Big purple flowers

Spray painting with stencils and objects has become my new obsession.
First, I sprayed a selection of keys.

Which was cool, but I wasn’t sure where I would go with this.
So I grabbed red paint and added a few hearts, but that seemed dumb so I made lots of hearts.

And the more I looked at this mass of hearts the more I saw big Dahila-type flowers.

And the finished result makes me ridiculously happy.

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keeping my balance

I have started my principal internship at the online high school I work for, along with additional classes for another degree. You’d think completing my master’s degree would be enough but then I realized I had a head start on this next step in my education since many of the classes I’ve taken apply to this degree. Plus, I wasn’t ready to pay back my loans yet

However, it’s a lot of work and if it wasn’t for my supportive husband, I couldn’t do it. This week as I find myself chained to a computer I get the feeling I will be clicking to my grave.
This painting started as a sketch of my pc mouse at work on a notepad.

As I started the painting I could imagine my mouse devouring me and adding some little teeth. It’s a bit darker than my normal and it really reminds me of a Frida Kahlo painting with lots of teeth.

The words around the edge “remember that technology is only a tool”.

A gentle reminder to unplug and take care of me a bit.

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Doodle Art Class Week 1

I discovered the free workshops offered by Strathmore Papers this month and signed up to take Traci Bautista’s “doodle’s unleashed” class. It’s very fun, it’s FREE, and it’s pushing me beyond my boundaries. As an artist, I have to paint something, some tangible thing. With this class I’m experimenting with different ways of making marks, creating/using stencils, and trying to let it “flow”.
Here is how my painting evolved.

Step 1: spray painting with liquid watercolor, then adding a few details.

-adding some red

-using oil pastels

-adding more details

-the finished painting

I am pretty happy with the final results, it did evolve into a flower with leaves which inspired me to add the words “bloom, grow”.

Week 2 is coming up!
There is still time to sign up for this free class!

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A year of the art journal

I finished my art journal that I had started last summer.
Here’s a quick look through my video.

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Farm Sketches

Had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving at the Farm with my family.
The view of the Tetons from their place.

My brother playing the upright base.

The chickens we love. All of us get a lot of enjoyment out of these girls.

From an old bird watching book.

The railroad tracks “in-town”.

My dad’s bluegrass group. Growing up, there was always music in our home. My dad playing, practicing with my grandma. My dad just got back into playing music a couple of years ago and it’s so wonderful to hear him again.

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November Journal

I finished up my last journal in December. Here are some of the pages from the end of November. I started out with one of these.

Then I altered it some. Here is the completed journal.

I’ve mentioned before that my journal is more than one thing, I use it for sketching, note taking, planned my research project with it, grocery list. etc..
My Mantra

Bamboo

Inspired by Diego Rivera- sort of.

A sketch of an idea for a Christmas gift for my husband documenting our first year.

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re-organizing priorities

It’s happened. My big art/craft table has been cleaned off and is being put to a new use.
No more will there be piles of projects waiting to be finished, brushes sitting nearby to use.

Now, it’s a work table, a place for all of my computer stuff, room to work on papers and read text books.

This felt a bit like a loss, as if I was closing the door on one part of my life to focus on another part of my life. As I cleaned and packed up I realized a few things:
* I have a hoarding problem, I don’t need intervention yet, but it’s a problem
* I have enough water color paper and journals to paint for years
* I have so much stuff I can’t hardly function in this space
* I have to focus on my graduate studies and family and something’s gotta give
* I have to create, make things

So, I have kept out a small case of essential supplies handy

Not only is it cute and vintage, but it’s just the right size to pack anywhere.

Inside I have my current journal, half pan water colors, caran crayons, pens, adhesive, brushes and pencils.

Let’s see how this works……

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journal pages

This book, is an art journal. Some times I feel the need to write about my life and sometimes I just need to paint.
As I work on my masters thesis which changed a week ago into a much bigger project I have had little time to create.
Here are some pages that I worked on a few weeks ago.

Always love poppies, waiting for mine to bloom.

Fascinated with bare trees, with the starkness of the dark tree against a muddy blue sky. This is also how I feel sometimes.

Another bare tree and bold flower. The two sides of my personality at times.

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A different kind of art journal

While trying to maintain my balance I am reminded constantly that I’m not a very coordinated person most of the time and I stumble and fall. One thing that has made me very happy is my “new” art journal.
Originally, a 50 cent book that smelled funky.

The title amused me, and I thought to actually use it’s ideas but that didn’t happen.
Last summer I ripped a few pages out of each signature, randomly stuck pages together with acrylic medium as part of my grand scheme to make a book about our summer. I randomly painted a few pages and ignored it for months.

Then this February I grabbed my new paint brush (from my sweet hubby who missed his wife who painted and was happy) and my small watercolor kit and started to paint in the book. Mostly doodles with paint but still it felt good to paint. As I played I tried watercolor painting on a gesso surfaced and this caused a big AHA! moment.
My method is to scrap a light layer of gesso on the book pages with a credit card (best use for those evil things!) and as I scrapped I let some of the text or images to show through. Very random.

Then I started drawing big flowers, thinking of bright colored hibiscus type of flowers. Added a lot of color, and then took a pencil that came in a big set of drawing pencils and it’s called “3b wash”. I found accidentally in another experiment that this pencil smeared and ran when it got wet. And these just made me incredibly happy!

Next page was a self portrait-sort of. I want spring, I want growing green things almost more than I want my statistics course to end!
So I thought of how happy I am digging in the dirt, how crazy excited I get when I spot the first crocus or tulip bit of green pushing through the soil, and my self portrait became something entirely else!

This page had some oppsy color drippage from my earlier experiments that were not covered very well by the gesso so the face is a bit odd, but again this makes me pretty happy.

And I have come to understand that I need to paint everyday, and that watercolor is really my preferred medium. Every morning I get up at 4:30 to study, do some homework and then I take a little time to paint in my book before I go get ready for work and get my family up and ready to head out the door.

What makes you happy? Remind yourself and try to fit it into your day if you can!

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hand bound book

So what can I do with a watercolor experiment that didn’t quite turn out to be the masterpiece I thought it would? Rip the pages down into a smaller book. In my last post I shared my Susan Cornelis inspired watercolors. I had used my favorite Arches watercolor paper and I have a very hard time not using every little scrap of that paper, or re-using it by painting on the back.
I decided that I would use some of these paintings in a handmade art journal.
First I ripped down the pages to the size I wanted, turned out that was approximately 3 x 4 inches give or take. I created my “signatures” in pairs and alternated folding the paintings so that there would be plain facing painted surface.

I found this roll of upholstery thread at my favorite thrift shop. It’s great for sewing book pages or for sewing buttons that you want to be able to hold up to a lot of use!

I am always experimenting with new ways of binding books. This time I thought I’d try making a book with a glued spine and glued the signatures in to the spine.

Finally finished it out with a bird button I’d been hoarding and a bit of twin to loop around for a closer.

In the end, I had a small cute journal that is just the right size for carrying in my purse. I’m not 100% with the binding part of the book, as some of the pages stuck together and it doesn’t lay flat like I’d like.
Now on to the next project!

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