Journal Day 11 and Hope Painting

Happily, today I spent a lot of time working on a painting. I spent time the past few days organizing and storing supplies that had collected on my art table. But first, a little about today's journal entry.
Hubby & I went out for lunch and I grabbed my trusty little black sketchbook and my gray Pitt pens. While waiting for our order, I started this sketch. I love paisley patterns, so I started with the teardrop shape and then went from there. I admit, it had me stumped for a while, but then intuitive drawing took over. Next we headed to Borders where I was delighted to find Somerset's Art Journaling was FINALLY on the shelf (and now at my house). No one in the store knew anything about it when I was in the store last week. Anyway, I completed the paisley sketch while Hubby was looking at his favorite computer magazines.

Back at home, I went back to work on my "Hope" painting. This is on a 12 x 12 canvas that I started working on last summer. I'd base painted the canvas, but it just wasn't working for me. A couple months ago, I tore strips of rice paper and adhered them to the canvas with matte medium. When I decided that "hope" would be my inspiration word for 2009, it occurred to me that I could do something on this canvas with that word. Yesterday I wrote several Bible verses and a couple dictionary definitions onto the canvas. Today I added several layers of paint. This image isn't great since the lighting wasn't optimal. I'm not sure if it's done, but I'm going to give it a few days to decide.