Pages and Quilt Blocks…

I have been working on my quilt, mainly in the evening hours while watching TV.  We are boycotting American Idol this season…no special reason…we  got tired of devoting all those long hours watching every week and getting “sucked in” by all the AI hype.  Anyway, I have two finished quilt blocks to post.

I am also working on my stamp carving class.  I’ll have some stamps to show you later in the week(I hope).  I finally got my Dick Blick order.  I ordered a Speedy Carve Stamp Block as suggested by Julie, but it’s going to have to be AMAZING for me to order it again.  A 9×11 inch sheet of it was almost $21.  I will use those cheapy erasers…my problem is that I can’t find any  that are big enough…I’m still looking.  I also can’t find the Master Carve blocks by Staedtler.  I ordered some from Dick Blick about two years ago but I found that they no longer have them. If anyone knows where to purchase some Marster Carve, please let me know. 

I have also been working on my BOD journal this week.  I call it that,  but I’m doing my own thing…and that’s an ok thing too   I really enjoy watching Effy’s videos.  This first photo is the collaged paper background(shown in my last post),  after painting, stamping, and writing all over it.  I’m trying to figure out what else to do with it.

This next photo is a journal page I did yesterday.  I started by sketching the face with my non-dominant hand on a phone book page.  I glued it down on the journal page.  I used acrylic paints and colored pencils.  I used several layers of paint thinned down with acrylic glaze medium.  I wanted it to look more whimsical but it is what it is.  I think I should have stopped several layers ago.  If it takes one longer than an hour to do a page in journal, you are probably spending way too much time (I’m talking to myself here).  I did finish with some new markers that also came in the DB order.  They are Letraset Aqua Markers.  The jury isn’t in on them yet…to me, they are about the same as using those less expensive Crayola markers. They are water-based and have dual tips.  I think Traci Bautista mentioned that she uses them and that’s the reason I wanted to try them.

Here are  my two finished quilt blocks:

BOD Journal

This page is sewn in between tabs from the original book.  It is only about three quarters as large as the original page.  This has a flip up page.  This is the front of that page:

 

This is the other side that flips up:

 

Close up of the flip up page:

 

This shows the back of the three quarter page, plus, the collage papers I have glued down  as a start for the next page:

 

 

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
Scott Adams

Doodle Sketches

I’m getting close to the end of the book (Gas-House McGinty).  It’s been fun doodling in that book…it will be like saying good-bye to an old friend   I am tearing some of the pages out and incorporating them into journal pages so you will probably see some of the images again.  I have been working on some journal pages but they aren’t finished yet.  Seems rather slow going and I haven’t really gotten into full art mode since the holidays. 

I have decided to take fewer online workshops this year and concentrate on using the techniques learned in classes that I’ve already taken.  I did sign up yesterday to take Julie Balzer’s Stamp Carving class.  I have been intending to make some stamps for a long time and I thought her class would give me the extra push I need to accomplish just that.  Almost two years ago, I took Mary Ann’s stenciling class.  I have yet to cut a detailed stencil…so,  that’s also on my to do list this year.   FYI,  Julie B  has a free stenciling class…all you have to do is send her an email and she will send you the link and codes, etc.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

New Journal…

I started a new journal yesterday. I am using a big book (9×11) that I picked up at our local library book sale.  I started to use a smaller book but I decided to go BIG.  It has slick pages…I will probably need to use a layer of gesso or glue down another paper layer before using paint.  On the red page, I used a face from my doodle sketch book.  On the second page,  I incorporated the original book photos  as part of my page.  The orignal book was a book about Eastern health practices…so….I may decide to use some other photos from the original book.  I tore out about half of the pages and plan to sandwich watercolor paper pages between the page stubs.  There are also pages I left in from the original book.  I am going to try and follow both Book of Days (see the badge over at the side) as well as 52 Play Dates over at Jan Fox Designs.  I didn’t do the goodbye page to 2011 as Effy suggested…it over now and I’m done with it   

                                             

Quilt Project – Stitchery

 

In Seattle you haven’t had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it’s running.  ~Jeff Bezos

I have three quilt blocks completed now and I have three  more ready to embellish.  I really enjoy going through all my vintage embroidery pieces and and putting together these fabric collages.  The blocks are 10 1/2 inch squares.  I started this project last winter.  If you want to see the blocks I made last year, click on embroidery over in the tag section.   I’m not sure how I’m going to set the blocks together as I have two layers of fabric.  My initial idea was to butt the blocks together and sew…but… what to do with the raw edges???  I have been quilting the top layer to the bottom layer as I go.  I will need to consult with some people who quilt to get some ideas about how to put this together.  If anyone knows or can point me to someone who might help, let me know. 

