recycling to reuse...

How do you store your colored pencils and related supplies like erasers, blenders? Right now, I'm liking mine in this, scarfed before our old dishwasher was hauled away last year. I keep my watercolor pencils separate from these plain janes -- different techniques and process, so why mix them? Anyway, my tip for the day, in case you have one of these just laying around, lol. Nah, probably not...winkwink.

Journalling Update...

Lately, I've been in some kind of linear art progression borne from my being so anal, I fear. I get going on prepping pages, in my present case it is painting gesso on journal pages in every journal that needs it, and I cannot stop. Well, I can but I don't want to. I get the best feeling when I'm gessoing -- I feel secure, safe, peaceful -- much like the feeling I'd get when I colored as a kid. It's also mindless and that feels good, too.

At any rate, when I do get time to play, all of this gessoing prep gets in the way of actually creating something, because I don't have access to a journal. The journal I need is either underneath a weight getting pages flattened or laying open getting pages dried.

The answer, of course, is to have a journal for right now that is solely for creating without requiring a prepped page. That means gluebooking. So, problem solved, right? Well, you know dense old me, I have to get to the answer in my roundabout way. I went to my storage box that holds blank journals and looked around.


I "inherited" this 2006 student planner from Missy. She wrote in only about 2 dozen pages of it, so it is mostly blank. I love the way this book feels in my hands, and I like it that the wire binding is small in circumference. It has an attached vinyl zip-pocket on the front that I can keep or cut off. I'm keeping it on for now.


The back chipboard on this one is very thick and strong with a nice glossy finish.


The pages feel stronger and thicker than copy paper. I'm guessing at the very least they are 38# thickness. So, I pull out the journal and gesso a two-page spread. I immediately notice that it takes the gesso well and stays pretty flat. Score!

However, I am still in the same boat, just with one more journal in the mix.


So, I go back to my box and notice this 2006 hardbound planner. I have a few of these. I was ordering them through American Express. I like how this one feels in my hands too.


There are page spreads in the front and back that are gorgeously patterned.


And every month the month view has large photos of scenery or people doing things.


So, I gesso up a spread in this book. The pages do well, almost as well as the first planner. Still, same boat.


Finally my dense brain snaps and I pull out of the box another composition book. This one has SpongeBob SquarePants on the cover. That's the one. I can call it SpongeBabe GlueBook. winkwink


Finally, remember how I pasted on the strips from a mail-order catalog to pages in my *almost daily* journal? Well, this is a photo taken of it after the next step. I brushed gesso onto the last page spread of the strips. Doesn't it look cool? When I was brushing it on, it laid down fine, but if I back-brushed across the same spot, the gesso glopped up, literally changed form. Silly me just left it that way to see how it would look after drying. I like the way it looks. I'll have fun inking and glazing over this, and so far the pages are still sturdy and intact.

Until next time,

In my own backyard

Jack Haley (Tin Man): What have you learned, Dorothy?
Judy Garland (Dorothy): Well, I - I think that it - it wasn't enough to just want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em - and it's that - if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?

