Getting Unstuck

Sorry I've seemed to disappear from blogland!  I got a bit down and wasn't doing much blog checking, art or anything at all really.  Oh, I wasted a lot of time playing silly internet games where you really don't win but you can keep playing without thinking much and figure it is passing for living but finally you realize with the help of some friends that you really aren't living at all and it's time to wake up and smell the coffee! 

So here is what I have done since my last post.  Yes, it was a while ago and this is a pretty poor showing of items.  I haven't even finished the Christmas page yet!  I used real Christmas scraps for the background and added the annual family pic in front of the Christmas tree but have not added any titles, lists or commentary.  Hopefully I'll feel like adding some soon.

A couple of weeks ago I got tired of chewing on my nails till they hurt so I went out and bought some new, fun polishes.  First I wore the green and now I am wearing the pink.  It really helps to keep me from chewing as the polish smooths the rough edges and feels silky and I don't want to chew the polish!  I did have fun making the page and started to feel the funk I was in lessen a bit.

Now, the next two pics are the making of my husband's birthday card.  I don't usually like the cards for sale and time is running out so I finally grabbed my paints and brushes and got busy.  He loves pie over cake any day so he will be getting a cherry pie on his birthday and I figured why not put one on his card too?  So I did.  Boy was I rusty.  I have blooms starting up because I didn't wait long enough for the "pie tin" to dry before doing the shadow and I had to hurry and blot the "cherries" as they were bleeding out into the crust.  I set it aside to dry and went over it all again with the final result in the last picture here.  Art requires constant practice if you want to keep your skills up, that's for sure!

Speaking of skills and practice, Laure Ferlita of Imaginary Trips fame is starting up this years schedule of classes with a visit to the beach.  It starts soon so if you want to join in hurry and sign up!

Just Practice Work

 I was practicing dewdrops for a class I am taking with Laure Ferlita.  This one is a Trip to the Garden and she might have a second one coming up.  These seemed pretty hard at first but are fun once you get the hang of it.  I resorted to a magnifying glass when I tried the teensy tiny ones on the flower you see at the bottom of the Dewdrops page!

The other page was simply boredom last night and a desire to do a bit of practice with my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.  I played it loose and fast both with the pen and the subsequent watercolor.  This is in a Strathmore journal filled with drawing paper so it's not really made for the watercolor.  I think it worked fine as I got in some drawing practice and painting practice but I also found out this ink doesn't dry quickly on this paper.  I had several minutes between drawing and painting but my ink still smeared.  It didn't matter so much with this page but it could on others.

Since I am always wondering how large a page people are working

on I thought I would mention the top pic is on a 5.5 x 7.5 inch page  and the bottom pic is on a 9 x 12 inch page.

Hope you have a wonderful, creative day.

Playing Around

While making the cards in the Valentine class I mentioned in the last post I made some practice roses and didn't want to throw them away. I kind of get attached to my work practice or not (except when it comes out reeeeaaalllly bad). So, I painted and gessoed and collaged in my practice bits and then filled in with writing. I would have to say this was pure fun. I didn't have any real project or outcome in mind when I started. I just didn't want to throw the roses away. So I played! And this is the result. I'm rather pleased with myself just now. Hope you enjoy the page too.

Friendship Journal

I took part in a travelling friendship journal for a yahoo group I am in Blissfully Art Journaling. These are the three spreads I made for it. One was to be about me and the other two something about friendship.

The picture I painted was with gouache. The paint lifts very easily when it gets wet so I was going to spray it with fixative. I tried the fixative first on a different gouache page and it worked fine except the spray wouldn't quit spraying until the can was empty. So for this tea time painting I was goint to use some UV acrylic finishing spray from Krylon that I had. Hmmm, three big blobs hit my page before I could stop them. This time I got no spray; the stuff just bubbled out of the can till it was empty. I don't know if my cans were too old, too cold (the house was between 66 and 68 degrees) or what but I even went and found my spray bottle of hairspray I've had for a few years but couldn't get it to do anything but shoot a heave stream rather than a fine mist. So, the page is going to go as is, with three horrid blobs on it. Thank goodness they didn't blur the paint under them.

Do any of you ever seal a gouache or watercolor page in your journal? I have only done it as a trial effort and on a painted cover to a journal. I figure they don't usually get wet but when the journal is going to someone I don't know, I just wanted to be safe.

Sarah's Challenge #s 5 and 10

I've combined two of the challenges for this page. Challenge #5 was to draw with your non-dominant hand. Challenge #10 was to use simple collage and sketching.

I found it really hard to use my right hand. I tended to use my arm and kept my wrist stiff. I think my writing fit with the theme although I was in seventh grade when I got to buy the Creamsicles not first grade where I learned to print!

For the simple collage I went really simple but I'd been wanting to use this fruit pop in a page and this worked out to be a great one for it. Some sketching, just outlining but using my right hand made it a challenge. I added the borders to finish the page and do a bit more sketching.

If you haven't yet tried to use your non-dominant hand you ought to give it a try. For one thing, it sure gives a different look to your work, for a second, it is rather a fun challenge, and last, it makes you appreciate wherever you are at with drawing with your dominant hand!

This challenge can be found at Sarah's blog. Try it out.

Surgery Over

Hi everyone. My husband came through his surgery just fine. No heart attack, no extra blood loss even though it was described as a difficult extraction. Too much info? That's okay 'cause that's all there is. Now we are on to healing and then me getting back to more of my art work!

This page was made with torn paper (and a bit of cutting) collage. I did it while waiting in the waiting room during the 5 hours of surgery. No, it didn't take 5 hours to make the page. That only took about 15 minutes - about the quickest ever. I had to take the photo with my cell phone so it's a bit blurry.