Winter Illustrations

Above, an illustration

of the Snowball Champ

also known as my grandson~

a few days ago, enjoying the snow!

He had an awesome 'Mohawk' hat

with a Batman logo on the side.

He got a great deal of enjoyment throwing snowballs

at me...until he got me in the ear. Then I called a halt...

We laughed and giggled like crazy.

Above, an illustration of the

Snow Princess, inspired by my granddaughter.

Her sweater boot tops sported 

red sequin polka dots!

Not an exact replica of her outfit,

but it was the great color combo of

red and light blue.

Above, a color copy of a watercolor that I did

quite a while back. Came across the copy while doing

some sorting of piles of papers, and glued it into

my Smash book.  A good way to use random stuff

that is 'too good to throw away.'

Not a lot of art happening over the holidays...

just enjoyed family, and did lots of cooking and

enjoying treats! So good to have my children and

grandchildren here for Christmas Day!

I hope your holiday was joyous too.

Angels and Mary: Reprise

Warrior Angel

Pen drawing and watercolor

Music Angel

Pen and watercolor

Sharpie pen drawings

after Berlinghieri

Pen, watercolor, collage

Theotokos:

She who gives birth to God.

Virgin of Guadalupe

Angel collage, above.

Angel is from a Christmas card.

The stained-glass window is a photo

of a local church.

Pen and watercolor.

A work in progress-above.

after Pavlovich~

'The Mother of God in the Garden of Paradise.'
I will add watercolors to this after the holidays.
 

Above, my rendition of The Black Madonna, 2009.

Above, ball point pen and watercolor of

ornaments on the Christmas tree.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

and a joyous year!

Medieval Angel

Give Away Re-Draw. Journal Pages Too.

The Ephemera Give Away winner 

did not respond to my emails. After waiting

over a week, I am following Elizabeth's advise

and am re-drawing from the comments

originally received.

The winner is

(closing my eyes and drawing a slip of paper...

going low-tech here)

HALLE!

Congratulations! I'll be visiting

Halle's blog with the news and sending

out the goodies soon...

 

Art journaling on scrapbook paper.

Paint, Sharpie pen and white gel pen.

More drawing on scrapbook paper.

The brain image is a magazine clipping.

The flowers are my drawing/paintings.

A quote and a piece of popcorn bag.

Bottom circles are page reinforcements.

An unfinished page.

The border is a photo copy of 

a drawing I did, then colored with markers.

Inspired by illuminated manuscripts.

Flower inspired.

Magazine clippings and my drawings

on a brown envelope at page bottom.

 Vogue inspiration!

I love the magazine's graphics and layout.

I know...the clothes are often crazy,

and the models unnaturally thin.

It is another world...of money,

glamor, and designers.

Always interesting to see what the

designers come up with...more Art than

what most people would actually wear.

Wish I had the nerve

(and the pocket-book)

to wear shoes that look like

vintage cars!

Journal Pages and Give Away Winner

There is a fine line between

'Art Envy' and

'Inspiration.'

Some days there are

negative thoughts to contradict

 any sense of accomplishment.

But just keep writing and drawing.

About anything.

Everything.

Significant or just silly... 

Thanks to all who entered the

300th Post Give Away!

The winner of the ephemera is

"mothertiger."

I wonder how long it takes for a

padded envelope to reach Australia?

We will find out...

Hope your day is filled with color

and inspiration!

Ephemera Give Away

This is post number 300!

To celebrate, I am doing a

Give Away.

One person will win a package

of over 40 pieces of ephemera,

shown above and below.

The largest pieces are 9 1/2" x 7 1/2".

The Give Away Package includes

vintage wall paper, scraps of fabric, papers,

numbers, scrapbook papers, and die cut labels.
 These are things that I use in my

art journals, of which I have enough to share. 
And I expect I will discover more things to add
to the package that are not shown here!
Some labels that I drew and painted
will also be included, below.

If you would like to be in the drawing,

please leave a comment on this post.

