Playing around in my art journal!

I'm having fun just playing around in my art journal. I've decided to step back ands just play around. I think it's a good thing to do help keep the mind fresh.  I have been playing around with color combinations trying to find new combos I like. I gesso the pages slap color on here and there and then go back and pick a page to work on. I'm having fun with drawing with a charcoal pencil. I sealed one with a lacquer now I'll see what mediums work on top of it if any. 

My hubby and kiddos are going for a daddy daughter overnighter. I'll miss them but I'm excited to have a 24 hr period of being able to do as much art related things as I want to!

Here are some pictures of what I've been working on....enjoy!

Crazy life!

I've been up to my neck in life and haven't been able to blog. I hate long periods in between posts but stuff happens. I've mostly been messing around in my art journal because that's what I've had time for, it's actually been quite nice. I recently bought some pan pastels (finally) what beautiful creamy goodness! I can't wait to use them on something other than my journal. I've also gotten some faber castell big brush pens they are also wonderful. I love being able to highlight and shade with them. For awhile now I've wanted some faber castell gelatos but their price tag has made me wait. I stumbled on a youtube video where the lady used faber castell gel sticks from the kids section. Her opinion was that they were the same thing as the gelatos. I bought a pack of 12 gel sticks for $12 and even if they aren't exactly the same I love them anyways! I like the price and they work fantastic. I'm curious now to buy a pack of gelatos and compare them. I'm also having fun playing with a pair of flip flops from the dollar store....that's no joke they have the best pattern on the bottom! As a mixed media artist I've learned to always have my eyes wide open it's amazing what you can find.

I've completed a couple custom pieces this week. It felt awesome to get paint allover my fingers(found some clear up on my bicep this am too!). I don't bother with barrier cream, the paint makes me happy because it means I'm getting to do what I love! I'm including pics of the custom pieces.

The bees also take up a lot of my time we've had lots of adventures with them over the past few weeks. I'm also posting a pic of one of our queens just because I think she's beautiful!

One if my next big goals is to get an Etsy store up and running. Gotta get my work out there...

Here's the video link!

I'm so excited about this video! http://www.katu.com/amnw/segments/Flea-Market-Makeovers-205986911.html

I'm excited about metal!

I've been toying with the idea of using some corrugated metal my hubby has in the shop. I couldn't sleep the other night so I started this little project and went for it. I'm so happy with how it turned out my brain is now full of ideas. I started with a paint wash if blue and green. I wanted it light so you could still have the metal showing through.  I randomly tore circle-ish shapes from book paper. I layed them out and adjusted until I was happy then adhered them with collage podge. I first used Golden Vat orange on the circles (let that dry) then a mix of Golden Pyrrole Red, Quinacridone Magenta, Vat Orange and a few drops of Acrylic Glaze. I used two coats of the mixed paint to get the look I wanted. I used a Liquitex black paint for the stems and archival black ink with a couple stamps. I happily went through my button stash and glued them on with Glossy Accents. Doodled with a gelly roll 08 white pen and a micron black pen. I'm so so happy with it!

I've been holding back!

I've tried to keep this blog mostly about my art life so I haven't mentioned the bee side of life.  Yes, bees! They actually will have something to do with my art because I plan to use the wax we collect in some of my work. We started looking into bees about a year and a half ago. Now we have 13 hives. The more I learn about these little ladies the more fascinated I become. There are many things in our environment that hurt bees, they have many things against them (pesticides, mono-croping, mites). As a beekeeper it's a very delicate balance to try and keep them healthy and try to take care of them naturally.  We'll do our darndest to make this work! I'm including a couple pictures the one where I'm in my vail is a picture of me on our way home from picking up our last batch of bees. They weren't in the back of a pick up so we had a few stray bees flying around I was trying to make sure I didn't get stung! I relaxed about half way through the ride....lol

I'm so excited!

