Art Journal Day 12 - Blue

This week Misty Mawn has prompted us to focus on color in our art journals. Today is blue. If I had to select ONE color as a favorite, I think I would choose blue. There are so many beautiful versions of blue. I chose to use Daniel Smith's Lapis Lazuli Genuine watercolor as my primary blue for this spread. It reminds me of my favorite shade of denim.

I started by prepping the pages with what I thought was thinned gesso I had stored in a yogurt container. I added a bit more gesso into the container and then started spreading it on the page. It just seemed too smooth. Well, I kept on working away prepping a few more pages. When I grabbed the container's lid, I saw where I'd written gloss varnish over the label. OOPS! Since I'd mixed some gesso into it, I thought "What the heck" and see what happens. The surface didn't have as much tooth as I usually desire. But I like the way the watercolor paint looked on the surface. It lifts very easily, so I had to be careful.

Embellishments and journaling finished off the pages. I like working monochromatically. It simplifies decision making. I'm looking forward to the rest of this week's prompts.

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.

Journal Day 10 - Sudoku Portrait

Numbers can intimidate me in the abstract. Calculating yardage and quilt blocks doesn't because it's not abstract. I use a lot of simple math with my jewelry designs. But algebra and calculus are not for me. When I first saw Sudoku puzzles, I didn't give them a second look. I could never do the typical number puzzles in crossword puzzle books. I inherited my Mom's love of crossword puzzles.

But one day I was reading the newspaper while waiting for my husband. I was waiting a long time and I decided to take a look at that number puzzle by the crossword puzzle. Hmmmm. It was fun. I didn't have to do math. I was quickly hooked. Now Hubby likes to do Sudoku puzzles, too. He's got a program on his computer to do them. I like my books edited by Will Shortz. I'll attempt all difficulty levels, but I can't always complete the most challenging. My favorite are the moderate puzzles. There are books that have only moderate puzzles. I'm working on my second one.

My favorite time to do the puzzle is when I go to bed. It helps my mind slow down from the day, and I usually fall to sleep faster if I work on a puzzle or two before I turn off the light. If I read art books or magazines at bedtime, I usually need to work on a puzzle to get my mind to settle down. Otherwise I tend to get bombarded with imagery that keeps me from sleeping very soundly. It's just the creative part of my brain getting all churned up.

Last night I doodled this face on an envelope while talking on the phone and decided to incorporate it into this collage. Once again, I struggled with getting my eyes even. It didn't help that I was working in ink.

This page was colored with Nupastels and Distress Ink. The portrait was colored with Prismacolor pencils. I cut a frame from a catalog. I tore out a page from the last book I completed.

Lest I forget, many of my puzzle pages have doodles all over the bottom of the page. They work like a list for me. You know, when you're at work and your personal life keeps intruding your thoughts. I just stop and jot down reminders to myself so that I can put those thoughts away til I'm done at the office. The doodles on my puzzle pages help me let go of the creative thoughts that would keep me awake.

How do you help transition your brain activity from the creative mode to help you sleep?

Common Sense in my Little Black Sketchbook (Day 7)

Here's a catch-up entry to the art journaling challenge. On Wednesday I never got to the journal I'm using for this challenge. But I had my trusty little black sketchbook in my purse. I usually have snatches of time away from home and this has become my favorite item in my purse. It's only 4 x 6 with 160 pages of 80 lb. paper that I really like. It's called "Leather Etc." by CIH Corp. It was only $3.99 at Hobby Lobby! After work on Wednesday, I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up the 12 piece set of Prismacolor Nupastels using a 40% off coupon ;-) .

Hubby & I often have dinner at the HyVee grocery cafeteria. That's where I headed next (with Nupastels stashed in my purse.) As usual, we spent time reading the newspapers after dinner and that's where I saw the quote by Will Rogers. I was just going to jot it down in my sketchbook when the light bulb went off in my head. Out came the Nupastels. I smudged in the background colors, drew circles, smudged some more. After penciling in the quote, I inked it in with gel pen. It was fun & satisfying.

Day 8 Art Journal Spread

I had to step away from the face on the self-portrait challenge this week. I really needed to play more. Since I am in love with textures and saturated color, this spread shows an aspect of me - just not some version of my face.

The pages were prepped with grey gesso. The left side was painted with Golden fluid acrylics. The vine was drawn in with a white charcoal pencil before painting it. Then I outlined it with a Pitt pen. More layers of paint were added with a paper towel. The stamping was done with chalk ink pads and foam stamps. A copper gel pen helped the word grow pop.

I placed a ginkgo texture plate under the right page and rubbed yellow, rust & blue Nupastels on the gessoed page. After fixing the pastel, I added Golden acrylic glazes in the same hues used on the left page. Both pages were accented by rubbing on metallic copper Shiva paint stick. Journaling on this page was difficult which I think was because the Shiva was not cured & thus was resisting the markers & pens. (Any tips on journaling over Shiva paint sticks would be appreciated.)
These pages were hard to get a good image because of the reflections on the sheen of the materials I used. I REALLY love the results and this will be a launch for other art.

Pop-tastic Blog Award & A Give-Away

Our talented niece, Andrea, nominated me for this award. You have to check out her blog and Etsy store. It's always a treat to get a card from her.
This is where the award started:
Eat Your Veggies!

In no particular order, I am nominating these creative and imaginative bloggers for the award:
Kimberly
Janet
Chris
Fannie
Rita
Femmy

I also want to alert you to a give-away that Jodi is having at her blog "Sweet Repeats." Hurry over there because it ends on January 9th. She has some fantastic magnets. I know they are because I got a couple last summer. One for me & one for a friend.

Art Journal Self Portrait 2

Singing is as integral to who I am as much, or maybe more than visual arts and crafts. I have memories through my life that are connected to singing. I remember skipping and singing about the moon as a very young girl. One thing I loved about kindergarten was learning music. We sang "Away in the Manger" at the Christmas program. Much later that song would have a big impact in my life. A "big girl" on the school bus taught me "Silent Night." I cried at the big family Christmas gathering when they kept singing songs I didn't know. My aunt took notice and we sang "Silent Night." Dad got me involved in the church and town choirs. I loved going to practice with him. I have sung in school choirs and honor choirs. My husband & I sang songs to each other at our wedding. The past several years it has been my privilege to sing with our church's praise band. It brings me great joy. I am an OK piano player and that was very therapeutic for me for a number of years. But it became difficult in recent years when I was having tendinitis and carpal tunnel issues. I haven't really played for two years since Dad died. My sister and I would play for him at the nursing home. It seemed to help him connect as Alzheimer's took him away. Lately I've been thinking that I would like to try to play again.

As for this journal page. It's loosely based on a photo of me, but I don't think it looks like me. I sketched with graphite, then drew in the lines with a Pitt sepia pen, colored with watercolor pencils that I lightly washed with water. The journaling is all Pitt sepia. I altered some sheet music with distress inks and glued it into my journal. The watercolor card was glued onto the page.