GENESIS

Art Journal 

Collage, Acrylics, Washi tape, Business Envelopes 

The DLP (Documented Life Project) prompt for this week is to use a biblical quote or quote from a favorite, book....etc.  So I chose Genesis...the story of creation.  My interpretation is a little bit funky with the mermaid in the window.  

A closer look at the left side page.  The bottom half of the page has pieces of bank envelopes torn to create the water....

I took some artistic license by adding the bank envelope window and putting a mermaid in there...there are no mermaids in the story of creation.  I put her in an aquarium...And you see the Holy Spirit in the middle of the page.

Here is a close up of the mermaid with a large sea shell in the "aquarium".  I found her in a Coastal Living magazine. God, after all, has a sense of humor.

SUNSHINE DAYS

SUNNY FLOWERS - SUNNY DAYS

DLP - Art Journal

Acrylics, Collage, Rubber Stamps

My friend, Jan, inspired these pages.  I don't know if she knows how much joy she brings to the life of the people around her. The envelope on the right side of the page was a plain white envelope that holds a thank you note she wrote to me after her birthday this year. The envelope has a sunflower stamp on it....thus the pages began.  I altered the envelope and glued it to a flap that is attached to the page with washi tape.

This page includes a painting of a sunflower that I found on Pinterest....love it; don't know who painted it.

Underneath the flap is another painting I found on Pinterest and added to this page.  

When the flap is open, you can see that I wrote "My friend, Jan, brings sunshine into the lives of others."

And when all three pages are open, it looks like this....the flap is from a file folder that I had cut up, and sprayed with acrylics using stencils and then painted the flowers on top.  

I've been "sort of" following the Documented Life Project using some of the prompts...but sometimes you just have to go with what inspires you...that's really what a "documented" life is all about.  

CHERRIES!

Documented Life Project

Mixed Media/Collage

Doodling

She's wearing her cherry dress

Didn't you have some article of clothing

as a young girl....that had cherries on it...

and you loved to wear it?

These pages are all about fun and color...and cherries.

Memorial Day

Beach Houses

Part of the Documented Life Project

Collage, watercolor crayons, pen

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance, of picnics and barbecues and the beginning of the beach season.  I did the background of these pages in watercolor crayons.  I used little notecards for the houses and bits of scrapbook paper for the roofs. The American flag is from a Pottery Barn catalogue and the flags on either size are toothpicks.  At the top it says "America the Beautiful" and across the bottom, "from sea to shining sea."  It's not quite finished, but I wanted to get my Memorial Day post in!

As you can see, I still have to write something on this page.

JOURNEYS...

The Documented Life Project

Collage, acrylics, photo, pen

These pages are about my son's recent travels to Morocco.  The pages include a map, train ticket stubs to Rabat and Marrakech, and a photo of him wearing a Moroccan robe. I stitched down the right hand side with metallic gold thread.  There's a business card from a restaurant, and a photo of a resort where he celebrated his birthday, having a traditional Moroccan feast.  

Mother's Day I Wore A Hat

Documented Life Project

Watercolor Pencils

OK, so I never wear a hat....I just happen to have this one straw-type hat that I use at the beach.  Except this was for church on Mother's Day.  Meredith, a definite "hat person" at church suggested it would be fun....and it was!   I didn't see one hat on Easter Sunday but, for some reason, wearing a hat on Mother's Day just sort of resonated with us....This is my "sort-of", self portrait....except in this drawing I look about 40+ years younger than I am!  Oh well....it was fun to do.

My nose doesn't look like that and my eyes aren't really that far apart....this doesn't really look like me except I have blue eyes!

My printer needs a new cartridge....looking a bit on the purple side here!

The Documented Life Project - A Wedding

A Page from Life

A Wedding

My Best Friend's Daughter

My version of the Documented Life Project isn't following the exact course of a calendar year because I didn't start in January.  So my approach is to put things in my journal that have meaning to me...like the wedding I attended on May 3rd of Erica and Andrew.  My son and his girlfriend Maggi attended as well. It was a wonderful occasion.  The skinny photo on the right of this page 

is really them....the sky was kind of scary but the wedding vows were said and the guests had moved to the tent before the skies opened.

