make a difference…

I started this spread by using my big piece of graphite….thinking if I didn’t like what I drew on the pages, I could very easily paint over it.  After I had sketched in the faces and letters, I got out my black FW acrylic ink and drew over the graphite using the dropper in the bottle as my drawing instrument.  The page was prepped with white acrylic paint.  I usually never do that and I also debated on whether to use acrylic paints on the face and background for color,  but I decided to leave it.  I did use markers, pens, and some ink on the background.  I was flipping through a magazine and saw the words, “make a difference” and that became my theme.

….more pages from the old book, this one with my nondominant hand:

 

pick your best red…

On this spread, I used some items I would ordinarily throw away.  There’s a piece of a cookie bag, lottery tickets, tea packet, and other items that usually end up in the trash.  The parrot is original from the book I am using.  I used acrylic paint and graphite in the background.  Plus, some red and black masking tape and little piece of duct tape.  If you like lots of dark graphite, I recommend the Cretacolor stick of graphite (8B)…it’s a little over a half-inch in diameter and makes dark lush lines.

birds,etc…

I found out since my last post that I was “Freshly Pressed” by WordPress.  They had sent an email telling me all about it but it got lost amongst other emails and I didn’t see it until four days after the fact.  They did feature my blog on the main page over at Word Press.  I had no idea   It explained the sudden flurry of activity on my blog.

I’m taking a sketching class.  I am having fun doing my own thing,  knowing,  that I will never be very proficient at sketching.

I  am noticing some things about art blogs…things tend to run in cycles…at least, since I have been aware of art blogs and started following some about six years ago.  First, it was keeping an art journal….then watercolors, and now it seems that many are sketching in their journals. I forgot about carving stamps, making stencils,  and lettering.  I like all those and have dabbled in several of them.  I like working in a visual journal and try many of the new things that come along.  I have discovered that I have a “hangup” about doing my art on canvas.  I have started working on canvas a few times but never seem to complete one.  I’m trying to figure out why I may be doing that.  Maybe, it’s because I am content doing what I am currently doing….just dabbling.

Anyway…here is an attempt at sketching some birds (one looks more like a chicken) from photos taken in my backyard.  The figure is an attempt at a self portrait…maybe a younger version of myself    I incorporated some bird photos I printed out on my printer.   I used some Tombow markers and lots of graphite and various other pens and inks.

Here are two more pages from my old book:

I would like to mention a wonderful book I just finished listening to on my Kindle.  It was free on audible books dot com.  I downloaded the APP on the Kindle.  The book is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  It’s fiction, although, the title might lead one to think otherwise.  Portions of the book are poignant and sad but it does have a great resolution at the end.

Journal Page

I’ve been looking at Pinterest this morning….I want to join but it seems you must join through FaceBook or Twitter.  I don’t have either of those but I’m thinking about getting a Twitter account just so I can join Pinterest     Does anyone know? Is that how you sign up for Pinterest or are there other ways?

I did this journal page yesterday….I brought out my oil pastels again…it’s been a long time since I’ve used them.  It was a a fun page…the giraffe’s ear is leaning over because there was a collage piece in that spot that was shaped like an ear.

I have received two postcards  from iHanna’s postcard swap.  If you want to check that out click on the link two posts below this one.  I’ll be scanning those and sharing those in the next post and maybe by then I will have received more postcards.

Watercolors & Doodles…

Nice sunny day here…nice but windy.  Arkansas, thankfully,  did escape the tornadoes that went through some states last week.

I was playing with my pens and watercolors this morning.  I was inspired by Jennifer Mercede’s work.  I was reading about her over at Pam Garrison’s blog.  Pam has posted some of her own beautiful art work…click on the link to take a look.  Jennifer has many unique giraffe doodle drawings, among others,  over at Flickr.  I attempted to draw a giraffe.  I haven’t used watercolors on it yet.  I need to see about getting a better set of watercolors…my set is  Prang…choice of eight colors.  The pen I used is a bold Pilot G-2 (07).  It isn’t waterproof but I kind of liked how the ink mixed with the watercolors.  I’ll be working on postcards the rest of the week  for iHanna’s yearly postcard swap.