(click on the photos to get a closer look)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here we go…already Day TWO of the new year.  I didn’t make any resolutions this year.  I have never been one to make resolutions…but a new year is a time to reflect on what you need to change.  Reflections have been made

I got out my embroidery quilt blocks this past week…now that the holidays are over, I plan to spend more time making new blocks.  If you want to see the ones I made last year…go here .  I have two ready to sew together on my sewing machine and then I can do further hand stitching on it.  I am thinking of taking  Workshops being offered by Alma Stoller called STITCHED.  I need to make up my mind because the class started yesterday.  There are twenty different fabric artists doing workshops and they are all open to you after you join and you can delve into the ones that appeal to you first. 

BTW, the journaling workshop by Effy Wild, that I mentioned in the previous post,  is very good.  I picked up some tips from the first two videos.  Like I said, it doesn’t cost you anything (unless you want to donate and she doesn’t push you to do so).   Here are two journal pages from last week.  The face started on a sheet of black notebook paper…at one point I was ready to toss it in the garbage but I kept working on it.  The other page was named “Robot Chicken”  by my DH

Book of Days & the End (of 2011)

I said “the End” but by the time some of you read this, it may be the beginning of another new year.

My friend Janet told me about Book of Days. It’s a free art journal practice hosted by Effy Wild. Go here to read all about it or click on the Book of Days button over on the side.  I love her philosophy of life and art journaling.  Thanks Effy!!! And thanks to Janet for letting me know….and now I’m letting all of you dear readers in on it too.

I have been looking at lots of quotes for the new year.  Here is one of the favorites that I found:

 

“New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.”

- Hamilton Wright Mabie

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I’ll see you next year! Have a happy holiday season…be back after the new year.

I found three Christmas cards in my collection of old post cards.  This antique post card doesn’t have a date on the back…it has written in a corner:”to Uncle Marian from Emma.”   The photo doesn’t do it justice, the flower has a velvet texture.

 

This next card dates back to 1910…one cent to mail it…here’s front and back:

 

This is a small flip card from some time past…I really do not know about its age:

Christmas card and pages…

I want to show a beautiful card I got last week.  It’s a wonderfully  handmade card by Lee.  I agreed to exchange Christmas cards with her…in my mind…card=postcard   I made a postcard for her, in fact, it’s the card on my header.  I don’t usually show cards before the receiver gets them (forgive me Lee)  but I needed a Christmas photo.  The other card I made that day ended up in the trash.  Here is Lee’s card…the bears are so-o-o cute!!!

Here are two pages from my Strathmore Journal.  The big flower piece, I started months ago and decided to finish it…it needs something but I didn’t know what…so I moved on from it.  The abstact is about me trying out a new shade of purple

This the last part of a poem by Joyce Carol Oates, entitled The Time Traveler from a book of poems by the same title:

“I don’t recognize

that person,

you whisper,

who is that person?

A stranger’s face

swimming

in a mirror.”

These are my sentiments about getting older…I don’t have many regrets…a few…or I wouldn’t be human….but sometimes I don’t who that old lady is staring back at me in the mirror.   No, I’m not depressed…or going through the holiday blues…just happened that I found the poem last week.

Journal Pages

I spent most of yesterday afternoon in my studio. I say “studio” rather lightly because my little basement room doesn’t look like some of the studios I see on other blogs.   That’s fine with me, I’m thankful to have a place to  do my art.  I moved everything down there because the dining table was covered most of the time and I’m trying to keep everything in one place.  

I started a piece on a canvas yesterday…I do not like it and I will probably end up painting over it and trying again.  I finished two pages in my Strathmore art journal.  The first page started with a magazine page that I altered with Citra-Solv.  I glued it down first,  then glued a face  from Gas-House McGinty book pages.  I used some additional doodling pieces to complete the page. I used Caran d-Ache water-based crayons, gesso,  and acrylic paint to embellish the face.  Finally, I used a tiny paintbrush with black ink to tie it together. 

The next page is one that I did quickly with charcoal pencil, tinted charcoal pencil and a Derwent sketching (Dark Wash, 8B) pencil. I tried a wash with some orange and yellow acrylic paints.  I liked it better without the color but I couldn’t leave it alone    I also used another pen on the hair….I don’t remember the name of it.