Do you remember that part, in the final scene? Other than it being a bit weird to me now that they talk about back yards on a farm (WTHeck??? Farms have backyards???), this speech by Dorothy describes exactly how I feel right now about my art.

~~~


Today's sketch is sort of a break-through for me. It may look pitiful or like nothing special to the majority of the world, but to me it's mesmerizing and beautiful.

I sat down in front of a photo that my friend Paula took, of a cemetery angel. I'd seen it on her blog and couldn't take my eyes off her. I can sketch her, I thought.

And, I proceeded to. I am so grateful to Milliande and her Creativity Club, for her 2-part video on mixed media face drawing. Creativity Club is one of the art communities I belong to. Milliande's videos gave me some really good sketching advice, and I took copious notes. And I am doubly grateful to Paula, who graciously lent her angel to me. I titled my sketch "Paula's Angel" in commemoration of this thoughtful kindness.

I was able to let go a little of the anal need to sketch literally, and instead be a tiny bit whimsical...just a wee bit. Baby steps will get me there (repeat after me). I made the face too small, the neck too thin and long, the eyes too far apart, and the hair without detail, on purpose. I think I captured her essence of beauty, too, and to me that is the beauty of a cemetery statue, the essence of life emanating out from within all of that stone.

Anyway, my apologies if I seem to be bragging, but I am quite pleased with myself. I just might be one step closer to drawing whimsical art, which is something that should fit me since there is little hope of me ever mastering realistic sketch portraits...I mean, let's be honest. ;-))) Whimsical is fine and will give me plenty of challenge enough. I have always been in love with the art of Flavia Weedn, who I always think of when I see any whimsical art. I consider her the mother of it all.

Here's hoping I can continue to like what I sketch. But I know these kinds of successes are hit and miss, so I can at least go back to my blog and re-read my posts about the ones that all came together and made me feel good about creating.

~~~
I know that I have talked about my Composition Art Journal group, but I just realized that I should mention that I also belong to the Gluebooks group on yahoo. I just became active, so I don't know for sure, but it looks like this group may be the most fun in terms of the art. The only rules are to find a book, find some cutouts, and glue away. Everything else is left up to me.

Note to file: When I say magazine collage, I also mean junk mail collage. Whatever is modern and timely and easily discarded.

I have always enjoyed the low standards of magazine collage. Not to imply one bit that it's easy to do. Au contraire! A good, intelligent piece takes as much smarts as anything. It's just that anything goes, and consequently there's an absence of hoi polloi critics. It does enjoy a certain bad-boy rep in the art world, perhaps more exactly, illegitimate child status maybe, but magazine collagists generally get left alone and hence, it is naturally freeing to create in this genre. I am not limited to magazine collage, but I want to explore it more this year, as a therapy, so many of my gluebook pages will hopefully have this type of collage on them.

Until next time,

I must be Texas-tagalicious...

Before I get started, let me pass on some email info I received this morning. Duncan Crafts (home of Aleene, Crafty Chica and Tulip brands) has launched a new website. It's called ilovetocreate. Check it out...only a little bit of it is cutesy/childish. I saw a few things that interested me. I'd like to try the Tulip Glitter Spray, myself. :-)))

(Alright...I hear you snickering. Glitter is not cutesy...it's vintage!)

And, here's a sketch I did in my newly-started sketch journal:

I am very rusty, as you can see. My shading sucks so bad that I don't think I will do it anymore in sketch pencil, only with color. Even my color shading is bad, but what u gonna do, ya know? P-r-a-c-t-i-c-e.

I actually sketched someone real, a woman named Elaine with whom I used to work 30 years ago. We had cubicles next to each other, and I'd see that look a lot when I'd lean over to ask a question, etc. She always had a "let me think" look that was mixed in with a pleasant and polite and interested look. Another coworker who thought he was Oscar Wilde or somesuch always joked that if you asked Elaine to jump off a cliff, she'd consider it and sure get to it if she had time. I thought he was cruel, but he was funny. So...that kind of look was what I was going for.

Okay, back on track...
I was tagged by my lovely friend and fellow Texana, Charlie. (I wish I had 1/100th of her sketching talent!)

I did this same tag last week on my other blog when I was tagged by my lovely friend and fellow Texana Rozette. (I wish I had 1/10th of her digi-talent.)

Hm... Anyone else notice a possible pattern here? Am I now officially Texas-tagalicious? At least I am getting tagged by talented Texanas...

winkwink

Now, I had told Rozette I'd reply on my Antics blog since I try to keep Paper Paisleys just for art-related schtick. And I could tell Charlie the same thing.

But now, I give up. LOL No, just kidding. I've got one of my ideas...watch out...so I decided that this time around with the tag, I will make my replies art-related. It's interesting to learn how other artists and hobbyists look at their art and go about things...right? Maybe I can provide one or two interesting tidbits for you.

