journal page: play list

Today's prompt from Natty is to create the perfect Road Trip Play List.  I'm generally a quiet music kinda gal, but when I get dozey in a car, these will always wake me up and get fingers tappin' on the steering wheel.  I used someone's idea of a folded element and made a mini card for my list.....card closed:

The background is stamped with silver ink, paint spatters, sheet music, a snippet of map, a Panama stamp and some felt letters.  The card top and bottom were cut to follow the shape of the doodle.

Open the card and here's my list...... This was a fun prompt and is sure to have all sorts of creative interpretations which you can see at the flickr group.

journal page: take flight

Breaking out a bit - this isn't really my style, but I wanted to try something different.  It's a representation of looking out my kitchen window to flowers on my deck and hoped for butterflies!  A little busy and cutesy maybe, but fun to make!

I made a sky of layered tissue papers, flowers & petals using a mix of papers, butterfly stamped on rice paper, ribbon for my window panes.  Didn't really plan a place for journaling or title, so it's kind of stuck on, not very cohesive, so it's more about the visual today I guess.

InTheSun flickr group will have lots more interpretations of this theme - or visit In The Sun Course to see the daily prompts and play along.

Summer of Color: Pink

Twinkle Twinkle is sponsoring a Summer of Color and each week participants create art in any media they like, using the prompt color - this week:  pink.  It's not a color I usually paint or create with, but then as I was working on this photo, I realized it was all in pink!

Using Elements brushes and textures and my photos, I created an homage to peonies!  Be sure to join in the fun and/or see other artist's work at Twinkle Twinkle.

journal page: friends

Today I went with simple..... This morning I found myself thinking about friends, activities coming up, etc. and felt compelled to use that for my theme.  The simple process was using pieces from a sewing pattern, a little stamping, scrapbooking paper cut with edg scissors, and the edges cut from a wedding menu.  Also used the opportunity to practice a new alpha - this one's easy & adaptable.... Quick and easy, but I think graphically pleasing.

You can see more journal pages at InTheSun flickr group and follow prompts at In The Sun Course.

journal page: tangles

I sure don't know what's so addicting about Zentangles - some of them take a fair amount of concentration and detail; but they're quite relaxing.....I find time just zooms by while I'm playing with pen and paper.

Since InTheSun doesn't offer prompts on the weekend and I don't want to lose my momentum, I looked up a couple of new patterns and played with tangles.  Want to try?  The official site is Zentangle.com or just google it - there are lots of blogs out there with inspirational ideas and how-tos.

journal page: summer

Today's prompt was Summer Traditions - we don't really have any.  So I just played on my page and it ended up being bright, colorful, busy and totally fun - kinda like summer!

I used a quilt illustration from a book as my background, added some bling ribbon, textured rice paper, some acrylic paint, stenciling, a little doodling, Natty's black scratches idea and voila - something new.  Be sure to visit In The Sun Online Course flickr group to see even more journal ideas or better yet, join in.

journal page: wish list

In The Sun art journal prompt for today was to make a Summer Wish List and then use junk mail window envelopes on the page.  I used 3 envelopes - it's fun to have something showing through the window w/o having to create the window myself.  I finished the page using no paint this time, but did fall back on my Inktense pencils, some photos from books, a letter stamp from Malaysia, some scrapbook paper scraps and, of course, some doodling.

My wish list is:  weekend getaway, visit CS in Chelan, try new creative projects, take a class, and spend more time w/ the boys (the grown boys have a hard time fitting us in during the summer) :)

sun theme

I found Inspiration Avenue and her weekly challenge - a broad theme to create any type of art.  OMG, do I really have time/interest to participate in yet ANOTHER challenge?  It seems so.  At least sometimes.....

We were at Alki Beach in Seattle (this statue is on the beach) on the first sunny evening in months and I actually caught a photo of the elusive sun.  I love playing with sun flare!  Oh yeah, the prompt was "SUN".  If you'd like to see what others did for this prompt, or play along yourself, visit Inspiration Ave.

summer journal: stay cool & wedding day

Catching up a little since we had company all weekend - today's prompt "fave ways to stay cool" and mine is to drink - Diet Pepsi or Long Island Ice Tea. And lots of it :) The technique prompt was to use splotches and spatters, which I love to use, so that was easy. Cut the glass shape from a magazine ad, a little scrapbook paper and stamping, and it was good to go.

