Carving Stamps and Art Journaling

It was a very busy weekend with little Miss Z. I must say her vocabulary has exploded over the past couple of weeks. She is extremely vocal and quite easy to understand in most cases. I particularly love how if she bumps herself or falls down, she either comes over with knitted brows with the injured part to be kissed or quickly says, "OK!" And she is becoming quite a little tease with a nice sense of humor. Though I will surely miss the baby stage, this little girl stage is quite endearing.


Yesterday after I took her home, I went to Michael's to buy a few things. For one thing, I was out of Gel Medium (I swear as fast as I go through it, I should be buying gel large!! :-) ) and I wanted to try to find some clear gesso. I was successful in finding each, but I had to get Liquitex for both as they didn't have any Golden in stock. This will be my first time using gel medium that is not Golden and I will let you know how it goes. I also had to try some of the new Liquitex spray paint that is water based. I read about it on someone's blog and knew I had to try it. It is quite expensive so I didn't get lots of it, but I had a coupon so it seemed like a good time to try it. I hope to work with that today and show you the results tomorrow. It is supposed to be low odor and lightfast with easy clean up.


 Before I left, I worked a bit more on the two pages I shared last time, but because I'd run out of gel medium, I used PPA, a medium that I particularly like, but apparently I left it too wet because when I put the waxed paper over it to weight the glued pieces a part of one of them came off on it.

I then spent some time looking for images to carve and found a lovely lily pad that I liked so that is what I tried. Here is the beginning of a two page spread.

And here is what the stamp looks like. Now I think I have to find a small frog image to try.

I told you about my estimated delivery for the new camera I ordered. I did some more research and found there was a Canon (my favorite camera brand to date) with a 20x optical zoom with a better rating overall that was about the same price and was in stock. I cancelled the Minolta and ordered the Canon and am expecting delivery in about a week.

Here is what it looks like:

And here are the features:

Product Features

Color: Green

• 12.1 MP High-Sensitivity CMOS sensor, DIGIC 5 Image Processor
• 20x Optical Zoom, 25mm Wide-Angle lens, and Optical Image Stabilization
• 1080 Full HD video in stereo sound with a dedicated movie button
• Smart AUTO with 58 predefined shooting situations with new FACE ID, High-Speed Burst HQ for continuous capture at a maximum of 10 frames
• GPS tracker to record image locations on a map via Canon's software
• 3-inch LCD display
• And it only weighs 8.2 ounces

I can't wait to try it and will share the experience with you.


Meanwhile, today I have my conditioning class followed by the core on the floor segment, after which I hope to spend some time out in the hubster's workshop trying out my new spray paints in my art journal. Later today I am picking up Miss P at school and we are going to spend a couple of hours together while her sister is at dance class. This will be our routine on the last Monday of each month while she is in school. I may take her to the new Scrapbooking place on M-60 to get some ideas for her poster making and art journaling.


What about you? What do you have planned for the day? Does it include some kind of creative activity? Do share.....


xoxo

Through A Looking Glass and EDM 224

I drove into town this morning to have some sketch paper cut to size and have begun working on my latest repurposed book "Through the Looking Glass". I glued a piece of cardstock into the spine to replace the old piece I removed when taking out the text block and then watched a bit of tennis while folding my signatures.

This is my adhesive of choice.

The original text block had about 200 pages in it, so I estimated that I would need around 50 sheets to fold. I actually found that 55 was a better fit for my purposes.

When I first checked for fit, the 'creep' associated with signatures was too great, so I trimmed them with the dreaded rotary cutter seen behind the book in the picture below. I was very careful and liked how the pages fit after trimming.

Another check for fit.

I will sew the signatures together and then decide on endpapers for this book and should have it finished to show you tomorrow. This book didn't have fun endpapers so I didn't save them to use in my new journal. I will make a book that does have good endpapers and show you that one as well, perhaps early next week.

While watching tennis this morning before driving into town, I sketched EDM #224, a jug or pitcher.

As you can see below, I actually drew it twice. The first one is in the right colors (my Lamy Safari pen ran out of ink, so I inserted the adapter and used some of the Chocolat ink as a refill). The second drawing is more true to scale, but is not the blue and white that it should be.

I need to empty the dishwasher, walk the treadmill, and clean the bathrooms some time today and think I will do my favorite of those (the treadmill) before deciding whether to continue with my responsibilities or feed my bookbinding habit instead.

I hope you are doing well and that the sun is shining on you. Here in southern Michigan it is raining again so another day will pass and I won't be able to spray the workable fixative on my pastel painting so I can add more to it. I guess I will just have to look at it as a pleasure to work on another day.

xoxo

Encaustics

I tried my hand at encaustic painting with an iron yesterday and am not at all displeased with the result. I tried not to "guide" the iron too much and had no set end in sight. The hubster really likes it.