So, here are 6 art-related things about me:
1. I'm not technically or totally self-taught. I had some traditional art courses in college, but it was so long ago that I'd be a liar if I took credit for retaining most of the knowledge. It was over 30 years ago and it's not like getting back on a bicycle, OK? I can still sketch certain things, but as I said, I'm tres rusty. And my painting was all in oils, which I'm not ever going back to. Plus, I cannot remember the strokes I learned. So, basically and for all intents and purposes, I'm self-taught.

2. Now, I do remember quite a bit that I learned in college about art theory. You know, design elements, color theory, art genres, basic art history. And, I think sometimes it dupes me into having a false sense of courage that "I can do that" when I have absolutely no beeswax doing it. Knowledge, for me, is power AND a double-edged sword.

3. I have a big appreciation for collagists and mixed media artists. My biggest challenge *slash* brick wall is seeing the process order of layering spatially. Say, WHAT? Well, the layers of color and texture in a collage or mixed media piece were usually done in the opposite order of what you think you see. I would love to give all the artists of those genres truth serum and then have them answer if they have difficulty with this also or does it just come naturally. I would love to know the results. Those to whom it truly comes naturally are blessed with an amazing talent, in my opine. (And those who struggle but do get it done are pretty amazing, too.)

4.My favorite art journaling book is The Decorated Page by Gwen Diehn. Written in 2002, it is one of the oldest of the contemporary books on art journals, but Gwen's a master. She's the chair of the art dept at Warren Wilson College and calls what we do visual-verbal art. Among the many contributors are 2 well-respected and talented artists I know of: Nina Bagley and Karen Michel. Gwen takes the art journaling process step by step, giving the reader what seems like infinite ways to create. She also covers using altered books and scrapbook albums. I remember learning for the first time what a "tip-in" was in this book. The eye candy inspiration is stunning still...I'll keep this book forever.

5.
My favorite altered books book is Altered Books Workshop by Bev Brazelton. Written in 2004, Bev's book is still a timely supply list reference for altering books to use as art pieces or any other kind of self-expression. I love the way she's laid it out, in sections for the beginner, the intermediate, and the advanced alterer. In the advanced section she calls "Creative Techniques", you'll find illustrated instructions for image transfers, cut-outs, pop-ups, insert boxes and drawers, all done in a non-cutesy artistic style. The biggest reason I love and keep this book is Bev's unfraid, jump-in attitude. She's done all her own art work, and that attitude is on every page and in every technique she teaches.

6.
My favorite book about paint is Altered Surfaces by Chris Cozen. This is a skinny little 50-page Design Originals book that has the amount of information that a 500-page book might have. Every square inch of every page is loaded with instructions and photos. Chris is a Working Artist for Golden Paint, and if you are a Golden painter, you needed this book yesterday. I found my copy at Memory Villa. The book's official sub-title is "Using Acrylic Paints with Gels, Mediums, Grounds & Pastes for Paper, Canvas, Board and Plastic". WOW! Yeah, and it's all covered, believe me: mixing, glazing, resist, encaustic, tar gel, molding, even weaving acrylic skin strips, which was something I first learned about here. If you paint with Goldens or any brand of acrylics, you should have this book, unless you already know enough to write one yourself.

Please note that I also managed to blog about those books that have been inspiring me lately. Two birds, meet one stone.

Now, who to tag? I did not tag anyone in particular the first time I did the tag because my fingers hurt so badly I was having trouble thinking. So, this time I'm doing it for both of my taggers. No, I'm not tagging 12 peeps, but I just wanted Rozette to know I was thinking about her. xoxo

So that I can find 6 peeps who haven't done this before or in a while, I'm gonna change up their tags a bit. If your name is listed here, please answer the tag on your blog, choose 6 peeps to tag and ask them whatever you want to, and then go tell them in comments on their blogs.

