Many faces

I love Friday afternoons! It's the time to relax and have fun. I opened my journal and looked for inspiration on the LostLuggage blog. Julie just finished her art journal tutorial, and I decided to follow her directions and see what I come up with. Here is the page with random papers glued on. I knew from the start that I wanted the cute babies to peek through layers of paint.
Next came paint layers. Why I chose magenta and burnt sienna - I don't know . Doesn't it look like a mess?Dry brushed white paint toned it down a little...
Walnut ink gave it warmth... I use stencils often, but never used spray paint with them. What a difference! I clean, crisp look over the messy paint. I love it! I have added some gold webbing spray too. And instead of scalloped border - a border of cut triangles.This is the moment when Norah's sisters (a very simplified version) decided to visit. I printed little faces from my other pages and used a little circle punch.
Some pencil scribblings, borrowed words and I call it finished.
Julie gave me this award, for which I'm thankful and I return it right back to her. Pick any blog from my right side - they are all excellent. I'll add another favorite, super-excellent blog that I don't have on my side bar (and I really should put it there) - The Sunny Raw Kitchen. If you ever think of raw vegan food as boring carrots and celery sticks - this blog will change your opinion. Pure healthy food art.
Have a happy weekend!

Art is your personal diary

Art is your personal diary
where you may color
your thoughts and emotions
on a page.

Janet opened an etsy shop! Sharon has new, beautiful stuff in her etsy shop! Julie is posting wonderful tutorials about art journaling this whole week! Just wanted to share...

All work, no play

Sometimes work eats up all hours in the day. My best intention to create something gets lost. I have a strong desire to make a journal or ACEO holder or jewelry or something with clay or fabric... or paint a girl with square pink cheeks... It didn't happen today.
I promised to share whatever I make during the day, so that's what I'm doing. Is it art? No.... But she's the only thing I doodled today and I think she's funny.

Adorable birds

My friend Connie surprised me with a lovely bird stencil. It is one of the things that I wanted, but didn't buy on the stamp convention. I used it with molding paste and got a lovely 3D effect. I tried to show it in the photo, but don't think I succeeded. Anyway... thank you Connie! Love the stencil and I'm sure that I'll be using it a lot.

Wanting, waiting, longing...

We are expecting a huge storm, wind, rain.... like we didn't have enough. I need to feel the sun. Can't wait for spring. That's were the inspiration for today's journal page came from.

ATCs

It's been a long time since I made an ATC or used vintage photos. The amount of mess I make creating these little pieces always amazes me. I'll have to clean up my area if I want to play tomorrow.
P.S. Thank you so much for the comments about the lady and roses. Unfortunately, I had to turn back the annoying verification letters in comments because I've been receiving several spam comments every day (including ones with a link to viruses - than you Rebecca for warning me).

Silent lady #2

I felt like painting roses. So I did. But the lady is still not talking... Pretty unusual for my pages not to have words, but I have no ideas... so that's how it will stay for now. If you have any words, any wise thoughts - please drop me a note and help me out. xo

Silent lady

I thought I never painted a girl with black hair, but I was wrong. When I looked through my journal I found this black-haired funny person. More things will happen on this page, but I don't know what she wants to say yet...
Here are some details... showing off my new background stamps :-)

Sketching faces

I decided to bring back art to my everyday life and I plan to share whatever I make. I don't have any expectations... I just want to relax with my art toys (instead of chocolate).
My 'creation' of the day are these sketches. I was waiting for Hana at the hairdresser and pulled out the moleskin from my bag. I always have it with me. That way I know that I can't be bored - ever. There is always something to write or draw. Today I first wrote two pages of random thoughts, cleared my mind and then sketched some faces from the hair magazines. Not very good, but they may find a place in my journal one of these days.

Happy day!