With the mess I made on the table pad, I used a heat gun to melt it and then just pushed a piece of card stock through it to make a background and then I collaged a bit using PPA.



I am just about to hit the road to drive 4 hours north to my Mom's house and don't know how much internet time I will have. I have an online photography class on Wednesday and am expecting to go to the library with my MacBook to watch that. If I don't get a chance to blog before then, I will at least have a small post then.

Gotta go.....

EDM #3 and A Fun Day

The morning and early afternoon was spent with a good friend. We began with a trip to USArtQuest in Jackson - actually the address is Grass Lake, but it is almost in Jackson. I introduced Nancy to Susan Pickering Rothamel, owner, who is essentially a whirling dervish. I first heard of her through art/craft books she has written. She has to be the busiest person I have ever spent time with, and yet she took the time to give us the grand tour to show where her products are formulated, packaged, warehoused and ultimately shipped.

I brought home one of the five MicaColor sets. This one is the 'Pastelle', which is 10 Twinkling Gouache Paints. These are Sparkling Mica and Pigment Watercolor Paints. Once I've had a chance to try them, I will post more aboutt these and tell you about my experience with them.



I went there to purchase the large container of PPA because since buying the smaller sized bottle in the winter, I have decided I have never found a better adhesive, medium or top coat. It dries absolutely non-tacky.



I had lots of stops planned for our day, but we spent so long with Susan (she is very proud of her products (and she should be) and is extremely personable), that we only made one other stop after having lunch. I did come home with a handful of goodies and can't wait for our next outing.
Here are the goodies I picked up a second hand store.

I found these "art tools" for 10 cents each.

I bought this organizer for $1.50.

After getting home and spending a wonderful 1/2 hour on the deck in the sun drinking flavored coffee with the hubster, I came indoors and attempted EDM #3. I thought a wallet would be really fun to draw, and I guess I did have fun, but I have lots of room for improvement. I firmly believe that the more I draw, the better I will get, so I will continue to sketch each day and look for it to get better over time.




Tomorrow I get to be home alone most of the day. I sprayed my face project with workable fixative and hope to work with Caran d'Ache crayons tomorrow. However, I have an eye doctor appointment in the early morning and have some grocery shopping to do, so I will have to put my painting off until after lunch. I hope to have something to share tomorrow on that front as well as EDM #4.

That's it for now. Bye!

Pain Free and CED2009

Yesterday was a pain free day, so while the baby was napping I did an upper body workout and stretched then walked 1.5 miles at 3.5 mph without any pain whatsoever. I am sooooooo happy!

I did get a chance to do a little art today. First I sketched a picture of the two little girls. I am having a hard time doing little girl faces; they always look too old. I am trying to sketch something every day so that I will begin to get better.




I also decided to decorate the cover of my art journal. While the cover had an interesting texture, it was a boring brown. The first thing I did was put a glaze of Iridescent Copper Light mixed with Acrylic Glazing Liquid. I held a cutout of a heart in place so that the glaze would leave a heart shape. I then painted the heart using Quinacridone Red. I then added some words and a lovely pair of lips using Perfect Paper Adhesive (PPA) and finished with a layer of PPA to seal it. While it is not very colorful, I like it so far. I can see myself adding to this with time, but for now I'll take it as it is. I don't think I will change the spine or back.



I also spent some time doing some contour and blind contour drawing for my beginning watercolor workshop and made a table of complementary colors to get neutrals. Meanwhile, I need to cut some of my 140# watercolor into 4 x 4 squares and begin making my whimsical cats.

As for you, don't forget to live in the moment!

CED2009

I took Sunday off from the treadmill. I am planning to do six days a week, alternating between a program one day and a no incline 3.5 mph for 1.5 miles the next. I am not planning to step on the scale or take measurements until the end of January. That will give me an entire month of walking and doing the programs to see what the results are.

Meanwhile, I had the girls all day yesterday, but did get in my art room near the end of the day and made a two-page spread using circles and colors. For the most part I wanted to play with my Neocolor II pencils and my water soluble oil pastels. Both of these are quite fun to pay with. Once I had the circles drawn and colored in the different sections, I cut words associated with color from a magazine and glued them to the pages using PPA. I then used PPA to adhere the color words in the shape of a flower. As a final step, I wrote "colorful" words in the centers of the circles. I left the middle of the entire drawing blank. I am not sure what will go in this spot, but when I find it, I will recognize it and will add it.



I am planning to go to Hobby Lobby today to pick up some supplies to do more work with the dominoes I am working on and to purchase some Chinese brushwork supplies. I also need some watercolor paper for a swap I am in with art techniques. I am to make 25 winter themed pages in 4 x 7 size. This is for a skinny book and they are due at the end of the month.

For now, don't forget to live in the moment!