The right hand page was just the invitation itself, important for documenting the occasion.  Side by side, this is how the pages looked.

COLOR MY WORLD

Moleskin Journal

Collage - Mixed Media

The Documented Life Project

Using one of the suggested DLP prompts to create a page... which was to cut up a magazine....the right hand page is cut out of the Grandinroad catalog. This catalog features a lot of items for your outdoor living space.  All of the pieces outlined in black are from a page that featured outdoor cushions you could order.  I cut them into those shapes.  The cover of this journal in an earlier post says "Make A Color Statement" and this page does that.  Some of the color names are on the cushions like pesto, Aruba, cornsilk...luscious!

Here's a closer look art the bird page. The bird shape is cut out again from Grandinroad catalog.  The black circles spell out MUSIC.  We have a wonderful Jazz program at our church twice a year, thus the inspiration.

A closer look at the right hand page...
                         

COLOR MY WORLD!

REMNANTS

Gelliart background, old postage stamps

tree cut out of old book 

To post or not to post....that is the question I asked myself about this page.  Using torn pieces from some of my Gelliarts prints on deli paper, glued them to the page.  There comes a time when you ask yourself....what do I do with all of these remnants of paper...especially when you like them.  The pieces get smaller.  This art is where they landed.  I had a bag of old postage stamps my sister gave me at Christmas (we exchange interesting things!) and so I added some of them as well.  The tree was something I've used as a stencil and rather then put it away somewhere where I probably wouldn't find it again...you know how that goes...I just glued it right on top.  I wrote inside the tree.."There is no rhyme or reason for these pages, they just exist.  Joy in Creation.

The opposite page...

The right side has more of the Gelliart, more stamps from Bermuda and Ceylon and a movie theater ticket from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel...which takes place in India.  That is a great movie so after I finished these pages, I took out my dvd and watched it....for the 3rd or 4th time!

Inspiration from a box of Tick Control!

The Documented Life Project

Using a box as inspiration

3-Page Spread

Using a prompt from Roben-Marie Smith's Documented Life project....this is what I came up with.  I didn't have a food box hanging around for the inspiration, but I did have this box of flea & tick medicine for my dog, Boomer. So the left page became a place to record his vet appointments.

This is the opposite page....since the product is called Spot On...I painted the spots for the background.  The ink sketch I did 4 years ago when he was a pup.

The center page takes its cue from the product brand, ZODIAC...Boomer is a

Sagittarius!  That's his cute  photo you see (I might need a new ink cartridge as he looks slightly lavender here)...oh well!  And I didn't do much with the box itself...but it definitely gave me the cues for the art.

THE DEER CAN'T EAT THESE FLOWERS

The Documented Life Project

Mixed Media

I don't generally have time during the week to work in my art journals.  I shouldn't call it "work"...it's my outlet.  At any rate, I did find the time and the beginning of this page started with a piece of a remnant page I had from a Gelliart print that I happened to like and have used elsewhere.  Then I found the little pen & ink picture of a Country House (I love the cottage look) so that was the next addition to the page...then came the flowers, the circles and pen work to complete the page.  I especially like how the colors worked out.  

On the opposite page, I stitched a piece of paper that I received from Frances Pickering when I ordered her book, Page After Page, about 3 years ago.  

The book is wonderful, has beautiful,  colorful illustrations....amazing.  You can see the stitch marks that she sewed on this piece of paper...which is why I added similar marks to the art I did on the opposite page.  I used my sewing machine to attach her piece to my page.   When you lift that page, it looks like this underneath....

So, my thanks to Frances Pickering for inspiring my art on these pages.  

(I ordered her book from the UK...)

The Documented Life Project - Front Door

Moleskin Journal

I have had great fun working on this journal today.  The 1st "prompt" we were given is to incorporate our front door into the art.  I had a photo of my front door which I collaged on the right side.  The left page house shape is a piece of recycled art from a project I did a couple of years ago. 





