journal spreads…

It was my intention to put these on here yesterday but I had a doctor’s appointment and the day was gone before I knew it.  These are the two spreads I did for Andria‘s journal.  The first one is on a watercolor background and is all collage. The piece in the upper left corner is from an old Gary Patterson calendar.   The second has random text pieces glued on as a background.  I used stenciling and a doodle face and corner from an earlier old book I was using as a sketch doodle book. I went crazy with stenciling on this one

I forgot to mention, on this one, I painted and stenciled on a piece of Deli paper and cut out a piece for her hair.

Cereal girl and other things…

I need to be working on the spreads for round robin journal group.  I now have Andria‘s journal.  After I finish with it and send it on, that will mark the beginning of round two.

While watching TV Sunday, I drew this quick doodle sketch with my non-dominant hand.  I decided against cleaning up the lines with a bold marker but I did use my blue Prismacolor chisel tip marker to add some more interest.

Yesterday, I made this page in my eastern medicine altered book journal.  It’s painted paper, acrylic paint and purple acrylic ink. I’m finding that I love acrylic ink. It can be watered down or used full strength. While working on the page…I saw the face…I had to bring it out

There was a photo of some grains and seeds, etc., on one of the pages.  I doodled a face over the photo and used some watercolors and markers to embellish it. This is cereal girl   I wasn’t going to show it…but I thought, why not?

Friday art and link love…

I planned to post earlier in the week but our internet was down for two days.  Our phone company sent us a new modem…it’s better and faster now

Today was our local library’s book sale.  I picked up some great books for altering or junk journal fodder.  Maybe I’ll take some photos of some of my loot for a later post.

I have a spread in my altered book journal to post  and a sketchbook page of a quick doodle sketch I drew with my non dominant hand.

This week’s Link Love hosted by Daisy Yellow

Link #1 – My friend Janet does wonderful Random Acts of Art, check out her Pixie girls and other art.

Link #2 – Another blog friend is Lee over at Defining Me.

Link #3 - After receiving a postcard this week from a swap, I found a new blog: Be Currie

Link #4 – Monica Zuniga is a talented artist from Mexico City. Her blog is:  Hands and Heart

Link #5 -  I don’t remember how I found this one (love the blog name): The Tin Goat

sketchbook doodles and link love Friday…

I’ve been doodle sketching in my new Daler Rowney sketchbook I picked up at China Mart(Wal Mart).

On this first one, I used a Pilot ultra fine point NO XYLENE pen.  I love using it, although it does feather and bleed a little bit.  Part of that could be due to the paper in the sketchbook.

I used colored markers and pens on this page.  I started with a quote from a book:  Proverbs for Daily Living, using a blue Prismacolor chisel tip marker.

Link Love is hosted by Tammy at Daisy Yellow

Link #1 – I have been watching some videos by Shannon Green at You Tube this week.  I love her quirky style. On this video, she shows  techniques for altering papers to use in backgrounds. Watch both parts.

Link #2 - Alma Stoller says she never buys canvas. She has some great tutorials.

Link #3 – Rebecca Anthony has amazing doodled journals, plus, some stitched denim cuff bracelets.

Link #4 - Nancy Standlee is very much into mixed media and art journals.

Link #5 – Linda Germain  shows how to make your own gelatin plate.  I may have to try this.  Her blog is Printmaking without a Press.

Two collages…

I finished one of my altered book journals last week.  I’ll post photos of  those below.  I also joined 21 Secrets earlier this week.  I had told myself I wouldn’t get involved in anymore online workshops(for at least 6 months)…that resolve didn’t last very long   Check out Connie’s blog at Dirty Footprints Studio .  The workshops opened the first day of April and closes in the fall and consist of 21 mini workshops by 21 different artists.

Both collages have parts of the original book page showing.  The illustrations at the top of the second piece are showing “Three Possible Kinds of Space.”

mail art envelope book #2

As I mentioned in a previous post, I made two smaller security envelope booklets.  I sent one of the books to Andria.  She sent me a postcard in return.  Andria has a big project going on now with Rolodex Cards. Check out her blog…she recently had a post about “Magic Gardens” in Philadelphia. It’s a huge mosaic made from old bottles and other throw away items.  Here’s Andria’s book (note-random posting of photos, WordPress media didn’t cooperate with me this morning):

Journal pages…..