Saturday was the wedding day of my best friend's son, so I had to journal that, right? Purple for the wedding color, lace for wedding dress (though hers wasn't vintage like my lace), a little bling (a piece from an earring) all says wedding. But my boys were clear with me - I won't be mother of the groom any time soon :)

You can see more journal pages at the flickr group.

summer journal: take a vacation video

This was a really fun prompt - Natty posted a music video titled Take A Vacation for inspiration. The graphic, colorful and 60's style was fun and full of lots of ideas. I took the repeating image, different color approach to my fingernail polish while drinking a glass of tea.

As for the vacation theme, the song immediately reminded me of our trip to Tahiti, so I used trusty PSE to drop in the Tahiti beach behind my toes that are actually on my deck here at home! Add in a little Inktense pencil work, a beachball (also from the video), some bubble wrap stamping, a little hunk of lime netting, and a summer trip feels imminent.

Visit other journalers at the flickr group - there's great work being done! Visit Natty's site to sign up and follow along with the prompts.

summer of color: green

Kristin at Twinkle Twinkle is sponsoring week 2 of the Summer in Color prompts and this week is all about green. I worked on my WIP collage.

It's a 9x12 canvas with acrylic paints/drips, all sorts of specialty papers (I love that white leaf patterned paper - it's sheer in the leaves!), magazine and book photos/text, a stamp, stenciling, and then for dimension I added a stick wrapped with jewelry wire and leaf from the park (had a heck of a time gluing that sucker down!).

The message is "Nature does not hurry yet everything is accomplished. - LaoTzu"

There are so many inspiring, fun and interesting people participating - it's worth your time to browse through everyone's blogs. Start at Kristin's site.... Twinkle Twinkle.

summer journal: summer makes me feel..

Playing catch up ... yesterday's prompt was "Summer Makes Me Feel" and after much thought, I came up with very conflicting ideas: I feel lazy - but I want to go places; I want to be outside - but it's rainy a lot; I feel a lack of direction/focus - but I want to create. Then as I mulled further, I realized every summer what I really feel is ............... the urge to travel. We miss our "big" trips and eagerly await the day we can take an international trip again! Til then, I'll journal about it! :)

No prompt today, so I thought I should relate what's going on. T&C are staying with us for a couple days as they prepare for B's wedding (tomorrow!). The rehearsal dinner is tonight, then we all go celebrate as the youngest of the four boys takes the plunge first. L's color is purple, thus the purple ribbon and tissue layers; roses for the traditional wedding flower (though I doubt that's what she'll have). It's so much fun to be here to celebrate with T&C as one of our babies moves to the next phase of his life!

PPF street scene

I painted this from a photo I took in Ronda, Spain while on vacation. It's really my first serious effort at capturing multiple buildings and using shadows effectively. The tree on the right definitely needs work, but I'm pleased with the way the town looks. I love the way watercolors blend and run together to make such soft color transitions!

You can see lots of talented and creative art shared today at Paint Party Friday so click here and check 'em out!

summer journal: summer dates

A quick page for today's prompt of fun summer dates to look forward to and use an unusual shape for the journaling. I made a kite from scrapbook paper and listed my dates as dinner at Salty's (for our anniversary), picnic at the beach, visit Freeway park, yard sales and disc golf with the boys. It's all on a quick watercolor sketch. The ribbon goes through the paper and attaches to the vacation tag in a pocket on the other side.

Now, it's off to whittle down my list of errands. If you want to see more great journaling from Kristin's prompts, visit InTheSun group on flickr.

summer journal: movies

Today's InTheSun prompt is "Summer Movies" so I experimented with the stretched out writing as my base background listing movies I knew were coming out this summer. It was harder than I expected to remember to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the spacing!

Then I layered on some tissue paper, scrapbook paper, stamping, stenciling, and the dark gray squares are door screen netting and finally I spritzed acrylic paint and let it drip. This all allowed me to practice my lettering some more and I loved using the screening and drips. Will play with that more...

digital art

I'm playing around with textures on a couple of flower photos I took last week. Both pictures are using Skeletal Mess textures (on flickr). It's amazing what some opacity changes, erasing, etc can accomplish - and lots of time....it takes me lots of experimenting to arrive at something pretty.

summer journal: dream vacation

Today's prompt from InTheSun is: DREAM VACATION

We have several so trying to figure out how to show it took a little thought. I borrowed the idea of making a photo become a pocket from one of the other InTheSun ladies (forget who) and used my pic of a sunrise as the dominant color. The map and ship are from a cruise brochure, a little bubble wrap stamping, some jigsaw puzzle pieces and last but not least Summerfest cut from a beer box! A bit of ribbon attaches my dream list including some of the places we can't wait to visit!

