pain and anger.  So, when this week's prompt came around, I couldn't ignore the war raging inside me.  I had to get it out on paper and put it out there for the world to see.

As a survivor of mental, physical and emotional abuse, combined with a family history of depression and bi-polar disorder, there are days when I wake up in a total, all-encompassing red haze of anger, bordering on rage.  Days when the sound of my children breathing, my husband snoring, gets on my last, badly frayed nerve.  Those are the days when I have to work especially hard not to do or say things that I will later regret.  Those are the days when I have to eat it all and work at being the good wife and mother that I want to be most other days.  Sometimes it's just a day...other times, there are days, even weeks, when I have to eat the pain, the hurt, the anger, the rage, and move with slow and deliberate effort thru my day, to ensure that I am the only one who has to deal with it. 

So, here is my response to this week's prompt:  Your Favorite Quote

This week I pulled the following supplies out of my cart:

Soft rubber brayer

Liquitex Basics in: Cadmium Red Deep, Alzarin Red and Mars Black

Dylusions Blendable Acrylic in Black Marble

Large Dylusions journal

Moleskine graphed paper

Sharpie Med. point pen

Uhu glue stick

Scraps of various papers

Washi tape

Various rubber stamps - purchased and hand carved

I started with a previously painted background that I was NOT happy with and began gluing down my paper scraps to cover it up and give myself a fresh "canvas" to work on.  Then I began laying down paint using a brayer technique (a photo tutorial of this can be found on the Artful Chicks blog under the "Artful Tactics" heading).  To get the coverage I wanted, and the balance of color, I had to do a LOT of layers of color.  Then, for extra effect, I grabbed my black and used my fingers to add some extra smears of black.  Then I laid down some pieces of washi, and using red and black paint, pulled out my stamps, and stamped a few images for textural effect.  

While my paint was drying, I got out my sharpie pen and graphed paper and wrote out my quote, drawing rectangles around each individual word to make them pop just a little more.  Once I had the words torn out, I began shuffling them around my spread until I had them where I wanted them, then I glued them down onto the spread.

Here are some pics - I got caught up in the creating and forgot to take my process pics of my spread as I went....sorry.  

This is the full shot of the entire spread...it's hard to see the red stamps unless you're right on top of it.

And here are some close-up shots:

And there you have it....a peek into my head during a rough week.  Thanks for looking.

Beauty

So this week our prompt is "Things you think are beautiful".  And since we have creative license to interpret these prompts any way we like, I went, what I thought was a different route....I used things I'd received in swaps for my beautiful things....Notes from partners/friends, atcs, tags, various little bits and bobs that get included with the actual art....I love it all...even the envelopes!  So, I dug into my new Dylusions paints, using turquoise, black and white, and just used a fat brush and large swaths of paint to create the background....I didn't want it too busy because I didn't want my goodies to get lost....

Then I began adding all my goodies....a note card from Patty, a little card from Tamie, with a personal note written inside, a die cut pig and a couple of envelope parts from Lynny, and ATC from Andie, tag from Deborah, a circle from a previous swap, but since it was floating around in the bottom of my goodie box, I'm not sure who sent it....a felt cupcake from another member of our mail art group, but as it was also out of it's envelope, I honestly don't know who sent it.  OH!!!  And a paper doily from Martha!  I love this so much, I think I am going to have to make some more pages of just mail goodies!

So, there you have it!  Things like this, are the things I believe are beautiful....little pieces of my friends hearts

Mardi Gras

Seems like every prompt I have done ahead I have ended up tossing into my "shit" pile. And of course this weeks was no exception. But I hated the first one before I was done and time did NOT change my opinion of it. Maybe it was trying to make the purple and green work together in harmony (not sure how the hell I was supposed  do that) but it was hate.  Like of a thousand burning suns kind of hate. So, nothing sparks creativity like a looming deadline and at 6 this morning it hit me. So out came my Inktense pencils and my metallic pens and the baby wipes. 

