Be Nobody But Yourself

I am continuing to play in this Moleskine Journal, sometimes in the car in the morning before work. If I have laid down some gesso in the background at home, I can spread some color on with some water color crayons with a water brush or a baby wipe in the front seat of the car. Baby wipes are great for spreading larger surfaces quickly. When that baby wipe is full of color and when it dries I can also use that somewhere. I begin some journaling and eventually something will come to me that I want to collage. I find myself still drawn to using faces in my journaling, so this one came out of altering a face from a fashion magazine and the gown came from yet another magazine. I love recreating an entire new character. Call it my love of costume design in college or making paper dolls as a child. Maybe both. Day by day along with some brief journaling, a bit more drawing with watercolor crayons, doodling with paint markers and the page is full. I like it. And I am a firm believer that one should always be oneself all the time, not only in art. I am joining the party. You are invited!! Thanks for stopping by. Happy New Year!!

Art On A Tile

A couple of posts ago I showed you this. I collaged strips of painted deli paper and then doodled with paint markers to finish it off. I did another one this weekend and tried my best to document the process. The photography is mostly done in the evening so the lighting is not great but ok. These tiles are ones that were left in a closet when I moved in to my house about 10 yrs ago. I first coated them with gesso because of the tile being very glossy. I gathered pieces of deli paper that I had done on the gelli plate and started playing, tearing and glued them down with matte medium. Until I arrived at this. I don't like this one nearly as much as the first one, I think because the paper is not distressed enough. It doesn't have that blended look. It's not what I was after but it's what I ended up with. Still was fun. I think I will try painting more on the tile first and then perhaps add some collage. I've got about 10-12 more tiles to play with. It's nearly time to start collaging the pumpkins. Thanks for stopping by.

An Accordion Book Giveaway

I took a piece of watercolor paper and cut it in half and made two little accordion books. I covered the paper with pieces of torn paper, maps, journaled and old book pages, tissue and music paper. I used joint compound with a stencil to give it more of a raised effect. Joint compound is a lot cheaper than heavy gesso and it goes a lot further. I sprayed the paper with several spray inks, added a homemade stamp, washi tape and doodled with some paint markers and gel pens. Here's the backside of one of them. Here is another one. and again, the backside. Can you tell I love these colors or should I say this color combination? So I'm thinking that since I am approaching the 3/4 mark on my blog in terms of followers, I am going to give away one of these accordion books. I will give the 75th person that joins to follow my blog here and goes here me one of these books. Please send me comment with your snail mail address if you are the 75th person. I will mail internationally if you like/want the book. I haven't been to the party for several weeks so I'm headed over there. If you haven't been there do check it out. You'll find wonderful art and community. One more thing I wanted to share. Look what sweetness I got in the mail recently from "Fuzzie Fingers" in the United Kingdom. I love the card and her art. You can see more of it by going to the party. Thanks for stopping by.

Stupid People and Other Stuff

One thing that really irks me, no, angers me, is people that don't care for their animals. Perhaps it's all in the way they were raised, that it's ok to have your dogs chained up all day long out in the blazing 90 heat and without water. I have new neighbors. They have two dogs. I have never seen these dogs drink much less get any attention. It's been hard to adjust to going outside my backdoor and getting barked at. I hear them whining and whimpering late at night. I feel very sorry for them and angry at these stupid people that now live too close to me. I want to call the County officials and report them but others have told me that unless I can witness abuse to the animal nothing can be done. I find that hard to believe. I am going try because it's just really getting to me. I believe people who do not care for their animals really are not kind people and it's been really hard for me to feel and be neighborly toward them. ON another note I've been creating a lot of art but I've been pretty lax about posting. I guess I needed a break. When I moved in to my house nearly ten yrs ago there was some tile left in one of the closets. I knew I would do something with them eventually, I just didn't know what until recently. Layers of deli paper done on the gelli plate, and doodling with paint markers. I am happy with how it looks. Stay tuned. Thanks for stopping by...............