journal pages plus 4×4’s…

 

“When I realize that God makes his gifts fit each person, there’s no way I can covet what you got because it just wouldn’t fit me.”  ~William P. Smith, Loving Well

I finished the 16-page journal I’ve been working in this week.  I need to do additional work on the front cover…I’ll post that when I finish that.

This page started with the big bird at the top.  This is a bird from the index card a day challenge I did last year.  I enlarged it and printed it off on my printer and glued it on the journal page.  I did some additional doodles around it and then completed the page.  The small flap over to the right is the fold over flap from the back page.

and here is the back side of the flap:

This page is my least favorite page in the journal.  In fact, I didn’t really finish it and I don’t know that I will:

We are going here to eat tonight.  If you are within driving distance of northern Arkansas…give it a try.  The restaurant is excellent….best steaks ever! And, I don’t usually order steak.  They also have a bed and breakfast,  and I understand it’s a get place to get away,  or whatever.  Biggers Bed and Breakfast and The Bluff Steak House

I almost forgot to post this week’s 4x4s. It was a bad choice to photograph these on that sketch pad. 😦  These number 61-64:

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”

Postcards

I read Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins last week. I’m reading the second book in the trilogy.  If you are interested in fast-paced action adventures….then these books are a must read for you.  The books are actually written for young teens but people of all ages are reading them.  The movie Hunger Games will be out a week from this Friday.  I hope we can find a theater near us that will be showing the movie.

I finally finished my postcards yesterday for iHanna’s yearly postcard swap .  Last year I made cards with collage and acrylic paints.  I wanted to do something different this time.  The faces and giraffes were drawn with my non-dominant hand using a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen or an IDenti-pen(extra fine).  I used a Sharpie fine marker on most of the floral doodle cards.  I colored those with watercolors and Tombow Brush Pens.

 

The Best/Worst of Times – Art Journal

A few years ago, we picked up a  book about Picasso and his art on the bargain table at a  book store.  I was looking through it and was inspired by his painting, “Child with a Dove,”  c.1901. I sketched my version in my Strathmore Journal. I tried to use a thin wash of acrylic paints and watercolor pencils and I’m not really happy with the end result.  I caught a snippet of an interview on tv yesterday and the Dickens quote  stuck in my head as the man being interviewed said that he has lived in the best of times and the worst of times.  We are off to have lunch with my mom so I’m keeping this short.

The Rythms and Patterns of Life

This is my third piece for the Gut Art class I am taking.  This is the result of the “field trip” I took via the internet last Friday.  I finished it tonight…I was kind of stuck and didn’t know what to do with it.  I decided that I had to try something,  it had been sitting on my art table for two days.  It is on a piece of watercolor paper which I will glue in my gut art book at some point.  I used acrylic paints, Caran d’Ache crayons and watercolor pencils.  The flowers were collaged on and embellished with crayon and paint. 

“To create one’s own world, in any of the arts, takes courage.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Art Journal – Discover

I worked on a graffiti piece yesterday but it ended up in the trash.  I completed two more pages in my multi-media journal.  I finished “Discover,” this morning.  I sketched the face with pencil.  Then I picked up a charcoal pencil and a burnt umber watercolor pencil a went over the pencil lines. I also used a sparse amount of oil pastels.  On the page on the left, I used some of my painted phone book scraps.  The little girl’s face came from a magazine but since it wasn’t altered, I added the glasses.  

 

        

It

 just

 is…  

Art Journal – On a Day Like This…

We spent the morning going to some garage sales in our area.  We found an old tea pot, chest and old picture frames to name a few items.  We will put those in the flea market.  We also picked up two different sizes of Revere Ware skillets.  If our granddaughter doesn’t want them for her new apartment…those will also be going into the flea market booth. 

This afternoon, I finished this page.  I showed it to my DH and he said he liked it and that was a departure from my usual art.  It started with a wash…the two figures in the background appeared in the drips and runs  of the paint.  Then I used my pen and did some doodles, I didn’t like that so I painted over all that.  You can see some of it peeking through the paint in some areas.  I used my water soluble crayons and more ink.  I finished by gluing on the woman in the foreground…she was some more doodle art I had done a few weeks ago. On a day like this…it just is. 

 

Art Journal – Rendezvous

This page is in my multi-media journal that I started at the end of May.  I really liked working on this page which started with a wash of red and blue.  I decided to draw a face and see what happened.  I used Ultramarine blue acrylics on her head covering along with some purple.  I also used Caran d’Ache water soluble crayons and watercolor pencils.  I kept blending everything together.  The flowers were cut from magazines.  I couldn’t get the paints to smooth out on her cheeks because  collage papers on the back were causing bumps and ripples.

I want to also mention that Alberta over at Amusing Muses gifted me with an award.  You are supposed to tell seven random things about yourself .  I think I will pass on that… but go here: http://amusingmuses2.blogspot.com/  to read about it.  She is a talented writer and artist.

Cereal Box Journal (6)

I hope everyone in the US had a great 4th of July holiday as well as a great weekend for everyone.  I finished this page today.  I found as many positive words as I could glue inside the sewing lines on the left.   Read them to yourself out loud…the message is great.   I sketched the girl and colored it with watercolor pencils.

I almost forgot…I won a giveaway over at DJ Pettitt’s blog…. She is a  great artist…I’d be happy to be half as good as she is when I grow up!  🙂  Go here to check out her website:  http://djpettitt.blogspot.com/

 

Art Journal – Power in Unity

Back after a few days…sometimes one has to dig themself out of the piles of paper clippings and face the inevitable…housework.  This the next page in my journal…I don’t think I’ll ever go back to a Moleskine.  I really like the multi-media paper that is in this one.  If you missed what I said about it, check out the May 27, 2009 post:  Alternating Currents.  This page needs something else but I decided to let it stand as it is.