Gratitude in the Kitchen Studio

I haven't been as active in my art as I have promised myself, as I always plan to be and because of this my art supplies have migrated yet again in search of the perfect place for me to "art". This time, it's the kitchen! Yesterday I posted to my sisters in the Book of Days facebook group that I was having problems finding time with chores and my little ones around to get projects underway, completed, and even just holding onto good ideas for my art! Well they inspired me with their advice, ideas, and input on how they do things to move into the room I spend most of my time in! Thank you ladies, you have done my heart good!

Even though the dining room is only a room away from the kitchen, in fact, it's practically the SAME room, I can't seem to get in there and BE creative. I guess, maybe, I don't like the room. I don't like it's set up, or perhaps its lighting options. The over head light gets so hot when it is turned on and up, and with summer right around the corner I know that this is going to cause trouble. The overhead light also provides light with just a hint of an orange tint, only slightly annoying and off-putting, especially since the room is usually so dark that you need the light even in the daytime!

But in the kitchen, there is a big window that catches morning light so wonderfully (in fact, that's going on my gratitude list today, that window in the morning), it doesn't have the most spectacular view, the backyard and our dog that desperately needs to be groomed, our neighbors house, some power lines, and the tops of the trees at the park, but it is such a wonderful window to open up in the morning, and morning is usually when I feel the best so I HAVE to enjoy it!

I didn't move everything. I figured most things could stay in their storage places in the dining room, I use our hutch for art supply storage. I just moved in the things that I love to play with the most, things that inspire me when I have them near at hand. My gesso and paints in a plastic tote, watercolor crayons, pens and markers, brushes, and a trash bowl. Simple!

 My new workspace!

So, I went straight to play after moving my things around and a few more things joined me in the kitchen, a tub of scrap paper and ephemera and a stack of magazines I have had sitting around for a couple months now. First I started cutting apart one of the magazines and while I was doing that I realized that I hated the first spread in my Gratitude Journal, so I decided to change it! I don't think I still have a photo of what it was before, but below is what I did with it.

 I collaged some colorful scrapbook paper I had laying around.

 Covered it with some gesso, stamping, and paint.

Cut the lettering and heart from a magazine, and added some other touches to the background including the circles of purple paint with the cap to my empty water bottle!

And the end result...

Yeah, I am pretty happy with it. In all honestly I do feel like it needs something more, but I also feel like I will know it when I see it! Maybe when I am cutting pictures and words from magazines, or maybe next time I go to the store.

My Gratitude Journal is a small moleskine knock off with lines. I have taken two pages at a time and glued them together to make them sturdy enough to withstand some art, and so far, it's working pretty well, at least it didn't disintegrate like the larger one that I had and glued 4-5 pages together at a time (too much stress on the binding, I learned). 

So, that's my gratitude in the kitchen studio thus far today. I am happy and arty. And, every time I go into the kitchen for something I splash some paint on something or glue something down, I have pages going in both my Gratitude Journal and my Book of Days at the moment.

I think I will make much progress in this room because it is where I spend most of my time cooking and washing dishes (the perpetual and hated chore), this will also probably help me keep the kitchen substantially cleaner as I wash dishes and do other chores while waiting for paint, glue and gesso to dry. The only downfall of this room so far, no seat! I can see now that I am going to have to invest in a stool and fast!!

 My baby girl sat in her highchair while I got my art on!

Lifebook Lesson 14 - Honoring your (my) Past

This is our week 14 lesson in Lifebook.
I have been an unruly student and have jumped around a bunch in the Lifebook course so you will often see the weeks out of order. Here I just picked the most recent lesson that Tam had posted and ran with it!

I started this page last week, and as you can see below, she went through many processes.


This is how she started out, I was most proud of this drawing because I didn't have to refer to my drawing notebook to be able to complete the face.
Not once did I refer to my learning materials! I am getting it!


Then I watercolored her face and worked on some shading. Shading is always difficult for me but, practice makes perfect right?!? Have to keep after it.
I got her roughly where I wanted her without too much fuss but then she sat for several days, I had lost interest and I didn't know where I was going with her.
Last night I sat down and re-watched Tam's videos and worked along with her and this is where it took me...


It was around here that her hair had changed. I had lost the outline of the short "do" that I had penciled in but it didn't seem to fit anymore. I don't know why she turned out this way but I was lead to it and it feels right.