I was brave and posted on facebook that I was looking for places to display and sell my art. I got a few great suggestions. One of my husbands classmates told me to look up the Red Sled Spring and Garden Show. I emailed the lady who puts it on Donna and went to the informational/jury meeting. I was absolutely floored by the compliments I got! When friends and family say your artwork is good it feels great but when someone you don't know gives you praise it's even better. I know their not just trying to be nice and supportive. Donna said, "sometimes I see someones art and think they should be famous". Holy smokes I think my mouth dropped open! Lets just say I have a renewed enthusiasm about getting more canvases done. The Spring Show is only a couple weeks away. One nice thing is that it's open for 4 weeks, I can continue to make canvases if they're selling I can restock. Back to painting I go! Here's a couple pics of what I've finished lately...

Gotta tell you about my recent book purchase!

I ordered Journal Spilling by Diana Trout....wow! I'm having so much fun reading and trying some of her lessons out. I have watercolor crayons and watercolors but I haven't used them much. I love growing my knowledge and realizing what both products can do. I'm working on a page that's confronting my inner critic. I like doing the spill writing and just letting words go. It's very freeing! Part of the lesson is making a sort of self portrait, it's pretty rough right now but I think it will turn out ok. Even if it doesn't I'm learning that's just fine. I'm doing it and that's what matters!! If you have a art journal or you've thought about creating/making one I highly recommend this book. I've had my art journal for several months now and this book has truly inspired me to take it further. I've also learned a few things that I want to try to incorporate in my canvases. ~Peace

I've been busy with life!

These past few weeks have been crazy. Migraines & icky viruses but I'm trying to get back to my art.
Thanks to Suzy Blu (again I can't say enough good things about her Mixed Media Girls book) I've been playing with wax. I'm so loving how it looks the wax adds such a great finish and it smells wonderful!  For a test run I started with a 6x6 piece of paper, covered it with book paper used distress inks stamps & paint. I can use this on a canvas or put it in my art journal, I haven't decided. I bought an old iron at a local craft store and a block of wax.  After working with the block I'd like to try wax pellets they might be easier to work with.  I'm currently working on a petite doll that I will seal with wax. She's not done yet but I'll include a couple picture anyways. I'm excited to see how she turns out.  I'll post the finished canvas soon....

Women's retreat 2013

I learned a lot this weekend. The big ones are not to stress about how things will turn out and to go with the flow. I had plenty of stuff that's for sure! We had barely enough room to fit my daughter in the car and that's no joke!  I was expecting more people to participate but it turned out how it was suppose too. The point of the weekend was to do what you needed for yourself, make connections and have fun. Everyone did, so I couldn't ask for more.  I stayed up till 3am the last night completing a canvas that summed up our time there. I think this is my favorite canvas so far! I love how it turned out...

Have you ever wanted to draw faces in your mixed media projects?

If the answer is yes you need to check out this book. Mixed Media Faces with Suzi Blu. Her instruction is wonderful and her advice on using graph paper to help get your proportions right is spot on. I've already made a couple parties of decent eyes! I have no idea if this will lead to using faces in my art but I'm having fun doing it. Do you have a favorite book your working with? If so leave a comment I'd love to know.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I've been shopping with some gift cards at Michaels and Joanns. It's been fun getting a few things I've been wanting....for example I got a brayer. I just used it on the clipboard pictures posted today, boy do I wish I would have gotten one so sooner. It works so much better than the pampered chef roller I've been using!

I'm currently working on getting some things together for a class I'm teaching at a Woman's retreat. I'm really excited it's a great opportunity for me!! What could be better than crafting with your bff and teaching ladies some of what I've learned? Answer is not much....lol I'll be teaching them about art/visual journaling and how they can incorporate it into their lives. My goal is to show them you don't have to be an artist to do it and there are so many different things you can do to match your skill and or comfort level.  I want everyone to have fun!

I mentioned my clipboard here are some pictures. This was so easy I just started with a plain clipboard which was purchased at my local dollar store. I covered it with patten paper and Collage Podge (two of my fav things!) I then used my brayer with a two colors. After that was dry I used some Golden Airbrush white paint at the top sprayed with water for a drippage look. Over that I used paper, paint, stencils, stickers, washi tape and stamps.  I now have a cute clipboard to use it's a great place for those to do & shopping lists. It's going shopping with me from now on!

