Add Peace to the World

Work has totally wiped me out this week. I cannot remember it being this bad. Thank goodness for art. Art saves me, calms and grounds me, brings me back to me. Here are my last few days of art on an index card, most of which I did in the front seat of my car in the morning before I went in to work. You know it's never to late to join in the fun of creating art on an index card. You can go here to find out more. I am going share this with the folks over at Paint Party Friday to check out all the wonderful stuff they have been creating. I hope you've had a good week where ever you are.

Something Old

I've shared with you how I do art in the morning in the car before work. And I've mentioned my trials and tribulations about certain supplies that you cannot leave in your art bag in the car in certain weather conditions. For example you cannot leave water color crayons or glue in a hot car in the middle of the day here in Virginia in 90 degree weather. I have to think ahead about what supplies I want to bring according to what I want to work on. I found a really old box of Prisma color art sticks that was probably one of the first art supplies I ever bought and very rarely used. This box has to be at least 20 yrs old.Sorry the photo is slightly blurry, I tried them on an art journal page this morning, one that had already been gessoed with some early drawn faces. I smeared some art sticks all over the page and used a water brush. I pretty good substitute for water color crayons which would have melted somewhat in the car. I'm still working on these two. I'm having fun with all the layering. Lastly, here is another ICAD. A gessoed back ground with spray inks on top. Some doodling, a piece of recycled baby wipe, and a sticker. Pretty simple. It's called grab anything laying around your work space and cut it,glue it or throw it down on that index card. Almost one month through this ICAD challenge. I think I'm having more fun this year that previously, because I'm not taking my self too seriously. I'm just playing and having fun. You can too!

Playing and Working Hard

I have a few things to share with you. Still playing with art on index cards. Tammy Garcia hosts this challenge every day until the last day of July. You can still jump in and you can learn more about it here. Here are a couple more. Both were done pretty rapidly actually, making more mess in my already messy studio. Seriously, I hate to admit it. My studio is much like my house sometimes. I would rather be making messes in my studio than cleaning up messes in the rest of the house. It gets to a point and I cannot stand it and the mess becomes too distracting and I cannot focus. I think it's coming soon, like this weekend. The first one was made with acrylic glaze shimmering paints (from DreamingInColor.com and a few stencils. The second one is acrylic paint on top of gessoed stencils and a face was drawn with a water color pencil. I am also plugging a long with some art journaling pages, filling up an old sketchbook I turned in to an art journal. I add something every so often and those every so oftens add up. I can see my growth because the journal pages are mixed with old and more recent additions. I'm getting a bit better at drawing. Here are a few pages. And now I have a surprise. I've been working hard at my art and working hard to get this finished. While it's not finished, it's a good beginning. I am excited to show you my art like this. And this. And I love the way my art looks here. I want to buy them all. lolAnd lastly, If you'd like to check out more of my art please do go here. It would be wonderful to have your support if only to add your name to "+follow." Also, please do note that the cost of each item is not what goes in the artist pocket. In fact, it's only about 3% in most cases, maybe less that actually goes in mine. But, it's a pretty wonderful feeling seeing it out there in frames and other items. Please go there and check it out. This was a long one tonight. Thanks for sticking around. Thanks for supporting me with kind words. I'm linking today to the wonderful people and artists here. Happy Paint Party Friday!!

Dragging

I don't like this sudden change in weather. This heat is wiping me out. It was nearly 80 degrees on my way to work at 6:30 this morning and the heat index was over 100 by early afternoon. I guess I'm just not tolerating it very well this summer. Thank goodness for a bit of "manageable coolness" 30 minutes in my car before work to play with iCADs. By the time I am home from work I am totally wiped. Here are two more. Is it just me or are you having trouble with this heat as well? Thanks for stopping in.

The Heat is On!!

I know it's summer time but geesh, it was in the mid 90's here in Virginia today. Yuck!! Sometimes I wish I was back in the north. I have been very busy in preparation for my demo/possible workshop the same day at my local AC Moore store for mid July. I'll keep you posted on that. IN the meantime, this is short and sweet. I think it's the heat that's gotten to me today. I feel like my brain is fried. Here's a few ICADS which makes me caught up once again. Thanks for visiting. Where ever you are, I hope you are cool.