Voila!
Well, it is missing a fold out piece but I have yet to come up with something creative to do that will not cover my picture.

I am really enjoying the Lifebook course, many of the lessons are really fun and interesting!

Last Week's BOD Spread

For the first time in over a month I finished a Book of Days spread and it felt soooo good!
It FEELS good to get back to art. I have been arting a lot in the past week. About half way through the week I was starting to get discouraged, specifically in my Lifebook page. I had hoped to sit down and art it out! One day, done! Alas, that's not my life, there are little interruptions, BIG interruptions, bad days, busy-ness, and plain old laziness. But, I belong to a group on Facebook for the Book of Days and it has evolved into the most wonderful of support systems! When I am feeling down it's what I surf around on for a while and I always come away with a smile for I have found art posted by my sisters to inspire me or I have witnessed someone post with honesty about how they may need positive energy/prayers sent their way and I have seen a group of women swoop in to the rescue to offer prayers, love, support, and kind words. It leaves one with the most wonderful feeling that there are indeed still wonderful people in this world and this is just a sampling of such good hearts.
Effy Wild's blog post really says it all. <3

And so, onto the art...

I have been loosely following along with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's 30 Days in your Art Journal.
Well, I bought and paid for the class and finished week one with no problems in March.
But then, in week two she does this awesome spread where she uses tags to journal on and I kept putting it off, meaning to buy the tags but never getting around to it. Weeks slipped on by and I started looking around my house for things to use instead, don't get me wrong, Julie offered up several awesome substitutions but I REALLY just wanted tags.
Finally the 1st of April rolled around and I knew I had been art-less for too long.


This is the background as it sat for over a month, untouched.

Painted with wet craft acrylics, I did the base in apple green over a non-gessoed page, then smeared a corner with another craft acrylic in a shimmery red which just turned out to be pink.
Stamped the circles with a toilet tissue roll and black acrylic paint.
Then I took my most favorite shimmery purple craft acrylic and colored some circles in and then painted some clear glitter acrylic paint over them because there just wasn't enough sparkle.
Yum, loving glitter.


Gratuitous glitter close-ups!

So after a month of ignoring my BOD I decided it was time to move forward and put this pretty background to use! I had considered using those subscribe postcards that fall out of magazines
(I started collecting them from all over), but they were a little too busy for my liking,
I considered card stock cut in the shape of tags or just in funky shapes but it seemed to plain.
And one day I was cleaning and re-organizing all my supplies and I found a stack of
multi-colored post its and that was IT!
They were bright and colorful but still a little plain for my liking, so I took a total of 12 of them and painted them all different with my watercolor crayons and then sprayed them with a spray I made from my shimmery red acrylic paint and water
(Again, it turned out pink, not red! Oh well!)

Shiiiiiiimmmmmmmmerrrrrrrrr!


Stacked in sets of 2 for journaling in a possible layout plan.

So, then the work started! This was one of the easiest journal layouts to keep up with!
I just tucked the sets of 2 glued together post its in my book and everyday I would pull a set out and journal on it and glue it down!
The layout was pretty much complete, I just had to journal!


Half finished!

My layout ran from Wednesday, April 11th to Monday, the 16th.
Somewhere in there I had decided that I needed something more and I cut some post its into three equal pieces and watercolored them and glued them in thinking I would write important words or something on them or something that would pertain to each day but I was undecided so they stayed blank for a day or two.
On Sunday, I realized that I should just incorporate my daily prayer journal into my BOD because I have been a bad panda and haven't been keeping up with it at all!
I belong to a 30 Day Prayer Journal group on Motley Soul, and Mika is usually so good about posting a scripture daily and thus far I glued and clipped all the ones from March into a composition notebook, but I hadn't done anything in April.
So, why not put those in my BOD!?!
I mean, I joined the group wanting to make scripture and prayer a bigger part of my life!
Well that's what I did!


The finished page!

On Monday I got Happy Mail from on of my BOD Sisters and in the envelope was my very first row house, some awesome napkins and papers, paper doilies and PUNCHINELLA!
I have been wanting some but found none in my small, small town, and I never get to go to the city anymore, so I was SO thankful that my sister H. Crump sent some to me!
To commemorate my first bit of punchinella, I used it!
As a stencil first with orange paint and I also cut off a small bit and glued it onto the corner!


Had to take a picture with the light hitting the shimmer paint.


And finally, showing most of the glued in scriptures!

