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!

2012's word is CHERISH

Because this year I celebrate and cherish everything that I was, that made me who I am, I cherish ME!
I cherish art, my art journal, other's art journals, and I cherish sharing with these wonderful arty people with good hearts.
And above all else I cherish my family and friends because life is really, really short.

One of my goals this year is to learn as much as I can about art/art journaling by immersing myself in it and being cretaive everyday, so I joined in on Effy Wild's Book of Days.
I found it and I am already making an honest effort to journal for at least 5 minutes everyday even if it is about stupid things.
So, I thought this would be a great addition to my year of art! And so far I have had so much fun with it!

I started by going shopping for a new journal as my current journal doesn't have enough room in it for 52 new spreads plus any "special day" pages. And of course, I couldn't find anything here in town. So, I took some advice and started looking at my old books for one to alter.
I found one!

Not that I want to see this book destroyed.
No, I find this book very dear to me and I decided it would become my Book of Days for 2012!


A photo from inside my book, these are flowers I pressed years ago on my last trip to Louisiana, when I bought the book.

And, on to the project at hand...



These are the pages I started with.



And after some paint, post-its, watercolor crayons, printed words and numbers, and more paint, this is what the layout looks like.

The words, close-up. I took them off some scrapbook paper I was going to use but the design was just too big to fit in my book.

And finally...

Yeah. I think I over grunged the word Cherish and the numbers. But eh, I am still happy with it!
It was fun and tomorrow I will work on the layout for this week.

I avoided dishes and laundry to complete this today, so I guess if I want a place to sleep tonight and bottles to feed the baby out of, I guess I had better get to washing.
Please excuse me!
:D

Hooked Into Machine

We have more than a foot of snow and it is still slowly falling so it's perfect weather for art journaling.

This page is inspired by Regina Spektor's song "Machine"
I feel a little hooked into machines...


Several layers of blues (several different shades) and black acrylic paints.
Once the background was an acceptable shade I took oil pastels to it to draw the gears and do the lettering and then I smudged.
Finished with some lyrics in black sharpie.
Oh, lastly, I took a baby wipe with water and shimmery black acrylic paint and splat it on the page and pressed it until it ran.
I really wished I had ordered the color wash sprays when I had the chance...

Roll Away Your Stone...

Worked on my challenge for A Year In The Life Of An Art Journal today.

THE PROMPT: Open up
THE SONG: Roll away your stone - Mumford & Sons
Written Lyrics HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: texture photo/image
I have to admit, it's not my favorite Mumford and Sons song, but I did come to like it better than I had previously.
:)

I did find a verse that fit right on in with life.

So, this is a background I had already completed here.
And I wanted to use my oil pastels again, so I made some bubbles.

I really need to get some new supplies.
My black sharpies are in such a bad state, even though I have been careful to write on dry paint.

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!