The Road Less Traveled

I'm a wee bit behind on my Journal52 weekly prompts, but hey, better late than never, eh? So this is last week's prompt, which was "Traveling." I was thinking about butterflies while I was in the studio, and wondering how many pretty things they must see in the travels. So that's why I did butterflies. And the quote was relevant (a paraphrase from Robert Frost), so I used that.

Not sure if you can tell, but the swirly blue-ish accents are full of texture. I created them with a stencil and modeling paste that I added paint to. I like how that turned out. Overall I love the page too! :)

And this was me in the studio as I began another painting this weekend. Right now it's just background...but it's rather likely that a fairy or an angel will appear there soon. 

Tree Mandala

This week's prompt for Journal52 is Mandala, so this is my art journal page featuring a Mandala I did of a tree.

All of the color is from Inktense pencils and blocks. The leaves are a clear acrylic stamp. I've also created my name in the tree branches. Can you find it (T I N A)? If you need help...

She Wont Say Goodbye

I missed last week's prompt for Journal52 because of Mother's Day, so I'm playing catch-up a bit. So now I'm also 2 behind on my Documented Life prompts--since I was getting caught up on J52. Oy! But oh well. Last week's challenge was Photography. So for this page I took a photo I tore out of a magazine years ago, of Drew Barrymore and used that for my inspiration.

I think Drew is so beautiful. This was a multi-page photo spread at the time, with Drew basically dressed in various beautiful gowns in lovely settings. In this case she was a version of Beauty, in Beauty in the Beast. I think she looks sort of melancholy in this photo, so I picked a little poem by Lang Leav to go with the image.

A bird who hurt her wing,

now forgotten how to fly.

A song she used to sing,

but can't remember why.

A breath she caught and kept-

that left her in a sigh.

It hurts her so to love you,

but she won't say goodbye.

Da Vinci Code Journal Page

This week's challenge at Journal52 is to create a book-inspired art journal page. One of my favorite books of all time is...can you guess...

Yep, it is the Da Vinci Code. Love that book! So this page was inspired by one of the most fun reads I've had in my adult life. :)

Hand and Heart

The theme for this week's Journal52 challenge is "Hands." So we needed to put hands in our artwork somewhere. This is what I did.

This photo looks darker than the actual art journal page, but you get the idea. I did this mostly with some color sprays and ink. The hand with the words in it was made using an online tool I found. And the quote is mine. :)

Becoming Yourself

This week's challenge for Journal52 is the theme of renewal and rebirth. For some reason I was feeling like Fairy Art for this challenge, so that is part of my inspiration for this art journal page.

One of my favorite artists of all time is Maxfield Parrish. He was a renowned artist and illustrator and I love everything about his luminous style. So I took an old calendar I had of his artwork, and used his work, 'Ecstasy' as the muse for this art journal page. I cut out the girl, and gave her wings, and then added her to a background I created using Neocolor crayons and Mr. Hueys Color Mist sprays. Love, love it! And I love the quote too, which, to me, sums up what renewal and rebirth are all about.

I used this same girl in previous work when I created some Maxfield Parrish Inspired Magnets. Have a peek at those if you're interested. Those are on my refrigerator. :) And now that I've cut up my old calendar quite a bit, I think I need a new one of Mr. Parrish's work!

Party Animal

I only completed one art journal page this weekend. I had intended to do both The Documented Life page and the Journal52 page, but I couldn't get inspired enough by the "food box" prompt at TDL, so I just decided to skip it and do my J52 instead. The theme for that one this week is "Party Animal." So since I love kangaroos, this is what I did.

Who doesn't love a party-going kangaroo? LOL. I also started a painting for a very special girl, my granddaughter, Destiny. She requested that I a paint Rapunzel for her, from Tangled. So I began that painting as well. It's about half way done now, and I'm hoping to finish it up next weekend. Next weekend is Easter, so that may get tricky, but I'm sure going to try. :)

Rain or Shine

This week's prompt for the Journal52 challenge is Rain or Shine--or anything related to weather. I immediately thought of that song, Rain or Shine. Many greats have sung that song, but my personal favorite is the Ray Charles version.

Anyhoots, this is my creation for that challenge.

Some of the words of the song make me think of my mom, so the winged heart represents her. And the words I chose from the song are the ones I need to remember--the remind myself that she is with me...always.

What's In a Name

This week's theme at The Documented Life challenge was to do an embellished name. That kind of thing is fun, and I used to do lots of name projects when I was teaching art. So I enjoyed this art journal page a lot. Here's what I came up with.

This is all done with markers. It is actually a magenta color, but it looks almost red on here. Oh well. I found some perfect washi tape to coordinate with my journal page too. 

