A Funny Thing Happened Yesterday

Ohhh I like this!

2011-04-26T15:43:00.004-04:00

I really like this technique a lot and probably will use black paper more in the future.

What you do is write out the alphabet in a continuous line using a fine white pen, turning the paper as you go so that it ends up circling the outer border of your page. If you look closely, you can see at the bottom of the page where my a,b,c,d etc goes. (especially if you enlarge the photo)

After you have your alpha down, you just pic a spot and begin doodling using various types of pens, glitter, metallic, gel, etc. Then once satisfied with the general doodles, you begin coloring in. I used Prismacolor pencils to color with as well as a Sharpie Poster Paint pen to write with. This is my favorite drawing to date. What do you guys think?

Some doodles

2011-04-25T14:36:00.005-04:00

Here are a few images I have been working on the last few days from Traci Bautista's class Creative Doodles. We were suppose to look at the "painted papers" and discover the images hidden among the paint. The red/orange one is pretty straight forward, most in the class saw the obvious flowers. I may go back into this particular page and do some more work at a later date and if so I will post update of it.

The second page was a different story! Many people looked at it and saw flower images...not sure how they did really...every time I looked to see and hunt for the flowers myself, I just kept seeing all these squiggly faces and underwater creatures, large and small...wonder what that says about me? In a way, hate to ask! hehe

Day Two...go with the flow exercise...that is what I call it anyway!

2011-04-22T16:33:00.005-04:00

Okay, here is day two...well sort of, I didn't really stop were it was intended to stop, but that is the way of the art muse, isn't it?

This is the grey scale shot, the color view follows.

This was a free movement, whole arm drawing on printed scrap booking paper...oh my I have so much of this stuff that I decided I better start using it, or just toss it! I created this with the idea of tearing it up for collage but now that it seems to have spawned a little story in my head, perhaps I will keep it for a bit before it meets the ripping fingers! hehe

At any rate, I had fun with this exercise. We are suppose to do one on a daily basis incorporating lines, circles, dots and other shapes, just mostly to free up your hand and mind I think.

Here is the color version...you can see I have used many colored pens all Sharpie Poster Paint Pens that I bought several years ago when I heard they were being discontinued! I also used some PanPastel to create the ground and to tone down the bright paper in spots where I felt it needed to be recessed a bit into the background...didn't really recess it much, but you can sort of see that a little I think.

Those of you that know me know that I have an imagination for little tales that seem to come to me from out of the air at times. This has sparked one. It will be the tale of Saint Catacus Malthus and the Evil Spider...perhaps I will journal it, or perhaps I will blog it, or maybe both!

Day One Creative Doodles Class

2011-04-21T14:15:00.002-04:00

Oh my, believe it or not this took me almost an hour to do! I was just really loving the whole Zen factor of the creative process! :) I am taking an online class with Traci Bautista called Creative Doodles...it started yesterday but runs through July 31, plenty of time to jump in there! If you have an interest go here for information!

I plan to post a photo a day from the class, so stay tuned! In addition I will post updates of this particular doodle as I work on it...not sure where I want to take it yet so I am giving it a few days to ferment! :P

Artfest Art Journal

2011-04-21T13:45:00.006-04:00

Ugh, I really do not like the way you have to upload pics on Blog Spot, seems like no matter how I do it, I end up with the first pic I want to post on the bottom of the entry!

Anyway, here are the pages that I mentioned in my last post. It seems I have been too long away from blogging that I cannot figure out how to add pics to a previous post!

These pictures are of my Artfest journal from 2009, I just started working in it a few weeks ago, yeah, slow at moving, but finally underway!
Layered tissue, napkins and old sewing patterns collaged with Gloss Medium and Varnish...my favorite class at Artfest that year as is was a technique only class and no pressure to produce a finished product! YaY!
I used printouts of the basic information about Artfest as the background...sorry so blurry!
An unfinished page but thought I would add a picture of it anyway as I really like the mood and the color combo. I used construction paper to cut out a template for a tree, then used the template as an added tree in the spread.
This is the direct result of not liking the way the page was turning out and hitting it with black gesso! I had other paper attached to the pages which bubbled up when painted over so I ripped it all off and then just tossed on color and a bit of journaling.
Here is the picture that should have been first in line! Ugh, the central image was a business postcard from Karen O'Brien.
This is the day that Artfest began...roaming around town waiting to go to register for the event! We really did have a blast and seems like we headed to town each day after class to hit the local art store!

New Waters

2011-04-20T19:23:00.002-04:00

Okay, so since I have been really, really quiet, I have decided that I need to start posting! I know I said I would post updates after Artfest last year, but to be quite honest, things became quite a mess and I never got around to doing any more art! Not sure if it was ADD or the fact that I got really sidetracked by online gaming, or perhaps senility, maybe all three, but it definitely was not an art focused year like I had planned.

Two years ago, I came home with all this fodder and trades and pictures and memories with the intention of blogging about Artfest 2009, but it never happened. Said fodder has been wasting away in my dust filled studio since then with fodder from Artfest 2010 added to the pile! I have now fixed that and for the last few weeks I have finally been working on an art journal built around Artfest 2009. It is not quite done but it is getting there and I will edit this post with pictures in a day or so.

My NEW adventure is that I have signed up for an online course with Traci Bautista! Today was the first day and I actually sat down and did nothing but doodle for about an hour! Now, mind you, what I did was not all that fantastic, but it was the process that surprised me...it was actually meditative and calming and I found myself loosing track of time and place, a very weird thing for me and my type A personality!

I will post pics of my little 5X7 doodles when I upload pics from the Artfest journal I am working on too.

I think I am finally on a roll! :) Peace

The Sea

2010-04-01T17:10:00.000-04:00

Here are the photos of the paintings I did at Artfest mentioned in my first post. The orientation of the paintings is up and down as shown above, but spaces will be added when I hang them to show the sides as well.
You can see that the images carried over the sides of the canvases.
Really enjoyed them a lot and am looking forward to painting a ton more! My boxes just arrived that I had mailed home so soon I will be able to post another painting!!! Woo Hoo!

Why This Blog?

2010-03-31T19:46:00.001-04:00

Well...it is simple really, this blog is a result of my having discovered my artistic niche and wanting to blog about it from its beginning!

Even though I am a descendant of quite a few painters, I have never picked up the paintbrush except to doodle and fill in color on other things I was working on...so it came as a surprise to me when I made this discovery, it truly was a life changing moment!

I have just returned from Artfest which was held in Port Townsend, Washington this past week...and it was there that I discovered my ability to paint! I took a class called Three Letter Words taught by the wonderful Jill Berry from Colorado. If you ever have a chance to take a class with her, never, never, never hesitate to do so!!!

I never really knew how relaxing art could be...to be in the zone was wonderful and it just felt "right" from the moment the brush hit the canvas...cool!

I will post pics once I have a chance to photograph my paintings...and will post others from Artfest too.