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.

 

the post-dated-post

today flew by. i didn't make much progress at all and i forgot to post, so forgive the post-dated-post.

added more stamped stars and circles, this time in permaink. i didn't let my images done in water soluble ink really dry before gesso-ing so i lost most of them. these wont be going anywhere.

i decided, go big or go home, or whatever.

layer of blue acrylic.

now THAT, is what i was looking for.

let the blue dry... some. sprayed it with a water bottle and wiped some away.

my art journaling is really about exploration right now. exploration of my insides, exploration of techniques, exploration of cause and effect.

so, though i liked what was going on i slapped some white paint down on top of it, topped with some stenciling in red.

yeah, i dunno. this came out of left field.

wipe down = successfully grungified.

i really feel like this spread has gone full on fourth of july. *sigh* what did i really expect in using red, white, and blue...

i'm really going to have to decide if this spread is done and usable for something independence day related or if i am going to have to keep going with it and take it somewhere else.

so, i reached a stopping point on it but i wasn't done.

 look, purple acrylics in random places.

purple makes me very happy.

and it was time to add something else to this one...

watercolor crayons ftw!

i like it.

something about it just makes me happy.

oh, and... gesso.

yep. done. 

i *DID* crack the cover today

i did. i swear it.

i blended one layer...

i almost want to stop here and work on my girl.

and i laid down a new layer of fine shimmery blue craft acrylic.

this blue did nothing i suspected it would. i'm disappointed.

and the last of that blue paint that i decided that i hate went on a different spread. sad, i like it here much better.

little bear

13 years and september 11th never gets any easier.

however, i have another reason to dislike this date now.

my little bear passed away today. he had been our loyal family pet for 15 years.
he'll be missed so very much.

oddly enough, today was also the first day in literally years that i cracked my art journal and spilled. i had to paint to keep busy because i did not see my little bear this morning as i usually do in the back yard. i've had a feeling all day that something had happened to him. i couldn't find him anywhere in the backyard so i knew he had escaped to the very back yard where the bushes are taller then i am.  my love didn't want me to go out there by myself. he said it was dangerous. spiders, snakes, weeds with pollen that will make me break out on touch. i suspect it had more to do with the fact that he didn't want me to find my dog the way we knew i would. he also knows me well enough to know that my heart breaks when i lose one of my little animals.

he convinced me to wait until he got home. so, i had to stay busy.

he is digging my little bear a grave now that i can see from my kitchen window, i'll still be able to see him every morning. so very sweet of him do this for me.

so, today i turned this page...

this was my very favorite page, painted with a bright shimmery red paint that i no longer have.

into this with a little gesso and watercolor crayon, then i proceeded to copy down lyrics from a song my son introduced me to. i'm not a huge silversun pickups fan, but he is. and he never fails to tell me when he's found a super good song. this is circadian rhythm (last dance).

i hated this page as soon as i finished the watercolor crayons and gesso. HATED. what had i done to the brilliant red page? maybe i should have left it alone...

more gesso...

still hating on this page!

stamped images in permanent black ink...   

nope, still don't like it.

purple acrylics... 

now this, i like! of course i do, it's purple.

more stamping. these images are some of my standard background fodder, and they are stamped in water soluble ink here so when i apply gesso... 

who doesn't love stars and circles?

they blur and mute.

we are certainly getting there...

doodle... spirals are some of my very favorite things to draw.

at this point, i was just desperately trying to stay busy.

and this is where i stopped today. my love had come home and was able to find my little bear where he had laid down to rest.

it needed orange.

i plan to finish this spread for bear, perhaps with a she art doll and her dog or something similar.

look what i found!

it's been a rough day, one that i am likely very lucky that i made it through. i spent most of the day wishing i had a cathartic release. art came to mind several times over, card making or art journaling, but my craft area was buried under about 3 feet of toys, crayons, junk mail, and random junk that everyone in my house was likely just too lazy to put away. i settled for journaling my day away writing about anything and everything that i needed out of my head. but i made myself a promise, when i felt better i would find my desk again under the mess.

i did that tonight.

while i was at it, i dug out my hand bound art journal.

the one i bound some 3 years ago from effy wild's free bookbinding 101 course and has been sadly collecting dust since.

i fully intend to make use of it.

 

and below, a few of the backgrounds i had started way back when...

 

 

this one held a truth that is still valuable advice even (especially) today.

 

 

and inside, my passwords to the many classes and ning websites i had collected before the "art block".

tomorrow is a new day in which i plan to make use of that art journal.