i want to see you be brave

i haven't had as much creative time as i would like lately. but over the span of a week or so i have managed to complete a spread that i am exceedingly happy with. i can do this. i can still do this.

so, from start to finish, my process...

 

 

time to paint

 

 

i had some trouble with shading around her left eye and had to fix her.

 

collage background with pages of an old book

 

watercolor crayons

 

posca markers

 

finished!

 

 

i love to share my process if only a record of my learning. i love to look back over how some of my favorite spreads came together. i also love to be nosy and see what others are working on.

monday playtime

i haven't had a lot of time for art lately, but last night i got time to sit down and spend a few hours playing. it was delicious. literally, i had more coffee than i should have had.

i honestly feel a little stuck on some of my spreads with sketches on them lately. i haven't felt like coloring in faces, i've been choosing to play in paint and layers of backgrounds. they'll get done eventually.

so, last night i took a page that i had used to get my posca markers going. these markers are ah-mazing! i was looking for something to work mostly on top layers of art journal spreads but i have found that they are very helpful to me as i build layers in my backgrounds.

then i took some new red and blue craft acrylics and some sequin mesh. 

here, i took some white acrylics and pushed it around on the page. still no brayer so i am using an old credit card. then i put down a layer of watercolor crayons.

using my black posca i drew circles. i really enjoyed the free doodling here. it's not extravegent drawing but it was all about what i was doing right then.

next... tissue paper! 

a little mod podge and tissue paper is always a happy combination. 

on top of that, a smidge of metallic purple craft acrylics.

this is really only one of the many pages i worked on, i just picked the one i worked on most, i guess. i'll likely share the others as i work on them. i fully intend on filling this journal to the brim with arty goodness.

so, as i mentioned, i am feeling a little stuck on my spreads with faces on them. i expect that will be resolved shortly as i've signed up for tamara laporte's lifebook 2016! and with it i got not one but two of her online workshops! i've chosen fabulous faces and ultimate world of whimsy! i'm so very excited to get started!

what do you mean

i have a confession to make, i thumbs up-ed a justin bieber song today on pandora. yep, actually happened.  i was arting-it-out and bopping along to music when this song came on. i thought it was derulo or something. who knows, ok! sorry if that offended anyone, i really am. let's just put it this way, i *NEVER* listen to actual radio, unless trapped in a car, earphones & phone stolen, and forced to listen against my will, and i almost never listen to country, pop, and hip hop (which i am actually trying to incorporate, slowly, a little more of into my pandora). :)
so, after the song had ended and i went to see what had played and thumbs up or thumbs down some songs. i mortified to see what i had been... enjoying. ah well, good song, nice beat. props, boy. 

yeah, well... either way, it was "what do you mean".

there was no art journaling to be hand in my house last night. nope, there was a school project for my son. and, as i am ever the procrastinator (well!! some of my best work has been completed under pressure), we were putting it together the night before it was due. hey, how hard could a model castle be?  O.o

and since i have a four year old, we HAD to make her something while we made something for her brother. yeah, seems legit. so, they and daddy built a castle and a "store". then i helped them paint. we had a lot of fun, very much a family craft night.

my son's project. this morning, the finished product had labels on pretty much everything but i wasn't taking pictures that early.  nope.  :)

castle project for reading class.

and this is ari's small store.  

yeah, i already removed the toothpick flag.
within about 1 minute i had envisioned about a
million ways she could hurt herself or maim any one of us.
}:-]

and so, that's it for art in my studio yesterday. today i have actual spilling going on, so i may or may not have a post tomorrow.

happy friday!

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.

 

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.