In a workshop I am in over at A.R.T., a yahoo group, our lesson this week was to make a page using a page out of the book we are using Artist's Journal's and Sketchbooks by Lynn Perrella. I chose page number 26 that had a hand on it. Mine came out quite differently I think but I am glad of that really.

This has acrylic paints for the background with white butterflies embossed with clear powder. I don't know why they turned color. Anyone have an idea? Did it suck up color from the paint with the heat of the gun? I don't know. Anyhow, the rest of the page was done with Pitt pens and watercolor pencils except for a few cutouts from my own photos.

A is for ....

I've finished a spread in my journal for the letter A. I hope to do the whole alphabet. I also hope to find things I like to fit the different letters. Some of them might be rather hard like Q and Z. Maybe I'll just buy some more pets and give them weird names so I have something I will like for every letter! No way! I really wouldn't do that.

I used pencil to draw with and then drew over that with Pitt pens. Then I used watercolor pencils which I wet down with a water brush.

Gouache Teacup

I ordered some gouache after seeing what Roz Stendahl does with it. Oh, I know I can't do anything like she does but I like the look of the paint and I like the idea of something that won't wreck my brush like acrylics should I leave it set too long. I bought mostly what she recommended and added a couple. I just got them two days ago.

Last night I was listening to Kaizen Muse 's free audio sessions and I drew the teacup in a spiral notebook that was sitting handy. I should have grabbed my sketchbook but I was just thinking I was doodling so no big deal. Then I ended up liking my teacup so I pulled out the paints I'd set in a palette to dry and painted it. I had fun with the whole thing as I was just playing and not intending to do anything.

Today, still liking my little painting, I put it on a prepainted page in my composition book journal. I didn't realize I got it so crooked till I scanned it in to my computer. Ah well, it's glued in tight and there's no changing it.

Thanks Roz for your inspiration and your list of colors to start off with.

I made a new journal for a workshop I am taking over at a yahoo group called A.R.T. I made it with a bisquick box for the cover. Why a bisquick box? Because I like to bake and more, I liked the colors! I used grosgrain ribbon for the spine so it'd be firm enough for sewing the signatures into but that created a small problem in that the book doesn't stay firmly closed. It works fine; it just doesn't stay shut on it's own but stays open about 1/2 inch. Maybe time will help.


I made four signatures using heavy weight drawing paper as the guide for the size of the book and other pages. The paper was 9x12" so I just folded it in half. I added some MiTientes pages, watercolor and a floral petal paper. I encased each signature in a smaller paper that matched the cover colors and then sewed them into the spine with red pearl cotton.


I am happy with it and can't wait to start using it.

Sea Glass

I made a new page in my journal celebrating sea glass. I posted it on my general blog but it fits here too. Have you ever found any? One beach by my sister's seems to get quite a bit. (The beach is in Oxnard, CA). Several years ago I would walk the beach with her as she walked off the hurt of her husband of 18 years leaving her. I found mostly brown (guess there are lots of brown bottle beer drinkers), some green and on a rare occasion a bit of blue. I also found some white but that wasn't very exciting. So I made an ocean page with some sea glass on it. I really intended to make the sea glass more dominant but it works this way as you have to look for the sea glass just as in real life! Hint: if you click on the page it will enlarge and you can see it easier.

The picture was made with Pan Pastels mostly. I added a bit of sharpie poster pen and white gel pen for the foam, waves and birds (I wish the birds showed up better too). A touch of colored pencil for shading and Pitt Pen for writing.