And that's it for Tuesday's blog!
I finished two other projects yesterday/last night as well but I am going to blog about them one at a time and will schedule them to post the next two days so check back I am trying to make blogging a more regular thing!

Creative Motivation

Oh where, oh where has my creative motivation gone?

Got my new computer in, also got a new phone (hubs thoroughly spoiled me) but somewhere along the way I lost some creative motivation. Due to space issues I do not have a room of my own for a studio, due to space issues I had to move all my art supplies out of my room into the dining room where it sits all stacked up on the floor at one end of the dining room.
I stayed much more motivated with my supplies within reach in my bedroom.
I have to see if I can find a way to remedy this.

So, I am hoping that my motivation will return as I signed up for a class I have wanted to take since it was advertised the first time. I started drawing last year and I just adore it, I need a lot of practice, but I adore it! My friend, Mika, over at Motley Soul Mixed Media has a class called Face 2 Face where she teaches you to draw faces. I bought it last night, just got access and started with the first video and I think this is just what I need to regain some artistic motivation!

I also have my Life Book course to get back to, but I need motivation first.
I think I will start by moving some select supplies back to my bedroom again, and then I will complete Mika's drawing exercises, and then I will get back into Life Book.
That's the plan anyway!

Oh, and I just have to share my most beautiful journal! I won this journal from the Motley Soul Mixed Media site for being THE most active member in the month of December (I think)!
I LOVE this journal! I have been loving on it since it came in but I have yet to put anything IN it.
Well, now I do!

Perfect to me.

I am back online, somewhat.
We are still suffering pretty serious disconnections which makes playing World of Warcraft or any game on Xbox live problematic. I knew a new modem wouldn't fix that as it only started after Century Link took over Qwest.
: /

Now to get a technician who understands that it isn't the modem.

So, I am not going to go back over everything I did in my journal while I didn't have an internet connection. I thought I might save it to show off if I ever do a journal flip video.

But the page below is the one exception. It is the page I was working on right before I got cut off and I wanted to show what came of it.

The challenge can be found here.

I would not say I am ecstatic about how the page came out, it really doesn't do what I had in my head justice. But this is what came out, and I just hadn't come up with anything to "fix" it.
Then I realized maybe it doesn't need to be "fixed". I will be doing a page similar to this page as the first pages in my kids art journal scrapbook thingy and I will just take the lessons learned here and apply them there. That way, I remember what I learned instead of covering it up.

Those are my kids (pictured), whom are always PERFECT to me and I always want them to remember that.
I LOVE this song by PINK and I adored this challenge.

There is also a picture on the lower right.
It is a recent clipping from the newspaper, a little over a year ago now, we lost a local teen to suicide. To mark the year anniversary of this loss her best friend asked friends to write "LOVE" on their arms to show remembrance.
Well, it spread across the whole school, almost everyone had written "Love" on their arms to show support, also to remind other people that no matter how low you feel someone, somewhere does love you and to remember that.
From this has come a Non-Profit Organization called She Wrote Love On Her Arms.
It's a really great story.
I used that story, torn up as the newspaper accents on the page, and then the picture but unfortunately I didn't water down the paint I washed it with enough and it covered the picture more than I had anticipated.
:(

Well, even though there are issues with the page I like it and will always remember what it means to me.

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!

I love this background...

I had to share the background I created last night while we watched TV!

Craft acrylic paint, and oil pastels.
This page just makes me smile and feel all warm.
I can't wait to think of something else to do with it.

Inspired by two pages I have seen so far, one by JournalArtista on Ustream and one by Samara Gugler on YouTube, though, I know the techniques differ I just had to try to replicate it.
Now I have a fun base to do something with!

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 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!

For Dad... And my Art Journal Self Challenge

I played last night in my art journal and I didn't want to go to bed, but I wasn't feeling good and I knew the baby would be up early. She was, aaaaaaannnnnnnnnnd she's sick (so am I).

So, the below page was created with inspiration from two places.
The inspiration for heart and the words about the pieces not fitting right came from somewhere... I venture to say from a page I saw by Less Herger at Comfortable Shoes Studio, at the very least someone at ArtJournaling.Ning. Alas, I cannot find the picture or post any more to provide a link and credit.
And the words about taking for granted came from a page I saw on guttergirlz, Becky, I think.

I try not to copy things, especially word for word or picture for picture, and this isn't an exact copy of either page. But both of the pieces really did inspired me, touched me, and they just fit my feeling so exactly. And I thank both people for that inspiration and I hope that neither is offended that I copied sentiments.