Last week I spent most of art time working on some mail art projects. Those will be mailed out today. I’m thinking I will do some “pink” postcards for a swap over at Mail Me Some Art. The link is on the sidebar if you are interested in checking it out….the deadline is April 22. Here’s a journal page I finished last night:

Here is the front side of the little flap:

I also have two spreads from the round robin group.  These are the two spreads I did for Janet’s journal:

Love that aged mahogany Distress Ink! Click on this one to enlarge it!

I am kind of hung up on flowers right now…must be spring

Round Robin Journal……

I forgot to take photos of the two spreads I did in my round robin journal before sending it on to Danielle.  Danielle sent me the photos via email, so, I’m sharing those now.  If you didn’t read about the details of the round robin journal group, see the February 27th post.  I completed two spreads for Janet’s journal and  sent it out to Andria on Monday.  I will be posting those photos soon.
We went to Mountain Home yesterday. It’s a one hour drive.   Our two main reasons for going were: drop off donation at Good Will and go by the Hyla Vacuum Center.  The Hyla store was closed….not closed….but gone.  We found out after we drove back home that they are still in business at a different location….we didn’t get that memo.  Our donation at Good Will was some old LP Albums.  My DH collects them.  His sister recently ran across some old albums at an auction….five boxes for $3.  He was over the moon about that deal.  He went through them very carefully, weeding out those he didn’t want to keep.  All the albums had previously been owned by one person.  He had numbered them and even wrote where he had purchased the albums.  We talked about the fact that it was sad to break up the guy’s collection but we couldn’t keep them all.  The earliest album dated back to the 1950′s.   The old guy wasn’t into rock and roll….mostly blues, jazz and big band sounds.  He did have some albums that hubby discarded that he referred to as “1,000 and one gooey strings” or what some would call “elevator music.”   We both like the unique sound of vinyl.  After years of listening to cassettes and CD’s, we are enjoying  lots of nostalgic tunes on vinyl.

Here are the two spreads from my round robin journal:

Found poem:  “difference of thought could race along out of the blue”

Envelope book……..

I re- found this booklet I started about three years ago. It is time to finish it.  It’s  made it from old envelopes…mostly security envelopes and other old envelopes that brought us bills through the mail  It’s a good recycling project. I tried to choose envelopes that were the same size. Some were cut down to fit. I turned several of the security envelopes wrong side out and carefully re-glued them back together. It has signatures of three envelopes in each one. This book has four signatures. I am having fun adding more embellishments and tags, etc. Here are some of the spreads from the book.  I wanted to do a slide show but WordPress will not allow that unless you upgrade and I haven’t done that yet. I did find a great program that offers free slideshows.  It’s called Smilebox if you want to check it out.  Note: on the spread with the bluebird, you will see a Teesha Moore stamp. It was a freebie when I ordered something from her store.

Green postcards and visual journal pages…..

I finished two postcards and sent them off today. It was for a swap over at Mail Me Some Art.  Karen has been hosting some monochromatic postcard swaps and this month the color is green.  This particular swap ended today but she has two more open swaps.  One is black and white doodles on ATCs, and the other one is round postcards.  Click on open swaps at the top of Karen’s website to read more about those two swaps.  Here are my green postcards:

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I used my Prismacolor Premier pens (chisel tips) in blue and brown.  Teal pen by Le Pen. Pure Red pen by Zig Millenium.  I also brought out some red acrylic ink and acrylic paints.  This spread has a flap….when it is closed the bottom right corner is part of the original book.  Opened out, I drew more lines over acrylic paint and threw on some red masking tape.  Before I started,  the pages were covered with a mixture of security envelope pieces and masking tape.  One eye just happens to be in the fold of the book and that’s distracting, as well as the obvious white line down the center….I didn’t notice it until I took the photo.