Someone To Watch Over Me

Here I go again....inspired by music....an old classic, Someone To Watch Over Me.   A lyric often gives me a starting point when I want to do some art.  This particular art work is inspired by an upcoming (November) event we have twice a year at my church and it's called Jazz Vespers.  It's going to be an evening of art on display from fellow parishioners and jazz....we have some very talented musicians in our midst.  This is going to be one of the featured songs...

Art Journal

Mixed Media

The left page is painted, I used molding paste with a stencil to form the wings.  I did them on a separate piece of paper and then cut them out to place on the page.  The center of the dress is made from pieces of torn deli paper that I printed during my vacation.  I added the words...Someone to watch over me....

A closer view of the deli paper dress....

The background of this page has a complete piece of deli paper that has big stars.  I loved how the paper printed and didn't want to tear it up so I glued the entire piece to the page.  I added coats of gesso and decoupage to it because the paper is delicate.  The last coat is clear gesso so I could paint on it.  Originally, I was going to just leave the page without adding anything to it.  However, the lyric to the song says, I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood," etc.  So to make it really work, I added the trees and the little lamb.

If there's a song in your head that won't go away....maybe you need to "put it on paper"! 

 

LET IT BE(E)

I created this little Be(e) book while I was on vacation....I had the book in my stash... it just had blank pages....I completely altered it, the cover and inside.

This little book is inspired by the song Let It Be, recorded by The Beatles, and written by Paul McCartney for his late mother.  I added the bee theme...just because it worked.  As I read the lyrics to the song, it reads like a prayer...so this is sort of a little inspirational...prayer book.  Prayer comes in many forms.

This is the outside cover of the book.  While on our "art" vacation, my sister and I created many prints on deli paper so this cover reflects several of them, torn and glued and then decoupaged to seal them.  I had the bee in my stash...and the buttons on the cord...well, I think they look sort of like beehives...

This is inside the front cover.  Again, torn deli paper and the bee on the right...I got from Pinterest.  The quote on this page is from my local, weekly newspaper and it says..."You learn something everyday if you pay attention."  

These pages I've added a bit of paint to, stamped the bees and the flowers and collaged the musical notes.  This is the 1st page of the lyrics to Let It Be.

The left side here has more of the deli paper we printed and I collaged the music w/bee.  The right hand page I added some deli paper at the top and I stamped the two blue flowers; a stamp I bought from an artist in Australia, Ro Bruhn.  And more lyrics to the song/prayer.

The left page has a bee from Pinterest, rubber stamped flowers and some marbled paper I had...added a little doodling around the perimeter.  The right page has deli paper (the polka dots), rubber stamped flowers and some washi tape top and bottom.  And more lyrics to the song/prayer.

The left page has one of those records you used to find in the back of a library book.  I decorated a tag and added it and the red paper is deli paper. The black yarn is knitting yarn I had. The right hand page is the inside of the back cover...more deli paper, and collage.

The bee I got again, from Pinterest...
So...that's my little bee book...hope you like!




 

In the Treetops - overlooking the Hudson

Art Journal

Cafe table overlooking the Hudson River

where I sat and painted this scene

using my "artistic license" as this table really 

looks down on the Hudson...not quite as it appears here...it's 

a much steeper overlook....

but I had so much fun sitting there working on this!
 

 

A Few Days Away...in the Hudson River Valley

View of the Hudson River from
The Eagle's Nest

 And from this spot in the backyard,
my sister and I

could look out at the River

and have some fun creating these....

colorful decorated papers on deli paper and

card stock
I will use in my art journals
and altered books

the views were amazing of 

boats and barges traveling on the River;

and watching the trains go back and forth;

the train whistles were a soothing sound

A blackberry tart with a 
lemon basil cream filling....was divine
from Henry's Restaurant at the 
Buttermilk Inn & Spa

Lunch at The Torches Restaurant in Newburgh
(not our table....sort of took advantage when this
couple leaned out of the picture)!

A relaxing spot to take it all in at the 
end of the day....

We created a lot of art outside

I have more to show, but not quite finished yet!

More to come....

TREES

Art Journal

Mixed Media

All I can say is that the crazy left page....led me to the TREES....which I love.  The layering in the background is what really gives this picture...life.  The more you experiment...the better!  

"Pearls" from Jessica Helfand

I was glancing at my inspiration bulletin board last night and came across an article I had pinned by Jessica Helfand called:

 Life on 

THE PAGE

I don't know what magazine I tore it from as the identifying information is not there.  Jessica Helfand has a wonderful book called Scrapbooks:  An American History.  I have a copy.  It's not scrapbooking as some people think of "scrapbooking"....I'm going to give you an excerpt from the article.  The book, by the way, is fabulous...very inspirational.  So, here goes...hope you're inspired:

"I travel everywhere with a little notebook, double-stick tape, and a date stamp.  That's all you need.  A few months ago a giant dragonfly, which had lived for a very long time in my studio, dropped down on the table, dead.  I was fascinated by its wings; they're so rarely--if ever--not in motion.  I taped it into my sketchbook; it resembled a piece of delicate brown lace.  I know some people don't trust their ability to express themselves in words, but if they grab something and paste it down in a scrapbook, they can make sense of their life as it changes.  The gesture--not just saving something in a box but cementing it into place, saying, "I was here, this happened, here's the date"--that's really what it's all about."

Now this article is no longer on my inspiration board...it's slipped into a clear pocket in the back of my latest art journal...all about my "artful journey." To say I love art journaling...is an understatement...