Center Page

When you open the right flap, this is the art in the center of the spread.  The eggs are a photo I took a couple of years ago of some eggs I had dyed. 

 Three Page Spread

The Left Page Above

The Right Hand Page

These pages have acrylic paints, stencils, rubber stamps, collage elements, recycled art, pen, photographs...when I finished, my desk top was a complete mess!  



The Documented Life - Moleskin Journal

 

Front Cover

Paint, Pens, Collage, Stencil

 

This is the front cover of a new project....altering a moleskin journal.  I saw this on Roben-Marie Smith's website and it looked like a lot of fun.  I'm 4 months late joining this online project and the journal we were to use was a daily planner.  I bought a moleskin with plain pages because I couldn't go back and do a calendar year.  This will actually work better for me.  I've just completed the front and back cover.  Underneath this colorful cover is the basic, black cover.  In order for the cover to accept what I was going to do to it... you have to completely gesso the surface.  Gotta love gesso...the miracle art supply!

 (the black stripe is the elastic that keeps the book closed)

The back cover:

 

 

I have had the shoe for awhile....just waiting for the right place to put it and I like it here.  I love all kinds of music so that is my little "music" contribution to this cover.   So what does all of this mean....these circles and swirls and dots and colors?  For me, personally, they express an inner energy that is me that comes out when I take my art supplies to create.  It's my positive energy.  Can't speak for others but this is what it's about for me.  I can't wait to get inside the journal.  The Documented Life has some great "prompts" for the pages.  

 





Paint & Wine Class - Matisse!

 

 

The Purple Robe

 

I was so excited to see that the subject of our monthly Paint & Wine class was Matisse.  I love the energy, the colors, the patterns, the whimsical aspect of his work.  I love his perfect imperfection if you will.  The perspective doesn't have to be precise.  I think his art is fun.  I would have loved to watch him paint!  

FEELING COLORFUL

 

EXERCISE IN CREATIVITY

Art Journal - Mixed Media

 

 

I've been an adult for a very long time now, so I don't know why it is that I struggle...with giving myself permission to "play".  This page is all about playing.  I didn't have a theme in mind...I just wanted to have fun with my art supplies and, hopefully, the end result would be good to look at.  I used stencils and spray paints and collage papers and magazine cut-outs and pens and rubber stamps.  Lots of color.  It's not a page that you look at and say ...."that blank is out of perspective or the face isn't quite right"....we're always our own worse critic.  This is an exercise in creativity and it brings me...JOY.  Hope you enJOY.





 

MAKING A BOOK

 

Book made of file folders

Spray paints

Stencils

 

 

 

Here are more of the painted folders

 

 

 

I'm only showing some of the pages because

I want to illustrate that among the file folder pages,

I have included other types of papers and

I plan to alter all of them

File folders are nice to work with in book form

They were gessoed on both sides prior to painting

Each folder was ripped in half prior to painting and

then they were folded in half again to make the book

The finished book is approximately 5 x 8.

 

 

The Colors of Morocco



 

Art Journal

Acrylics

 

I love the colors of Morocco....the blues especially.  I read today that they use a lot of blue to ward off evil spirits.  I worked on this particular painting for quite awhile trying to get the perspective right.  If you want to work on perspective....try drawing these intricate entrances to the riads of Morocco.  I found this one on Pinterest.  I have another painting that I started that is much more blue....but it needs much more work so we'll see if I can finish that one.  Here is a closer look....



of the shuttered window, the blue tile, the pots and the clay tile flooring.  It's done in my sort of primitive style...when your style is primitive, you can get away with more imperfections...at least that's my philosophy!

March Paint & Wine Class

 

This is my version of a painting by

Tom Brown

 

 

We had another wonderful class....I can't say enough about these classes....I look forward to them every month.  I always learn something and it's really fun to see what the rest of the class does...we're all looking at the same painting, but everyone puts their own personal style and spin on it.  This is just a simple barn in a snowy landscape.  And its the last snow scene we'll be doing for 2014!!