Saturday's Art Journaling Workshop

Another fun couple of hours at AC Moore this past Saturday. I just love to watch people at work and having fun creating art. My daughter has not created art with me since she was a little girl until that day and she brought her boyfriend's sister with her so it was even more special. They both told me they really enjoyed it. I had us start with a warm up again like last week. I wanted us all to loosen up. We filled a piece of cardstock again with chosen images that were in the middle of the tables. Then they were asked to scribble, journal anything that made them smile on top of the images. Then paint and gesso were added. Then more doodling on top of that. Then I asked them to cut a big heart or lots of hearts from that and use it in or on the front cover of their journals. I've been working on the pages of an old photo album that I'm recycling in to an art journal. I'm not sure I have the arms right yet; I must have reworked them half a dozen times but I think it's looking better. Thanks for all your wonderful comments on Paint Party Friday. I appreciate them so much. Hope you had a good weekend. It was really hard getting out the door for work this morning after being off last week. No more late night trips to the freezer for ice cream. Thanks for visiting here.

Happy Paint Party Friday

Ok. So. I got this really cool mail art today in the mail. It's from my talented and witty friend Robin who hangs out over here.Even though I got a couple of bills in today's mail, it didn't seems quite as painful because of this happy mail art. How sweet is that?! Wouldn't it be great to get a piece of mail art every time we got a bill? I've been busy with a bunch of things the last several weeks. I discovered how to recycle 3 ring binders by watching a bunch of vids on Utube.(of course.) I just happened to have a few binders laying around my house. Basically you cut the vinyl off the front and back with box cutters and take out the book board and put it back together. I also cut the width down so it wouldn't look so much like a binder anymore. After I finished the masking tape layering I slathered the tape with matte medium. I am looking forward to working on the covers even before I get to the insides. Moving on.... Remember these that I did about a year ago? and These were made with distressing National Geographics with Citra Solv. So, I thought they would look pretty cool here. Well, you get the idea. You can see more of my work here Today I also want to show you my latest art on wood. Acrylic paint and collage and jewelry, specifically one lone earring. I think it looks kind of "folk arty," and I might have to try putting this on a tote bag or pillow as well. Lastly, remember all those ICADS I did in June and July? I altered a little book with ICADS for my daughter for her 23rd birthday which was on the 21st. MY daughter is coming to my art journaling workshop tomorrow at AC Moore, so I'm kind of tickled. I'm sorry about the lengthy post. Whew! I had a lot to share with you. Thank you Robin, for thinking of me and thank you for stopping by. I am headed over to the party where there's a bunch of really great folks as well as wonderful, awesome art. Hope you have a good weekend.

The Question of the Day

I am on vacation from work this week.....My job requires that leave time be requested a year ahead of time. How was I to know they would begin building a recycling center right around the corner from my house this month which required putting in a new sewer system.............. right in front of my house?? The noise became more noisy throughout the day. Tuesday morning I got up and made myself breakfast. An egg sandwich on toasted Italian bread with turkey bacon. I don't normally eat this for breakfast, however this was the last meal I was going to have over the next 24 hours. What I was preparing myself for was this. After I ate my sandwich like it was my last meal on earth. I read that I would not be eating any more solid food until after my procedure. I analyzed this. I could get a whopping headache from not eating, I could even become hypoglycemic. I quickly decided on one more thing. Protein. More carbs. Without going in to to much more discussion about this wonderful ordeal, let's just say that by the time my daughter picked me up this morning to take me to the hospital for this procedure, I was pretty headachey and had an attack of the "gleecies" (I made that word up.) I got prepped,answered a bunch of questions including what color was my last BM, (like I really wanted to know, I told her I hadn't looked.) the IV in place, and waited for the nurse to come and get me. I discovered that I'd been watching too many reruns of HOUSE and Grey's Anatomy. I was becoming anxious so I asked the nurse for a pen and paper to keep my mind off of things which were now consuming my thoughts. Once wheeled in to the procedure room, the nurse then proceeded to ask me some more questions, followed by the doctor, followed by the now standard "Time Out" questions which I answered and then I held up the clip board and asked her jokingly, "What color was YOUR BM this morning?" She asked me if I was ready for the happy medicine I said I was. My daughter has gotten a real kick out of informing me how many times I asked her if she had to work today on the ride home. I had no recollection of getting dressed after the procedure. Nor do I have any memory of my asking her to take us to the Thai restaurant for take out chicken pad thai, or that I also insisted on going to Chipotle for a burrito bowl and having her repeat back to me what I wanted. I did all this? I said all that? I asked you this?? I laughed so hard because she was laughing so hard while pretending to be me. This is my daughter who wants to go to nursing school and who will be 23 years old tomorrow. God I love her! It's 10pm right now. I am happy to report that I will not needing to do this again for another 10 years. I am hoping the bulldozers and all the other hard hats will move up the street allowing me to get at least a couple more days of quiet. I've had enough rumbling for awhile.

