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.