Finally a happy page to replace the sad horse! Happy page after a happy day! My friend Connie and I went to something called "Rubber stamp and paper arts festival". We were like kids in a candy store! I only bought three background rubber stamps and some inks and thought I'd save my money, but then I went to Stamp Zia's stand. Zana Clark was kind to demonstrate her products.... and it was just the spark of inspiration I needed. She works fast, uses a lot of color, tricks for background texture... and it is all happy and wonderful. Needless to say - I spent more than time on that stand.

Look what I found:

My name in Teesha Moore's "Art&Life" magazine!!! Long time ago I submitted some rubber stamp designs and they were not chosen... so imagine my surprise when I saw my 'letter' that accompanied the designs in the magazine! Who would have guessed that something that I quickly put together on a piece of brown paper bag will be published there...

It left me smilling.

Restrained

Although I adore horses I never tried to sketch or paint one. But this is the day when I had to. I was given a number and it was explained to me how to use an ugly, old, square machine. I will have to punch in my number not only when I come to work and leave, but also tell it what I'm doing, for how long, when I'm doing something else... I understand that it is not (only) to control me, but to help them see the amount of time that's spent on each project so that they know how much to bill the clients. But..... I immediately had a picture of a wild horse that someone is trying to tie down and I hate that. The picture didn't leave my mind, so I had to try and paint a sad horse in my journal.

Evolution of a journal page

I never give up on my journal pages... even when they begin tragically like this one. I started this page last Friday after work. I felt very happy that the week was over and wanted to paint a happy face. In some strange way it turned out to be a lady from the purple hat society... Not what I wanted.
A layer of gesso took care of her... but the girl that emerged wasn't what I imagined either. I thought that the background is wrong, so I changed it. It wasn't that; everything was wrong... I started cutting papers that were laying around, stamping, painting some more... Not the best page, but good enough to stay in the journal. Best of all - it's not the page that counts, it's the process, the time I spent lost in the world of colors, texture and all the good stuff.
Do you see the crackled detail on the page? I don't shop often for supplies (I have enough), but I had to go to a scrapbook store to buy 'Artful Blogger' (to look at Sharon's pages and Janet's lady) and I saw this product. Maybe you all know about it.... and maybe it's not that great... but I bought a bottle and found it fun to use. It dries fairly quickly and gives an interesting layer to a page.

Playing art with Norah

It's no secret that I am constantly inspired by Sharon's creations, but what she came up with yesterday surprised even me. She invited me to a Saturday long distance art party! Her idea was that we should draw and paint with our non-dominant hand and send the progress pictures over the day to one another. I write with my right hand, but draw and paint only with my left, so sketching with my right hand felt weird. If sketching with my right hand felt unusual, holding a paint brush was even worse. I felt like I was trying to stab the paper... After seeing napkin that Norah used I decided to use a different part of the same napkin. Just to show how we can use the same thing and get completely different results. Laying the base color and stamping a little over it wasn't too difficult.
Actual painting was a challenge. For me everything was opposite. I mostly use an angle brush when I paint, so holding it in my right hand made everything feel like it's upside down. The angles, the sides that I paint first... Sharon kept sending me her progress pictures and reminding me "no expectations". That helped.
This is the moment when I decided I didn't like anything about my painting, so I grabbed some colored papers from my stash. I changed completely the background and added the little bird.
Sooner or later I had to attack the eyes... I took my tiny brush and started messing up the eyes... The only way I could do it was to take the paper off of the watercolor block and turn it around and around, allowing my left (dominant) hand to guide the paper for my right (scared) hand that was holding the brush. Is that cheating? I hope not.
I didn't do much shading on the face. I just couldn't. I need to have good control of my brush to blend it exactly as I want it and it just wasn't possible with my right hand. Maybe I'll be braver next time. I'm actually amazed that I was able to create anything with the opposite hand. Here is the final photo. I used some watersoluble crayons, added the words (At first we hope too much. Later on, not enough) and called it finished.This was so much fun! I am ever so thankful to my bbff for waking me up from my art sleep. I hope she inspired you too to try something unusual... Check out the masterpiece she created and look for the new Artful Blogging magazine for 6 lovely pages of her art.