Hide and watch:

1. Sarah C. : Having a baby is like creating art. In fact, it's your biggest masterpiece! So, tell us 6 baby names that made your semi-finalist list, whether or not Trent liked them, LOL.

2. Tina Z :
You like to keep lists, so tell us the next 6 creative projects you will be doing. These can be for your DT or home or gifts for others.

3. Jill C. : You are incredibly effectively goal-oriented, and those goals are like pieces of art to you. You are the only person I know who actually accomplished 99.9% of your goals in 2008 (and if I'm not mistaken, that one unmet goal was something to do with backing up your photos, and you did accomplish that when you changed computers...one month into the next year. Sheesh! That's 100% in my book!) So, Jill, let's go longterm. Tell us 6 goals / dreams that are not 2009 goals that you want to accomplish before you kick the big one...6 Bucket-List things.

4. Linda D. : You tease about how big your scrapping wishlist is and you are a prodigious paper-user. So, what if you could only scrap with 6 brands of paper...tell us what those 6 paper brands would be.

5. Benita C. : Your Prima collection rivals Primas'. If you had the space and the moola, tell us 6 additional collections you would have.

6. Roberta W. : To you, cooking is more than a cuisine, it's an artform. So, what 6 dishes have you never made and very much want to make?

Until next time, xoxo.

a journal for your thoughts?

Great Good Friday, everyone. I hope we all have a fun and creative weekend. If we get to create, then we're having fun, right? :-)))

Well, I got another page spread journaled in my *almost daily* composition book. This is basically where I stand on everyday coffee (and cups). Did I feel like writing or what? LOL

I see a definite trend toward scrapping in my journal right now, and that's okay. That might end up being all that I do in this *almost daily* journal. I'm already starting to see it as a Book of Me in 2009.

So, what about when I feel like sketching...or creating something that doesn't fit the theme of that journal? Time to start another one. And another. And another. Hehe.

Two art journaling groups I'm in recently had polls asking how many journals are you working on? You wouldn't believe how many people answered more than 3. The more I get into journaling, the more I realize that this is a natural and typical thing, particularly if you like to theme your journals.

That's why I broke down and bought my first Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. I know I can use it and I wanted to see what all the love for it is about. (By the way, it's pronounced in 4 syllable Italian, like Mol-e-skee'-neh). And once I held it in my hand and opened it up, felt the pages, I immediately understood the attraction. It's one sexy little number. I see more of these in my future, but only one at a time and in moderation (she said as she fondled the black leather cover).

It's not like I need to buy another journal, ever again.

Not as long as I have this little baby, my Zutter Bind-it-all.

Along with my collection of art paper (which I finally got organized and under control so I know what I have), I only need binding o-ring strips and chipboard to make covers. And I've got plenty of both onhand. I just need to do it. Hopefully I will soon, as I am seeing some gorgeous handmade journals that people have made in the classes I'm taking online.

Over the next few days, something that I will be doing is furiously gesso-ing composition book pages, and also wet-collaging scrap paper strips on them. I told a friend yesterday that it's a bit like paper-maching a balloon to make a pinata. I really enjoy getting my fingers all pasty and wet. I was never one to enjoy finger-painting, but perhaps it's much the same thing. I also like to spread gel medium like that sometimes. I might just have a little glue fetish going on, but, hey, at least I'm not snorting it! :-)))

So, anyway, I might not get another page journaled until I stop finger-glueing. But, I do have a few more pages and assorted photos and topics in the queue to show, so we will see how well I can continue to feed the Blog Beast with regularity. So far, I'm pretty proud of myself, which sometimes leads right to failure, so maybe only a little pretty-proud.

I did want to mention a couple of books that are inspiring me right now. I highly recommend them and will keep them in my permanent library, meaning, they will never see the light of ebay. I'll save that for my next blog entry so, until next time ---- xoxo!

i'm finally a struggling artist!

No, not like you think.

I'm struggling to keep from bashing my head against the wall, in search of a good way to prep thin pages in books and journals to accept wet media.

