Altered Journals

I have been occupied with multiple projects.

One of them being, taking old books and altering them to become art journals.

This entails many steps and if you are interested let me know and I will gladly share the process.

One of them is 5.5" x 9" - perfect size for "on the go".

Yesterday when I was totally all done I was excited to begin working in it.  So I devoted most of the afternoon to do just that.

Let me show you:

Here is the front cover of the book

Then pages inside the book.

                    

  

Another journal I made is 8.5" x 11"

I am devoting this journal to only dry mediums.

Going to have lots of time to practice and learn.

Mediums used for the piece below was were pastels-PanPastels-mechnical pencil

Titled, "Intrinsic Nature of Autumn"

Autumn symbolizes a period of change.

Balance, preparation, and reflection.

During Autumn day light and night time hours are equals lengths.  Which spiritually indicates the balance between light and dark.

It's a time of surrender, of letting go.

Getting out of the way and let spirit be in charge of our lives.

UpSiDe DoWn (I didn't even get dizzy1)

Tea Bag Art Tuesday #7

Woo-Hoo!  

I drew her UpSiDe DoWn and you get to watch me!

Please take time to watch my video.

I am new to the world of video taping myself while I create.  I am usually "free flowing".

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Your support, encouragement, and (kind) suggestions are welcomed.

Intuitively creating

Previously  I spoke about one way that I practice creating art.  I prep some pages from waste paper that had been on my art table.  (CLICK HERE)

I am in the midst of working on 3 commissioned pieces and I felt like creating art with abandon, without concern of the outcome.  So... I grabbed one of those pages.

I did a raw umber glaze to the entire page.

Enhanced some of the markings.

Then with a  little charcoal, PanPastels, and acrylic paint this is what I intuitively created.

artful practice

This week, my attention has been on getting my art ready
for a boutique plus prepping for 2 art shows coming up. 
I got caught up in tasks.
 I realized  had abandoned an important artful practice,

 to be in my studio simply creating. 

Well... once it came to my awareness I knew I had to change it. 

I allowed myself playtime.

I wholeheartedly resonate with the quote by Picasso:

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working"

 

I am on several missions

It would seem that I am on several missions: 

#1.  Would be to create art daily and post it so I can hold myself accountable

#2.  Would be to overcome resistance of what to draw~to stretch my capabilities~to challenge myself

As I entered my studio this morning I knew I wanted to use PanPastels.  That's all I knew.

I've played with them a little and have been wanting to become more familiar.

As usual my kitty cat, Marmalade, jumped upon my lap, it dawned on me to use her as my model.  

I proceeded took a photo of her sitting on my lap. 

I've been asked many times if I draw pets and I never knew if I could or not. 

Now I know!

Sweet Lucy

Lately, I have been drawing familiar faces with the intention to fine tune my ability to capture the essence of that person.  My desire is for the persons' spirit to show thru in the drawing.   I noticed a  facebook friend of mine had posted a picture of her granddaughter, Lucy, who she fondly called Sweet Lucy.  The photo caught my attention right away, I was captivated by her photo from the get go.    She had a light, innocent, and free spirited look about her.   I loved how she confidenlty wore the little red polk-a-dotted hat.   The next thing I knew I had my graphite pencil and my journal in my hand and I was eagerly off to attempt this feat of bringing a drawing of her to life.  I can honestly say  I am pleased with the outcome.  I belive her innocense yet free spirit shows thru in this drawing?  What do you think?

it all began with a old cabinet door

A couple weeks ago I set an intention to finish projects I have started.  I just finished this one and wanted to share it with you.   It may need some tweaking so I'll hang in within view and eyeball it to see what else, if anything, needs to be done.

                              

Honestly, I am very excited with the end result!!!  I was a happy girl the whole while I worked on it.  There was so much attention to details rendered to this piece.  It all began with the foundation being an old cabinet door, this set the tone for what would later unfold.  The door measures 13.5" x 20.5".  I know I wanted to create something with a "vintage" feel to it.  Having the background as joint compound,  I textured then applied multiple layers of acrylic paint.  It's impossible to  appreciate the layers in this photo.   The vase is made from small apple sauce containers (go figure!)  that I cut in half, adhered together, then started adding layers of light molding paste.  I wanted the surface to appear aged and I believe I achieved that.  In sections of the vase it even looks cracked.  Yay!  Oh the lovely flowers... they are pieces of a doily that I cut up and shaped.  They turned out awesome!  I painted them with Pan Pastels because I wanted the color to be subtle and allow the original color of the doily to show thru.  I had chalk dust all over me when I was done but oh what joy it was!  

Magical things can happen 

when you let your creative spirit out to play!