Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Art at Random



Sketch of a 2 year-old...
they don't sit still much!
Pencil in my pink journal...
(double click on any image for enlargement)



Day of the Dead postcard.
Mixed media: fabric, watercolor and pen.





Notes from my visit to the art museum
(before they made me stop sketching
in the exhibit). Pen on index card.
Watercolor added when I returned home.

What random art did you make today?


Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Stacks of Art Journals and Books


Seth at the Altered Page
invited his readers to post about their
"stacks."
Shown above are a couple of art journals
that I made myself.
The blue one is from watercolor paper, 
modeled on Teesha Moore's fabulous journals.
The journal on the right is the one
with the pink pages that I've been working in recently.
It is small enough to fit into my purse,
and I've been taking it everywhere to 
draw in when I have some time.



On the left, a fabric covered art journal 
with watercolor pages. It's pieced, painted,
collaged, sewn and heavily embellished.
I haven't started working
in this one yet. On the right, a fabric and
paper journal, in scrappy-sewn-painted-
collaged-abundance. The cover fabric 
was an upholstery remnant that was very
abstract and painterly.




Some older art journals and sketchbooks.
In college, a sketchbook was a place for 
preliminary drawings and plans for larger
projects. That concept has evolved somewhat!
The black ring binder on top holds pages made from
recycled cardboard that are 
gessoed, painted and collaged.



Another view of a stack of art journals.
The green cover is the Scrappy Green Journal
that Elizabeth made, and that I
have delighted in filling up with even more stuff.
The blue hardback was a purchased journal
with flimsy pages...not really intended for
mixed media. But I filled it up anyway
and it's really my favorite so far.



My journals tend to be scattered about,
so this is a selection of favorites,
rather than a
comprehensive documentation.



I added a self-tie closure to this journal cover.






These journals are often displayed in my living room
on the bookcase, along with the many books and 
magazines that I use for inspiration. You can see
the stack of index cards on top from the
Index Card a Day challenge, this summer.




"The Book of Knowledge" is an ongoing project. I have
two more spreads to do, but somehow they haven't 
happened yet. I removed the cover from the book, and
am making accordion style pages. The Book of Ornament
is a terrific source for decorative motifs. 
Several hand-made books, and 
collaborative books are also shown.




Another view of some collaborative books,
made from swap pages.
I didn't include any photos of my
altered books this time. I will
save that for another post.

Visit Seth's blog to see other
bloggers'  "stacks."



Sunday, September 18, 2011

Sewing Projects



Inspired by some photos tagged on Pinterest, 
I decided I had been neglecting my needlework.
(I have been working on a baby quilt, but as the
baby isn't due until several months from now,
the surprise musn't be spoiled by showing
the finished quilt too soon.)
Some adorable 'pinkeeps' which I have 
always called pincushions, are showing up
on blogs, and I really love them. This one
was created from a traditional border pattern
found in The Complet Book of Cross Stitch
by Eleanor Van Zandt.  I've used this pattern
many times to make bookmarks. It's fast and easy,
so I decided to try my hand at this
'drum' shaped pincushion.




It's taller and thinner than the examples I saw,
but turned out well, I think. Stuffed within an inch
of its' life to make it stand up! (weighted with a couple
of nickels inside the bottom to make it stable!)
The cross-stitched bookmarks are stiffened 
with fabric glue on the end of large paper clips.
They have cotton fabric for backing.
I made a dozen of these in one evening.
Let dry overnight, and then trim close to stitching.

A diversion from my paper arts...
but will be returning to that soon.
Must get my Halloween swaps ready!


Friday, September 16, 2011

Art Journal Pages


Pages from the Pink Journal...
Whenever I hear the rock song "Barracuda"
I think of drawing something like this.
I finally tried it.
Not sure it is finished, as there
is still room at the bottom of the page!
I was tempted to draw an image
of the auto, Barracuda,
but cars are not something I like
to draw...we'll see.
What do you think? Does it need 
something more?



Facing page of the Barracudas...
a medieval inspired dragon
and motifs.



Pages in the Scrappy Green Journal
that Elizabeth made, in which I am
creating art.
It has become heavily embellished
with texture, color, drawings, 
and ephemera. It's getting quite fat,
so spaces between signatures
is a good thing to help compensate!
Vintage fabric in
the spread on the right is from a
dress of my grandmother's.


Another spread in the scrappy green journal,
the yarn on the right side is from another page,
but I just left it in the scan. Drawings from
Vogue magazine. Not sure why these shoes
fascinate me. Perhaps it's because I don't
know how anyone can walk in them. The boot
in the 'foreground' was on the page
that Elizabeth created.



Elizabeth included two pages in this journal
of a line drawing of a Campbell's soup can.
I don't know if it was intentional or not,
but I love them!  Andy Warhol art is 
always entertaining, so I enjoyed searching
for appropriate quotes and 
coloring the pages. Above, soup can
number two.



Soup can number one, shown in a 
previous post.

Seth Aptor is going to feature
"Stacks" on his blog next week.
On Wednesday, September 21, 2011,
visit The Altered Page to see stacks
of journals, sketchbooks, 
hand-made books, altered books,
and book art.  Seth will have
links to participating artists' sites.
I will be featuring photos of 
my stacks of journals on this blog,
so plan to visit me!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Art Journal Pages in Pink



Flower 'body' on the left image
inspired by Folk Art flowers.
Helen Keller quote on the right...she was 
a courageous person, and
I felt it went with the 
'soaring' image.

craft acrylic, watercolors,
and Sharpie pen on
pink drawing paper.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Vintage Halloween Inspiration





Watercolor and pen~
inspired by images on Flickr
of vintage Halloween collectables...
paper lanterns and candy containers.
The ghost was a candle...

I can almost hear the
Trick-or-Treaters approaching!


Thursday, September 1, 2011

Index Card Finale



A little drawing every day....




keeps the monsters at bay.
Remember...



what is your story?