Hope

The IAA is doing an on-going journal swap. Here is my page for this month:
This page was done using copic markers to spray the background and the writing. The wings are a stamp that I embossed and then colored in with copics.
I've decided to do a poetry theme for all my pages, since I'm a poetry junkie. I've got a bunch of more work to put up--I've been busy writing up some new course proposals for fall this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

A-hoy.

Here is a page from my art journal. I'm sorry about the typed in text over the photo--but the photo was part of an application packet and I didn't think about deleting the text before I posted the pic.
I've really been enjoying the way that the colors of the copic markers go on the page. There is something so sharp about them. And at the same time the texture is almost velvety. I drew the skull as part of an experiment. Sort of an "I wonder if I could do this?" And I think it turned out well. That's the thing that I love about my journal. It's a space just for me. And we all need a space that we can just be in.

Journal Swap

Whew! It's been crazy busy here. But with the finishing of the Heirloom festival, I have time to do some fun stuff again!
I made this book--one of my first attempts in book binding with stiching into the spine. It was a lot of fun!
I used my copic markers--which I love, love, love--to decorate the covers. Here are some pictures:
Back cover-
Front Cover--
Side view of binding.

When I was the heirloom festival, I had a lot of students asking me about the Copic markers. Along those lines, I thought over the next couple of weeks I'd post some copic tutorials. So stay tuned!

News! News!

I have been a busy little bee this last week. And I have some great news!
First-up: the newest volume of Page By Page is due out on the fifteenth, featuring an article and art work by yours truly. Kira's Zine, is always a treat and I am thrilled to be a small part of it.

Second: I had a piece accepted by Altered Arts Magazine. It should be in one of the winter editions--probably around the first of the year. I'm also writing an article to go along with it.

And lastly: I had a third piece accepted by Somerset Studios for their forthcome "Art Journal" publication. It's due out in January of '09. There isn't much info about the new magazine on their site--so I'm not even sure if it's quarterly or simply a "special edition." I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, here is a picture of my house atcs that I made for last month's swap at IAA. I've had this photo sitting on my desktop for forever and just kept forgetting to post it. I actually punched holes in my atcs and made them into a book--that turned out so cute! I just need to make a cover for it.

Now, you need to hop on over to Kira's site and pre-order her zine. I'm serious. Go now!



Are you going yet???
:)

Late to the Dance

I am massively late to the dance on this one--the band has packed up and the floor is littered with confetti. But I feel the need boogie-oogie all by my lonesome for a moment.
I'm talking about the challenge for the GPP street team for June. It was a rubbing technique, which I won't go into details here since Ms. Ward did such a bang-up job explaining it herself, so you can just follow the link.
While I was trying out the technique something wonderful happened. I was having trouble finding the right paper weight. Too thick, I got no image, too thin, it would tear with water. I was sitting at my very messy table pondering weather or not to throw in my crayons when my eyes lit-upon a piece of tyvek that I'd left out for another project.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Tyvek is some super-duper-space-age-material that isn't quite plastic, isn't quite paper. It's manufactured by Dupont and wonderfully enough, is the stuff that they use to make the priority mail packages at the USPS. You know the ones that they give away for free....
Anyway, this stuff is water-proof, tear proof, and does fun stuff when heated. Best of all, it is thin, so it's perfect for doing a rubbing. Here is what I did with it. I Should mention that I heated the edges to cause it crumple and bubble a bit; which is why it isn't flat.


And here is how I incorporated it into a piece in my art journal:

I have to say, I'm just in love with this technique. I'm going to hit the post office tomorrow and then off to a cemetery to get some rubbing's....

Art Journal Page

I know I haven't published many photos from my journal lately. That's partly because I've had so much design team and other work (like my mom's mother's day gift) that I haven't been working in it much. But it's also because I what work I have done over the last month is being published in Page By Page, so I couldn't put it up here.
But I did do this page today and thought I'd put it up. It's acrylic and Copic marker.

