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?

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."

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!

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!

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.

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!

Index Card Finale

A little drawing every day....

keeps the monsters at bay.

Remember...

what is your story?