When I joined the Composition Book Art Journal group, I read the group files, I googled, I even read some of the books I have in my own library. By far, the most frequent answer is to use good paper (as in watercolor 140# cold press or thick handmade papers).

Well, that doesn't help me one bit, as I am pretty sure if I wrote the composition book people and told them they need to use that kind of paper, they would be laughing so hard they couldn't reply.

Ya know?

Anyhoo, one of the suggests I read was to glue two pages together to increase the strength. Okay, did that. Used a glue stick and it didn't really make them stick together all that well. Tried again. Used Yes! paste and that worked good as far as sticking, except the page was really buckled badly. So, then I added some gesso to both sides. Still buckled. Stronger, but buckled.

Note to file: do not glue 2 pages together anymore. It may work for someone else, but not for me.

Then, I ran across someone on Flickr who said she preps her pages like artist Kelly Kilmer taught her in a workshop, and she couldn't give all the details, but it involves collaging torn paper strips onto the page and then painting or gessoing on top of that.

Well, sweet! So, I thought, could this help salvage my buckled pages? I tore a bunch of strips from a mail order catalog (thin paper, kind of glossy, like magazine paper) and then basically wallpapered them on. Had a great tactile time, too. I used my Yes! paste and my fingers, because it was just easier that way (and I do get some kind of perverse enjoyment out of having my fingers right in the smooshy stuff).

Seriously, I put a little hot water in a glass custard cup, and then every time before I would spread the paste with my fingers onto the paper strips, I'd just touch my finger pads onto the surface of the water to wet them a teeny bit. This really helped me be able to smoosh the paste onto the entire paper strip, front and back. And since the paper I was using was somewhat glossy, it accepted the little amount of water very well.

Yes, I know I could also use gel medium and I have before and will again, but I have this big old container of Yes! paste sitting around slowly getting hard. You know old Kmarty me! Waste not want not!

So here's what it looked like at that point:

{Click on photo to see it larger}

To recap, this composition book page spread is pasted paper collage on top of a thin coat of gesso on top of 2 lined notebook pages pasted together. Here's another photo angle of the raw page up to this point:


{Click on photo to see it larger}

Now I let it *cure*, after first zapping it a bit with my heat gun. I left the book open to that spread, let it *be* for hours, then closed it up with wax paper between the spread and put heavy stuff on the book (to straighten the pages). Then, repeated the whole thing....for a couple of days.

And let me tell you, those pages are strong! You know the old joke about your jeans being so dirty they can stand up all by themselves? That kind of strong. So, of course, I'm loving that!

Anyway, what to do with magazine ad covered pages now? I can totally see gessoing over it or painting. But because I was going to pretty much cover most of it with my journal entry for this page spread, I just sponged on some inks which gave it a nice yellow-green hue. Here is the finished page:


{Click on photo to see it larger}

I am still experimenting. Stay tuned....until next time.

new endeavors

The brunt of my tax business sale paperwork is done now. I knew that my blogging needed to start again, so I looked at what areas of art play I wanted to immediately persue.

I've been admiring all the eye candy of art journaling for awhile now. I even took a shamefully few baby steps in it last year, but I couldn't find a hook in it for me to have a passion for doing it. I love seeing that passion in others' pages, though. So, I was spending a lot of time looking, but not touching, :-)

Well, an attempt must be made to break me of that! So, I decided to join a few classes, learn on-the-job in a group, etc. My first decision was to join Composition Art Journals yahoo group. Missy loveloves those hardback notebook paper books, always has. Consequently, I have a stash of them. The thin paper is a limitation, but I am playing around with different mediums and techniques to find what works best for me. And it's been fun. I love the feel of those little books. I also love my Moleskine, but the two are not comparable, in my opine.