So I laid down color with the pencils. Just 3,  fuschia, mauve and violet. Then taking a gentle hand with a baby wipe, I smoothed the color all over the page.   Once it was dry, I took my metallic pens to it and just wrote "mardi gras" all over and drew "beads" all over.  Basic, simple but I don't hate it. In fact, I really like it. 

February Calendar and Artful Journeys week 5

I have a love hate relationship with Valentine's day.  I really do.  Namely because, after 23+ years of marriage, if I want a card or present, I've gotta buy it for myself...not that that's a huge deal, because then I know I'll always get just what I want, but still, a surprise would be nice...ya know?

But I love it because of all the pink and red thrown around everywhere!  And seriously, who doesn't like hearts?  And chocolate? And lace?  And chococlate?  And bows?  And cute little cupids?  And chocolate?  And flowers?  Did I mention chocolate?  OH!  And those tacky little conversation hearts that seemed to taste like heaven and medicine all at the same time?  Yeah...what's not to love about Valentine's day?

So, to honor the day and it's awesome gifts to us, our group came up with the plan to do our monthly calendars in reds/pinks and white!  Wait!  Red?  Some of you may have "heard" me mention on more than one occasion that I have a REALLY hard time using red....in my art...gimme red yarn, and I can knit up a kick-ass scarf, or a bad-ass pair of socks...but paint?  On paper?  Red????????  Well, last week I got myself some red in a tube (Liquitex Basics Cadmium Red Deep Hue)  and spent the next two days glaring at the tube...it was just sitting there, mocking me...laughing at me...daring me to put some down on the pages of my journal.  Well, I did...and.....

I LOVED IT!!!!!  Inspired by my success, I turned the page and got busy!  No, not just busy....BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, yeah....I had a really good time with this one...

Liquitex Basics in Quin Magenta, Cadmium Red Deep Hue, Medium Magenta and Titanium White, a brayer, punchinella, graph paper, book paper, alpha stickers, date stamp, glue stick, heart punch and lots of scraps.

I laid all the scraps down and glued them in then applied the paints using my brayer....once it was all dry, I attacked it with the punchinella and more paint, plus a make up sponge....the little moon faced dude is a freebie from the amazing Terri Kahrs over at Pringle Hill Studios, and punched out 28 hearts from my graph paper...honestly, the whole thing, minus drying time took about 2 hours, but most of that was due to the gluing and arranging of the hearts.



enjoy and happy arting!!!  Don't forget to check out the cool spreads done by Betty, Lynn and Tamie!

Week 4 of Artful Journeys

Well, in true fashion I seem to have left more than a couple of my friends at a loss...usually it's for words, but this time it was for art....lol.  Our original prompt for this week was Sports/Superbowl...and being married to a baseball player, and having ball players for 2 out of 3 kids, baseball was my sport of choice...but apparently my fellow partners in crime don't hold the same love for baseball (or other sports, either) that I do....which is cool...one of MANY things that make us uniquely us, and still let us work well as a unit...

So, I got busy and did my page....no process pictures this time as there wasn't much to process....lol...

Two shades of deeper green acrylic blended with a background sponge, names and a team logo printed off the computer....cut out the names and the logo, then glued it all down.  I added some Glossy Accents at the end, to the names, just to keep the page from being too flat.

One page, nothing too fancy on this one, because at the end of the day, baseball isn't fancy...it's just a humbling game that teaches men how to handle failure and see just what they're made of...to borrow a quote from Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own....."It's supposed to be hard.  If it wasn't hard everyone would do it.  The hard is what makes it great!"

I love baseball...the strategy, the tendencies, the fact that a man can fail at the plate 7 out of 10 times, and still be successful.  I love that some days you win and some you lose but you come back again and bust your ass and still don't give up.  I love that there are 162 games of baseball played by my team every year and every year I anxiously await the reporting of pitchers and catchers to camp.