I also nearly completed a new mixed media painting, but I have a few finishing touches to add to it yet, so hopefully I can get that finished this weekend and post it next week.

A Flower Blooms

I had fun creating this week's journal page for the Journal52 challenge. The theme was Flowers/Garden, and as soon as I got that I knew I'd do a rose. I don't do roses a lot, but if they call to me, I answer. :) So this is what I created.

I decided to use watercolors for this page, and planned on using a resist technique I used to do with my high school art students. So I drew my rose and my swirly embellishments to get started. The next step was to create the resist, and for that I used rubber cement, which I poured into a small applicator bottle that has a very small opening. I applied that over all of my pencil lines and let it dry. Then I used my watercolors to create the rose and the background. Once it was dry, I simply rubbed off the rubber cement. You can do that by hand, but I happen to have a rubber cement "eraser" that makes speedy work of the job, so I used that. I finished it off by add some black to my swirls, and added the quote as well.

I love this new page in my art journal! :)

A Day in the Life of Me in My Studio

For this week's Journal52 challenge, our prompt was, "A Day in the Life of Me." So I decided to take that and make it A Day in the Life of Me...in My Studio. I created my page and then added several words that reflect what I do when I'm in my studio. 

The background is acrylics that applied with a brayer. The flowers were stamped on, then I embellished each of them with white and black acrylic paint pens. And the words were stamped on as well. I love how this turned out. It's just a happy page, and that's how I feel when I'm in my studio!

Stars Angel

This week's prompt at Journal52 was "Stars," so I decided to use one of my Suzi Blu stamps and make an angel among the stars.

I used Inktense blocks for the background color, then stamped on my Suzi Blu girl. The second photo shows how the stamp looks originally; and then I colored the girl with Neocolor crayons and acrylics. I added the quote and some stars to finish it off.

Art and Soul

For this week's Journal52 challenge, we needed to so journal something we are passionate about; it could be a cause, or just the passion we have for something in our own lives. I have many passions, but art is always at the top of that list, so that's what I used for my inspiration this week.

I used Inktense blocks for the hair and facial features; the skin is done with Neocolor crayons, and then the butterflies are stamps. I love how she turned out! And the quote sums up what art does for me very well. :)

ButterFly

This week's challenge for Journal52 was to use a color swatch for inspiration. So I found a swatch of colors that I liked, choosing something that had some brightness and a spring-like feel to it. And I knew I wanted to use a bright new green acrylic paint I'd purchased recently. My ButterFly mixed media page was the result.

Once I picked my colors, I decided I'd use some scrapbook paper on the page. So I flipped through one of my stacks and found one that had great colors to match. I didn't know what I was going to do with the paper at first, so I just started tearing it. The first large piece I had looked like a butterfly wing, so I knew this would become a butterfly on the page.

I scraped on and rolled on acrylic paints in the background, then I used mat medium to glue down my butterfly shapes. Then it was just a matter of adding some embellishments with paint and my Posca acrylic paint pens. I love how it turned out.

Found Poetry Fairy

For this week's Journal52 challenge, the goal was to create found poetry. So this Found Poetry Fairy is the result of a book page that I received from another group member.

I tore the book page first and when I'd finished it looked like the bottom of a dress to me. So I decided I'd turn it into a fairy wearing a dress. The goal of found poetry is to block out text on a page and leave only the words you want, creating a sort of poem. The words I left read,

in a moment that took up far too much of the space, love, she noticed, is the distant ocean of silence.

I used acrylic paints for this and some stenciling. I also spritzed it at the end with some glimmer mist so that it has a sort of shimmer to it, though you can't really see that in the photo. This was challenging, but fun.

Art Chick Studio Dreams

This week's prompt for the Journal52 challenge is, "When I grow up." Basically, we're supposed to journal something related to either our dream job when we were a child--or just something we wanted to do or see when we grow up. It could also be a dream of some sort for some point in the future (I still have a lot of growing up to do myself). ;) 

Well, when I was little, probably from ages 4-10, I wanted to be a movie star. Not just an actress. No, a Movie Star! LOL. But that wasn't really calling to me to be journaled about this week. So I decided instead to focus on my dream for the near future. And that is, to teach studio classes in all kinds of art--mixed media, art journaling, creativity nights--lots of things! That is a goal I'm working toward. The Hubs and I purchased and old farm property last year that we have to totally (sigh) remodel. We plan to do that and move within the next couple of years. The bonus is that it has an old grainery building on it that will become my new studio, and it's big enough that I can hold classes in it. So that is my dream...for when I grow up just a bit more. And here's my journal page.

