Artists I Appreciate

Art Journal

The Omo People

Acrylics/Collage/Stamps

 If you're not familiar with the Omo people....then you should Google them....

They use nature's bounty to decorate themselves.  They are amazing.  I would like to paint a picture of one of them...but I'm not ready yet.  If I were a doll maker, I would be making dolls from their images. Isn't the face above incredible?  True artists.

 On this page, I used a piece from my GelliArt monoprint stash.  It adds some texture and color but I've painted over some of it as well and added the floral rubber stamps.   I've added the quote "Here everything has a story"....writers do it with words....artists do it with images.  The true meaning to a painting may only be evident to the artist, but, hopefully, the viewer has an experience, their own experience, when they look at the art.  Happy Sunday.

THE MATADOR

I'm home this morning, waiting for a plumber.  Is there anything more annoying?  So I pulled out some of the GelliArt papers I had done and chose this one done on card stock.

I was going to glue it into my art journal and alter it in some way.  I kept turning it this way and that.  I really liked the way it looked just as it was...but I kept looking at it.  Halfway down the paper, I saw a horizontal blue line and it made me think of shoulders....and the patterns below that line were many and some rather elaborate.  To me it looked like the jacket a matador wears.  As I looked at it some more, those circles....I could find the matador's hat in them.  And so the painting began.

 I think he's going to go in a frame.  He's about 7 x 8.  Matadors have very fancy coats so he's got a lot of gold on him.  I didn't see a plumber in the page....The Matador provided a nice distraction while I wait....and...he's kind of cute!

In The Beginning

Deli Paper/GelliArt

 Art Journal

I started playing with this journal page last weekend after I finished the "October" trees on the page opposite it.  Usually, I do a 2-page spread and the pages are "connected"; but not this time.  This is torn pieces of deli paper that I printed while on vacation in August.  I started at the bottom of the page and then I added the star paper at the top.  In the middle, I was having trouble.  At one point, I thought of covering the whole thing with gesso and starting something else.  But I persevered, and ended up with what you see here.  The stars had a paler blue around them which I didn't like as much, so I added a darker shade.  There's a lot of texture with the deli paper that is hard to capture with the camera, but I like to run my hand over the page.  And as I kept looking at this....perhaps trying to make sense of it....I thought of the beginning, creation...Genesis.  Is this how it started?

PEARS

I pulled out an old journal (2011) last night that was only half filled.  It's a journal that I was practicing techniques in.  The last two pages that I had done anything to were these.  I had done some technique to the background and never did anything more with them.  You can see some kind of stencil activity if you look closely.  At any rate....do you think I remember now what that technique was to replicate?!  

I decided to sketch a pear from a wire pear I have in my kitchen.  It's about 7-8" tall and I love the whimsical quality of it.  On the opposite page I was going to do a "pair of pears"....it's all about the pear, pair, pare!  But, as you see, I got carried away...and there are lots of pears here. The page already had the blue background and I painted the golden colors and rubber stamped with a couple of cool pear stamps that I just love.  I could do a whole little journal just on pears.  I have no idea why...just love their shapes.

FALL COLORS

Art Journal

Acrylics/Pen

The latest page in my art journal.  This is what today looks like here in Connecticut...the sky is that amazing shade of blue and the trees are all turning...I enjoyed doing these trees....without actually drawing leaves, just spreading color.  I don't have the opposite page completed yet....a work in progress.  Maybe doing a journal of nothing but trees would be interesting.

CLEANING THE ATTIC

Art Journal

Acrylic with sequin embellishments

The weather here in New England has been spectacular.  I didn't paint a fall scene...maybe I'm not ready for all of the leaves to drop!  But on the beautiful day that it was yesterday....I spent 3 hours in my attic.  It's crunch time!  My attic was in disarray and it needed some attention before it's too cold to go in there.  There's that window of opportunity between when it's too hot in the summer in the attic....and too frigid once winter sets in.  So I feel like I got lots accomplished.  Nothing like throwing stuff out....great therapy.  Christmas stuff is all together;  my son's collection, ready for him and my own things....still more to pitch but it feels so good to get things done.  And I still had time to paint.  I painted this house scene....makes me think about how important your home is to you, no matter the size or the location. I didn't add any creatures...the only sign of life are the footprints on the lawn.  All of the life is going on inside.  Day and night.  The colorful swirls in the night sky are sequins.  I love to look at the night sky while I'm waiting for my dog during his last "out" of the evening.  The sky is a jewel box! 

Day

Night

Paint & Wine Class

Trying to see the forest for the trees....

Inspired by the late Canadian Artist

Tom Thomson 1877 - 1917

I think this has been the most challenging painting of the Paint & Wine classes I've attended thus far....trying to capture someone else's  vision of the forest...and it's quite abstract which is not something I'm used to doing.  

I love painting trees, but I've never painted trees like this...perhaps they are some Canadian tree I'm not familiar with.  There is a lot going on in this painting...lots of color!  I did tweak it a bit this morning...2 hours isn't a lot of time for an entire painting...for me anyway.  Overall, I think I like it.  I friend attended last night's class....her first attempt at painting...I love what she did and I hope she loves her painting as well.  As always, everyone's painting was different which is what makes it all so interesting.  Your handwriting isn't the same as anyone else's....so why should your painting be either.  We are all unique!

