Altered Book Collage and Mixed Media - Vintage Boy and His Dog

This is a recently finished page that I did while vacationing up North at our Lake house.

A Boy and His Dog

I haven't had nearly as much time this year to spend on my own art, since I started teaching art at my school. It has turned out to be a much larger undertaking that I anticipated. So it felt really good to do something just for me for a change. Teaching art has certainly stretched me in many ways and my art has definitely improved because of it, but I miss having the free time to just go into the studio and play.

And I haven't had too much free time to post on my blog.  But summer is coming. So I hope to be better about putting things up.

If you happen to visit, please leave a comment so I know you were here.  Thanks.

Mixed Media on Board

This is a piece I made with inspiration from Shawn Petite.  I love her style and her quotes that she uses on her work.  I also totally appreciate the free tutorials that she gives on her website.  So many artists are so generous with their time and talents! 

Anyway, I found a board at the local Restore for $0.50 that I thought would work for my first venture into working on a hard surface.  I gessoed the surface and then did a collage of map pieces, napkins, text pages and tissue paper.  I stenciled a few paint colors onto the surface and decopauged the butterflies and the quote. I used charcoal pencil to do the shading around the butterflies. The final piece is about 8x8 in.

 All in all, I was pretty happy with how it turned out and I will definitely try this again.  As a matter of fact, I have one in process now.

Looking Ahead - 2013

Looking Ahead to Good Things in 2013

The beginning of a new year is always exciting - something about the freshness, the promise of a new start, throwing off the failures of the past and looking toward the future with hope. This year is no different for me. I haven't made any New Year's Resolutions in quite a few years, but this year, I decided to make a few!

Health Resolutions - Lose weight, exercise regularly and focus on myself more, so that I can accomplish these two things.

Art Resolutions - take one or two online courses, make art regularly,

Family and Faith resolutions - "Devotion" is my "one little word" for this year. I want to increase my devotion to God and to my family. I want to treasure each and every moment with them. This year promises to be a big year of change, and I don't want to squander even one opportunity to show devotion to each member of my family and to God.

In Progress - Mixed Media Canvas

I am in process of creating this 16X20  art piece for my photographer daughter. It was supposed to be for Christmas, but I'm not quite finished.  The image of the camera was a free download from Design Editor.  Here it is so far.

The next photos show some of the texture on the background.

I'm working out a quote to put on there and where I want to put it. After that, I will finish it up and she can hang it! I hope to be able to blog about it when it is completed.

A Few Altered Book Pages in Progress

I have been playing around with adding texture to my pages, which is something I have been wanting to do. I found some texture medium on clearance at Michael's so I got busy right away playing. I am also adding to my Vintage Gypsy Altered Book.

This is an altered book cover that I am working on - I added the texture medium through some stencil shapes.

Both pages have decoupaged maps underneath. The page on the left is painted with acrylic and texture medium, in which I made some marks. The page on the right was painted with Golden Liquid Acrylic and then washed with a gold acrylic.

I then used an old plastic doily and another stencil to add more texture, including the work "Dream". Afterwards, I used some Walnut Ink Stain to rub over the piece and add color and show off the texture. You an really see it well if you enlarge the photo.

This is a piece that I have been playing with, which also has torn maps decoupaged underneath. The green is a piece of handmade paper and the piece is painted with acrylics and aged with Walnut Ink Stain.

This last piece shows some additions I have made to the inside cover of my Vintage Gypsy Altered Book.

A Painting of The Woods

I painted this for my daughter's boyfriend for his graduation present. I know it is hard to tell in the photo but I decoupaged torn maps on the canvas before I started. I tried to add lots of texture. It was a huge learning experience for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It took a lot of thinking to decide what a guy would like. I'm always doing things I like, but I didn't figure he would want roses or tea cups! Ha! This is actually modeled after a scene in a card game that he likes to play. I liked the whimsical, "Tolkien-esque" look to it, and that was sort of what I was going for.

