Hi Everyone,  If you haven't heard already there is a free art class called Art, Heart & Healing over at willowing that you may want to check out.   I have enjoyed it and here is my results from week 1 (week 3 was just posted today).  No worries if you still want to join it is all do at your own pace and you can join any time.  

Copying the masters

Do you do this?  I like to look at something and try to draw/paint it as a way to practice and improve.   Here is a picture I "copied" from a children's book.   What are your thoughts on this practice?  I was thinking it is ok for my personal journal.  But now that I have been blogging etc and reading things I really would like input on what is "appropriate"  I think that it may still be ok but that I should keep a record of where I saw the image and make sure it is noted somewhere in my journal.  What do you think?

Ten of somethin'

I did something the other day I haven't done in a long while.  I bought ten of something (eleven actually)  I have been known on occasion to used retail therapy to ease my pain (hahaha).  And since this was at the dollar store I didn't do too much damage.  Ever since I learned the tissue paper technique from ihanna in the 21 secrets class I have been craving tissue paper.  So here is what I bought and here are a couple of projects I did.  A journal page, an art card and decorated envelope (painted the outside with acrylics and put tissue paper on the inside) to mail the card in.

Blast from the past

Ok just a few more older pages from my journals

Is it worth it?

Ok, as you heard I got a bunch of art supplies at a yard sale and last night I spent over an hour reconstituting jars of Tempura paint.  Adding water and stirring (alot) I love a bargain and feel good about recycling but as I was doing this the thrill of having all these new paints wore off some and I began to wonder.  (Our time is worth a lot)  But I stopped when it really got tedious and now I am very happy to know I have all these wonderful paints ready for a project.  I also got a big roll of paper the same day (same purchase $25 filled my living room. wish I would have taken a picture before I put it all away)  I am going to do something huge on the paper with the tempura paints.    The picture shows the test doodle I did to see if the paints were ok and what they looked like.  I got two full shoe box size containers of paint.

Look what I've been doing

Having lots of fun in my journal.  I don't know if anyone else has done this but I have been able to find a lot of fun supplies through the local classified ads and Craigslist.  I got over 200 acrylic paints (the less expensive kind) with a stand to hold them all for $25.00.  I like using these.  I mix them with Golden glazing fluid or use them straight.  All the pages I am showing today are with "bargain" supplies.   One recent yard sale I got completely carried away.  I should have taken a picture of my front room.   It was stuffed full  with the stuff I bought at one yard sale (another $25.00 bargain)  It was a estate sale where the person was a retired graphic designer who had lived in Japan.  Some of the things I got in that load were 2 t-squares, a 4 ft metal ruler, 6 brand new packages of rice paper, Many different sets of colored pencils (most were made in Japan with lots of pigment) Lots of technical pens (Stadler, Micron, Rapidograph,) Authentic Japanese paint brushes, other high quality paint brushes, Boxes of rub on letters,  and much more.  I'm sure I am boring you so I will stop and show you some pages. 

Tissue paper fun

Here are some journal pages (before writing on them) that I created using a technique learned from ihanna and the 21 Secrets class.

Flower Doodle Bookmark

Here's a doodle bookmark I made to participate in a contest to win a fun doodle book called "Doodle Diary: Art journaling for girls"  (I hope that means big girls too)from the author Dawn Solol.  Check out her blog D'blogala it is lots of fun.

Don't you love presents?

Well, I got the best present from my daughter and son-in-law...they gave me the 21 Secret class!!  I have started looking at all the information but just getting back from Tennessee.  I will begin my first project soon.  In the mean time I thought I would post a few more pages.  The first flower picture was done when I first began my journal in 2008 and the other one in 2010.  I like the second one much better.  I can see my drawing skills have improved.  Not that I'm where I want to be but it is nice to see improvement

I can't wait either!!

This is going to be a great class. Awhile ago I mentioned that I was wanting to try painting on a larger scale but I was feeling nervous about it. Right after that I came across Connie Hozvicka at Dirty Footprints Studio
After watching a video she had on her website about being a fearless painter I went for it and it was so much fun. Now there is an opportunity to take a class from her and 20 other fantastic artists! All for only $59.00 that is a bargain. Click on the button below to see all the juicy details. Here is a link
to the details or click on the button below.
Some of the artists I am looking forward to learning from besides Connie are Sarah Whitmore (I did my first art journal page based on her Soul Journal prompts), Samantha Kira Harding (I have been learning a lot from here live video broadcasts) and Hanna Andersson (I'm very interested in the "layers of tissue" technique she will be teaching)

some journal pages

I first started my journaling in during the summer of 2008. The first pages I did were with the Soul Journal prompts. Quickly I learned that the journal I was using was way too big for me at that stage in my learning. I started using a 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" which was just right for me. I am still working in that same book. I am about half way through it. I love to look back at all the pages and see that I have made progress in my art. Here are a few of my favorite pages.

