first complete spread!

it's done!

ok, it's not perfect but it is a start and i am so very pleased!

i haven't forgotten the little bit i had learned about drawing! and, really, my skills can only improve from here as my layering backgrounds is still very rough.

i'm not super happy with the size of the font and how the words came out when i watercolored them. however, i am not concerned about fixing it as i am *DONE* with this spread. i have done what i can. i feel like i am safe to "detach" and move on to my next project.

i looooooove washi tape!

the phrase means a lot to me, i spent a lot of time figuring it out. i struggle with feeling like i should be more successful or further along in life. i do struggle with acceptance. i often have to combat my introverted nature and "resting bitch face" even though i am one of those people who don't care much about what people think about me. but this phrase says i am happy just where i am with what i have. so, eat that inner critic!

my words, up close.

so, i watercolored the page with my phrase on it but it just didn't come out the way i had hoped it would. the letters are so big that they  hide so much the drip technique, which i LOVED! but all this, this is my inner critic speaking. all that matters is that i finished it and that i am happy with it how it is!

my upside down doll face. the shading may be off but i'm quite pleased that her face looks even remotely like a face!

hello funny face!

thank you for following me through my first journal spread. tomorrow... whimsies!

happiness is...

paint covered hands!

i spent the whole day spilling. it felt so good, to be warmed by that spark again. i just soaked it in, all day. i felt busy and accomplished today, and then dinner time comes and i look up from my art desk and realize... i haven't washed a dish in a whole day!

and so, it begins.

i started off with a layer of white acrylics and some stamped images. since i do not have a brayer, i'm using an old credit card to scrape and pull the paint around.

i love adding layers upon layers of paint, collage, and stamping.

on top of that went some pink acrylics. 

i love adding layers upon layers of paint, collage, and stamping.

i took my watercolor crayons to the background. 

i REALLY love this and i was seriously considering stopping there. i didn't...

some more white acrylics and some more stamping! 

i absolutely adored this spread at this point. i so should have stopped right there. i didn't...

 

well... this was supposed to be a very small amount of light blue craft acrylics. it turned into a mess! i liked the page as it was right before this little... we'll call it an explosion, but this is a great lesson in making the best out of mistakes and a beautiful photo op!

i heart paint covered hands

  so, to fix it i pushed and pulled some more white acrylics around the page.

yes, her little star got all ruined with the water i applied to wipe the blue layer down. i substituted.

 

a little drip drip drip and i'm happy with this spread again. 

i'm really in a good place here. *EVERY* mistake is fixable in art journaling.

yeah, i think she is pretty much done. i think she has come together really well. i have some words for the page. i'll work that out later tonight.

i'm excited to move onto my next spread, i've already got the inspirational spark.

 

successful spilling

another late post. however, i feel rather accomplished, i have "spilled" daily and posted the results almost daily since the night i cleaned my desk off.

i've been busy tonight and i should be sleeping but i spent a relatively lazy sunday cat napping on the couch and watching football because i wasn't feeling well for the most part. so, now i'm not tired.

i have a few classes i've paid for and made very little headway on in the past two years, but i really didn't feel like taking on those challenges tonight. tonight i decided to tip-toe my way into a free class offered by the very awesome tamara laporte called art, heart, & healing in hopes of providing my brain with a much needed refresher of many very basic techniques.

well, here's what happened.
but first, for fun...

mmmmm a brand new knead-able eraser. you know you want to smell it!

the beginning of the first project requires one to write down all the things your inner critic says on one of the two pages of the spread. all those nasty hurtful things that make me feel a whole lot less like a barefoot glittery princess. i've shared the spread but only after covering the page with gesso, because, while i love to share my art with people (because if i can do it, so can you), i am much less keen on the idea of sharing just how nasty and mean my own inner critic can be. plus, the idea here is to write it down, get it out of your head, forgive the inner critic, and then cover it up with paint and make something beautiful out of it.

so, onward!

yay for putting the smack down on the inner critic.

opposite page of the spread is where i start my drawing. i am supposed to draw a girl that represents me. represents. she will not look anything like me.

ugh, i haven't drawn a face in over 3 years.

face complete, sorta...

i had A LOT of trouble with the nose, this trouble did not relent.

i really like to draw stylized and whimsical girls, so that is where i am headed.

yeah, mitten hands. what about it? i can barely draw a nose and you want hands? pshya!

so, my watercolor crayons, acrylics and i just aren't getting along whilst i shade this face. time for some... fun!

one of my FAVORITE mediums, prismacolor pencils and a blender.

after much more back and forth on the face, i reached a stopping point that i was relatively happy with. now you can see the direction i am going in.

done! (for tonight)

sure, she is far from perfect and there is A LOT of work to be done still. but i am a happy girl at the moment and my inner critic has been (mostly) quiet all night.