Ok, I'm done...lol...catch y'all later!

Artful Journeys Week 3 prompt - Paint it Blue (with a palette knife or other flat object)

Well, this prompt gave me some troubles...lol.  I had the blue down, but honestly, I just wasn't feeling it at all!  So, what's a girl to do when she can't stand looking at her background?  START OVER!!!! So, that's just what I did!

This week I used my large Dylusions journal and started by gluing down a bunch of pieces of paper.  I really like starting my pieces this way because 1) it gives a little extra texture to each piece, 2) little bits and pieces of words and pictures show through, and 3) because the blank page seems to give me problems when I'm creating!  So the papers help with all of that and frees me up to work a little more intuitively.  

I really just let this spread take over and go where it wanted...I didn't have much of anything in mind other than using a bunch of different shades of blue...so what do you say we just get to it and see what happened?

So, like I said, I started by gluing down a bunch of papers....

I forgot to take a picture before I started adding my blue paint, but honestly, do you really need a picture of a bunch of damn paper glued onto another piece of paper?  Yeah, I didn't think so...lol

So, now for all the blue paint....

Now, I let it dry for a bit, then stared at it for a bit more...and I have to tell you, I was about to start over again when I thought of something...so I grabbed  the paints you see below and started playing.

And this is what developed....

Three little dots of paint onto the paper, and then I just swirled it around with my finger....I am not really a finger painter...not sure why, I don't care if it's all over my hands but for some reason finger painting is not my cup of tea, so circles like this are kind of hard for me to deal with...usually I use a brush, but something in me said I needed to use my finger...

Once the circles were dry I grabbed some various stuff out of my goody box and got busy....

I used some punchinella, some plastic canvas, hand carved stamps, and some textured craft foam to add more layers, depth and texture to it.

No quotes, no writing, no pictures...just paint and ink...It's been a while since I've created a page like this to just stand on it's own with nothing else on it, but the process was so relaxing.  I took them it out onto the patio this morning for more pictures, but they're way bluer than the actual page...while the pictures above are kind of washed out...same spread, same camera...go figure... but here they are.

And there it is...  I'm including a list of my supplies used below, but I'm leaving out the paints since I included pictures above.

Supplies:

Black archival ink

Brilliance pigment ink in Calypso Sky

Textured craft foam sheets, 

hand carved stamps,

prima script stamp

Tim Holtz Burlap layering stencil 

Tim Holtz Bubbles stencil 

plastic canvas, 

Scarlet Lime pen

UHU glue stick

Thanks for looking, and happy arting, y'all!

Artful Journeys Week 2 - Selfie/10 Things About Me

So, it's time for our second Artful Journeys prompt, and I gotta say, so far, I am having a blast!  I actually just finished this prompt Wednesday, having redone it after I looked back at my first one and wanted to burn it...seriously!  I HATE it!  And it's funny because not too long ago, I actually liked it...so since I had the time (stay at home mom), I figured, what the hell! and got cracking!

So, let's get to it, shall we?  First, we'll hit the supplies....not as long a list as you might think....

• scraps of paper - book/dictionary pages, tissue paper, pharmacy bag and ledger paper
• Acrylic paints - Liquitex Basics in Quin Magenta, Mars Black and Diox Purple, and Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard Series in Naphthol Red Light and some basic craft acrylic in Titanium White
• Basic white cardstock (for my words about me)
• Scarlet Lime pen and white uni-ball signo broad point
• a selfie
• acrylic inks in sundown magenta and moon violet
• UHU glue stick, Helmar 450
• assorted paint brushes
• scissors
• Small Dylusions journal

So I started with a blank 2 page spread, and started by gluing down my papers to cover both sides....

I don't think I left much uncovered here, but honestly, this step is NOT necessary, tho the different shit peeking out from under the paint is pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself...lol

Next I pulled out my magenta, "red"(it looks orange to me, but whatever) and purple, and started adding them to the page...I did add a little water to each of them to keep them from obliterating my base layer....I really wanted it to be visible.

