TGIF and ready for some tending to....

so thankful that today is friday and the weekend is quickly approaching....i had listened to a 21 secrets lessons from Rachel Olson Awes. she had talked about tending to ourselves. if you are a mom/ wife- we tend to put everyone else's needs ahead of ours.

part of the lesson was to draw and doodle and to come up with our list of we would like to tend to for us. i have been trying to come up with my list. so here are a few things i am hoping to tend to this weekend....

1. paint my toes (they are in desperate need!!)
2. sit in the sunshine and do nothing but enjoy some very nice weather 
3. paint- and see the paint on my fingers...makes me so happy
4. sew on paper and catch up on graduation cards- just love doing this
5. dance in my studio space when no one is looking :) who doesn't love to dance?!....i so love doing this!

you may have already seen the doodle before- she is one of my favorites. i seem to just love her look- she seems relaxed and happy- like she is looking up just a bit to the sun, and letting the sunshine just cover her face....i thought she is what i will be trying to capture this weekend.

21 secrets {roben-marie} inspiration

listened to 21 secrets spreecast on wednesday- our teacher was Roben-Marie. i was so excited- i knew it would be good! and she did not fail....she showed many products that she has available for mixed media like her own line of "washi" tape and her ArtPops, which is a line of postcards; and shared some of her favorite products she likes to use in her art work.

i have to say i have tried many pencils along this journey, and my top two favorite pencils are:

1. stabilo 
2. sketch n wash pencil

i found some time last night to play for a bit and use this fabulous inspiration to create something in my own art journal. here is a peek at mine....

Roben's theme was a note back to her 21 year old self- what would you have shared with yourself? i am going to add my thoughts to my pages, but, here are my pages prejournaling. 

i did gesso my pages to start with as this journal was not really made for painting so that the paper would hold up a little better. the top red/ pink is a print off of my gelli plate. i did use spray ink to add the blue in the middle and the bottom layer of green and then followed up with acrylic paints, some stamping, my stabilo pencil, and alcohol ink.

love the colors and the happy mess i created to tell 21 year old self some very important messages.....

21 secrets- positive affirmation of hope

i am playing a little catch up on 21 secrets and used both magazine and book papers in my art journal for this week's lesson.

i layered paint, papers, and inks; and then, carefully looked for the perfect words to reflect my feelings and to hopefully fit the theme of 21 secrets of positive affirmations.

i searched through my vintage reading book to pick my words. this book is at this point, many decades old, but, has provided many, many useful words and phrases over the course of the past couple of years. all of my cutting is beginning to take its' toll on my wonderful book-sooner or later i will have to find another book to use for this purpose.

i used some paper scraps that had already been painted on as you see below with that edge cutting through the large circle below.

below is my whole page. i really enjoyed watching the video and looking for my positive words. the art journal i am working in for 21 secrets was not necessarily made for art journaling- writing yes, keeping notes-yes, painting....not so sure. i did gesso the pages before starting, but, i did not want to completely cover the page, instead choosing to skim coat most of the page. if you look more closely at the red/ pink- you will notice that some of the paint went down nicely and sat on top of the gesso, and other portions soaked into the thin paper.

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.

21 secrets {art journal} hearts....

finally had time to watch the 21 Secrets video last night and found a little window of time to go to the studio and paint myself.

i gesso'd my pages first and then, started layering my acrylic paint; working with water and stencils. i added the letters- staggering those across both pages to tie the pages together and drew the heart in on both pages. this page got a big heart and the other page- a small one. but don't let the small size diminish the meaning, in fact, the small heart has our initials....great things sometimes come in small packages.

on this page below i was able to sew- i did not want to sew on the other page as i had already painted on the back side of that page and did not want the stitching to come through. i had a great time making these pages last nights- love the colors i chose and painted with- some of my favorite.

21 secrets {art journal} face

i am participating in 21 secrets but, find it soooo much easier to watch the videos on wednesdays and then, work in my own art journal.

here is my face for this past week's lesson.....

i laid down paper scraps from my counter first.... layering the papers. i love the peeks of the papers sneaking out between the layers of paint and ink. i had gesso'd the papers once down to pull them together and fade the papers just a bit into the background. i sketched my outline with a blendable pencil and followed up with ink; blending some pencil lines and not others. 

in my journal not all the paper sit down glued tight to the paper and like the look and feel. i like the uncertainty of the lips and the oddly large eye and watery, black ink runs with the peeks of pink.....

art journal- inspiration from 21 Secrets

i am participating in the 21 Secrets this year and watched three talented women paint this past Wednesday. i was trying to figure out if i should be painting along with them, but, found it more interesting to simply watch and see how their journal pages progressed in the 90 minutes.

i found time to play this past weekend in a new journal my mom had picked up when she was in Germany visiting my brother. i believe the journal is meant for writing because the paper is relatively thin and lined- but, it worked just fine for my art journaling- i just cannot be too aggressive with it.

i used my gelli plate to print the background first- layering several colors and one of my favorite shapes- the sunburst. then, added some paper scraps and doodles.