My little House

I've been working on this one for a few weeks now. I like having a few pieces going on at the same time it gives me new inspiration which can be refreshing. I used a rolled paper technique I learned from a video by Christy Tomlinson to create the roof, window, rainbow and door I love the dimension it adds to my work. My background was created with acyclic paint and different mediums like bubble wrap, dry wall tape, washi tape, paper borders and other household items.  The flowers were from a stamp inked with archival ink and painted in with red acrylic paint. I stamped a rainbow in the rolled paper I had in the upper right corner. I colored it in with fine tip sharpie markers. I highly recommend keeping a sketch journal it's something I go back to time and again to gather inspiration for what I want to do next!  Grab your paints stamps and any other things you have laying around and give it a try!

My latest Canvas!

I love love love how this turned out! It started with some paper that caught my eye. Then came a problem I've never faced before I couldn't figure out what colors looked good with the paper. I remembered I had bought a cheap color wheel a few months back. Boy am I glad I did it really helped! It pointed me towards using the green & yellow with the violet purple. This will be a hard one to let go! I suggest investing in a $2 color wheel for those times when you need a little color help.  I'm contemplating adding some words or a quote but I may just leave it be.....

Poppies are so fun to paint!

I'm loving how this is turning out. Poppies are so much fun to create I really like the bold red. They aren't hard to make I used some old book text and tore out some roundish (not a word?) shapes. I used a Americana cherry red, golden pyrrole red, golden transparent pyrrole orange, golden quinacridone magenta acrylic paints ob the poppies. For the stems I used an green acrylic pen and glued black beads down for the centers of the flowers with pva glue. To make the background I used various colors on things like dry wall tape, bubble wrap, stencils and I added washi tape sealed with collage podge. Just play around with different materials to create texture and add the colors you like. After I got the background done I put the poppies on & painted the stems. I used a couple different stamps over the background and finished flowers with black archival ink.  One of the final touches was some paper border glued down with craft glue. Now I'm just debating adding text. I'll post again if I decide to add anything else. I challenge you to make some flowers with book text there are endless possibilities!

Holiday Bizarre!

I had a chance to put my art in a booth at a local Holiday Bizarre. My bff was kind enough to hang out with our stuff for the day. She told me there were lots of people looking at my canvases but apparently they weren't buying. I'm trying to learn not to take it personal. If you ever get the chance to work public markets, bizarres, art festivals etc you'll to find that sometimes it goes well & sometimes it doesn't. Just go with your gut and have fun with it. Here's a few photos of my little area. On a side note a local consignment market took four of my pieces. We'll see what comes from that crossing my fingers!

My Version of Poppies!

I wish I would have started taking pictures sooner...but I caught it halfway. I watched a Donna Downey inspiration wednesday post and es excited to give it a try in my art journal. I'm thinking now I definitely will be making a canvas with these darling little flowers. I started with tearing flower shapes from old book text. I used my collage podge to adhere theme to my journal page. I used Cherry Red Americana acrylic paint to begin with and then Golden Transparent Pyrrole orange. The stems are from using Bombay black India Ink. I glued black beads in the centers with glossy accents. I can't wait to make a canvas!! Hope you enjoy and it inspires you to create your own piece of art!

Making your own background papers in mixed media collage projects!

I'm still recovering from surgery so I haven't been able to work on posting like I want. I am however able to share this with you because it's quick & easy. I was inspired by some Tim Holtz patterned tissue paper it had butterflies & music notes. I love Ranger products but $17 for a roll of tissue paper just isn't happening right now. After doing this I'm thinking I'd prefer making my own. The music theme got me thinking what if I stamp some sheet music I have? Well I did just that and it turned out fantastic!

Step 1-stamp a piece of sheet music with whatever you prefer.
Step 2-I used TSUKINEKO Walnut Ink spray to give it an aged look.  Simply spray and blot to your preference.
Step 3-optional ball the paper up to help with the aged appearance.

That's it your done. I'm excited because I'll be able to use these in my mixed media projects and I can't wait. Give it a try!