I hate to waste paint

I had extra paint left over from my "Fairy" picture so I mixed it all together and used it for the background for this journal page. The rest of the page has Sharpie paint pens, my two favorite pens (Signo uni-ball gel pen -white and Uni-ball Vision Elite-black), a photo (me) that I copied in B&W and then glued on with Modpodge. After it dried I "tinted" it with some colored I powders I have had forever.

When I copied the picture I enlarged it in two different sizes. I ended up using the smaller one but cut the roses out of the bigger one and glued it on also. For the background, I also used stamps with embossing powder in shimmery colors then heat set them.

get over yourself!

Ok, I am posting yesterday's picture even though I don't like my drawing skills (geesh) but I'm following MM's advice and hopefully in a little while I can look back at this and see improvement. This is another one on the Canson paper. Acrylics mixed with glazing liquid, a Sepia Faber-Castel pen. I may get a sponge and some distress ink and go over the whole thing.

Also, posting a quick picture I did the other day in chalk pastels on an old photo album (black paper) that I got at the thrift store. I really like the vibrant colors.

painting on cardboard

Here is my picture for the day. It is on a 10 1/2"x12" piece of cardboard that I had covered in two layers of Golden's gesso. I got my inspiration from some these butterfly stickers I got at Michaels.
I drew out the butterfly with a Faber-Castel Pitt Artist pen with a brush tip in cold grey. Then I went over some of the lines with a black Sharpie making some thicker and added some doodling. Next I painted some sections with metallic acrylic paints, neocolor II water color crayons, and black paint mixed with Golden's glazing liquid. I added more detail with gold, silver and white Sharpie paint pens. Then finished the background with acrylic/glaze mixture.

Fearless

Yesterday, I mentioned to MM (my man) that I wanted to start doing art in a bigger formant. My journal is 3 1/2" x 5 1/2". I confessed to him that it really scared me to think about doing something bigger. He got me to go to the Michael's with him and took me over to the canvases. It was funny. I was looking at something like a 8x10 thinking well maybe I could do this and he grabs one that nearly comes to up to my chin and says "what about this?" Well my heart started racing.... I settled on a 16"x20"and we left the store with me practically hyperventilating.
Then today, I was moping around while he was at work thinking "but now I need bigger brushes, different paint, what will I paint?", etc., etc., all the time that BIG canvas was sitting there mocking me.

I started watching a few Youtube videos for some inspiration (and yes.. procrastination) when something caught my eye. A video about fearless painting and going BIG. Perfect! So inspiring. And there is a class/support "tribe". I really want to attend!! Connie Hosvika at Dirty Footprints Studio teaches the class. Check out her Blog here and sign up for the next class in October. September is already sold out!!

Back to my story, When MM got home he asked me what was wrong and I told him about how I really wanted to start on something more disposable and less threatening than a $20 canvas. So he said "Well then. let's go to the art store and get some huge paper." Gulp, I actually cried on the way there.. (I will deny that) He suggested that I just do several pictures quickly trying different things. Not worrying about the outcome. (I'm thinking how did he get to be so wise? Did he watch Connie's video too???) She said something like"set aside expectations and just get started... its about the process not the outcome." She also said some very encouraging things about holding our hand and getting through the hurdles. I felt very lucky to have my husband there to hold my hand as we drove to buy scary paper.

He was so generous, when we got there he starting finding the biggest paper they had and putting it in the cart. I ended up with two pads of paper. A Canson Mixed Media 14"x17" 98lb, 60 sheets, and Strathmore Sketch 18"x24" 50 lb, 30 sheets. Now that's scary. I also got some Sharpie paint pens, a huge(bold) in white and medium sized in Silver & Gold, a 16oz bottle of Golden's acrylic glazing liquid-Satin, gold and bronze metallic acrylic paint and a pack of paint brushes in all sizes.

With all of these fun things it was easy to start. I really wanted to try the pens. Be careful when you press down on them the first time the paint really comes out fast. This happened on my paper with the gold one and I just held up the paper and let it run around some until it dried.

I just posted the picture of my first "Big" picture on Facebook. It feels great that I took the plunge. It is on the 14" x 17" Canson mixed media paper. I really liked this paper because it didn't ripple or curl even though I had a lot of wet paint on it. And I love, love, love the glazing liquid. It helps the acrylics not dry out as fast and the paint goes on really sheer.