My Big Grid Journal

I think I told you that I was taking Lollapalooza III with Martha Lever. I really love her work - her watercolors, her journals, her calligraphy.

While my pretty lettering isn't all that pretty yet, I am having a great deal of fun playing and trying to make it better. Here is my first two page spread in this 9 x 12 graph paper journal.

The pictures aren't so nice - I just printed them out on regular copy paper, but they really set the tone for this spread. Some of the stamps are my own - the wine glass, the flowers, the stars, and the tall skinny house. I am hoping to carve my own alphabet stamps too using the Neuland style that Martha does.

This is just the beginning of my next two page spread. I don't know where this one is going yet, but I am having fun playing with it.

Tomorrow I am expecting my daughters two girls for the day and am planning to do some fashion magazine cutting and pasting in their journals. I haven't done art with the girls in an awfully long time and am sure we will all enjoy it immensely. Perhaps I will have some pix to share.

xoxo

Carving, Spraying, Stamping

I finally got out to the hubster's workshop yesterday afternoon after Miss Z went home so I could try out the Liquitex Watercolor Spray paints. Although the page wound up looking pretty good, I didn't have a great deal of success using them with stencils. They produce a much wider spray than I was ready for. I know I need to try them again, but for now they are not at all what I was expecting. So I came in the house and mixed up a little acrylic paint in a small spray bottle and added a little bit of water thinking I could use this with stencils. Hrumph! The nozzle clogged before I could even get a good sample. I know I've seen people on videos using a small spray with color that I think they've prepared themselves - will you share? will you help me to figure out a way to get this to work?


Here is the page I was working on. I love the colors, but didn't get the effect I was really looking for.

While the paint was drying I came into the house and selected a new book to alter as this one is down to just a few pages left. I selected a slender volume with pages similar in size to this one. It is just a bit wider. I began on the inside cover and just played a bit. I also carved a quick flower stamp with a bit of leftover rubber from one of my previous stamps and used it here.

This was the point at which I tried to make my own spray paint and couldn't get it to work. So I took a variety of colors and put a bit of each on a paper plate and used a flower stencil and a pouncer to add color. Then with the remaining paint I began to pounce around the rest of the page. This is not in my usual style, but it was a load of fun.

This morning I am going to the conditioning class, stopping at the farm to get my biweekly produce and then coming home to shower and get ready for a trip to town with my friend, Carol. After that I will come home and try to get some art time in before going to my personal training session at 4:30. Miss Z is arriving this afternoon and will be with us until Sunday afternoon, so this is going to be a very busy weekend. I'm hoping the weather is nice as I like to get her out of doors when I can. I have the umbrella stroller in the trunk and am planning to take her for a walk on a paved trail in Mason on Saturday. What do you have planned for today? what about the weekend? are you  making time for yourself and your art? Do share.....

xoxo

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

Healing and More Hand Carved Stamps

I am not quite as bruised this morning, but am planning to stay home from yoga class again today. I am going to find out about a beginner class that may be offered after the one I've been going to that I think is a bit too advanced for me.


I spent a bit of time at my daughter's house yesterday and successfully got her wireless hooked up. I had taken my iPad with me, so I was able to use the wireless and I downloaded some beginner yoga videos and watched a couple of journaling videos - one of Inspiration Wednesday by Donna Downey and one about layers with Jellibellie. They were great!


After I got home, I carved a couple more stamps - actually I did three. A pear and a couple of Fall themed foliage stamps. Here is the pear in its positive and then negative carving. I thought that I wanted it to be a positive image - the one at the top, but then decided I wanted to be able to color it in, so I removed the inside portion to just get an outline.

And then I stamped it on the page in progress that I'd adhered to the pages.

And then I used Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons to color the pear in. Now I'm really loving it!

And then I decided I wanted a sunflower stamp, but when I looked outside for inspiration, I saw some beyond their prime and decided I'd rather have the weedy look. So I carved two different ones and I really like them both.

I used different colors of ink to give them different looks.

Here is my Fall page in progress. I don't think it is done yet, but I like it so far.

Yesterday I got an email from Beth Berman which included a link to her blog, Sew Sew Art, where I found a tutorial for making a stamp using a photo. Needless to say, I followed that link and today I am going to try my hand at doing just that. Thanks so much Beth!

So my day will include carving stamps and making the fabulous beans to take to the pot luck tomorrow and who knows what else??!! What about you? What do you have planned for the day? Does it include cooking? art? Do tell.....

xoxo

More Art Journaling

Sometimes I think maybe I should listen to my inner critic, but she is such a b*tch that mostly I swear at her and try to banish her. She says things like, "you're a fat girl" "you are too old" "you will never get it right" "this is not art". She has been making fun of my attempts in the yoga class that I am taking. And I have been ignoring her. But I do have to admit that the class is not a beginner class and that I probably push myself too much. Yesterday about 2/3 of the way through the class, I was suddenly light headed and woozy. I had to go into child's pose for a bit and drink lots of water to get myself back into it. I didn't feel like I'd hurt myself or that I'd overdone, but late last evening the pain began to set in. My left hand is very sore - it feels like a deep bruise or intense arthritic pain and the bottom outside of my right foot hurts when I walk. So I just called my friend Nancy to say that I wouldn't be meeting her at today's conditioning class. My body is telling me to take a rest. The instructor said that she was going to add another class on Tuesday and Thursday that would be slower than the current one and I think I am going to have to back down and try that class instead. The last thing I want to do is hurt myself. It rather defeats the whole purpose.


I did spend a bit of time in the art room yesterday. I added some watered down watercolor to the pages I shared yesterday. It almost looks like tea staining and I like it.

When it dried, I began on the next pages with a thin layer of gesso followed by a thick textury (I know, I just made up that word) layer of acrylic paint.

And these are the cutouts that I think I will glue onto the page. I think I may have to carve an apple and/or pear stamp today because I love these shapes so much.

Right now, I think I will get an ice bag out of the freezer and hold it in my left hand to see if I can get some relief while drinking my second mug of coffee. I am thankful that I am right handed for I am hoping to get a chance to do some art today. I will also probably go to my daughter's today as her modem/router has arrived and I'd love to get her set up for wireless. I don't think that will involve much use of the left hand.

What about you? What do you have planned for the day? Does it include time for art? If so, do share....

xoxo