week 9 for 365-2 (part 1)

February 24- March 2

365 days of artsy work and play continues:

#55 - I bought an online booklet from Helen Williams because I absolutely love her loose, organic style of zentangling.  Her book is about how she achieves her wonderful flower 'flipped' petals and winding ribbons (and includes helpful video links). I did some experimenting in my moleskin (remember, this is first efforts :)) worked on this a bit over several evenings in front of the TV which is probably why my lines aren't all that straight! :)

#56 - some progress on my dyptych acrylic painting.  What a process this has been!  I always thought abstract would be easy....what's so hard about painting a few circles or squares or random lines/shapes in pretty colors?  Well, let me tell you - it's REALLY hard to get a pleasing composition, an effective use of color, develop a focal point, etc.  Here's where I am now (Jane Davies, you're my hero....I'm workin' on it!)

I actually have an idea of where to take it from here....maybe I'll find time this weekend to pull it together a bit more.....

#57 - I also made some progress on my 12x12" square canvas abstract mixed media

Not real happy with the sharpness of these pics so I think I need to find a brighter place of natural light - it's just so gray here lately and certainly too wet to go outside...... But, you get the idea, right?

#58 - some doodled postcards to go out into the world.

Thanks for checking in with me.......

week 8 for 365-2

February 17-23

Continuing with my weekly Documented Life pages - this week's theme is "add a flap to your flap".

#48 - kind of an uninspired double spread this week...I forgot to write my artsy notes during the week so had to try to remember and recap on Friday.  Acrylic paints spread w/ a credit card; the right hand side is my 'flap with a flap'.

I got the Thurber quote card tucked in a gift envelope and it seemed the perfect topper to my layers of flaps.

#49 - some doodled stars for MMSA mail art theme

#50 - a few origami folds to make a star - my first origami attempts ever and I really enjoyed it....will definitely be trying it again.  Thanks You Tube!

#51 - a digital collage of some of my pics for the MMSA grid theme

#52 - here's the next phase of my round robin zine - this participant wanted a sea or mermaid related theme, so I tried my hand at my rusty watercolor skills for a little seascape and since my limited drawing skills couldn't tackle a mermaid, I managed just her tail....

#53 - my last collage for the International Collage Exchange

#54 - more mail art with a grid for MMSA

Did you find time to be creative this week?  Did you make a postcard and send a little mail art to someone?  Were you a lucky recipient of some happy mail?  I hope so.  Maybe you even got one from me...... :)

week 7 for 365-2

February 10-16
We had major birthday celebration activities that interfered with my art making time this week.  We had a combined weekend celebration for a bunch of friends turning 60 this year - food, talk and laughter, a little whirlyball activity (basically bumper car basketball), more food, some drinking here and there....you get the picture.  Nonetheless I managed to get some artsy stuff done....

#41 - round robin zine page sent off to Dori

#42 - Documented Life, wk 7 theme is to use a repeating shape and add color.  I picked hearts in honor of Valentine's Day.

I like adding flaps, tip-ins, foldovers, stuff to hide and surprise.  Below is what's under the flaps.  On the left is my weekly log of artsy doin's.

stitches, doodles, scrapbook paper, lettering

#43 - spent a half hour before work making a few postcards..... using my favorite base material, cardboard from a pepsi/popcorn/cereal box.

#44 - My buddy Jo has been bugging encouraging me to submit collages to the International Collage Exhibition and Exchange.  I've admired her collages and paintings since we met so I was a little intimidated, but finally decided to go ahead and participate this year.  So I got busy.....I chose a few of my favorites from last year's 365 collages and added some new ones:  (they're about 5x7 and mounted on 8x10 watercolor paper). There's still time for you to participate if you're interested (March 20 deadline) - check out the link above.

deli paper, ephemera, textured wallpaper, typeface from my vintage book on tan cardstock

#45 - another collage with gelli paper, white novelty paper, feather and a bit of copper flashing on cardstock

#46 - I love the contrast using a black background gives- all novelty papers from Dick Blick

#47 - collage with scribbled-on deli paper, handmade (not by me) papers, book edges, and a round bead (the background is actually a light tan, not this pinkish color the scanner manufactured!)

