Friday, September 27, 2013

Art Journal: Peaceful Dwellings

peaceful dwellings 2 wm

(Click image to enlarge.)

 

For some unknown reason, a phrase just popped into my head, for the first time in years. When we lived in a tiny rural community many years ago, there was an older lady who would begin lots of her sentences with “Most general thing…,” using it much like we would say “usually” or “typically.” As I started to write here, I thought, “Most general thing”…  is that I fill my journal pages with many, many elements. In this case, I made the background following exactly the steps that France Papillon used in her Stampotique challenge for this week and then kept it very plain and simple after that.

 

I was particularly glad to see France’s use of  Dylusions spray inks without actually spraying (I don’t do it well). The background layers are: Tim Holtz Tissue Tape (no, not tissue paper), stamping (little circles) with Tarnished Brass Distress Stain, covering all with three colors of Dylusions Spray Ink (using a sponge) and topping with clear gesso.

 

So, I opted NOT to do my “most general thing.” I wanted only black silhouette images, and as I looked through my Tim Holtz dies, the Artful Dwellings caught my attention. As I often do, I thought of a relevant Scripture passage, this one referring to “peaceful dwellings.” So I painted chip board with black acrylic and cut the dwellings on my Vagabond. Resisting the temptation to add more and more, I must say I’m satisfied with the simplicity and the “peacefulness” that the dwellings imply, albeit on a wild and crazy background (life????)…

 

Do you remember…I LOVE the word “rest.” It calms me just to say the word (really).

 

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. - Isaiah 32:18 (NIV)

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Art Journal Lovely Lady {I Don’t Do Faces}

little lady 2 wm

 

I keep saying, “I don’t do faces.” And I really don’t. But I also don’t do monotony and boredom, so now and again I do something that is outside the box of my usual “style.” It is fun to do faces, I admit. There’s something about seeing the “person” come alive, as I give her eyes and lips, especially. I should take a real art class and learn the “right” way. For now, I just rear back and sketch and then see many irregularities when I’m all finished. But the process IS fun, so there you have it.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Art Journal: Walls=Doors

every wall is a door wm

 

(Click image to enlarge.)

 

Borrowing techniques for this spread from France Papillon, one of my favorite art journalers, this one was really fun because it’s not my “usual” style. After deciding to use the concept of a door, and the suggestion of a brick wall, I found a great quote to go with the page. I think it is true as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, that every wall certainly has the potential for becoming a door!

 

For this spread I used fluid acrylic paints, Pan Pastels, Ranger Rock Candy Crackle Paint, Golden Molding Paste, Distress Stain (Gathered Twigs), Tim Holtz numeral (the number 9 has a family significance right now), and several brads and tiny staples, finished off with some background stamps using Archival Ink.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Art {Messy Page} Journal

Fly MM Page wm

 

Just pulled out a blank page, adhered a page of sheet music, topped it with a Gelli Print on deli paper left over from months ago, and then started layering and doodling and painting and stamping. Done.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Birch Panel Project: Vintage Photo of My Grandmother

 

DMV Birch Panel 2 wm

 

Inspired by Jeanne Oliver, I have been incorporating vintage papers and elements into some of my projects. Some “artists” purchase authentic vintage photos to use in such projects, but lucky me, I have the real thing and much prefer to use pictures of my real family.

 

In this case, I used a photograph of my paternal grandmother, taken when she was a young girl. I assume it was a studio portrait. She was born in 1904, so the picture was made more than 100 years ago. Incredible! The elements were placed on an 8x8 birch panel.

 

My memories of my grandmother are sweet. I hope and pray that my grandchildren will one day remember me with such fondness.

 

Above the three buttons on the right of the photograph is an earring from my mother’s jewelry.

 

DMV Birch Panel 1 wm

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Art Journal Play

like a lady

Another crazy, messy art journal page, using a stamped image I had colored a long time ago, as well as some collage elements from my clutter.

Shout to the Lord

shout to the lord

Just did a quick page in an inspiration journal with some leftover paints. Love this song, love this thought!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Emerging from the Cave

Have really been literally “under the weather” for the last 10 days or so—bronchitis + sinus infection that just didn’t want to go away, even with antibiotics. But I do feel better as of today, left with mainly allergy symptoms (that’s what I’m going with). While “down” I continued with some crafting (completely caught up with scrapbooks, and added to some of my art journals).

 

This is one of those light-hearted sketch/watercolor pages:

 

cupcake

 

Cupcake Obsession

 

Then another crazy, messy one:

 

Live page

 

LIVE

Monday, September 9, 2013

Two Types of Art Journal Pages

There are several “ways” to art journal, and there is no wrong way. I have about 3-4 styles I incorporate into my journals.

 

The newest style for me is to sketch and then paint (usually water color but sometimes acrylic). Because I am very new at this and not “bent” toward being artistic anyway, I tend to use ideas from other people for this style. The ideas don’t just pop into my head yet. For example, here is my take on a piece that was inspired by a gal in one of my classes.

fall barrel wm

 

Ready for Fall

 

Ready for Fall was sketched, then gessoed, then painted with water colors and finished with pen work. This style requires a lot more work (with eraser in hand) than the style that is probably my favorite: wild and crazy painting/collage/markers, such as the following piece:

 

move on

Moving On

 

For this page I used the Gelli Plate with several stencils, several acrylic paints, book text, markers, Liquid Pearls, Stamps with Archival Ink, a little bit of Salty Ocean Distress Stain, and my new Montana markers (love)—a marker that is actually acrylic paint. I even used some OilBar for the first time. I covered this all with DecoPage, since it had some smudgy stuff on it. This was a really fun, no stress page.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Celebration of 48 Years of Blessings

IMG_3291Barb on 48th

I don’t think there has ever been an understatement that is more understated than “time flies.” Seriously. We have been so blessed in so many ways. I am thankful that God directed me to this man, His plan for me. Happy Anniversary to the most wonderful husband in the world!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Lighten Up

flower doodles

(Inspired by work of Dawn Maurice)

A benefit of doing whimsical, light-hearted art is that it tends to…uh…lighten my heart. This is good, as I tend to be a serious-minded thinker most of the time.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Practicing: Sweet Girl

girl face wm

I keep saying, “I don’t draw faces.” And I don’t, really. But I am fascinated with trying, apparently, because every now and then, a face appears in my art journal. Maybe what I really mean is that it’s fun to try to draw faces, but I don’t actually want to learn how to do it right!

Actually, I was very happy with my sketch. But when I applied the paint, not so much. Perhaps I should have used water color rather than acrylic. At any rate, here she is.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Paper Piecing: God Cares

God cares for you wm

This was a fun little piece I created, inspired by a Day Spring notecard.

I sketched everything and then filled it in with patterned papers, except for the sky and the owl (painted).

I just love the simple truth in this reminder from Scripture. He really does.