Two Hour Mess

Although there were only two participants in the two hour art journaling workshop I led at my local AC Moore this past Saturday, I still had a lot of fun with two very creative women. I had us start with a warm up exercise. I spread out two bags of magazine images on the table and in about 5 minutes we were to glue down images or pieces of images that we chose. The idea was to work fast without too much planning or thinking. Glue sticks instead of neatly pasting with Mod Podge. Next I got out markers. We wrote fast, scribbled anything that came to mind for the next 5 minutes. Yes. Do it on top of the images. Next we painted and gessoed over writing and images, leaving what we wanted. Again, in about 5 minutes. ok. maybe a few more because we didn't really like some of what we painted. Our inner critic started to step in and tell us we had made ugly messes. We persevered.After drying with a heating tool, it was time for another 5 minutes of doodling with markers or pens on top of what we had done. Are we going to do something with this? they asked. Yes, I said. I want us to find an area on our paper that we like and trace the lid of the yogurt container. Cut it out so we can use it as part of the cover for our journal. I had a wonderful time making art with two special women. We laughed a lot, we shared ideas, tried each other's paint and stencils. I couldn't think of a finer way to spend a couple of hours. Thank you Faye and Marion!! ** Participants have given permission to have their art shared here.

Gelli and Deli Printing

So I've been having fun with more printing on the Gelli plate on plain card stock and deli paper. It's very easy to get on a roll with this process. I have no problem creating big piles of prints. I am using some of them on the inside page of the journals I have made for my art journaling workshops at AC Moore, and some for collage in my own journals. I love how some of them really look on deli paper. Some journals for the workshop. I think I may have a few more people for this Saturday's workshop than previously. I'm excited and hope to be able to show you some pictures next time. Here's using the deli paper on my journal page. Hope you're having a good week. Thanks for visiting.................

Two Years Ago

I have been really busy with my normal work week, working overtime a couple of Saturdays, planning for 3 more art journaling workshops the last three Saturdays in this month.I am really tired but am excited because I've had people call me and inquire about the workshops. I've gotten some good response which feels very good. I have still managed to find time to play some. I always will have time for art because I will always make time for art as long as I can breathe and see. That's what keeps me sane, keeps me getting up in the morning to go to a job I no longer want to get up for. If I couldn't do art I would be pretty miserable. I have some new things to show you but they're kind of all in the "in progress "stage, so I'll show you this today instead. I was looking through my photo folders this evening and found something I did two years ago on this date. I think I had just gotten some new pan pastels and really had no idea how to use them. I think I was trying to figure out what else to put on the acrylic painted pages. After not seeing it for a couple of years, I rather like it. I find it so interesting to see how my art has changed over the years. As I have changed it reflects what has transpired inside me. I can tell sometimes by looking at the photograph what was going on inside my head, or in my life at that moment often by whether the table on which the art work sat was cluttered or tidied up. Whether I had a lot of internal chaos or whether I was calm. It is not so surprising but interesting. And we all know that life is often very messy. Sometimes good things come from messes. Thanks for stopping in. I hope you are well and finding joy in making messes.

Move Over ICADS. Here Comes Deli Paper

Having finished for now with the ICAD challenge after 61 days of art on an index card I am playing more with deli paper. I am enjoying the first layer of color. Here's a few pages. Happy Paint Party Friday!! It's a great place to visit on a Friday night. Thanks for visiting.