Here's my first page that sat around for nearly 2 weeks until I felt comfortable adding the journaling. It's hard sometimes to loosen up my anal-ity. I have to take baby steps. :-)))



When I saw the porch photo in a Lowes ad, I just connected with it. I wanted one, lol. Anyway, I scanned it into my Paint Shop Pro and did the watercolor effect on it. Printed it out and then painted around it.

I've given the compo-book the theme of an *almost daily* daily journal. I figure that a daily just sets me up to fail. I need the vagueness that *almost* implies. I also treat it like it's no-fail. If I want to scrapbook in it, I can. If that is where my creativity feels safe that day, like Randy in a Christmas Story, in the kitchen cupboard, that's where it can play.

Something else I wanted to consider trying to learn was how collagists get the depth in their backgrounds. Pam Carriker is an artist whose work I love, and so I signed up for a 5-week workshop she's teaching.

The great thing is, it's been stressful but great. The bad news is, I cannot share any of it (as its her proprietary method). But we have a class group on Flickr, so all my classwork is uploaded to my Flickr account first, if you want to see it. :-)

I also bought some books and some Pitt pens and markers to teach myself Calligraphy. I may have to take a class to force me to learn it, lol. So we'll see how that goes. Haven't gotten into it yet.

And, I need to scrapbook some pages for my mom's purse album I am making her. 2Peas is offering a deal through 1/31 where if you upload 20 new creations you get a $20 store credit. Even though I can't show those here either (until after I spend that credit, hehe), money talks! If any of you who are into scrapping have your mojo on, that's a great deal.

Looks like my compo-book pages will be all I can show here for awhile, so I will spread them out, hehe. More laterz!

happy 2009!

i blogged about my resolutions aka life vision thing for 2009 over at Antics, and the inherent themes of re-assess and re-calibrate seem to be the ticket for what i'll call my 2009 art vision thing.

for 2007, i chose a guiding word for the year: focus.

for 2008, i realized i needed four words that together made a slogan: dare, bare, care, share.

for 2009, i am adding a few new words while sticking by the old ones since they still resonate with me. i very much need to continue to focus, and i still need to keep daring, baring, caring and sharing. i just need to kick it all up a notch or two, carry it further.

so, my 2009 additions are reassess, recover, recreate. i was a little doubtful of recreate until i read the definition is "to create anew". and i need a big ole mess of that. deal done.

to summarize:

focus
dare
bare
care
share
reassess
recover
recreate

now, in detail:

--> i only got two months of my art calendar made for 2008, but i discovered that there are two months in 2009 that match the 2008 months. so, hey, i already have two months made for 2009! maybe this year i can finish.

--> i am 97% finished with cling-cushioning all of my red rubber and that brings me one step closer to completing my big stamp inventory project. the next step is to cut all of the clinged rubber out, then put up all the stamps in their respective cases. that will complete phase one. phase two is stamping the images into my binder. phase three is scanning in all the image sheets, but that's optional. when i get phase two done i'll be celebrating.

--> i have a similar binder and storage system for my diecuts and that's about 50% done. so i need to get that finished.

--> my ribbon collection is about 97% on hangers and 3% wrapped on thread cards. only a fool would put them all on the cards at this point, but i answer to 'fool' quite a lot, actually. the hangers make the ribbon look all pretty but are a royal pain in the butt to go through to find what i want to use. so i quit looking at all and that's not how to use the dang ribbon up.

--> it seems like forever since i created any art. so i am beginning to fantasize about it a little, hehe. i really hope that i can figure out how to create on something every day, and keep it up for a long time, as well as be able to create a variety of what i make, like on a monthly basis create a layout or two, a couple of cards, some atc's and some art journaling. that all seems like a dream too good to come true. still, i want to try.

so, that's how the details roll. and that's only a few of them but it's a start. i'll be working on some/all of this just as soon as i finish all of the !@#%#$^$%&%^*^^* paperwork to finalize selling my tax biz. right now, i feel like the old life is never gonna leave. so i must keep plugging away on the mundane crap that will let me start my new year! ack! (did that make any sense? lol)