Make sure your contact information is accessible-

either shown on your blog, or leave your email address

in your comment.  I will draw the winner's name

on Sunday at midnight, Nov. 25, 2012.

I will post the winner's name on my blog the following week.

 Thanks to all my visitors, especially those

who leave comments. You are an encouragement!

It is a terrific way to 'meet' other artists...I love

finding new blogs and websites, and see

what creative things you are doing.

Leave a comment, and good luck!

Pop Ups and Links

Experiencing some problems with my blog,

and would appreciate any suggestions

on how to fix them!

A bunch of links have been created in

my blog text which I did not put there.

Sorry for the annoyance of this!

I have noticed it on some other blogs too...

will try to figure out how to remove these

as I did not authorize these ads.

Also getting a lot of pop-up ads 

on my computer, so will have to do some

investigation and 'house-cleaning.'

Any ideas on how to deal with this

would be very appreciated!

Please leave a comment if you

know how to fix this...I would love your help!

***

Post script:
I changed my password,
scanned the computer with two different
anti-virus programs and neither helped.
We finally just removed the FireFox browser
from the computer and are now using Chrome,
which seems to be working much better.
I did remember to make a list of all of my
Bookmarks on Firefox before we took it off,
so I'll still be able to find all the 
cool blogs and sites I've found.
What are your tips for preventing or fixing
a similar issue?

Collages: Fabric, Painted Paper Scraps

The little Bits and Pieces

journal is filling up.

Cover collage shown above.

Two collages in the Bits and Pieces journal,

(above and below) using painted papers

and scraps. I drew a 'wonky' bit of

pen border around the collages.

Below, Smash book pages.

The Smash book products seem to be

an outgrowth from the scrapbooking industry,

with a little more randomness. Basically 

I just use it as an art journal, enjoying the

spiral bound cardstock pages.

If I like the background provided, I 

incorporate it into the page. If not,

I just cover it up.

These two pages also are scraps of stuff

I've saved as "too good to throw away."

The fashion drawing came from notes

that I carried around in my purse until it was

full, then it became collage fodder.

Notes to myself, sketches from Christmas projects,

scrapbook papers and stickers, patterned tape,

a pocket made from an envelope.

The flap of the pocket open and the

loose leaf notes partially shown.

I still need to finish the bit of collage

on the inside of the pocket flap.

The sketch shown was for a fabric collage

that I made for gifts in 2010, and I've 

noticed that the image has turned up

on Pinterest. You can see the post here.

Tag, you're it!

Watercolor Journal Pages

Watercolor borders for visual journal pages.

These are actually the back of scrapbook

papers. Not an ideal surface to paint on, 

but flattened out ok after drying and pressing

under a stack of books.

I painted this from a view from my living 

room window. Covered the back of my couch

with a piece of paper and set my journal,

watercolors and bowl of water on the couch

back.  I stood up on my knees and

sketched with pen, then added watercolors.

The left side of the spread

with text added...

How do you overcome

a gray day, or a "gray mood?"

Visual Journal Pages~collage and painting

Collaged visual journal page.

Watercolor background with drawings

in Sharpie pen. Fabric and my own

drawings are glued onto the page.

Scrapbook paper background,

quotes, and drawings with

watercolor.

Acrylic and watercolor both

find a home in my journals.

***

Below, an atc for

Halloween: "a murder of crows."

I discovered that a flock of crows can

also be called a 'murder.'  It's a term

used in the book I'm reading right now-

"A Dance With Dragons" by

George R.R. Martin.

Awesome medieval novel!

Journal pages in a smaller

journal, drawn in pencil

inked in with Sharpie pen,

colored with watercolor pencils

then water applied.

The color gets brighter when

the water is applied, and

often the pencil strokes are

still visible in the finished piece.

What are you working on?

Collage

"An Eye For Flowers"

5" x 7" collage

Painted papers, vintage ephemera

on watercolor paper.

"Adjusted"
5" x 7" collage
Painted papers and vintage ephemera
on watercolor paper.
Brown paper has touches of gold
mist which does not show in the scan.
(Click on any image to enlarge)