Once it was dry and I stood back to look at it, I didn't like the coverage, so I went back in for round 2.

Oh, hell yeah, that's better!  So I printed and fussy cut my selfie and glued myself down.  Then flicked some acrylic inks at the page, just for a little added "interest"...and because I like flicking inks at my backgrounds.

Hey, look!!!!  It's me!

While all that was drying good, I grabbed my cardstock, painted half black and half magenta, waited for that to dry, then wrote my words on the magenta half...

I then cut my words out and glued them onto the black half, which I then cut, making sure to leave a small border on all sides, making the words really POP off the page!

Cool, right???  

Then I went back to the journal and started gluing my words in...and I did a little lettering when I was done.

Once the glue was dry I pulled my pen back out and added some dots along the black borders of the words...

And using both my black and white pens, drew lines around each of the boxes...I don't know if that helped them pop a little more or not but I liked it.  I also drew a few arrows, and added some white to my lettering at the top of the page just to jazz it up a tad...

I ended up drawing an outline around my selfie, though you can't really see it, but I know it's there...lol...and now for some closer shots....

The left page

The right page

And a couple of close-ups of different words on my page...the two I need to work most on remembering throughout the year...and tho I don't have a picture of it, after writing this post, I went back and edged my pages using my Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad....I LOVE edging my pages when they're finished...I think it just adds a little something extra to the finished product.

So, there you have it!  That's my take and art for week 2...I would love to see what you do with your selfie and words!  Happy arting, y'all!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you ever have times when you're talking to someone and BAM!!! a word escapes you?  You know the word.  If you've said the word once, you've said it a bajillion times!  Am I right?  But not this time.  You can almost hear it...almost see it...feel it dancing around in your mouth dodging your tongue, but it just won't come out!  That was my problem.  I knew the word I wanted to use for my one "word" for the year...but it just wouldn't come out...and no matter what word I tried, they weren't working for me.  Hell, I even pulled out the kids' thesaurus, hoping for some help from there, but NOPE!  So I settled for a word and let it go. Sort of.

As usually happens (for me, at least), once I let it go for a while, when I come back to worrying at it, it pops up...and so here I was last night, doing some journaling, writing about my "goals" and how I refuse to call them resolutions.  See, to me, a resolution is an unswerving promise...a steadfast guarantee to do something.  The problem with that is, we're human!  And because we're human, we are perfectly imperfect.  So, for me, a resolution is like setting myself up to fail!!  I mean, I've been making resolutions for a long time, and I have YET to make any of them actually stick!  But goals?  Damn!  I accomplish goals all the time!  So I'm thinking about my goals for this year, wondering if I'm overthinking them, and how I want to strive to accomplish these goals that I'm considering for myself.  Then it hits me!  Like a damn ton of bricks!!!  STRIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am going to STRIVE to reach the goals I've set for myself.  And I knew, right then, that I'd FINALLY found my word for the year.

Of course, because I'd already "settled" on the other word, I did my spread and had it all ready to go.  Didn't matter!  Now that I had my word, a word that excited me...that made my whole body resonate with "rightness", I knew I had to do a new spread.  It didn't all fall into place like some of my past ones have, but I had my goals and my WORD and I knew that my word would help me figure out the rest!

And so, being the over-achiever I sometimes can be, I'd been watching videos while writing, and so I started pulling shit out of everywhere...pages from books, glue, paint...Oh, yeah...I went nuts!  The only problem is...I forgot to photograph my process...so I will tell y'all what I did, and save the pictures for the end of the post...heheheheheheh.

Supplies I used...

