Recycled Paper Towels

Yesterday I showed you this and this and this old painty paper towel that had been painted with diluted glue. Can you see it now on both pieces? It was just begging to be used. oops! I think I just uploaded the same picture twice. Oh well. I think I am in love with this Tulip dimensional paint.I like the scribbling look. I like the really thin tips and they come in many colors. Stay tuned for more. Thanks for coming by. ****************************************** I am going to pop over to here on Friday because there's so much good stuff going on.

Playing

I started playing.......... on water color paper..... just playing with collage and paint and not trying to plan anything........ It kind of made me want to move to a canvas. Both are in progress. Did you know that if you coat used paper towels and or baby wipes with diluted glue they become a kind of canvas? I took some used old painty baby wipes and saturated them with diluted Mod Podge. I saturated them on each side and then folded them in half and saturated them again and let them dry on a piece of waxed paper. I did the same with a used painty piece of paper towel. Amazing how strong they become when coated with glue. I have used painty wipes and paper towels glued down to a page for background art journaling, but not by themselves. I might have to make a little book with the baby wipes. Thanks for stopping by.

Another Garage Side Collaborative

A couple of years ago MY MAN and I brought home a couple of pieces of plywood from Home Depot. We tacked them to the side of the garage. We went back and forth each on our own pieces and then switched. After several days this is what came out of that. With some editing and cropping we got this. I should stop and tell you that MY MAN had never picked up a paint brush since he was in grade school. I think he figured if he was going to spend some time with me he might want to join me in my creative endeavors. I came home one day and discovered he had painted a light switch. I think I knew I was in trouble. This giant collage is 6 feet by 20 inches hangs in the corner of the den. Here are some pictures of that first piece we dared to do together. Because the piece is so large and the corner of the room is dark, and I wanted to show you the piece in its entirety, I had to do some editing with my not so great Sony digital. Here are some better close ups of part of the piece. We called this piece I Hear it When it Breathes. The weather this weekend was perfect for throwing some paint down again... outside. And while we don't have the van anymore to bring home large pieces of plywood, we made do with a smaller piece. Again, we went back and forth. I won't bore you with every single picture but I did take a few good shots of how it changed in a matter of two days. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out. I hope I didn't bore you with this long post. Thanks for visiting.

Making an Art Journal About Making an Art Journal......... and Art = Happy

A few days ago I wrote about how I'd gone in to my local arts and craft store and talked with them about teaching an art journaling class. I thought if I made an art journal about making an art journal that I could leave in the store maybe it would spark some interest. I pretty much finished it this weekend except for a few minor details. I tried to describe and show basics, thereby keeping it as simple as possible. Here are some pictures of the journal I am going to offer others to view and hold. I hope I've captured or sparked some ideas or interest to those who might pick up this little journal. I'm supposed to have "demo time" in the store where people may come in to see what is being created. I have several already begun journals where they can come in an add to or begin one of their own. If they are interested they can sign up for the class. What do you think? Please leave me your thoughts and/or suggestions.

Project 52- #11-15

I decided this year to create a piece of art on a playing card once a week for the year. I got the idea from Seth Apter who offers a workshop called 52 Card Pickup, which always intrigues me when ever I see his teaching schedule. Perhaps one day, I might get to take his class, but for now, I'm creating my own little canvases. Here are 5 more. I think it can be challenging to work on something small. I mean it is smaller than an index card. Ok. I think it is the size of an artist trading card. exactly. It is a good way to use up scraps or what ever is laying on your work table or on the floor. I can't remember when it was last that I actually vacuumed the floor of my studio. How about you? Are you working on a weekly project for a year?

Forever Is Composed of Nows. ~ Emily Dickinson

This piece is a result of Danielle Daniel's class over at Lifebook 2014. called Honoring your Inner World. Another reminder to stop and slow down and breathe. These weekly postings really come up quickly but so far I've managed to stay up on most of them. I think the colors in this piece are different for me. I didn't think too much about it, but tried to just let the background become itself. I I like the pose of the woman. It reminds me to breathe and calm when I look at her. And this one was inspired by Traci Bautista, who is full of "grafitti glam." Seriously, I like her style. She is big on mark making using things you find around your house kind of tools. I had fun with this and these are my colors. Thanks for stopping by.

Being Brave at A.C.Moore

About a month ago I walked in to my local A.C. Moore (previously Ben Franklin) store armed with a bag full of some of my art and several art journals. I spoke with the manager about the fact that I had been a long time customer and was also an artist. I noted that they did not have any class offering anything having to do with art journaling and that I was very interested in teaching. He did not know anything about it so in a matter of 5 minutes before he could get away, I stood there quickly showing him the contents of my bag. His eyes lit up. He went to talk with the woman who handled the teaching schedule, came back and told me she would meet with me at another time. I had a nearly 45 minute meeting with her the following week. She too, was very interested, looking at my art, art journals and listening to my ideas. And then she said this. Getting people to sign up is going to be tough. The only class that's ever full here is the painting class. I just want you to know that it could be very disappointing as you may not have anyone sign up or even know how many people may show up until the very last minute. We cannot keep teachers here. Hmmmm. It would be good for people to see a demo of how to make an art journal, or be invited to participate as they see an art journal being made. Could you leave some of your art journals in the store so they could see what you have done? Hmmm. No, I am not willing to leave my journals in the store unless they are secured from people walking off with them (and they are not and they do, I am told) so I am beginning an art journal on how to create a simple art journal that I would be willing to leave in the store in hopes of sparking people's interest. I would really like to see this get off the ground. I think I would love teaching. So, here's to my being brave and venturing out. If no one signs up I can't say I didn't try. Please send good karma and cross your fingers and toes. Here's a few beginning pictures of a simple how to make an art journal using a manila envelope and card stock. I don't know how more simple it can get. It is my hope to have one at each end of the store and some journals already prepped for the live demo, in hopes that I can invite any passerbys to come in and start filling them up. I will have some basic art supplies, ephemera etc out on the table. Hopefully , I will create and attract a happy creative mess, where they will want to stay or sign up for a class. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for dropping by.

