Sunday, June 30, 2013

A Friend


Two things can perk you up, 
A cup of coffee and a good FRIEND.

This sentiment is so true!  I have a dear friend at church who perks me up immensely.  How do I repay this kindness?  I forget her birthday.  I am ashamed and hope that she will forgive me when she receives this card.

This is an Inkadinkado stamp which I coloured with pencil crayons.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Silly Scraps Saturday

Just black and white this time.  Happy Saturday!


This is a simple collage made of scraps, done in my Scrap Journal.  I made my Scrap Journal with my Bind-It-All, especially to hold these "warm-up" collages.  When I want to make something but I'm not inspired to do anything specific, I make one of these.  One usually leads to two (or more).  I got the idea from iHanna's "Every Artist Needs a Scrap Notebook" post.

Every Saturday I post one of these simple collages.  Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Links to Love


Each morning I look at blogs on my iPod while I have coffee.  Here are some that I saw this week and that I wanted to have a look at on a bigger screen or mark them with tags for further reference.  (I use Feedly now that Reader is leaving us because I can tag things by category).

Three good sentiment stamp tips.

A simple new alphabet anyone can do!

This simple background technique would work on cards or journal pages or just about anything!

I love these simple stamping ideas, particularly the stamping on masking tape.

Make your own silhouettes!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Bronwyn


Bronwyn lives with Samantha in my old book journal.  She is drawn with a black Stabilo pencil on top of an acrylic impasto background.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Samantha


I've named this woman Samantha, so I don't have to say "Another Face".

Samantha lives in my old book journal, and is done with watercolour pencil.  The background is watercolour spritzed through stencils.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Update on the Calligraphy Journal


I finished another page in my Calligraphy Journal over the weekend.  I'm not 100% happy with the journal or the paper.  The pages fall out of the glued pad too easily and the paper is a little bit thin so certain stamp inks bleed through.  Yes, it is really just a pad of paper if I could only admit it.  So, I should say that I'm working on loose pages at the moment.  The advantage of this, however, is that if I find paper I like better I can switch over and bind it all together when it is finished!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Inspired by Yves Laterme

On Friday night, the West Coast Calligraphy Society was very fortunate to enjoy a presentation by Yves Laterme, a Belgian calligrapher and artist.  He inspired this journal page:


The background is scrapbook paper, all ready for the pen work!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

I Forgot the Background


I'm so inspired to draw faces that I forgot to put a background over this text page in my "old book" journal.  But the text provides a background of sorts, and oh well, it's just a journal, right?

The face is drawn with watercolour pencil crayons.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Silly Scraps Saturday


This is a simple collage made of scraps, done in my Scrap Journal.  I made my Scrap Journal with my Bind-It-All, especially to hold these "warm-up" collages.  When I want to make something but I'm not inspired to do anything specific, I make one of these.  One usually leads to two (or more).  I got the idea from iHanna's "Every Artist Needs a Scrap Notebook" post.

Every Saturday I post one of these simple collages.  Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Two More Faces


I drew these two faces in my old book journal.  The background was spritzed with watercolour and the faces coloured with watercolour pencil.  

This is part of my project to finish up old art journals.  I started this one in 2004 and recently picked it up again.

Sharing the Link Love


This weeks lovely and loved new links:

If you like Mail Art or Calligraphy, check out pushing the envelopes.

Lost Coast Post offers a great look at her specific purpose journal.

Inchies and reindeer make a great Christmas card at Lost in Paper.

I love these colorful little houses!

I like the process and the result of Taking the Easy Route LOL.




Thursday, June 20, 2013

Two Things Define You



This new page is part of my project to finish up old art journals.  In 2004, I started using an old hard cover book as an art journal.  I got about 1/4 of the way through the book,  got tired of it, and started a new journal.  (This is normal for me, obviously).

I picked it off the shelf the other day and ripped out every second remaining page.  This will give it space to "grow" with paint and collage;  it also makes it a bit less intimidating.  I applied acrylic paint with a palette knife over this page, and after it dried, I traced the outlines of the "flames" with a black Sharpie paint pen.  I wrote the quotation with a white Sharpie paint pen.  It reads, "Two things define you - your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything."

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Last Page!


This is the last page in one of many journals that I have in progress.  I feel a great sense of accomplishment as I'm trying to "close the book" on a few. LOL

The background on this page is sprayed with Adirondack Colour wash through a stencil.  The face is watercolour pencil - my new favourite medium!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Vogue Faces


This is part of my project to finish up old art journals.   I'm very inspired to draw faces lately but I don't really like to copy from other's art work, so I ripped some photos from a Vogue magazine and I'm drawing from those.  

The background is spritzed with Adirondack Colour Wash through alphabet stencils and the face is coloured with watercolour pencils.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Portrait of a Young Woman


This is part of my project to finish up old art journals.   It is (another) Modigliani face done with watercolour pencils.  The background is watercolour washes done over strips of masking tape.  When I peeled off the tape I was left with spaces to journal.  The quotation reads "We are shaped and fashioned by what we love."  - Goethe

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Link Love


These links are new to me, and I hope you like them too:

I love Vivian's mixed media cards.
The Painted Flower:  Art Journalling and Sketching
Yes, Art is Fun and so is this site!

I found these art journalists in Jenny Doh's Journal It! book:

Drawn From the Fire:  Belinda Fireman also does fantastic abstract paintings.
Jill Berry:  Fantastic use of drawing and text in her journals.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Silly Scraps Saturday


Love

This is a simple collage made of scraps, done in my Scrap Journal.  I made my Scrap Journal with my Bind-It-All, especially to hold these "warm-up" collages.  When I want to make something but I'm not inspired to do anything specific, I make one of these.  One usually leads to two (or more).  I got the idea from iHanna's "Every Artist Needs a Scrap Notebook" post.