The building in the background represents the grainery, which will become my studio. The background colors were all done with Gelatos. To the foreground I just added some fun scrapbook paper that is full of nature--because my future studio and our home are just outside of town. There are lots of trees and wild flowers and animals. Heaven!

I never used to want to live in the country, but I can't wait to get there now. I'm NOT looking forward to the total remodel of the home (and hey, the studio needs major work too!)--I've had enough of that with our current home (build in 1890). But the Hubs and I fell in love with the place, so you just gotta do what you gotta do to make dreams happen! And this one will hopefully come true within the next 2 years. :)

Love Letter

So this weeks' prompt for the Journal52 challenge is "Love Letter." At first I thought I'd use something from Beethoven, because he wrote some fabulous love letters. But as I was searching around for the perfect snippet, I somehow decided that I'd rather do something more personal and more meaningful. So I pulled out some of the many poems I've written about my husband over the years, and I decided to use one of those instead. Here's what I created.

The Hubs has never seen this poem; I actually seldom show anyone my poetry, which I've written for years. But with Valentine's Day approaching, and considering this year the Hubs and I will celebrate our 30th anniversary, I thought I'd do something special for him. He's not actually getting this page though, strange as that may sound. LOL. I want it to stay in my art journal. But I did do something with another copy of the poem to give to him instead. Although...if he really twisted my arm, I'd cave and give him this one too. :)

In case you're wondering, the background of this page is wallpaper that I wrinkled and adhered to the page. The hearts, made from posterboard, are actually underneath the tissue paper. Then I painted the blue background and the read hearts. Next I too a brown Gelato stick and dragged it over the raised parts of the paper, then blended with a wet finger. And then I wiped away areas here and there with a baby wipe to get some changes in value. And lastly, I added the poem, which I'd printed out and cut up, and distressed the edges with ink.

I really love how this turned out. The Hubs tends to not read my blogs, for whatever reason. Busy guy and all that. So hopefully he won't read this...at least not before Friday. But, John, if you're reading this, please just pretend like you haven't seen your special poem when I give it to you on Friday. :)

Broken Glass Watercolor Journal Page

This week's prompt for the Journal52 art journal page was "Abstract Art." So I created a watercolor painting based on a project I used to have my high school art students do. It looks rather abstract, but also looks a lot like broken glass. The kids always had fun with it, and so did I.

I blew watered down black paint around with a straw first--which was probably my students' favorite thing at the time, simply because you get a little dizzy when you do it. :) After that is dry then I just picked a few colors I wanted to use and filled in some random spaces around the page with the color. I love how this looks when it's finished. And that's one more week in my art journal complete for Journal52.

Art Journals Smile and Character

Over the weekend I was able to complete my entries for weeks 3 & 4 in the Journal52 weekly art journal workshop. The prompts were: You Make Me Smile, and a Character. Below are my journal pages.

This is my Smile Flower Fairy, who happens to be my mom when she was little. Photos and memories are all I have left of my mom now, so I love using photos of my mom in my art when I can.

This is my Character, Michael Jackson, as the Smooth Criminal character from Moonwalker. It's one of my favorite MJ short films, and I love his character in it. It's epic and iconic MJ at his finest. So that was an easy choice for this journal page.

I did work some more on my Floral Beauty mixed media painting, but she is giving me fits. I don't like her hair at all, so I may have to re-work it. We'll see how it goes when I meet her again in my studio. No photos of her until I actually like what I'm seeing! :)

Journal52 Off We Go

I've decided to start a new visual journal this year (well, more than one actually), and I was lucky enough to come across a wonderful, year-long art journal workshop to participate in. It's offered for free by Chelle Stein at her Journal52 blog. A new prompt is posted each week, and we create entries inspired by the prompt. I'm a little late in starting, so these are my first two entries in the art journal workshop.

Week 1 Prompt: Up, Up and Away

Hope Floats

Based on one of my favorite quotes from the movie, Hope Floats.

 

Week 2 Prompt: Somewhere, A Simple Place

By the Water

My favorite simple place is anywhere near the water.

This features one of my favorite poem snippets from William Blake.

 

I'm really excited by this weekly art journal workshop and can't wait to create the next entry! I'll be starting some other art journals this year as well. I've also started a mini one that I am keeping by my couch and drawing in during the evenings. It's little, lined, and more like a little notebook than a drawing journal. But I wanted to do something different just to focus on drawing a little something every day, or adding quotes or what-not. And it's small enough that I can toss it in my purse and take it with me when I go somewhere. So I may share some little drawings from that as well on occasion.

If you are interested in this workshop be sure to check out the Journal52 blog to get more information.