The Time for Singing ...................

The Time for Singing of Birds is come.............. ~Song of Solomon I received some lovely flowers from my daughter on Mother's Day. She knows my favorite color palette so well. Are those not gorgeous? I went to work on Monday morning and left three hours later with a fever and generally feeling like you know what. Paid my doctor a visit, came home with a Z pack, and crashed. That I didn't do any art for 2 days told me I really wasn't feeling well. Today is the first day I feel I am on the mend. I'm showing you the last two pages of my Smash Book Overhaul. It's time to lay it down and close the cover..... for now. I pasted down an index card on top of a pretty "grunged up" painted page. A catch- all piece of waxed paper was pasted down on the index card with home made stenciling. The bird on top of that. I think I was really in to red the night I did that page. I found some torn red paper from a home decor magazine and managed to catch the light on the glossy while photographing this page. (Not my intention.) Speaking of index card. It's nearly time for The ICAD challenge again. For those who have been following my blog for a while you may remember my participation in creating art on an index card for 60 days. This will be the third year for me, and while I am usually pretty enthusiastic in the beginning, I often go through a whiny stage of "Why did I commit to doing this?," because I know I will not be ok if I start it and do not finish it. I remember that I can cut myself some slack. It's ok. I can catch up. It's just a simple index card. Create something on an index card for 2 months. Sometimes you want to follow the prompts. Sometimes you don't. For me, this is an exercise for seeing something through. Of committing, of showing up. I cannot tell you how many of my ICADS I really liked and were the inspiration for something larger. There were also plenty I didn't like at all. Here is what one month of last year's ICADS looked like. In the end I am glad I have participated in this challenge. It gets my juices flowing and if I have created no other art every day but this, it's good. Check it out. The last page of my overhauled Smash Book is yet another grunged- up -paint- on- top -of- paint-page with my own art photocopied and cut up. Lot's of black paint speckles and some miscellaneous doodling. Thanks for coming on this ride with me. It feels good to have finished it. So, here's the front cover again. And the back. Talk abut a very old attempt at a face... more like an alien. But it's mine. And look how far I've come. Isn't it funny to look back at the early stuff you did? I've come to the end but I will not stop. Thank you also for so many supportive comments. I am joining the party here and here

Breathe and Plant A Garden

Ok. So, I am nearing the end of this Smash Book Overhaul. I don't often show myself in my art. I notice a lot of artists do and they take a lot of selfies. I'm not there yet. The "breathe" page I actually was petting my dog Buddy but somehow he got cut out of the picture when photocopied so I had to replace him with something. lol. a flower. Some washi tape, a partial picture of my cat Lucy, some torn paper of my art, and some art journaling. I kind of like this page because I look relaxed, like I AM breathing, which I probably need to remind myself to do more. Plant a Garden has pieces of paper distressed with citrasolv and more pieces of my torn art, some international newspaper, doodling with paint markers, and some journaling. I have a couple of pages left I feel that are worth sharing, but I'll save them for next week. I hope you've enjoyed my ride in this making this smash book my own art journal. IN case you don't know the story behind this, I found this Smash Book in my local arts/crafts store two years ago. It kind of reminds me of the pre scrap book era (although I've never been a scrap booker). I bought it for it's durable paper and a few interesting prompts. Mostly, I just had a lot of fun with it, making it my go to book while watching Netflix. I am sharing this hereand here If you haven't checked these places out, come and join the fun and or just have fun looking around. There's so much "good stuff." Thanks for visiting.

Coming Down the Home Stretch............ The Smash Book Overhaul

I'm continuing to show you my "Smash Book" that I bought in my local art store two years ago. I liked the sturdy pages, some already containing some interesting prompts.I began to "overhaul" it, mostly while watching Netflix. I was also just beginning to draw faces so this was a place to play and experiment. The woman with the egg shaped face and the skinny neck was drawn on top of an already used piece of waxed paper. This was before I knew about using deli paper. Waxed paper seem to offer some interesting texture and marks especially when full of old paint and anything else. In the next one I was playing. Playing with crayon and then painting on top, and just plain doodling, scribbling, stamping, making fun messes, and playing with faces. And the last duo are drawn on top of layers of paint and here you can see the beginnings of the stamps I carved along the upper and side borders. So, that's it for now. There's a few more pages yet to show you for another day. Thanks for visiting. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. It means a lot.