Earth Vote

Don't forget to cast your vote tonight!
Remember it's Earth Vote tonight at 8:30.
We (meaning OUR PLANET) are looking for a billion votes...

will you be one of them?

The Eyes have it...

I spent the weekend drawing (among other things) eyes.
Practice, practice, practice!
I'll begin painting them soon...
I have to shoo away a bit of fear first.

Funny how a little bit of fear can keep you from doing the
things that you really want to do, isn't it?
Now, I have always been able to draw..or I should say that I practiced a lot.
But painting...another story all together.
I have this feeling that I can paint
but for years I have stood frozen in front of a canvas.

How silly is that?

So, today I am letting go of that particular fear
and I'm gonna paint.
I'm going to paint like my mom always wanted to but never did
cause SHE was afraid too.
I'm going to paint like I am the bestest,
most talented painter in the world.
My world anyway.

So, what fear is holding you back?
What is it, in your life, that is screaming
to be done, to be drawn, to be painted, to be said, to be created...?
What is it that you know you can do,
you're just afraid to take that first
itsy bitsy step?
Or maybe you don't know that you can do it...
maybe it's the fear of disappointment
or the fear of failure
or the fear that someone will make fun of you...

Maybe you're afraid that you will actually
SUCCEED...


Think about what I've talked about.
Really be honest about what fears you allow to run your life.
Think about what you can do to overcome them.

Let's make a conscious effort to
chase those fears away.
Let's stand tall
and Be Brave.

Art Journal Pages

I have been making art journal pages. I begin with regular sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" pieces of heavier weight paper (I'll post specifics later...can't remember it now).
Then I do collage work. The ones I am going to show
today are all made of vintage paper.
All shades of white, yellow and tan. The page above shows my basic layout.
Pretty simple, very haphazard...some paper here,
some paper there.
Actually I do follow a very rough outline. I usually try to do things in three's.
Just to even things out a little. If I have time later (haha, who am I kidding...
if I can TAKE the time later) I'll do a post of step by step. If you really want to know, email me.
Or leave a comment. If I get enough, I'll post it.
Anyway (don't you hate it when I carry on conversations with myself like that?!)
then I add a watered down layer of white gesso.
Then a few washes of color glaze (acrylic paint watered down or mixed with polymer medium/matt medium) (whatever is close by).
Then I begin adding some stamped elements, whether that's rubber stamps
or actual household items that I use to stamp with.
It could be a section of bubble wrap, an old medicine bottle top, drawer liner...
Then I add more glaze, maybe some more gesso...
I might drip paint on the whole thing, or use my hand to tap it from the brush...
I use regular stencils to add some texture with modeling paste -
or my new favorite , a big ole bucket of joint compound that my husband gave me.
You know, to his credit, he doesn't think I'm that strange AT ALL
when I get so excited over
JOINT COMPOUND.
Gotta love a man that lets his wife have his joint compound, right?
Oh, back to the step by step...
I use sand paper to scruff things up a bit...
I use white gesso (or titanium white) to tone things down a bit...
and I love to use Ranger Distress Inks to age things a bit.
I'll add some finished pages (ones without the writing on them anyway)
for your viewing pleasure.
I suppose that you've noticed by now that
my "usual" practice of making the journal pages
is a little of this, a little of that.
The secret is the Layering of all of it.
And letting each layer dry between times.
Or use a heat gun/hair dryer to dry it with.
Practice and experiment.
That is the true secret.

Assembly Control #37570 (or "I've Got Something That No One Else Has!")

Meet "Assembly Control #37570"
or, as i like to call it
"What I have that no one else has"...
My friend Cheryl Prater (you know the awesome
mixed media artist..?)
No?
You don't know Cheryl?!
Where have you been?
Go to her blog, her web page and meet her...
then go to her etsy shop
and greet her wonderful one of a kind mixed media art.
But 'cha better hurry, cause I'll bet those things
are going to go fast!

In case you're wondering...

You can definitely rust fabric outside
in cold weather...
actually in snowy weather!

Meg Manderson and I were scheduled to do a "Rust Dyeing Fabric" demo at the March
Fiber Art Alliance meeting. So I was trying to prepare for it and I wanted
to have a batch of fiber going to take to the meeting so that I could show the women
how we wrapped the fibers around the yummy rusty objects.
I had had a couple of people ask me if you could rust fabric outside in the cold weather...
well, now we know...

Meg and I will take the April meeting to do our Rust Media demo.
I'll try to remember ahead of time to get another batch going!
Won't you join us?

Paulette Insall "Faces"

I've been doing a lot of drawing here lately...
painting on fabric too.
I'm working my way towards making a book.
I want to add painted faces, ephemera, old documents,
transfer pictures of my family...
that kind of thing.
Oh, and room for documenting, for capturing a
moment in time.
Anyway, I've singed up for
Paulette Insall Faces on line class.
Even though I can and do draw and paint faces,
I have admired Paulette's work for a long time.
I'll be glad to add some new tricks to my art tool box!
Here is one of the newest faces that I have sketched out.
Now remember, it's only a sketch!
I have plenty of tweaking to do on it...
and I'm sure it will change as I paint it.

This last picture was before I went back and

did a little darkening of my sketch lines...

you can see the difference in the eyes especially.

The hair has also been worked on a little bit.

Art Journal Pages

I've added a few pages from my art journal.
A couple of them have no journaling at the moment
but I'll add some later as the notion hits me.
I bought a Winsor Newton Travel Set of watercolors.
I LOVE them!
All the pages with color on them are watercolors
from the new set.
It is really easy to maneuver while sitting outside
or even traveling in the car.
I'm going to make a journal cover as soon as I can focus long
enough to spend time in my studio.

I continue to recover (is that the word to use
for what I'm going through?), maybe I should say
I continue to go through the stages of grieving,
realizing too late that several
days have passed and I don't even know what I did
during those days...
have any of you ever felt that way?
I have a few more journal pages that I have done
but because they deal with some issues
that I am having with anger...at a family
member, I will not post them.
I'd rather handle that anger personally -
with the one that I feel the anger towards.

Faces

I love DJ Pettitt's art work.
I love the beautiful, peaceful girls that she creates.
I have been told that one of the best ways to learn to draw
is to copy the masters...
well, for me, that would be DJ.
Here's my rendition of one of DJ's faces.
She measures about 1 1/2" x 2".