That wraps up another busy creative week.  Hope you enjoyed your week and found time to be creative!

valentine's surprise

It's not every woman who is lucky enough to have a husband who thinks of her even when he's exercising!  Dan went on a bike ride this afternoon and came home with a gift for me......a stick.  Yep, my thoughtful husband is now keeping his eyes open for things from nature that he thinks will please or surprise me and that maybe will show up in a piece of art some day.

AND he even went to the computer to make the label!  The nest was a find a couple weeks ago and was a real winner.  The stick.....I'm not as sure :)  (the feather with the red tip I'd found on the ground when we were on vacation and it survived the trip home)

Thanks for my gift honey; you're the best!

week 6 for 365-2

This week (Feb 3-9) I managed to stay creative:

#34 - working in my moleskin - quote lettering colored in with inktense watercolor pencils.

         The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.  If you ignore beauty, 

you will find yourself without it.  - unknown

#35 - rediscovering my long-neglected art journal - the backgrounds are brayer clean-off pages

#36 - starting an acrylic painting on a 12x12 canvas - I'm liking the layers in this early phase.....

#37 - some digital play with a photo I took of a clematis pod....

#38 - a little more complex digi art; started with a photo, added textures, scanned artwork of mine, changed colors and then added a scrapbooking element - the tree.  All the layers ended up looking like I wish my gelli prints would look :)  (the hint of a face is of a foo dog statue photo I took in China)

#39 - documented life, week 6 - create something inspired by a Pinterest image
Okay, this was hard!  I have thousands of images pinned on my boards and choosing one - sheesh.  I finally settled on something recent.  Donna Downey is having a class and shares her students' work on a theme - I played along.....
Inspiration:

Karen Clewell

Cheryl Fowler

Mine - collaged text pages for a base, acrylic paints.

#40 - progress on my dyptych

It's my first attempt at using deli paper and I'm a fan!  I wasn't sure it was the right kind (though I got it at Costco) and one side is waxy and the other side is matte.  So I used a marker and experimented writing on both sides, then used matte medium to attach to the canvas. The stripes were created with blue painter tape. Again - I like some portions and others, not so much.  More work needed.

Fun week with a variety of artsy things....hope you got to explore new things too!

round robin art journal

I got my completed round robin journal back and it's so utterly amazing!  There were 6 of us participating, so I had the privilege of having five talented ladies make lovely art for me.  The theme for my handmade journal was Favorite Quotes and there are some old favorites as well as new-to-me quotes.

Here's a page by page browse through my journal now that it's made it home to me.

The cover I made and my theme.

This spread isn't signed but I think it's by Carroll.  It has an amazing amount of layers and the little lady on the right is adorable - those articulated arms slay me!

Most of the contributors don't have blogs so I can't link to them, but I can thank them - once again!
The one below is by Paula G. - beautiful painting

This delightful layout is by Carroll D - the stitched in painted face flips over for an extensive quote on the back and those teal pages are just a wealth of texure and color with a bit of gold sparkle. I love the dimension added here!

The teardrops and diamonds are a raised texture (gesso through a stencil maybe?) and the lettering had to be time consuming - (not signed but I think it's Leslie's)

Peggy L put together the next two pages below - this spread has 3 great quotes and is beautifully collaged.

I love the soft color, the doodles and the quotes - so many great inspirational quotes!  Thanks Peggy.

Paula also did this page of hearts.  I love that the biggest ones are loose and mobile and the quote is written inside the folded white hearts. Such a clever idea and beautifully executed!

Again, not signed (come on ladies, how do I know who to thank???) - could be Leslie or Laurie

Laurie created this colorful, textured layout and each of those hand drawn letters is cut out for an extra layer. So pretty!

The back cover I made a pocket for each lady to make a tag:

Stunning, right?  This was an amazing experience and one I'd love to do again.  The only thing to mar the pleasure is that Peggy hasn't received her journal back yet and I mailed it over a week ago.  We're a little worried it's lost in the mail somewhere which breaks my heart since I know she would love the pages that were made.  I'm still hoping it turns up!