Every Saturday I post one of these simple collages.  Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Friday, June 14, 2013

For the Love of Turkey


This is the back of an envelope I made for my  Introduction to Art Concepts & Techniques course.  We are studying “Correspondence with Memory” this week,  which is Mail Art with a theme of Memories.  

Some of my favorite memories are those of travel.  I made my envelope from a map of Bodrum, Turkey, where I visited last year.  As I walked the streets of Bodrum, the map became well worn.  My best memories of my trip to Turkey involve the wonderful, kind, hospitable people and the fabulous ruins, so I glued pictures of these to the envelope.  Inside the envelope is a ticket to an archaeological site and a rose made for me by a waiter from a napkin.  I hope people will want to make a trip to Turkey when they see this mail art!

Here is the front of the envelope:




Monday, June 10, 2013

Stop Sweatshops Now


This is a collage of magazine images on a 98 lb. mixed media substrate.

In the same way that Dada was a reaction to the violence of World War I, this collage is a depiction of our society’s confused reaction to the exploitation of workers in and from the third world, particularly in the textile and food industries.  We say that we want to stop sweat shops, but we continue our idolatry of the fashion industry.  Similarly, many countries import foreign workers to pick their fruits and vegetables and deny them societal and safety rights. Since the collapse of the factory in Bangladesh, I have been following the western world’s struggle to mount an effective, appropriate reaction while still satisfying our desire for beauty and low cost.

I did this piece for my Introduction to Art Concepts & Techniques course.  We are studying “Fantastic Art” this week, and one of the associated art movements is Dada.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Magenta Skin with Blue Hair


The background on this page has been sitting around for so long that I can't remember what kind of paint it is.  The frame was also added months ago by gluing down magazine strips.  This week I drew a face over it with watercolour pencils.

This is part of my project to finish up old art journals.  I think that the Andy-Warhol like face works because of the colours - sometimes you have to just go with what you've got. LOL

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Silly Scraps Saturday


Smile

Sharing Some Link Love


I have a couple of new (to me) blogs to share with you this week.  I've been working in my art journal a lot lately, so you journalists out there might enjoy these:

Kristal Norton has a great FREE introduction to Art Journaling course, so if you're new to this do check it out!

Christy at Gulfsprite does terrific "how-to" videos.  I'm currently watching the ones on drawing and painting faces, but she has great gelli printing ones too.  There's so much on her blog I'll be investigating further, including ArtGeeks - a community of Art Journal artists!

Friday, June 7, 2013

Happy Accidents and a Journey


This 2 page spread began with the stars, hearts, harlequin and large dots bleeding through from the pages on the reverse sides.  I didn't add anything to it until months later when I cleaned a brush off, resulting in the bold black lines.  It stayed like that until recently when I painted and stamped in the shapes made by the black lines, added the fine line work with a Micron pen and finished it with part of a story from the Bible.  I darkened the stars and hearts by adding water to them.

I picked the Bible quotation because the page looked a bit like a map to me, and the pen work reminded me of the trails that insects make on their journeys.  In Ruth Chapter 1, Naomi is challenged by her daughter-in-law, Ruth, when Naomi tries to discourage Ruth from following Naomi home.  Ruth says, "Where you go I'll go too, and where you stay, Ill stay.  Your people will be my people, and your God my God.  Where you die, I will die...."

This is part of my project to finish up old art journals.  

Thanks so much for visiting my blog.  I really appreciate all of your kind comments.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Faces With Layers of Character


This page began with an attempt to cover up the yellow/orange star showing through from the previous page.  I painted blue acrylic over the page, but it wasn't thick enough, and the star remained.  Not sure where I was headed, I stamped some words on the background and added a collaged frame.  Then I stopped, not knowing how to complete the page.  This was months (or years?) ago, and I only added the face recently.  It is drawn with Stabilo pencils.

This is part of my project to finish up old art journals.  It is amazing how a face takes on more character when drawn over other layers and I'm often drawing faces when I don't know how else to complete the page.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Introduction to Art Concepts

Thanks to a heads-up from a fabulous art friend, I am taking an on-line course through Penn State College of Arts & Architecture called "Introduction to Art Concepts".  In the first week, the assignment was to introduce ourselves through a piece of art, and write an "Artist Statement".  I've never done this before, and it was a useful process.

I drew another face (surprise!):


Here is my artist statement:

This piece is a pencil drawing over a Pan Pastel background.  The pastels were applied through various stencils.  I create backgrounds in my art journal and then challenge myself to draw or collage over top of them.  After watching this week’s videos, I used various drawing pencils to complete this drawing.

I like to draw faces over these backgrounds and allow the background to show through the drawing.   This illustrates the idea of the layered personalities behind the physical and social personas that people present to the world.

I created this piece to show classmates in my Introduction to Art class where I am on my journey of learning art.  I began this journey when I retired ten years ago, after a career in business.  I keep several art journals for experimentation and work with all types of media – pastel, watercolour, rubber stamps, acrylic, and collage.  I often incorporate calligraphy in my journals, and I am just beginning to draw.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Another Face


This is another face in my current series.  What started as a project to finish up art journals has morphed into  face drawing.

The background is Pan Pastels around masks.  Later I added the collaged shoe, not knowing what would finish the page.  But you can draw a face anywhere!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Link Love


Jenny's Sketchbook:  I love Jenny's little weekly sketchbook spreads.

Willy Anderson.  Stamps and Art Journals, two of my favourite things!

Glue it Tuesday at Artsyville.

I love Ronda's collage and journal pages at Help [ME] Ronda

Great drawings and illustrations at an open [sketch]book