You Kept a Dream in Your Heart

"You kept a dream in your heart for a reason. Honor it by trying one more time." ~ author unknown I've had this quote on a post it note stuck to the mirror of my dresser for at least two years. It kind of got hidden, slipping down into the space between the mirror and the wood. I pulled it up and out. I am usually very good at writing down the author, but in this case, I'm sorry I do not know. I do know that it speaks to me and perhaps it does you, as well. I put it here. I used a "mish mash" of stuff on this page. I sprayed it. I used bits of mostly my own torn papers. I used some strips of home made washi tape that I had made on the gelli plate a while back. If you have no idea what I am talking about here it is. (basically) I took some clear packing tape and laid it on the painted gelli plate. I used the gelli plate as a canvas, painting and making marks, let it dry, (I think over night) and then slowly lifted the tape off to reveal whatever was on the plate. It sticks to the tape. I've used it in a lot of pieces of my art. Moving on to what is on the page. I cut out a heart from a piece of lined paper, I made marks obviously with markers and the scribbles are again, from my attempt at making acrylic skins with tulip paint. **************************************************************************************************************** Continuing on with the ICAD Challenge. So, the house card was made using a bunch of stickers from the .25 bin at AC Moore eons ago. So long ago I wasn't sure whether there was enough stickiness left. I didn't like the blue background so I cut the house out and put in on another card and then journaled a bit on the side. The next card was a gessoed background, acrylic paint, some stickers and pieces of stickers. If you look hard you will see the words music and the bow from the violin which is leaning up against the house of the previous card. I made it into a stand up bass instead of a violin. ha ha ha. I added a piece of a torn book page, and the grid lines were made from the bottom of a flip flop. The third card was made with a gelli plate background, a tag on top with some doodled flowers cut out and glued onto a water colored background. Some journaling. Whew!! I hope you are enjoying these mini canvases. And thank you so much for all your wonderful kind comments. It really feels good and keeps me coming back. Thanks for visiting here.......................xoxoxo Jo P.S I am linking this here (on Friday.)

Creative Wildfire

I found the book Creative Wildfire, by L.K.Ludwig on Amazon used, for next to nothing a long time ago and recently pulled it off my shelf because I needed some inspiration. It is a very basic book, an introduction to art journaling, with lots of very basic information and examples from various artists. The best part which I hadn't noticed when I first got the book (and then sort of forgot about) was in the back of the book, tucked in a flap of the back cover was a recycled blank journal, the left overs from the printing process. How sweet is that?! This is a page I did in that blank journal using some scraps laying on my table, doodling, acrylic skins, and some paint. I just played. And I am now caught up with ICADS as of today. Here are the next 5 icads. Thanks for stopping by.

ICADS #4 and 5 and Thinking about Christmas

Here's another ICAD. I scraped some gesso on a bunch of index cards last weekend and then scraped and made marks in to the gesso, then had some fun with some spray inks. I saw another little scene. I think I will add some birds. It's funny what things you see after you take the picture and upload it.I think why did I not see that before? And I've been thinking about Christmas. Not in a materialistic-let's-go- buy- gifts kind of way, but in my continuation of making home made ornaments. I want to make a bunch for my tree and for gifts, and I told myself I wasn't going to wait until the last minute this year. So, when ever I want to get rid of scraps and stuff, I get out my ornament box. Since I had some glitter out I made this ICAD. The tree was drawn on top of a painty piece of waxed paper which was glued down onto the index card. Thanks for visiting here.

Betsy Harting

About a year and a half ago I ran into Betsy Harting. I found the name Betsy Harting on some one else's blog list one day while surfing. I went to her blog but I wasn't convinced that it was the same Betsy Harting I'd been in college with back in 1975. (I am dating myself here). I studied her profile picture. Still not convinced. I thought the only way I could be sure was to go back to the beginning of her blog postings and sure enough there was mention of where she had gone to college. I immediately emailed her and we have kept in touch ever since. We shared our love of dance and choreography in college, and to discover each other many years later, both doing art and both having a blog, was pretty cool. I found a small 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 envelope from Moleskine, the kind that has a flap and three pages so you can close it up like a little journal. Perfect for mail art. I started it and sent it to her. I think we floated it back and forth for about 6 mos or more. Seriously, I don't recall but it has arrived back to me, as we have decided it is done. This is the product of our mini collaboration.Here is the front and back cover. I didn't remember to take photos every step of the way but I did get a few. The best part of it was the anticipation of it's arrival and opening it up to see each other's additions. Great fun! Good stuff. Thank you, Betsy! You can see more of Betsy's wonderful art here. Thanks for stopping in. More of ICAD in the days to come.

Icad #3

I'm having fun!! Are you?

ICAD CHALLENGE 2014

The ICAD challenge began again yesterday June 1st and will continue until July 31st. This is my third year participating. The very inspirational and creative host, Tammy Garcia, has lots of ideas and prompts to get your juices flowing if need be. It's totally optional to do them. Do check it out here and do come and join the fun. Seriously, all you need is some index cards and what ever else you want to put on them. Anything goes. Well, almost anything. As long as it's clean. Here are my first two days of art on an index card. I have some other things to share with you tomorrow along with icad #3. Thanks for visiting here.