You can visit the flickr group to see lots of other talented people share their art journal pages.

summer journal: tangles

There were no weekend prompts for In the Sun, so I just played with ideas.

Above is an exploration of the letter T - the journaling says since letters are so cool and iconic, it might be a fun series to explore in collage...

This journaling is easier to read - it reflects my new addiction to zentangles. I happened upon a site in my random art wanderings and was intrigued. As I found more and more, I had to try it and now I have started a whole separate sketchbook with my tangles!

summer journal: alter ego

This prompt was hard for me - ALTER EGO. Mulled it over most of the day and kept coming back to a black and white split scheme (for a dark alter ego?). The difficulty came in how to portray me - my AE - when I can't really draw.... So of course the first skill my alter ego would have is the ability to draw!

Not totally satisfied with this one - it's hard to read and kinda plain but everything I thought of to add detracted from my need for black/white, so I finally made myself stop. I needed to take more time to develop the title - it's totally boring.....

PPF is all in blue

This is the photo that starts it all............

If you'll remember, last week I posted an abstraction I'd started working from this gear photo. I redid it this week with another focus - even more abstraction and using lots more blues - I tried to use every blue on my palette plus blending them together. This is actually my second attempt - the first had .... "issues". It still feels incomplete somehow but I'm not sure what's missing - I'll have to let it settle awhile I guess.

Above, first abstract, still pretty literal...

This week's interpretation in blue...I used cobalt, ultramarine, pthalo blue, antwerp, and cerulean blues with a touch of the orange and rust in the original photo.

This painting in mostly blues was done from a photo I took from a cruise ship of the rock of Gibraltar at sunrise. I painted it a few months ago but it fit the blue theme of the week and I'm generally pleased with how it turned out....

Visit the Paint Party Friday group for a wide range of subjects painted by talented folks and Summer of Color with Kristin at Twinkle Twinkle (this week's color is blue...)

summer journal: fill summer with....

Today's prompt for In The Sun summer journaling project is: "I want my summer to be full of..." my brain immediately went to activities to fill my days. When I added the friends and family "flowers" the tree branches took on a life of their own and became the connector between all the elements - interesting how something will just take over.... You can join the online "class" at In The Sun and also join/follow the flickr group to see what others are up to.

summer journal: tissue technique

Today's journal prompt was about working with layering tissue paper to add to a collage. I've used it before because I love the wrinkly texture it can add. Here you can see my teal paper tore, but I like it even more that way! Add some sheet music, a little stamping, doodling, and practice with a lettering style. The photo is one I took of an iris then played with in Elements.... overall, a summery page using a favorite technique.

summer journal: self portrait & cover

My intro page to the journal - a touch of watercolor, collage and some lettering practice....

Day 2 in my summer art journaling project. The prompt was Self Portrait, so I used these shots I'd done for my 365 project a few weeks ago. I think I caught most of my moods and my journaling covers many of what I think are my most important traits. Watercolor, photography, and simple outlining used.

rainbow summer

"Beginning today - and every Monday throughout the event - we will focus on and create art based upon the beautiful, bold and luscious colors of the rainbow. We will work in our preferred medium exploring color and share what we produce. The purpose of the event is to immerse ourselves into the world of color: playing, experimenting and learning from one another throughout the lazy days of summer." Twinkle, Twinkle is sponsoring this fun project and you might want to check it out because she's also having giveaways each week for participants. If you're creating anyway and happen to be working in her color of the week, then it's easy to share on her site.

My two preferred mediums at the moment are watercolor and collage so I'm looking forward to participating whenever I can....probably in one of those mediums. Though I've been known to make a few greeting cards and take a photo or two.....

The first color is blue, to be finished by June 12......see you there?

Abstract Cogs

In this experiment I was working from a photo of a rusty gear (I love rusty photos!) and seeing if I could come up with something sort of abstract feeling (meaning unidentifiable) based roughly on the photo. I think it needs a little work, but it's an interesting start.

I'm playing with the Paint Party ladies again today, so be sure and visit their sites to see some truly talented artists.