More Virtual Travel and a Small Watercolor

I must say travel with the little yellow man is surely easier and much cheaper than the real deal, however it is impossible to see clearly what you want to see. There are situations in which you can't get the right angle or just the right distance from your objective and in some areas of the world, you can't set down at all - there are just photos available. I haven't yet settled for someone else's photo, but if I want to get to all the countries of the world, I may have to.


Yesterday I spent a bit of time in Ireland. I began in Bagenalstown, the town from which my great grandparents emigrated. He was a Fenlon and she was a Murphy, and needless to say there were oodles of both of these in that area in the mid to late 1800s, so I have been stymied in my search for more info for the family genealogy tree on that side. I didn't find anything that grabbed me, so I began to roam around the island. I found a really cute setting in Galway.

Later in the day, I was thinking about my sister who moved to Marquette late last year so I decided to go "visit" her. I found the lighthouse and decided it would make a good subject to sketch. I didn't notice until I uploaded it that I sketched it in pencil. That will have to be remedied.

I was waiting for the UPS man all day with a package from Amazon and it was getting later and later. I finally tracked the package online only to find that it arrived in the early afternoon. I forget that they use the post office as their final delivery person. Surely it will be delivered today. While I was waiting I planned to do a very loose painting of a jack in the pulpit. Did I say loose? As you can see it became a very tight, coloring book type painting. I really must start practicing looseness - perhaps with color washes and landscapes before trying to tackle flowers.

My body has been quite sore all week - could it be from sleeping on the floor for two nights? or is it just a fact that accompanies the aging process? At any rate, I've been resting my body and haven't worked out at all this week yet, but I am planning to go to the conditioning class this morning. I think that kind of stretching will be beneficial. I am not sure that pounding on the treadmill is as forgiving of the old joints.

What do you have planned for the day? Are you finding time to enjoy the company of your muse? Is she behaving and staying around when you need her? Are you finding time for yourself? I am looking forward to seeing what you've been up to when I check in at EDM and read all the blogs to which I subscribe. Do you have any recommendations of blogs about art journaling, watercoloring, collaging, or just fun people that you think I would enjoy? Even though I read lots of blogs, I am sure I am missing out on some really great ones.

xoxo

Virtual Sketch and More Altered Book Pages

While walking around Europe yesterday morning (you know, with the little yellow man), I happened upon a lovely building in Doetinchem, The Netherlands. I spent way too much time on this one, but am developing a method for getting the perspective correct and will hopefully get more efficient at it. I first put in the vertical lines paying close attention to their relative beginning and end points. I then used a line in Photoshop to get a feel for the relative slant of each horizontal line. I am quite pleased with the result.

I added a bit of color to the lovely flowers with a colored pencil.

I was actually so engrossed in getting this sketch on the page that I was almost late for my hair cut appointment. When I explained to my hairdresser that I was walking the streets of Europe with the little yellow man, she was greatly amused.

Later in the day, I spent some time with my Neocolor II crayons and some magazine cuttings to add a bit to the altered book. I am beginning to lighten up a bit and am enjoying this activity more and more. I didn't use gesso on either of these 2 page spreads, but I am finding myself peeling gel medium off my hands even after having washed them. You gotta love messy!

I see a bit of corner roll on the magazine flowers. I'll need to add a bit of glue.

Just getting started with these two and having quite a bit of fun.

I am driving to my Mom's this morning with Miss P to visit for a few days and attend a memorial service. We will be leaving in about an hour. I think I am packed and ready, but I have to clean out the car a bit in case I end up doing a bit of chauffeuring while I am there. Miss P and I have packed our electronics, a couple of novels, and our sketchbooks along with some pencils, pens and colored pencils. We are hoping to get out and about and do some plein air sketching, something I don't do enough of and that Miss P has never done.

I will try to post while I am gone, but if for some reason I can't I will definitely have lots to share on my return. I'd best get in the shower and get this day started if I am to arrive in the early afternoon.

I hope you are having a great day and that you are finding time for yourself and your creativity.

xoxo

Virtual Travel Journal & Altered Book Progress

I am so very not happy with the results of my altered book experiments. The gesso isn't drying well, the pages seem sticky, and my image transfers have a pretty low success rate. I've been trying gluing several pages together before adding gesso and leaving the pages open to dry before putting clean waxed paper between. This seems to be working better than what was happening previously.


I have a couple of 2-page spreads to share, but they are not what I would call "good" pages, but I am trying desperately to convince my inner critic that this is my practice book and that I am learning by doing. I will try a couple more today and will try to be more careful with things. As you can see by the hot air balloons below, the image transfers didn't work very well. I am thinking that maybe the humidity is keeping the gesso from drying completely and that is interfering. Is that a reasonable conclusion?

I didn't gesso the right hand page. I saved some words about hot and spicy ginger nuts and then used Neocolor IIs to add some color before gluing on some accents.

I did have success with Omni-Gel transfers. I used that on both the pillow and the guest tag. With Omni-Gel, you add a layer onto the image side three times, once horizontally, once vertically, and once diagonally, letting each layer dry in between. You then soak the image in water for about 15 minutes before gently rubbing the paper off the back of it.

While letting some gesso dry on my next two pages, I went for a walk out in the world with the "little yellow man" from Google Maps, and decided to begin a new Moleskine as a Virtual Travel Journal.  I must tell you, I get my ideas of where to travel from the blogs I read. I am especially enchanted with the travels and photos of Nina at The Other Side of the Ocean.  But, I've also visited Denmark, thanks to greg/regan of Three Years in Denmark, and Caatje of Caatje's Artsy Stuff. Here is what I have to show you so far. I am intending to sketch in pen, but the doorway in Ceret was a bit tricky, so I opted for pencil (Yes, I know, that is a cop out and I'll try not to let it happen again).

I went to my conditioning class yesterday and then came home and jogged for about 35 minutes before settling into my art room. I've been going through supplies in the guest bedroom closet that I haven't used in quite a long while (since the last time I was trying collage, in fact). I am participating in an Artist Garage/Bake Sale this evening at Ella Sharp Museum in Jackson, and am hoping to move some of the long unused supplies along. I will be selling my Pan Pastels; many stamps; an entire encaustic kit with iron, several tips for the iron, papers, and waxes; some fixative sprays; some embossing powders;  and an assortment of gewgaws - many from Maya Road in their cute little tins. There may be more than this - I'm not done sorting yet. If you are in the area, come in and visit and see what you can find. The sale begins at 7 pm.

I'm pretty sure my day will be spent alternating between working on pages in the altered book and preparing for the garage sale. What do you have planned for today? Does it include time for yourself and your creativity? I sure hope so!!

xoxo