Book pages, music, ledger sheets, old invoices

Glue stick,

Paint!  (magenta, Caribbean blue - craft acrylics)

Green Gold and Quinacridone/nickel azo gold fluid acrylics

white gesso

Liquitex Basics acrylics in Titanium white

card stock,

some plastic canvas, 

Uni-ball white Signo, Unibal black signo 207

some quotes I found on Pinterest,

a journaling card from a private swap on AMG

some washi tape

and acrylic inks in Pearlescent black, pearl white, and snowfall magenta

So!  I started by tearing my papers into pieces and gluing them down all over the paper to create the base for my 2 page spread.

Once I had them down, and most of the pages covered, I pulled out some gesso and slapped that shit down over all the papers I'd just glued down.  NOT TOO MUCH!!!!  I didn't want to hide too much of all the text and other fun stuff I'd glued down...but I wanted to make sure that my paint wouldn't just soak into some of those papers!

Next I grabbed the craft acrylics and the greengold fluid acrylic and went to town...I watered it down and started smearing color all over the page...and when it was almost dry, I grabbed the gold and made little splotches and marks using my finger!

Once everything was dry, I grabbed the white and watered it down and did a sort of wash, all over the top of those awesome, bright colors...I didn't want them to be completely faded, but I didn't want them to be the only thing you saw, either.  Then, still using the white, but NOT watered down, I smeared some here and there, just willy-nilly, no rhyme or reason to it...I guess that you'd say I was working "intuitively"  

Once all that was dry, I glued down my image from Pinterest, , and taped in my journaling card using the washi tape.

Then, using the plastic canvas, I grabbed a black ink pad and stamped here and there all over, then drew some little different things here and there all over as well.

While that was drying, I pulled out my pen and my cardstock and did the letters for my word....then glued them in.

My goals are actually on the BACK of my journaling card...sorry, but they're mine and I'm not sharing...then I went back and did some more lettering and doodling.

Then I threw down some acrylic inks, flicking them at the pages before I went back to pinterest for some of my most favorite quotes....

A few more marks here and there...again, there was really no rhyme or reason to how I was going at it, I just kept going until it was "finished"!!!

Which is how we come to this!

A full shot of the entire spread open and complete.

This is the left page of the spread...as you can see, I did "KINDA" share some of my goals...just not the really personal ones.

And this is the right side of the spread...LOVE that journaling card, and my goals are on the backside, hidden from view unless you lift/open it.

I'm sorry I don't have pics of the process, but I was in such a creative frenzy I honestly didn't even THINK about pictures until I picked up my phone to snap a few....that was when I remembered I hadn't taken any.  Please forgive me, but I'm still not quite used to the idea that somebody might actually look to me to help them learn something about this stuff!  For me, it's as necessary as breathing, but others don't see what the big deal is.

So there you have it!  My word for the year is STRIVE and the spread is complete albeit without progressive photos...I hope you found this post helpful and informative, and I hope your New Year is filled with love, kindness and a windfall of your favorite art supplies!

Later, y'all!!!!

Counting down to the New Year

I am really having some fun with this new adventure we've begun together...and honestly, I can't think of a better group of ladies to work with!  We aren't close in proximity, except for Betty and I, but we're truly kindred spirits.

For this weeks prompt, I started out by painting my background...then measured and penciled in my calendar grid....once I got it done, the rest was really quite easy for me.  I went over my grid using a white Signo broad point pen, added my lettering, my numbers and finally my snowflakes....the snowflakes were made with the Signo and a couple of Gelly roll pens...I completely forgot to take step by step pictures...it's a problem, I know, but one I'm working on...lol...so on to the pictures...

A full sized shot of the finished calendar for the month of January.  I was incredibly pleased with how this one turned out.

White lettering with pink gelly roll shadowing,

I had soooooo much fun drawing these snowflakes!  I kind of went crazy with them.

Marking New Year's Day!!!

Another shot of the snowflakes

A close-up of one of my larger snowflakes.

And there you have it!  I hope you found a little inspiration among the pictures!

Catch y'all later!!!