It is done on a stretched canvas, 16X20, and is done in acrylics, mostly. I used various gel mediums to add texture and also used some water color. After I decoupaged the maps on the canvas, I sketched the big trees using water color pencil. I then was able to sketch in the other trees and path, etc. I watched a couple of You-tube videos about painting forests and sunlight. Then I worked on it with various acrylics and mediums.

It was so much fun that I am already starting another painting for my daughter as one of her graduation presents. It will be totally different from this one.

I took this picture of the corner to try to show some of the texture. I am going to link up to Paint Party Friday.

First Watercolor

I did a project for a Christmas present for my daughter which involved a water color of a sailboat and a light house. So I needed to practice. This sailboat is my practice and I rather like how it turned out. I actually enjoyed the process of watercolor, so I think I will be doing more of it.  I used the Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils, and I really like how they work out. It was a lot of fun.
I'll be posting the finished project that I did for my daughter soon.

"Up North" Altered Book Page

This is one of my latest pages. I really like it.We purchased some property on a lake up North and this page reminds me of that spot. Just brings a smile to my face.

And here is a favorite ornament. I purchased this ornament through a missionary organization that helps to provide employment for women in Thailand so that they can provide for their families and stay out of prostitution. I love that it is a symbol for peace.

Priceless Possibilities - Altered Book Journal Page

This is a page I just made last week. Sometimes the page just seems to come together and that was what happened with this one.  The small quote within the circle says, "Every day we live is a priceless gift of God, loaded with possibilities to learn something new, to gain fresh insights."

I have had several things that have happened over the last little while that have brought home to me the idea that each day is a gift. A good friend of mine has been been battling breast cancer. She is on the upswing and I am continually praying that she has defeated this thing for good. Another friend and neighbor of ours who is only 49 has just been diagnosed with stage four sarcoma. He is just recovering from surgery and soon will be starting chemo. He has a young son who is only 6. Wow - praying hard for his complete healing, too.

Our church has just gone through a major upheaval. It is hard when people you love and care about are torn asunder by difficult things. Just one more thing to point out that we can take nothing for granted.

We can all use a reminder to treasure each day and its possibilities for the gift it is and thank God for it. I'm taking time this weekend to reflect on all of my blessings.

I'm linking up with Art Journal Every DayArt Journal Every Day  over at Balzer Designs with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. Lots of yummy pages linked up there, so take some time to check it out.

What Art is to Me

Art, to me, is a new-found passion after years of performing as a research chemist using the left side of my brain. It is also a way to deal with my perfectionist tendencies. I especially like altered art and art journaling where there is no real right or wrong. It is my time to relax and just be myself and let myself play. I think I might have been artistic once as a child and it has been a lot of fun rediscovering that passion now. It has also given me a way to connect with others with similar interests, which is also a lot of fun. Below are a few examples of my foray into the artistic realm:

Copy of Brown Creeper  I drew a while back

Another Vintage Bunny Card for Swap

Art Journal Page in Progress

This week's topic over at Gorgeous and Fun's Being Creative Blog Party  is:
"What counts as creative time, how much time do you need to create?"

http://gorgeousandfun.typepad.com/gorgeous_and_fun/

This is a very interesting question. For me, creative time is more than just being in my studio creating. It also includes creativity sparking - and I accomplish that in a variety of ways. One is browsing through other creative blogs. This is a great way to get inspired, learn new things and meet wonderful people.  Another way is to visit local Scrapbooking stores, art stores, etc. That can really get you going as you see new products and new ways to use old products. As I've already mentioned before, one of my most favorite ways is to look through creative magazines such as Somerset Studio.

But probably the most important of all is - as Nike says - "Just Do It!" So spending time in my art room playing is the number one way that I classify as creative time. I tend to get frustrated if I don't get some time to spend in there, and if my life is busy with other priorities, which is most every day, I tend to obsess over when I can get back to my art. This is a nice time of my life where I can actually spend time there, now that my children are older. So I look forward to spending more time in there in the future.
If you want to play along with the Being Creative Blog Party, drop by Amisha's place and join in the fun. I know you will be glad you did. It is a great way to spark your creativity!