 

 

marks on the old book…

I have been working on some journal pages but I don’t have any completed to show yet.  I can’t stop making the doodles in the old book I mentioned in my last post.  It’s something I have taken to doing at night if we are watching a movie.  We watch very few series and decided earlier not to start watching “The X Factor.”  We also decided not to watch “American Idol” when it starts back up again and we are boycotting “The Biggest Loser.”   We watch the “The Good Wife” on Sunday night.  We also watch the crazy zombie series, “The Walking Dead,” that airs on AMC on Sunday.  Anyone else watching that one?

 

 

I’ve been going a long time now

along the way I’ve learned some things.

              You have to make the good times yourself

take the little times and make them into big times

and save the times that are all right

               for the ones that aren’t so good.

I’ve never been able

               to push the clouds away by myself.

                                   Help me.

Please.

 Selection from the poem “Eight” by Rod McKuen

Lavender Dreams – Journal Page

I’m trying to use up some of my craft paints in my journal.  I started this Sunday and worked on it some more this afternoon and finally finished it.  I used the green paint and painted the facial features.  Then I used my Lyra graphite 9B crayon to go over the features and to draw swirls all over the page. This graphite is water soluble, so, I used water to bring out a darker graphite color. I’m loving learning how to use it. I put the dots on last as an after thought…I hope I didn’t over do it.

Crazy Days of Summer – Journal Page

We went to see Larry Crowne yesterday. It is a great movie.  It stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.  Hanks also directed and co-wrote it.  It’s one of the few adult movies showing right now as many of the movies seem to be geared towards the out-of-school crowd.  Some movie critics are saying that it’s too predictible….blah, blah, etc.   Sometimes, it is best NOT to listen to the naysayers…we loved the movie

I completed this Strathmore journal page this morning.  I have the mixed media Strathmore and I love it.  You can used lots of water on it with very little buckling.  I started with a wash of Stream Reinkers ink followed with some white acrylic paint.  I also used Caran d’Ache crayons, pen, and my new Lyra 9B graphite crayon….it’s water soluble…another new tool that I really love to use.  I sanded the old postcard lightly with some sandpaper.  There are collage pieces from old magazines and other bits of paper.

Dreamscape – Journal Page

“Dreams are answers to questions we haven’t yet figured out how to ask. ” ~X-Files

I’m still playing with watercolors.  The Prang watercolors give such nice vibrant color to a page…I’m hooked!   I tried several different media on this page.  I started with watercolor and some acrylic paint over that.  I used too much white acrylic paint and tried to subdue that with my Prismacolor Art Stix.  Then I kept adding layers of watercolor, letting each layer dry before doing the next one. At one point, I used charcoal for the facial features. It’s difficult to explain but it looked really horrible at one point and I kept adding things to try and “fix” it.  It finally came together and I was happy with the finished page. 

 

Demure – Art Journal

The past few days have been gorgeous…a pleasant and welcome change from last week’s temperatures in the single digits.  Hubby had a doctor’s appointment yesterday and after that, we went out for a Valentine’s Day lunch.   While driving back, we noted that almost all the snow was gone except  for some spots in shady north slopes.  I think I’m getting spring fever!  I’m sure that will change and winter isn’t finished with us yet.

I started this page in my Strathmore journal yesterday evening after we got back home and finished it this morning.  I tried a different approach….I drew the face with a graphite pencil and then used some colored pencils to shade, etc.  I went over all that with clear gesso and let that dry.  I used acrylics paints…yellow, blue and red with lots of white.  I glued down the collage pieces.  The flowers and leaves were from some patterned tissue paper that I’ve had so long I don’t remember where I got it.  I never know what to do about hair.  I planned to glue down some more tissue paper but ended up using my black Stabilo pencil all around the page.  I used lots of water to give a watercolor effect. Have a great day wherever you are and whatever you are doing!