It's a personal journal anyhow, and this is a snapshot of how I have felt since July for my daddy.
I miss him.



So, I played with a background in coloring that fit my mood as I thought about Dad, in acrylic craft paints, as usual. It's a yellow and orange background, and I grunged it up with a black acrylic paint color wash. I drew and painted the heart, go me! And I tried the lettering but it just didn't come out the way I wanted, so I covered it up with printed words. Though I haven't given up on practicing faces and lettering, I have a section of my journal for practicing drawing but I am not prepared to share that with anyone yet.

I REALLY like how it came out, I am immensely happy with the finished page.
And I expect you're gonna see A LOT more grunged stuff in the future, so much fun!

Next is a page that, well, I am not sure if I am done with it, in fact I am 99% positive I am not done with. But I wanted to share anyhow. I joined the Motley Soul community recently and Mika has been so very nice to me and super helpful with getting creative juices flowing and some confidence. I confided in her that I could paint backgrounds but beyond that I was blocked. I didn't want to ruin a nicely painted background with junk. She gave me a little challenge, some instructions on a page I should try, a prompt if you will... a sort of billboard for myself where my inner critic didn't get a voice.
The below page is a result of that, but like I said, it's not finished.


Again with the printed fonts... I would have preferred to cut letters and words from magazines but my magazine selection is really small, so I am going to work on collecting magazines, old books and sheet music!
I do like printed fonts though, I found a BUNCH of free, fun fonts on the internet at http://www.1001fonts.com/.

And the next two pictures are of backgrounds that I painted last night. I haven't decided what I will do with them yet, if anything, but I REALLY liked these two.





I think it will be fun to see what they turn into with inspiration in the future.
:D

And so, I have decided to challenge myself. 30 days of art journaling/blogging. I just must do something everyday for the next 30 days AND blog about it, WITH pictures.
I have a bunch of prompts and have found a few websites and blogs with more ideas than I can ever use, so for the next 30 days I challenge myself to do SOMETHING in my art journal and blog about it.
This is mainly to form a habit of blogging and art journaling.
I am so bad about it that I can go months without touching my blogs, but I really think I could benefit from a creative, colorful burst of art in life.

Coffee

I do love coffee.
I used to not drink it much but it has gotten to where I wont start my morning without it.



Anyone who knows me knows I can't draw for my life.
The cup is free clip art I found on the web, covered with gesso and colored with sharpies and acrylic craft paint.

It's simple, but I like this page.

Make life more colorful! -Or- I am knee deep in Craft Acrylics...

I finished my first real set of pages yesterday.
The inner critic complains but honestly, I am pleased.
I drew the eye myself.
Drawing does not come naturally or easily to me, so I was happy my eye even resembled an... eye.
I do feel like the page needs something more, but I also feel like I will know whatever it is when I see it.



And today I woke up with the page below in my head, and I was just lucky enough to get it out.
I swear I should have called myself the single handed journaler or something.
Babylove was her usual demanding self.
Mondays are bad because daddy is home on the weekends and holds her ALL weekend! Which is fabulous for me during the weekend, I can get stuff done!
Not so much come Monday when all she wants is to be held and loved on.
It's ok though, I would really rather hold her than do ANY of the chores around my house.

So, during an absurdly short nap (mostly), I was able to pull this together and I am really happy with it!


I did give doing the lettering by hand a good, honest try. But I just wasn't happy AT ALL, so I printed these up on my computer with a really fun font and colored them with sharpies, one handed, that has to count for SOMETHING... right?

Also, I have been watching a bunch of videos in the last week, a few of my favorites are:
JournalArtista, MotleyMonkeyArt, SamaraGugler, DianaTro, willowing, and lastly comfortableshoesstud, who has inspired me to do a "cult of stuff" junk journal.

My First Art Journal

Welcome to my journey to my art journal.
Please excuse the mess as I am just getting started.

I have never considered myself an artist, but I enjoy playing in paints, colors, stamps, and watercolor. So, I am looking to see what comes from playing.


This is my cover.


The first semi-finished page.


A page in the works.

I have spent a couple days surfing and absorbing anything and everything I can, I have bought what I could of inexpensive supplies, and I have started.

I can now understand why some people have two or three journals, sitting and letting them dry, even with wax paper in between pages is just awful when you have ideas flowing...