Completed "Things I Love" Art Page

Here are the instructions from Wrapped Emotions: http://wrappedemotions.blogspot.com/

With Thanksgiving being next week everyone begins to ask the traditional question..."For what are you thankful?" This week let's put a little twist on that thought.

What do you love today?

For this week's prompt you will need to set aside a small block of uninterrupted time. *gasp* You can do it. You need to do it. Allow whatever amount of time you think it will take to complete the project. Get any art supplies ready ahead of time. Open your art journal to a clean page, date it and begin listing the things you love today...or whatever day you do the project.

No typing on the computer and printing words. It should be done in your handwriting. Make it neat, make it sloppy, make it uniquely yours. Doodle the words, fine line print, bold line print, scribble. Write horizontally, diagonally, backwards, upside down. Give the page some color and pop...paint the page first...collage the page first...color the page with marker. Do not be limited by these suggestions. But WRITE the lists...no typing and printing. What is important is that you know what you love today.

One more twist...in a creative way include a wrapper from one of the things you love today (or the day you do this). Remember, if a week's project is not completed on an actual journal page, take the time to lovingly place each one into your art journal.

So...What do you love today?

Since it is hard to read what I wrote in gel pen, you can read the list here:
Things I love today are:
my husband, my children, my Lord, memories of butterfly kisses from my children, seeing my children succeed and enjoy life, my close friends. And for the more trivial - not necessarily "love" but like or enjoy extremely : watching the Hornblower movies on the pull-out couch with my family, long walks in the woods, long bike rides, good music - my son's music, my daughters' creations, getting compliments, being told that I am loved, hearing from my son, our property up North on Long Lake, being called "skinny", talking for hours with my good friend, drinking great coffee, looking at books, creating art, listening to my daughter play the piano, dreaming about the future, sunsets on Long Lake, autumn leaves crunching under my feet as I walk, one perfect, tiny crimson leaf lying amid thousands of dried up brown leaves, white birch bark among multiple dark tree trunks, shopping for cute clothes for myself for the first time in years, reading good books, altered anything! still!, going to the art fair and meeting the artists, hand-made, hand-embellished wool felted hats.........

The wrapper I chose is the cup wrapper from a couple of coffees enjoyed with friends - one from Starbucks and the other from Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble is a place I love to spend time because I can combine my love of looking at good books, drinking great coffee and spending time with friends or family. I simply scanned them in, along with the cover of a soap container (Mary Engelbright) given to me by my best friend.

The scanned Clinique wrapper represents my new interest in wearing make-up and trying to look my best. And the bicycle - well that is probably obvious.

I have recently lost over 40 pounds and hope to lose 20 more. All of this is part of my trying to re-frame my life. I am trying to re-discover the creative part of me. So finding this creative outlet with Wrapped Emotions seems to really fit. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Things I Love Today

This is the first post since a year ago - what have I been doing? Mostly trying to stay alive and re-frame my life into a new one. I had an earth-shattering experience last March that I won't go into here, but suffice it to say that my old world completely crumbled and I have been trying to find myself in this new world I call "life". It has been a long, difficult struggle and will probably continue to be so for some time. But the fact that I can at least write again suggests that I am starting to live in this new world instead of stand by and look at it.

Things I love today are:
my husband, my children, my Lord, memories of butterfly kisses from my children, seeing my children succeed and enjoy life, my close friends. And for the more trivial - not necessarily "love" but like or enjoy extremely : watching the Hornblower movies on the pull-out couch with my family, long walks in the woods, long bike rides, good music - my son's music, my daughters' creations, getting compliments, being told that I am loved, hearing from my son, our property up North on Long Lake, being called "skinny", talking for hours with my good friend, drinking great coffee, looking at books, creating art, listening to my daughter play the piano, dreaming about the future, sunsets on Long Lake, autumn leaves crunching under my feet as I walk, one perfect, tiny crimson leaf lying amid thousands of dried up brown leaves, white birch bark among multiple dark tree trunks, shopping for cute clothes for myself for the first time in years, reading good books, altered anything! still!, going to the art fair and meeting the artists, hand-made, hand-embellished wool felted hats........

That's it for tonight. I'll try to do art tomorrow.