ephemera- 1959

 punched this circle out of a receipt from Central Telephone Co.- January 1959 #ephemera #collage #tgif

29 faces 2014 challenge: day 24 & 25

posting a couple more faces here. below is day 24- she is a freckled beauty. i printed the back ground using my gelli plate and stencils. i then used my stabilo pencil and black and white india ink (and a smidge of watered down acrylic paint for the lips).

here is day 25....a page of doodles.....

29 faces 2014 challenge: days 21, 22, & 23

i was about fit to be tied after not being able to go down to my studio for a few days....so when i got there, there was a sigh of relief. i love walking in and seeing my stuff just sitting there waiting for me to go to work. this was the view of my work table.

i was a few days behind on my 29 faces, but, quickly went to work and created my faces. this was from a model post. i used gesso on a portion of the page to see how my new stabilo pencil would work on gesso. my left eye was on gesso and the right is not- which do you like better? i think i like the left one....but, cannot quite decide.

for this face, i used my gelli plate to print the background first layering a few colors with stencils. then, used my stabilo pencil, and black and white india ink.

on my day 23 i had used a number stencil on the gelli plate and simply printed off the stencil onto my paper. i loved the perspective of her in the picture. i may have to try her one more time. the pic was taken looking up so her chin was very pronounced. i used my stabilo pencil, black and white india ink on her.

29 faces challenge 2014: day 20

day 20's sketch with gesso, hi-flow golden inks, dylusion spray , stabilo pencil, charcoal, and white ink.

at some point i need to figure out how to add hair to these people (haha).....i have really enjoyed "looking" at the photo and finding the shapes and shadows; the creases and lines and putting it all onto paper. happy friday!

documented life: challenge 8 {add a tag}

this week's challenge was a add a tag into our moleskin. searching around my studio space i came across this cute little vintage hot pad holder i had been saving to do something cool with (not the one i was looking for....but, suddenly had become the one i was looking for.....)

i have been so inspired by Jenny Doh and her "free stitching" that i wanted to try my own hand at this task. so i gave some free stitching a whirl on my hot pad....

i used Roben-Marie's trick for my background paper. i used some of my own "overpainted" paper and then, cut it down to size to fit my page. Roben-Marie had a wonderful video on how she worked this challenge.

i re-enforced my tab to support my hot pad tag i was adding. one to the front of the page and another to the back side. i used a "paint chip" paper in colors i liked for this support.

here is my back side support.

to sew my paint chip supports into place, i sliced the washi tape holding my page in and took it out of my book. this made sewing my page much easier.

then, when i was done sewing, i taped my page back into my book with more washi tape.

29 faces challenge 2014: day 15 & 16

 i am still playing along- and i have to admit....i am proud that i have stuck with this. this challenge is difficult for me because, i would say that i do not "draw" well and that faces are hard for me. but, as long as i am playing my way- which is a little off the beaten course....life is good.

on saturday i played with my gelli plate- cutting out shapes and printing, rolling off my brayer, cutting some more shapes, and more printing.....seriously love my gelli plate. i used this art journal to print in to prepare pages for the next few days.

my drawing below, i used a water blendable charcoal, white ink and a sharpie over my gelli printed back ground.

21 secrets- watercolor inspiration with gelli printed circle

playing along with 21 secrets and one lesson was to use watercolors. i have watercolors and brushes, but, do not always paint in watercolor. i like to get it all out though, because my palette and brushes were my gramma's and her name is on the front of my canvas brush holder- it makes me smile every time and wish she were still here.

you probably do not know, but, i come from a long line of artists.....my gramma was an artist, my mom and dad are artists, and now- i am trying my best to be an artist. we had even done generation shows featuring my gramma, my mom and me. our last generation show my gramma even added our youngest son who draws. he was like 11 at the time and gramma had picked 3 of his drawings of people- he has a keen natural ability for shading. it was the best show ever......

back to the subject....- i played along prepping my journal page with some of my favorite watercolor colors and using a small strip of magazine paper with a pattern along the edge; but, the lesson was to "be free."

sometimes in being free i find that the results can be elusive. and then, i found this statement out of a book i am using and loved this quote.....

because the quote is relatively small- it was easily lost on my page so i found a gelli-printed deli paper with colors that lent themselves to complimenting the colors that were already down; and then, stitched around the deli paper to bring some focus to this area and then put my quote down. here is the whole page below.

and while i have the watercolors out....i couldn't resist to put a little color down on the other page. this is the back side of my hearts page i had done before for another 21 secrets inspiration. i love the orange! my mom brought that back from Germany for me. it is really opaque- and a lovely color.

29 faces challenge 2014: day 14 a dual painting

i am also participating in 21 secrets at this time and our teacher this week was Julie Fei-Fen Balzer! if you are into art journals and stencils- i am sure you have heard of her.....and she did NOT disappoint!

Julie showed how she worked in her journal and how she painted which was fabulous! she actually starts with the basic primary colors plus white and black, and does her own mixing of paint as she goes because she travels a lot to teach and doesn't want to take more than she needs (lucky girl!).

