A Little Bit of Spring

Strange that 3-4 days ago we had a sleet/ice storm and a little more than a week ago we had nearly 10 inches of snow. Today it was nearly 70 degrees. Feels a bit like spring but I know it's not quite here yet. At least that's my prediction. I think it's a big tease. But this also makes me feel like a bit of spring. How is it in your part of the world? Has spring arrived? Thanks for stopping by.

Waiting for Spring

We are at the tail end of a snow storm here in Virginia. More like an ice storm. Driving home from work this afternoon was not fun. I was grateful to finally see my driveway. I am sure I am not alone in my wanting and waiting for spring. I hope you are safe and warm. Tomorrow I will share the rest of my Lifebook project. Thanks for visiting.

Happy Paint Party Friday

I am continuing to journal in the car in the mornings before work. Yes, I am crazy with my in-the-car- art bag which right now contains the Moleskine journal, a plastic box with Neocolor water color crayons, a water brush. a glue stick, scissors, an an assortment of paper for collaging. I can easily lay down some color on a page or two and leave it on the front seat to dry. A woman's got her art on when she can and I do it best first thing in the morning and since I have to get to work early in order to get a decent parking spot, why not have art with my coffee before work? It makes it easier for me to start my work day... It's been a heckova work week. I'm so glad it's Friday. I'm going to visit Paint Party Friday since I've not been there for a couple of weeks. I hope your week has been ok. Thanks for stopping in.

Moleskine Mornings

I've been working in a larger Moleskine journal in the mornings in the car before work. I have to arrive at my work place nearly 45 minutes before I actually start in order to find a decent parking spot so I take advantage of the time by bringing my breakfast, coffee and some art supplies with me. It's pretty amazing how much you can do in that amount of time five days a week. It also makes me feel better by creating something before I start my rat race of a work day, which seems to suck more out of me lately. I have pre-gesso-ed the pages a head of time and mostly have been spreading the color on with the Caran d'Ache neocolor 2 water color crayons. I've journaled a little bit each morning and then sometimes in the evening or on the weekends will add more marks and doodles with paint markers or bits of collage. I can be working on a couple of spreads at a time. Here's a couple of close ups. I'm sharing this with the good people over at the party. If you haven't already, do check this site out. It's full of wonderful, creative "stuff." I am looking forward to another couple of hours teaching a mixed media workshop at my local AC Moore store tomorrow. I wish you a peaceful, creative weekend. Thanks for visiting here.

Moleskine Moment On A Paint Party Friday

About 3 or 4 years ago I bought this nice Moleskine journal. I never used it because I was afraid I'd mess up the pages. :) I am braver now. I am reminding myself that I came to this blog to play and make messes. The temperature is cooler now. I can leave watercolor crayons in the car while I'm at work and they won't melt. Yes, I am crazy enough to create art in the car in the mornings before work. I have been doing this for the last several years and it really makes a big difference on how I start my work day. So, I've begun playing in this journal. I gesso-ed some pages ahead of time( not in the car. lol ) and then enjoyed scribbling with water color crayons. I can spread the color on one page and while that's drying I can do some journaling on another page. I also tried a transfer.(not in the car.) A photo of my grandmother. I'm determined to get better at this and I know there are a few techniques out there. Still, not too bad for my first attempt. Tomorrow I am looking forward to teaching another work shop at my local arts and craft store. I have decided to redesign the workshop and change the description of the class from Art Journaling to Mixed Media. I say this because I am sharing so many techniques, tricks, ideas etc. that can be used in other areas of art, like altered books, gelli plate, deli paper, working with Citra Solv, and the list goes on. In other words it's not just art journaling. It's everything and anything and what I have decided is that some people may shy away from an art journaling class because they don't like to journal or they think they cannot "do art." I am hoping if I reword the class description it may spark some people's interest enough to give it a try. I am having a really good time with some very creative women and I want the class to keep on growing. I hope you've had a good week and that you have an art filled, peaceful weekend. I am sharing this with some very awesome, creative people over here so go and check it out. I appreciate your taking the time to leave a comment. Thanks for visiting.

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.

Art or Doodling?

Before I started my blog in 2009 I had been doing what I called doodling. I don't know whether it's because I didn't have the nerve to call myself an artist, didn't consider what I was doing as "art" or a bit of both. I didn't have a lot of art supplies and I thought 5 x 7 Moleskine journals were pretty cool. I wasn't even doing art in the car in the mornings at that time. I was playing and playing through a lot of emotional pain at the time. Art was my friend. I needed to keep showing up to meet up with art. Talk about mindless, doodling. But so much fun. I started to buy some gel pens and markers. Then I started to get strange, like "extra galactic," wierd stuff, or so I thought. Then I went back to black and white where you can see my beginnings of trees and buildings start to appear. Sorry one of them is very blurry. In my thinking about this art and doodling, I see that my doodling or what I saw as doodling then, shows up in my art work now. You know how everyone is always saying to keep a sketchbook or journal? This is the place you doodle your thoughts and ideas. I guess these are mine. Recently I purchased Dawn DeVries Sokol's book Art Doodle Love. I must admit I was drawn to the colorful pages with prompts and or suggestions for playing, doodling, and although I've only worked on one of the pages, I've traded in my morning faces for morning doodles this week in the car. The prompt was to fill in the colored areas with a doodle of anything each day for a week. Here's what I have done. I have a feeling I will enjoy playing in and with this book. Thanks for visiting....................................................................................................jo