30 Day Art Journal/Blog Challenge - Day 7

Today's Challenge...
Working on a prompt from A Year In The Life Of An Art Journal



There is something under there.
I will scrape and wash it down tomorrow. :D

I did this and I have a page of half done Zentangles...
Yes, I slacked. I am a video game addict and my son bought Skyrim last night, so I spent most of the day playing it while he was at school.
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

30 Day Art Journal/Blog Challenge - Day 5

Today's chellenge:
More Zentangling.

So, I asked myself, what would happen if I Zentangled on an acrylic paint background.
It's a little difficult, because the surface is not super flat and my sharpie pen has been giving me headaches. It's supposed to be a permanent pen but halfway through the ink started wiping away.
What's up with that?

Here's the page. I love the colors of the paint on this page. It's built on a background I created yesterday. Just some Zentangle and personal ephemera. I am having a picture of my husband and I from my cell phone printed, will be a few days and it will be complete...



Close up of the hearts.

Close up of the words.


The pictures aren't the best, I know. It's REALLY overcast today and I just can't seem to get some good lightining even near a window.

Will update this page again once I have the picture and I am going to dig out some more personal ephemera, maybe Zentangle some more.
We'll see where it takes me.

30 Day Art Journal/Blog Challenge - Day 4 - Just Backgrounds

Today's challenge:
Do something, for the love of God, just do SOMETHING!

Can you tell I was in a panic?
Mildly.
Today was filled with family and "to-dos" and to add to that, I had no good ideas for any of the backgrounds I have done or for anything new.
I am starting to collect personal ephemera, newspapers and such.
But, I really want to collect a little while so I have a good selection of stuff to go through and I also want a good quality moleskine journal, perhaps. This spiral stuff is for the birds.

Today I knew I just had to get SOMETHING done and get some pictures, because if I missed a day and said "What the hay!", and then it would be no big thing if I missed more and mroe days and the habit formation here would fail.
So, I got some backgrounds layered amidst my chores, kids, helping family with computer problems, and hubby.


This one is ready for... something.


This one needs more layers, still a work in progress.


And this one is actually being worked on still, or set up, rather, but it is technically tomorrow's project!
I am setting it up for some Zentangle that I can do while watching football tomorrow.
The page idea came to me after I had finished everything and was taking pictures.

Did you know...
My husband's team is the Bears. Mine, the Saints.

30 Day Art Journal/Blog Challenge - Day 3 - "Lest We Forget"

So, today's challenge...

I have two challenges to complete.
The first is a Zentangle for the I am the diva challenge!



I can't say that I am pleased with it. Doing a Zentangle in something other than a grid proved to be my undoing.
No matter, it just means I need to practice.
It also means that the Zentangle kit I asked for for Christmas would be a good investment AND so would the books (incase the hubby reads this).
:)

It's supposed to be in the shape of a poppy, loosely. : /
There are little poppies inside in honor of Canada's Remembrance Day and the poem In Flander's Field, also in honor of Veteran's Day here in the U.S.
I thought a lot about my dad when I made this.

Next is a page that I completed, well, if you call it completed, for the Motley Soul Monthly Journal Group second challenge.


I'm not happy with this page. I feel like I slacked off or something.
Started with picking a word, the prompt: One Word, One Thought.
I picked music because it is immensely important to me at all times but especially during my creative process.
Then I had picked up some cheap watercolor paints and tried to use them, I am a novice at it, can you tell?
:)
It was boring so I slapped some silver glitter acrylic paint on top and when it was wet I loved it.
But it dried. :(
Once dry I wrote my thought on it, which is just a quote.
My favorite quote that has to do with music, mind you. I always find myself doodling that quote when listening to music.

And there it is.
I'm just sharing those for honesty and good measure.
And to see what it turns into in the future because it will get worked on some more, just not right now.
Moving on...

Lastly, for giggles.
This is my very first page painted with the watercolor paints.
It will probably get a coat of gesso and some paint over it but it was fun to play with and you never know what it will turn into, I guess.
:/


One thing is horrifyingly clear... I need to learn how to use these watercolor paints!
I have planned on getting crayons, but my trip to the city keeps getting pushed back.
Boo!

........................................................................................................................



Music page updated.
I bought a new metallic red acrylic paint today and happened across some scrapbooking stickers for $1.00 a pack.
It's still not my favorite page, but I feel better about it and it is done.

Off to gesso a bunch of pages in my journal!

30 Day Art Journal/Blog Challenge - Day 2

Today's Challenge...
Zentangle!

I present to you, my very first attempt at the Zentangle!

So, last night I went to Zentangle.com and looked over EVERYTHING there including the past newsletters. I just ate it all up!
Then I ended up on tanglepatterns.com where I found instruction on many tangles and had to try a bunch, so I made a page with 2" X 2" grids and tangled my heart out!

I had so much fun with this that I asked my husband for the kit for Christmas!
And BOOKS! I must have books!

I fully expect to Zentangle everyday.
So... relaxing and calming.
It kept my mind occupied.
Ahhhhhhhh!

Now, off to work on the I am the diva challenge and my Motley Soul journal group project, which I may have to sleep on another day to really think about which word I want to use since this prompt is One Word, One Thought.

A secret about me...
I usually wake up with a head full of ideas.
In fact, often, since I have started art journaling, I wake up before the alarm and either lay in bed like a kid on Christmas morning waiting for the proper time to run to the tree!
Or I just give in and hop out of bed and start working!
I actually had to move some of my supplies to my bedroom (especially while being sick, trying to seclude myself and the also sick baby to the back of the house) so that I could hop out of bed and work on something without going to far from the baby, and I had to get an idea book to keep on hand for those late night thoughts that I don't want to lose.

Who else has done that?

30 Day Art Journal/Blog Challenge - Day 1

Today's challenge...

Pick a lyric from one of your favorite songs and illustrate it.

So, we've covered the fact that I cannot draw... well... yet.
But am working on it.
The earth is a free clip art I found on the internet, glued down, covered with gesso, traced, and painted with craft acrylics, pretty much.
Funny thing is, I covered it with so much gesso that I could hardly see the lines so it really forced me to become creative with line placement.
But the exercise got me really comfortable with my sharpie, not like the coffee cup a few posts ago. I stressed over that cup and not getting the gesso too thick, that I couldn't see lines, and just getting things right.
This one was much more loose and my attitude was much more "eh, whatever."
I even tried lettering and I fought the urge to cover it up with something printed!
Go me!

The page is based on the song "Blue Lips" by Regina Spektor. It's one of my favorite songs and the baby does the cutest dance when she hears this song!

Other things I did last night...
Three backgrounds







That last one is my favorite. I think it's going to turn into a page on which I journal about those things I cherish. Yeah, seems like that would fit.


Things I am currently considering...
[Zentangle.]
[A trip to Albuquerque in search of new supplies.]
[Heat embossing in my art journal with the Joseph's Coat Technique.]
OH And!!! - A new monthly art journal group on Motley Soul!
I am particularly excited about this because I just love Mika and her art!


I am quite happy on my art-filled journey.
It makes me smile, I hope you are smiling too!
If not, go work in your art journal, or start one if you don't have one!