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The Winner Is

Today was the day to draw a winner for the art to give away posted previously.  My DH did the honors.  All the names from the comments went into a hat ...

...and the winner is...JANE.

Jane if you will please email me your address, we will get this painting in the mail to you a.s.a.p.

This has been a hectic week.  I was graciously asked by a wonderful group of women to be a guest artist on their website, www.necessitae.com.  So all week I have been preparing some special jewelry items to display for sale there.

Please visit Necessitae here to see more.  

Journal Challenge: Art to Give

Today's assignment in the Journaling Challenge was to make a piece of art to give away.  I created this piece with acrylic paints and collage on watercolor paper.  The quote is one of my favorites:  "What we are is God's gift to us.  What we become is our gift to God."  by Eleanor Powell. 

To add to the fun, I have decided to give this artwork away here on the blog.  At the end of the challenge, only one week away, I will draw a name from the comments on this post.  If you would like to have your name put into the hat to receive this piece, please leave a comment.  

Journal Challenge: Favorite Artist

Today our journaling assignment was to do a page inspired by one of our favorite artists.  I chose Gustav Klimt.  His work has always fascinated me because of the way he combines geometric and natural elements.  Of course, it helps that he uses a bit of metallic gold, which you know I love.

This piece was done on watercolor paper using my own painted and stamped paper, scrapbooking paper, and an altered photo from a fashion magazine.  I discovered today while altering this photo that using Americana brand Faux Glazing Medium mixed with the paint gives a wonderful, transparent quality to the paint that makes the finished photo painting more realistic.

I also finished Monday's assignment of creating a page with button embellishments.
 
I have been admiring the work of Ingrid Dijkers, especially the way she finishes the edges of her journal pages.  She uses cereal box cardboard as substrate for the pages.  So I am not the only one who raids the recycle bin for art fodder. 
 
This challenge page seemed like a good time to try one of her techniques.  Yes, it was time consuming, but worth the effort.  I love the effect of the treatment on the edge.  It was a good activity to do while watching TV.  I definitely want to try more edge embellishments.

Tomorrow we will be doing a work of art to give away.  That should be lots of fun. 

Two Journal Challenge Pages

Today's assignment in the Journal Challenge was to create a page with nothing but crayons.  Since the grand kids have moved, I have not used crayons in months.  In fact, I couldn't find them.  So, I had to use watercolor crayons for this assignment.  If you have never used Caran d'ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons, you need to treat yourself to the pleasure.  You just color the paper as if you were using regular crayons, then go over the area with a damp cloth, or a wet finger, and amazingly, it melts to a watercolor appearance.  The saturation of color in these crayons is fantastic.

I really needed this fun assignment today.  Selling at the flea market all day on Monday seemed to have put me behind on the week.  After playing with the crayons and this page, it seemed easy to continue with other art projects.  Perhaps that is why so many experienced artists say it is important to maintain a spirit of playfulness in one's work.

 
This is yesterday's page when the theme was altered photographs.  I didn't have a personal photo that I wanted to alter, so I cut this picture from a fashion magazine. A thin coat of gesso made it possible to paint with acrylics over the image. 

The collage elements are from vintage book pages and the drawing was done with Sharpie fine line pen.  The quote by Lowell Thomas is especially appropriate for this page: "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."  I certainly needed to hear that. 

The page from Monday's assignment; embellishments, is now drying on the work table.  Hopefully, it will be finished in time to post it tomorrow. 

A Day of Change

Change

The assignment for today in the Journal Challenge was to create a page around one word.  The word for this day had to be CHANGE.  What a historic day.  I feel privileged to have seen this day.  My prayer is that we, as Americans, will experience true change.

Journal Page: Pink

January 18

Today's assignment in the Journal Challenge was the color pink.  It reminded me of the years that I painted pink roses on everything...and how it is time for change.

The haiku is my own.

it is still a fence
even though roses grow there
why not tear it down?

Journaling Challenge: Yellow

January 17

Today's assignment in the Journaling Challenge was yellow.  Yellow has been a favorite color for me for many years, especially Yellow Ochre. 

Beginning this page, I thought of all the things associated with yellow: sunshine, sunflowers...then, I remembered a song I used to sing to my children; "You Are My Sunshine."  I decided to build this page on that theme.  These little sunflowers are the new sunshine in my garden of life.  They are my sweet grandchildren.  The likeness is better on some than others, but their Mimi knows who they are.  This was done with acrylic paints on watercolor paper.  The base is, of course, Yellow Ochre.

And here is the sweet little flower that was cut off in the last picture.  

Two Journal Pages: Red and White

Things have been so frantic here that I didn't get to post yesterday.  Today's assignment in the journal challenge is red.  I found this fun clown image in the newspaper this morning and knew right away that I had to use it on a journal page.  I added cut outs from some favorite scrapbook paper along with doodling in black ink and white paint pen.  The wording reads; "Won't you come and play with me?  We can play all day...".
 
Here is yesterday's journal page interpreting the theme of white.  The angel robe is collaged from vintage wallpaper that has a dimensional pattern on it.  The quote on this page reads, "When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward You, You are there first."--Kierkegaard. 

The halo was painted with metallic gold paint.  Misty, the host of this challenge, is a master at white paintings.  Wish I could take a painting class with her.

For some reason, the right side of my pictures are being cut off when they post to the blog.  I don't know if it is a TypePad problem, or an operator problem, but I suspect the latter.  I will try to find out what to do to correct this. 

Tomorrow the theme is YELLOW.

Journal Challenge: Green

Green

Today the assignment for The Journaling Challenge is Green.  I must admit, I wasn't feeling this one.  But today I learned something very valuable.  I learned that even if I am not feeling very inspired, if I just show up at the work table, I can still learn something or discover something.  That is a nice thing about art journaling; it doesn't have to be "good" to be good.  It's all about discovery, and it's all good.

31 Days Journal Page: Orange

January 13

Today's theme in Misty Mawn's 31 Days of Journaling Challenge is ORANGE.  Orange is not a color that I normally think of using, although Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold is my favorite color.  If used without very much medium, it could be described as orange.  But for this page, I wanted true orange.  So I started with Quinacridone Burnt Orange.  Then I stamped on four more layers of different colors of orange with the last one being metallic copper.

Actually, the whole set up of colors was just an excuse to be able to use the metallic copper; I LOVE that stuff.  It's a good thing.