Inspired by a Youth Group

Art Journal

Mixed Media

I'm doing something I've never done before....work with our church high school youth group and we just had our first meeting.  To learn a little bit about them, I went to my comfort zone...art.  I asked each of them to tell what their favorite color is.   That became the inspiration for my latest art journal pages.

The left page with all of the circles represents our teens.  Around the perimeter, I have lots of "helping" hands.  I have many layers of paint on these pages.  I also have some torn pieces of pages from our local newspaper's high school sports section...they are layered in there....

 The right page has stars (symbolic!) and a "window" with words like Hope and Trust and a quote that I really like by William Henry Channing. If I got this much inspiration from the first meeting...whoa!  Looking forward to the next.

Wine & Paint Class

Inspired by van Gogh

It was fun to get back to the Wine & Paint class...aka Masters and Mixers.  This painting is on a 12" x 16" canvas.  van Gogh's painting has a green vase, but I love the color blue, so I changed it.  Everyone goes home with a completed painting...in just 2 hrs!  I like challenging myself as I usually work  in a journal or altered book.  Art has no boundaries!  I see where I might tweak this a bit, but overall....I like it....well....I love sunflowers so I was engaged from the get-go.  Fun!

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Art Journal

Mixed Media

I sat down at my art table today, looking at different papers and thinking of ideas.  I started with shoe shapes...and this is what I ended up with....no shoes here!  My mind took off in a different direction. I am always drawn to my favorite colors...blue, yellow & red.

 The left page, starting at the top, has some wonderful blue, textured paper I picked up at an art store.  The big moon is made of card stock that has some pattern to it....printed on my Gelli-art plate, a scrap.  It has a small banner that says "Follow Your Heart"...On the lower half, is some of the deli tissue paper that was printed on my recent art vacation....just torn and pasted here.  I like the effect.

 

I painted the top half of this page and added some stamped musical notes.  The keyboard, I printed off the internet.  And the bird is a "songbird" made of different papers.  I was going to add some words to this, but I think it speaks, or rather...sings for itself.   What's the song that often repeats itself in your heart?

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...

JUNK MAIL JOURNAL

July 26

Tusk & Cup Fine Coffee

 where a handful of artists met

to share their talents...

I have never made a junk mail journal....but I

had so much fun doing this!  The pages in the journal are

from business ads, restaurant mailers, envelopes, computer paper....

I'm giving you the page by page

so you can see how fun it is.  

Created from Junk Mail

The cover is from a grocery bag 

and part of a cardboard 

coffee cup holder with the 

Tusk & Cup logo

The bee is a rubber stamp

 The inside cover

I added a tag w/ a paper bead, and photos of

sunflowers I took a couple of years ago

and a napkin sunflower added at bottom

On the left I covered the page with

a piece of scrapbook paper and

collaged a flower from a napkin

and stamped the bee

On the right I had this wonderful little piece

that I glued to an envelope, "Be gining"

On the envelope on the left, I

slipped a piece of printed paper

into the window and stamped a coffee cup

top and bottom ( it says coffee right below

the word Up)

On the right hand page is a piece of advertising

from Paris with a map and I added the words

"Choose your own adventure...."

On the left is an ad from H & R Block

and over it I collaged a copy from a piece in

one of my other journals and added the border top

and bottom

On the right is an advertisement from

a restaurant.  The art was already nice on

this so I left it as is

On the left is the back side of the

restaurant mailing to which I added the

lobster and the border pieces, top and bottom

On the right is a really nice napkin with

lots of fruit on it and I took a piece of

scrap paper sheet music and stamped

the pear and added it to the page

On the left is a nun (obviously) carrying

a can of paint and I added the checkerboard scrap

and stamped the left and right side like a keyboard

also added a piece of webbing that is meant for...Halloween

On the right is a painting of a pig that I like

 Here I've added a page for notes and 

half of a paper doily

 This is the center of the book

with the doily and another piece of

art from another journal, cut with a 

scalloped edge

The other side of the doily and on

the right I collaged the heart, words and the

lovebirds at the bottom

On a piece of mail that says "Grand Opening"

at the top, I added this photo of the beautiful stained glass

window in a cathedral I had saved from a NY Times...

and to my own amusement and, perhaps irony, it

lists the "business hours" at the bottom

On the right is a small manila envelope that 

I stamped and taped with the polka dot tape to the page 

and when you flip the envelope over....

I glued a photo I had saved from a magazine

of this old, beautiful door and on the right

I glued to the other half of the H & R Block ad

a business card of someone who makes handbags 

out of books and there is some green grass 

tissue paper, a rubber stamp of a vine and a 

small piece (vertically) of flowers

 On the left is a photo from a magazine

of some beautifully done plates...

I happen to like the artist and on the right

is the other half of an envelope.  I put

a card in the window that says "Life Is Good"...we've

all seen that expression on t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.

and I added the bicycle stamp and doodled 

a bit on it

 The disk on the left is collaged to

the back of the envelope.  It's a piece I found in

my stash of part of a napkin that I put on the disk...a 

great find for this piece and on the right is an architectural 

drawing of an estate

and last but not least....

On the left I painted the paper, made

a pocket with the other half of the cardboard

cup holder and stuck in a "Tusk" debit card

and on the right just finished it with my name.

Ok....I can't wait to do another one!!!!