Journal Pages

Here are a couple of older journal pages that I never got around to posting. I have started journaling again--the winter doldrums have finally left me and I feel ready to get back to it. I even made myself a new journal, since I finished my old one. Here are my pages:

Have Kit, Will Travel

The challenge this month over on the GPP blog is a kit for your art journal. It was perfect excuse for me to dig out this apron that I got a few months back and had wanted to decorate it. It has nice deep pockets for my supplies and is perfect for rolling-up and sticking in my bag. The winged baby is by Retro Cafe Art Gallery. I attached it to a piece of fabric and then I covered it with a transparency and sticked it down. The buttons I made using Ranger's Glossy accents. I stamped the pockets using Memories black ink.

Feng-Shui and other art stuff

I am finally moving into my new studio....after almost 6 months of living in our new house. But, of course, it's a complete mess. I keep trying to rearrange it so that it works better, but mostly I end-up pushing boxes around the floor and dumping piles of supplies out and sorting through them and finding a perfect little something and deciding that I need to start a new project right now! Only to sit down at my table and find myself distracted by the feng-shui of the room--the massive piles of stuff everywhere and so the process starts all over again.
I have 4 unfinished products sitting on my table beckoning to me but all i see when I go in is the stuff...
I did manage to get another page from my journal done, here it is:


I dyed the lace with some coffee to give it the vintage look, and then I melted some crayons with a heat gun for the top and sunk some postage stamps into it while it was wet. It was my first try with crayon wax....I'm not certain I like it, but I suppose that's how it goes when you try something new.

Crying Over Chicken

Crying Over Chicken, originally uploaded by bmandity05.

I have been super busy this week trying to get everything done for the Heirloom Festival that will be in Indianapolis the first weekend in March. I am teaching 2 classes and it's a bit more involved than my normal teaching. I had to design a seating arrangement of all things! But I've got all my samples done, my instructions typed-up, my class descriptions written, and a thousand other little things that had to be done. I'll be posting the link and the descriptions when they go up on the website.

In the meantime, I got this page done. I used paper, alcohol inks (for the eggs) and bubble wrap and acrylic paint for the orange dots.
I am hoping to have some other stuff scanned in for tomorrow--but I guess we'll see how that goes. I'm still trying to go one horrid step at a time!

The last of Winter

I finished up my last two pages from my set on Winter. I have to say, I really enjoyed having a topic and looking at it for several days in a row. Seeing how my feelings and my art was different from day to day. This first one is unnumbered because I started working on the page while doing the second and couldn't decide if I wanted it to be number three or not...it has a different feel to it, so I just left it un-numbered.
I used vintage papers, crackle paint, acrylic paint, stamps and grunge board on this one. The photo is my favorite part of the page, I took it at night, using the night setting on my camera, which is why the colors are so funky.
This last page I did using fluid acrylics and some scrapbooking paper, along with a stencil and some grunge board. It is truly the most happy looking of all of the set...but I see bits and pieces of the other spreads in it as well.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year! Hopefully I will be back soon with lots more art.

Journal Catch-Up

I have been making more journal pages than I can keep-up with posting. So I am going to try and play a little catch-up tonight.
This first picture I used a hand-cut stencil of myself as a child. I got the idea from reading Judy Wise's blog earlier this summer. She had all these gorgeous stencils in her art and I wanted to try it so desperately--but I lacked the proper photo-shop equipment. Since that has been rectified I am a stencil making fiend.

This next page I used some old sheet music that I distressed using the ranger Distress Inks. They have really become my new obsession....I want them in EVERY color! I am especially fond of the colors that aren't in the brown family. The bright oranges and blues are just lovely! The little girl in this photo is my aunt Marie. I used twinkling H2O's to colorize the photo.

And last but not least another page. I used some sand paper and distress inks on the photo. I like the grungy look I got by wetting and crumpling it. I could hardly believe that it was a pristine photo to begin with!
I feel like I'm breaking through some sort of barrier when it comes to my journal. I don't think I'm there yet--I feel a bit like I'm in a room feeling for the light switch, but I know it's near by. I guess I'll just have to see what happens. That's the beautiful thing about art; it always evolves.

Home Again

I am back from the wilds of PA and have 2 new journal pages to show for it. I used water color crayons, paper and rub-ons for both of them.


