Playing in My Studio

Wow! My summer vacation is almost over. We fabulous teachers report back to school on August 6th. It will be two weeks before the kiddos come back. There is much to be done and learned before that happens. I am excited and looking forward to another group of wonderful second graders. Yay!

I have had an interesting and most productive vacation. First, I managed to take and pass the Praxis II test which allowed me to apply and receive my Level 2 teaching license. Thank goodness that is over.

Second, I started exercising again. I see a tiny bit of improvement. What I figure is if I do the exercises every day then sooner or later something will happen. That is it on that.

Another bit I did was go on some mini vacations. One to a resort town and the other camping. Both were fun.

Finally, maybe not finally because there were other activities that I did, but I just want to get to the art. I started a fun project using 3x5 index cards. The plan is to draw, paint, collage, etc., on one card daily. At first, it was difficult for me to figure out what to create on them. Those beginning cards are not so great, but hey they do show my progress. I have used a lot of my pens and paints so far on these little cards. Yes, the paper is horrible for some techniques, but still exciting to see what happens. I also write what material was used in the creating of the art piece on the back of the card. That way when I come back to them and wonder what was used to create it the information will be on the back of the card. The project was started on June 18th and as of today, there are 44 cards. Some of the cards I have used in my art journal that was also started this summer. That journal is fun and unique, but that is for another post. Probably when I get more done in it.

Another art project I did was to create in an art journal that I have had for a couple years now. It is a journal that I play in, so it does not matter if there are mistakes. There is no such thing as a mistake if you learn from it and yes, I learned from the mess-ups.

To help jump-start my art heart I watched some artists on YouTube. One such artist is James Burke. He creates wonderful non-realistic drawings of women (mostly). One of his videos shows what he does when he gets new art materials such as paint and markers. He makes swatch dolls or buildings. I loved the idea and because my studio contains so many markers, paints and various types of pens, I decided to create swatch dolls and buildings. Wow! What fun it has been and very freeing. I have discovered fun pens that have been hiding in my stash. Creating these swatches has helped me so much. I can feel the artist child in me screaming with a joyful noise.

The ladies in the picture above were created one day just for fun similar to Mr. Burke. I added my own twist. They are done with artist markers and other pens in the above-mentioned art journal. The journal is filling up with some fun and very colorful drawings. Yay!

Okay, these are just some of the activities I have done during my vacation. It is so nice having a studio again. I have missed it and my artist child is extremely happy.

Be well, Be happy, my friends.

Getting Ready for Vacation

I realize that many go shopping for clothes to wear on vacation. Well, not me! As soon as my husband and I decided to go to Oregon on vacation this summer I started thinking about what journal and art supplies should I take. Okay, I did think about clothes and if it was necessary for me to buy new ones. Maybe a new t-shirt or two and perhaps flip-flops to wear on the beach. Other than that I think that what I will wear is pretty much taken care of. Now back to what journal and art supplies should I take.
After searching Amazon.com and checking out the Michael's Arts and Craft store near me for journals I finally found one. I ordered the TreeLine List book from Amazon.com and it arrived a couple of days ago.

The company, Action Publishing has several styles to pick from. It took me a few days to decide on this one. These journals are very different from others that I was considering. The paper is cream colored with both lines and a grid layout. The left side page has the grid and the lines are on the right side. The covers are chipboard made from recycled material. There is much more about them and I will let you go and check it out.

The journal that I got measures 4.25 x 11 inches and has a tree theme. To help gauge the size of the journal I took a picture of it next to a piece of 8.5 x 11 inch cardstock. Why would I get such a strange size for a travel journal? Well, because it is different and will make me change the way I create in it. The size of postcards will be a challenge for me as will other bits of ephemera. I will manage somehow to get them in.
I also ordered film for my instant camera. Yes, instant as in the old fashion Polaroid type film, only these are small.
 The pictures are about 2 x 3 inches and just barely fit on the page of this journal. That is okay, because barely is better than not at all. If I turn the camera sideways then the photos will be printed in the portrait layout. In this layout they will fit on the page. I will take pictures both ways and all will be fine. I do not plan on taking my DSLR on this trip. I want to focus on little photos and most importantly drawing and writing about what I see. If I take my big camera then it is likely that it will be the main focus of my art. Another bit is that I want to have my photos in the journal within minutes of taking them, not when I get home and get around to having prints made. I do not have a lot of spare time at this point in my life to focus on making prints and putting them in my journal later. Most likely I will not get around to doing that. This is why I wish to use my instant camera and getting those photos glued down in my journal quickly. Honestly, the photos do come out quite nice. I am looking forward to adding more drawings in this journal and not as many photos.
Now to pair down or use a better way of transporting my drawing/painting materials. This has always been an issue for me. What should I take and if this pen or paint is left home what will I do if it is needed? I have a difficult time leaving a lot home, because I never know what my mood will be as far as which medium to use. So I take a lot. I do limit it to a small backpack, but still the way it is stored in the pack is annoying to me. I had been using various pencil cases, and although these are good at keeping the stuff safe it is not good for on the quick creations. I have to rummage around in the pack trying to find the bag that holds the medium that I am looking for. It just takes up too much time to do that. Doing a bit of research on Amazon.com I came across a solution. I found these roll-up pencil/pen cases. There are a lot of different styles and sizes to choose from, and yes it took me some time to choose a couple.

        I ended up buying these two. One holds 36 pencils/pens and the other 48. I got them with the intention of putting my Tombow markers in the 48 slotted one and my drawing pencils and pens in the 36 slotted purple one. The problem with this plan was that the Tombows did not fit very well in either one. They caused them to be very difficult to roll up. The Tombows also caused the purple case to come un-stitched, which I had to fix. So for now I have my Tombows in a pencil bag and I am still rearranging my drawing pencils and pens in the roll up cases. Not sure if I will be using both or just the one that holds 48. I have time to figure it out.
Before I wrap up this post I wanted to show the title page of the book. The page is not complete, but it is a least started. I will add more and perhaps take another photo of it when it is done. For now I think that this post is long enough. When we return from our trip I will post some photos and chat about how I did or did not like the journal.
Be well and be happy my friends. Ciao!

January 2010 Art Journal Project

I have ventured into yet another project. Milliande of Milliande Art Community for Women has started an art journal project in which we, those that wish to join in on the fun, will do a daily entry (with prompts) into our art journal for January. It is to start the year off with art. You can read more about it here and watch Milliande's fun videos of her doing her pages. It has been a challenge, but a exciting one to say the least. I am a day or two behind but that is okay, because there are to be no worries in this project. Anyway, here are photos of the pages I have done so far.

First and Second day: I made the Journal, which is a Teesha Moore 16 page journal  made out of a 22"x30" piece of watercolor paper. It is a fun and easy way to make a journal. After I got the journal together I pre-painted all the pages using  artist's acrylics in blue, red, green and some black to make the pages different shades of purple. Once the paint was dry I created the cover. There is a whole bunch of stuff going on in this layout, stamps, ink, embossing powder, collage, stickers....and so on.

Third day:  We were to add a large circle to our layout. I took photos with my cell phone camera while I was outside having coffee and reading. The photo on this page is of the sun and printed with my new Polaroid Pogo printer. I added a bit of white on the first few days work over the dark purple. The star is cut from a Christmas card and has glitter on it but the scanner does not pick up that very well.

Fourth day: This is a layout using a Pogo print of my cup of coffee. The challenge for that day was to add a checkerboard pattern to the layout. I cut a square from a styrofoam meat tray and then used silver metallic paint on the stamp. The stamp was used around the edges of the fourth, fifth and sixth day pages as well.

Fifth day: The assignment was to add a piece of old calendar or journal page. I just made a new journal page and wrote a bit about my day then I did some collage work on the page. 
Sixth day: Draw a tree was the task of the day. I drew three winter trees using pastel pencils. It took me a couple of days to finish this page because I wanted to find a quote from Thoreau's Walden. I just knew there would be a good quote in one of his chapters based in the winter. Here is the kicker. I did not just want to read the chapters, I wanted to read them while I sat outside. I live in Utah, Northern Utah where the high for those days that I sat outside was only 29 degrees. On one of the days there was a slight breeze, very slight but enough to make that 29 degrees feel a lot colder and because we live on the bench of a mountain there is still snow in our yard. At least the sun was not blocked by clouds like it usually is. Despite the cold though, I did manage to find my quote: Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. I wrote the quote on a piece of plastic, added a bit of gold beads and then used my heating tool to shrink the plastic a little. The page also has some vanilla inked 'snowflakes' with clear embossing done on them. The snowflake stamp was made out of a cork from a wine bottle (thank you, Gretchen;-).

Seventh day: Add a smile to your page. Well, I added three cute little smiles to my page. The photos are of my youngest son and my two grandsons and their funny little smiles;-)

Eighth day: Journal about our word or phrase for the year. I want to be creative every day, not just in art but in my writing as well. Thus far I have been doing very well at creating art and writing daily. Of course, it is only day twelve of the new year, but they say it only takes a few weeks to create a habit. If I continue at this rate my Create Daily creed will be a habit. Not just an "Ah, do I have to do it again!?" type habit, but a habit that I enjoy and I do enjoy it.

Well, that is all the days I have scanned into the computer. There will be more soon, I promise! For now, I wish that you all have a word or a phrase that will carry you through this year and perhaps beyond and that it is a joy.

Now go create something!

If Only I Could Get Back in the Habit ;-)

I plan on getting back in the habit of posting on my blog. Lately, I have been really bad about putting my creations up on here and that is making me feel crazy. From now on I promise to post at least once or twice a week, even if I do not have any work to show. Most of the time I have work to show and want to share it with my followers or those who happen to stop by. I promise!!!

I am still working through the lessons for my online art class and I also joined another art class that is learning how to make our lettering more creative. Being more creative with my lettering is something I needed to work on and this class is helping me to realize that goal. One of the main bits of information I have learned is that I must draw a light guideline with pencil in order to keep my lettering going in the direction I want it to go. My hand still shakes at times and the lines help me to keep on track, so to speak. The other bonus is getting to use different kinds of pens. I love using colorful pens when working with my lettering. My favorite is pens that are made for children, like Crayola markers and glitter pens. Really fun and because they are not expensive to buy I can enjoy using them.

These two pages are from lesson two in which we were to draw a guideline and then write a quote on it. One we were to erase the line and the other incorporate the line into the design. The Durrant quote is my line left in layout. The line erased layout is very bright and a lot going on in the design. I am still having a bit of trouble getting my letters to be equal in size, but at least I followed the line;-) I cannot wait for this weeks Creative Lettering class assignment. Not sure what she will have us do. All I know is that it will probably be fun.

I will add my other art class completed lessons this week, but for now I just wanted to get some images and words up on my blog and to put out there in the cyber world that I plan on doing a better job at posting to my blog.

Have a fun and very creative day!

Love This Book and the Things it Taught Me!

I finished reading Danny Gregory's book, "An Illustrated Life" yesterday and I enjoyed every page. The big bit of wisdom I got from his book is that no matter your journal style you should just focus on working in your journal/sketchbook. Many of the artists in his book have been working in their sketchbooks for many years, while others have just started. Another bit of information I gained is that these sketchbooks to most of the artists are treasures and that they would run through fire to protect them.

I loved seeing the art from these featured artist. Some made me laugh and others brought tears to my eyes. Danny's book is one of those art books that belongs on your bookshelf with all the other art books. Not to just sit there and collect dust but to be taken down read and to be inspired by the treasures inside. If you must check it out at your local library do so often. It is worth the effort.

I begun this sketch the day I got Danny's book and finished it the same day I finished reading his book. What caused the subject of this page is this. When I first receive books I will skim the pages look at the contents, the index, Artist bio and then the catalog information. I like knowing when an author is born. Most modern books have done away with listing the birth year of the author but Danny's book does. In the shipment of books I had also received another art book and finished doing all my scanning of that book and then started on Danny's. Both books listed the birth year of the author, the other book the author was born in 1943, and Danny's says that he was born in 1960. I was shocked to see that he was born the same year I was. Then it sunk in, "he was born in the same year as I was, but he has books published and is successful!" and I thought, "what have I done?" "What do I have to show for my 49 years?" That is when I got the idea to make a page, in the fashion of a mind map to see if I had actually done anything important in my years.
Guess what? I have done extraordinary things in my wonderful 49 years and this journal page shows nearly all that I have done. Not all because the page is only so big, but most of the major activities and accomplishments. I have done cool things and I plan on doing more cool things. Thank you, Danny for a wonderful book and the inspiration I got from it, oh, and Happy Birthday!

My Work for the Week & EDM 216

I found another wonderful group of artists on the internet. It is a community of women artists run by the artist Milliande: http://milliande.ning.com/ (Sorry fellows it is just for women, do check the web for a guy artist only site) There are many talented women on this site and a lot of art to look at. On the site I found out that there are sub-groups to join, such as photography, groups from certain countries, and so forth. I joined the Milliande's Artist Dates. Each week she posts a challenge or activity to do and then post to the website. Others can then comment on your work if they wish.
I decided to do week one and four. Week one was to create a work that included a postage stamp and week four was a piece using the colors yellow and blue.
Wow! Once I got started I could not stop, because instead of drawing my EDM#216, "draw your inner critic" I created a collage of me overpowering that critic. My yellow and blue collage is one devoted to affirming my artist /person. In some ways the two collages are a set, even though I created the EDM piece after the yellow and blue collage.
I have them both up in my living room where I do most of my drawing so that I can be reminded of my artist self.

I AM AN ARTIST!!! I CAN HEAR MY MUSE!!! I AM DEAF to my inner critic.........

Journal Pages & EDM 215

Spring came for a few days but now has left for who knows how long. One week we have warm sun and then the next we have cold and more snow. I am ready for spring to come and stay for awhile. In Utah the weather can change quickly. One of the sayings we have is "wait 5 min's. and the weather will change!" I have gone camping at the end of June and be caught in a snow storm and needing coats and the heater turned on. Okay, it was at an elevation of over 9000 ft. but still it is a crazy thing to be in a snow storm in summer.

This is my EDM 215 drawing, 'Draw your thumb'. It is actually my first drawing of my hand not sure what is wrong with the picture other than my wrist is too fat for the size of my hand. All in all I had fun drawing it. (I do have Reubenesque hands and body;-) more to love I suppose)