Julie had some great words of wisdom for the group, but, one of the things i thought was good to hear, that i have heard from some of the best artists i have taken classes from, is that if you are serious about your work and painting, you really need to use good paint.

good paint is not the little bottles of craft paint that you get at the craft stores. 

good paint is always worth its' price! good paint has more pigment and will provide a richer color and more vibrancy to your work. and just a note when looking at acrylic paints- know that student grade will have more filler, and is also a lesser quality of paint.

after being inspired by Julie i created this in my 29 faces journal i am working in. i have been keeping each of these challenges separate, but, this painting is playing dual roles at least for a day anyway.....and was painted into my 29 faces challenge journal.

29 faces challenge 2014: some from the last few days....

i am still working through my 29 faces challenge. this challenge has been interesting...some days i feel like this is no sweat and other days i can't seem to get my face to work how i want it to. 

like this one below....i painted over this one multiple times; but, i really like how the right eye came out. i am glad i am using one journal for this challenge, so that i can go back and look through the faces.

 this one- i liked the pink wash on the face and the circle pattern on the paper...

 this one has a sly cartoonish look- almost like a knowing mom....

this challenge has been most challenging- but, in a good way. 

documented life- pinterest inspiration

playing along with the documented life? the challenge for week 6 was to find inspiration on "Pinterest." and where better to find some great inspiration right?!

have you seen Jacqui Fehl work? take a peek here! i love everything about her work- the colors and variety...

i knew when i saw Jacqui's "cake" that i wanted to do her "grunge cake." and had started on friday working through the first couple of layers of my cake. i had first put down spare letters, numbers and shapes from a scrapbooking pack and some stamped tissue paper; followed up with stencils and spray inks.

 once i got the third and fourth layers of my cake, i moved to painted scrap papers that i had in my stash.

i loved how it was coming together....

i wanted to get this piece finished today and started on this project first this morning....i went to use my black india ink- and my hand hit the bottle- spilling ink across my "grunge cake." i will admit- i did freak out just a bit.....

this was the back pages in my moleskin planner/ art journal and you can see the spill all the way down the edge of the planner.....i was so crabby.....i did post my oops on instagram, and bless everyones' hearts- i got so many nice messages reminding me that life is messy and so not perfect- and this is what it will be at this point; and it would be just fine.

 i did manage to dab most of the ink off of my cake- and it just adds some additional grunge to my layers. this bottom pic is my finished cake.

thank you for your wonderful inspiration Jaqui Fehl!!

flash back of the queens....

a little flash back here today....out of another art journal that was just basically for collage and mixed media.

 i actually purchased this journal from a friend in poland who is very talented. check out her blog here.... she is always layering her work, and her details are always amazing! her latest piece is stunning and was inspired by a poem.

she made my journal with a variety of all sorts of papers- including the picture of those women. i wanted to be sure and incorporate this picture into my collaged pages and stamped "queens" onto the pic and made them their paper hats and added a small piece of washi tape to the edge of the pic.

i enjoy looking back sometimes to see what work i have done in the past and what i have created. i am feeling a little queenish today as i am off from work....no work for the queen today! happy friday.....

29 faces challenge 2014: day 4 and 5

i felt so outside of my comfort zone for day 4. i was uninspired and found this face very difficult to do. i was frustrated and must have painted over this faces four times before i found some level of happiness. the first three days had come relatively easily.

i wanted to make sure that day 5 was not a struggle and while i was fixing supper i was contemplating faces and inspiration....and then, i remembered Lady Gaga and her "painted" face for her latest album Artpop. i loved the colors.

i loved her inspiration and was much happier with this face. it came much easier than day 4.

29 faces challenge 2014: day 2 and 3

 #29 faces #day2 #artjournal #mixedmedia #gelliplatebackground

#29faces #day3 #artjournal #mixedmedia #gelliplatebackground

documented life- a sewn moleskin cover

i had wanted a sewn cover for my moleskin journal and had started one a few weeks ago; however, i was uninspired at the time. i had cut the white cotton as the background but, had done little else with it.

yesterday, inspiration struck!! and while working in my art journals....fabric was calling my name rather loudly from the corner of my studio. as i sat at my sewing machine, the ideas flowed as the fabric was stitched- each layer of fabric lending itself to the other pieces already down; covering every inch of the white cotton just like painting on a white canvas.

 i used a vintage doily, hand dyed fabric, a sweater, t-shirt, fabric scraps, vintage buttons and a clothing label.

29 faces challenge 2014: day 1

i did decide to give 29 faces challenge a try.....faces are something i feel like i struggle with- so this will be the perfect push outside of my comfort zone.

here is my face from yesterday-

i am using an art journal that i had used my gelli plate to print the backgrounds first. i also used stencils and spray ink. my image came from a fashion model i had pinned and knew i wanted to draw. 

she is interesting and i am hoping that as this month progresses, that my abilities will get better......