Dog Days of Summer

Hello Hello - Aimes here, all reports of my death are highly exaggerated! I've just been living in the Dog Days of Summer where extreme laziness is the key to a happy life. Finally felt like creating a blog post, so here I am. The card front shown above is a birthday card I made for someone who celebrated in NYC, so I used a TCW Julie Balzer stencil of the Brooklyn Bridge (I think!) to trace it on a card background I'd inked with my little finger sponge daubers. I used a Micron pen to trace the skyline and bridge, then colored in with purple zig marker.

I love how using that old Junkitz cardstock on front and back gave it a continuity and an industrial look. It got high marks of approval from the Millennial who received it. Would I do it again? Nooooo. Took way to long and got a horrid hand cramp at some point. It is a nice alternative way to use a stencil, though.

Here's what I made with some ribbon and flowers, die cuts and miscellany from my scraps and some Stickles. This birthday card is officially my last card since finally announcing on Facebook that my fingers are just too crippled to keep up with all the deadlines anymore. God, that felt so good...eventually. Went through some guilty days at first. Then, there appeared the huge Black Hole Of Habit that I've only recently escaped.

I guess almost 10 years of card making can cause an identity crisis, huh? Actually, I have no plans at all to completely quit. I'm only taking a vacay at present. I just wanted out of the expectation of having them made for others. From now on, if anyone gets one from me, they are either lucky or unlucky, depending on the perceived value, heehee.

However, even if my card-making vacay lasts a year, you will still be seeing "new" cards from me, as I still have a TON I have not shown here on the blog or even uploaded to my Flickr yet.

So, what have I been doing with my arty time? I will tell you, however boring it sounds.

I have been immersed in art journal page and background prepping, in these 9 art journals. (I do have one more, but it is only for glue book collage.) That top photo shows my 2 composition book journals and my wire bound DayRunner recycle. These are my oldest journals, probably began in 2006 sometime for the middle one, which is a journal of favorite quotes. The other two were started in 2009 when I began taking Kelly Kilmer classes. I am happy to report finally that every unfinished spread in these 3 are gessoed and background-painted, and ready to finish off. Another 3 months or so and they will be complete. I never thought I'd see this day. Yes, I am excited.

Now, the bottom photo shows my 6 American Express desk planners I have recycled into art journals. I may have 5 finished spreads and or pages in the whole lot. Maybe a third of the pages are gessoed, fewer than that background-painted. So, my goal is to gesso all the pages in these 6, then paint some layers, and have them ready to collage or draw or whatever.

I am not an art journaler who does a page or spread from start to finish in one night or even in one week. I actually like taking forever. While my first 3 journals had specific themes, these 6 are my eclectic mixed media journals and will be used to experiment in with product, technique, style, whatever. I hope to have every page gessoed but from there the page prep will vary. I want to be able to have different stages of pages to choose from. I have tested this approach in my older 3 as well as in one of the mixed media journals, and it really inspires me to be able to look through all the pages of varying layers and stages for the one that looks right for what I want to create in that moment. Don't know if I explained that well, but I tried.

The best part for me right now is that it's all mindless work - little to think about, lots of kinesthetic touchy-feely art play, love the brushwork, the paints, perfect for tv or music binging inside in the cool a/c. NO EXPECTATIONS. This seems to be my theme currently. lol

So I will leave you on that note. Hope you are finding ways to tolerate summer and maybe even enjoy it. Thanks as always for stopping by and checking in on me. I appreciate that and any comments you leave! Will post again soon! xoxo