Here is what I learned from my attempt at journaling away from the studio: 1. bring more paper. 2. Water color crayons are the best! light weight and great for layering color on. 3. I should have brought more pre-distressed papers in more colors. (I'd taken some from a latin text book and used the distress inks on them for use in these 2 pages.) 4. Journaling really relieves the stress of traveling and being with family!

Have art, will travel

Or as I like to think of it: how to survive Thanksgiving.
My Hubby and I are packing up the car for the long trek to Pennsylvania and I have my art bag all packed. Here is a picture of what I'm taking:This is my first attempt to work in my journal away from my studio. But facing a long weekend of no internet, no digital cable, no Starbucks and no bookstores to escape to I decided to take the plunge. I'm sort of curious to see what I come up with using my limited supplies.

I will be back sometime Sunday, hopefully with lots of art to show for my time.
I wish all of you a very happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Another Journal Page

I finished reading Journal Revolution this week and found it to be inspiring. It's really helped motivate me to keep working. I especially liked the idea of using masking tape to journal on and I tried it out last night. Here is my most recent page:


I used an old time card and some scrapbooking paper, as well as paint and stamps. The photo, I colorized using distress inks. I'm thinking the next time I do that, I'm going to dig my sand paper out and sand off some edges...

Why Save it?

Artists, I firmly believe, are natural hoarders. You know what I'm talking about. The drawers of ribbons or scraps of ephemera that we can't quite bring ourselves to throw-out. Pretty much every artist I know (except for my friend Bev) has tons of stuff. Stuff we don't use, stuff we're saving for...something. I am no exception. I have this gorgeous white rub-on that I keep pulling out of the drawer and looking at and then putting back. But today, when I pulled it out I found myself wondering--why am I saving it? So I used it on my journal page here:

The face in the picture is mine, it's a stencil I cut and made from photoshop. It's my first, but now that I've done it I want to do more. If you're interested in learning how to photoshop/cut stencils there's a great tutorial here. And if you just want to look at some beautiful stenciled work look here. You have to scroll down and see the goldfish. They are just too cute!

A cool fall day

Fall is truly here and what better way to spend a cool fall day than baking in the kitchen? I made this fresh apple crisp with cranberries, walnuts and apples that my hubby and I got at the apple orchid last weekend.

And what better to go with it than a gingerbread latte. Here is my recipe: 2 shots of espresso, 1/2 oz ginger spice syrup, 1/2 oz vanilla syrup, and steamed milk to taste. I curled up under a quilt and drank my coffee and ate my crisp--and all was right with the world.
And last but not least a picture from my journal. This page took forever to finish. I kept hating it and painting over it. Sometimes that's how it goes.

Fun with Photoshop

I don't have any new work to post today--my Hubby and I were out of town this weekend. But I spent some time playing with photoshop elements today. I am a complete beginner, so there is a lot of grunting and swearing involved. But here is a little something I came up with today just playing around. The background photo is one I took last week while out walking around in broadripple.
I know exactly where this photo is going to go--right into my art journal!

Dreamer

I am trying to get back into the habit of working in my journal again. I stopped for a variety of reasons--time, my injury and my depression--but I'm feeling the urge again. I love doing the prompts over on D'Blogala. This week, it was about using an old family photo. I picked my grandfather, who is pictured with my grandmother in this shot. I love this picture because he looks so classy and happy.
This page uses acrylic, paper, and stamps by Technique Tuesday. Sorry the resolution isn't better, my scanner hates the binding on my journal.

My New Love

I am in love.
Sigh.
I got a new set of 30 Caran D'Ache II crayons from an artist friend of mine who had bought them and never used them. I'd never tried them myself, but had heard other artists just rave about them so last night I broke them out and gave them a try.
Now I see what all the fuss is about. Amazing colors, perfect blendability and they're water soluble. I think my favorite thing to do with them is to dip the tip into water and draw with them while they're wet. They just pop right off the page. And I am so in love! Of course now I want one of the bigger sets. Isn't that just the way?
Take a look at this page that I did: