We Make Things. It is Fun.

Week 28 of the Documented Life Project 2015:

Time keeps on ticking...

I made some color copies of a journal page

I had painted of vintage bottles, cut them out

and glued onto this new page. In this

newer incarnation, I included

a Jim Croce song lyric.

Other painted papers, graph paper, and

 origami papers are also part of the collage.

For the second half of the Week 28 spread I used

some vintage illustrations from an old health textbook.

I love that this elementary school

 textbook presented arts and crafts 

as part of a balanced,

 healthy development - 

along with brushing your teeth! 

Watercolor and assorted papers 

and pen drawing complete the collage.

Week 39, "At this Moment..."

another collage with my own drawing of

a flower and clouds, painted papers, and stamping.

The bird image is a commercial rubber stamp,

and the leaf image is a stamp that I carved.

Enjoy Summer Fun...an Artist Trading Card

that I made earlier in the summer, just seemed

to fit here in this collage. It is taped hinge-style

on one side. Beneath the atc reads

"enjoy the now."

And I hope you are enjoying 

the now! Whether it's quiet moments

with friends and family, or exciting

new adventures!

Linking up with 

Art Journal Every Day

over at Balzer Designs, and

Art Journal Journey.

Travel Journaling ~ on T Tuesday

Travel Journaling is the theme for

The Documented Life Project for June 2015.

This week the challenge was 

illustrative journaling. Of course I chose

to draw, but there are many other ways of

illustrating your experiences while traveling.

Collaging illustrations from travel brochures,

 maps, and photos would all be great possibilities.

As usual, I did some sketching while hubby

drove the car.  It's kind of amazing the

 things you can see along the road

 to draw ~ when you are looking

for them!  The crumpled orange barrel

still makes me smile...a classic icon for

driver frustration.  Please do click on the image

to see the details, especially the

'Blasting Ahead' sign!

(There were no signs of actual 'blasting'

as we drove through the area, however,

thank goodness!)

We had a wonderful time in Tennessee for

a couple of days, just visiting our son's family

and spending time at the pool. 

I draw in my calendar/agenda...after 

participating in The

Documented Life Project 2014, I wasn't

ready to give up decorating an 

agenda-type journal.  This isn't

 nearly as complex as last 

year's, but has enough space to draw

and collage when the inspiration strikes.

Linking up with Bleubeard and Elizabeth

for the T Tuesday blog hop, in which

we share a beverage, and what we've

been 'up to.'  Visit the link to

join us for tea! (or coffee, or whatever)

Artist Trading Card: watercolor & pen

  I hope you are having

some summer fun, and 

enjoying each moment 

to the fullest!

Time for Pumpkins

© Dianne Bishop Carey 2011

It's T Tuesday over at Elizabeth's blog:

Altered Book Lover...

© Dianne Bishop Carey 2011

And time to share a few pumpkin characters.

To celebrate October, I will show a variety of pumpkin

and Halloween decorations this month, so

'stay tuned' for stitching, painting, drawing,

collections, and dust-catchers of all kinds!

© Dianne Bishop Carey

I love vintage-looking pumpkins, so I am

sharing some past art work inspired by

old paper mache' Halloween decorations.

© Dianne Bishop Carey 2014

Above, an ATC (Artist Trading Card)

 with a vintage-style pumpkin face.  The 

Lettering was generated on the computer 

and printed on card stock. I drew the rest of the

 elements on white card stock, applied

 watercolor or marker, cut out, and glued on.

The background is navy card stock.

This went to Dawn via snail mail!

© Dianne Bishop Carey 2014

Above, 'Jolly Halloween' lettering was also

done on the computer. The background is scrapbook

paper and a piece of Smash book page, with a geometry

diagram from a vintage Geometry textbook.  I drew 

and watercolored the pumpkins and the 

Man in the Moon. The title on the back says

 " I AM smiling," said the moon.  This ATC may end up

in my Project Life scrapbook...

I am having my mocha coffee today and linking up

with Elizabeth's   T Tuesday link party. 

How do you celebrate October?

Mini Book from ATC's

I made a mini book from Artist Trading Card

sized bits of recycled cardboard.  I used

illustrations and text from an old

book about Alaska.

This ATC mini-book also combines

fabric scraps, assorted papers, and

my watercolor and pen drawings.
(click on any image to enlarge)

Most of the pages have minimal additions

to the background image.

I used words cut from the text

to create a "found poem."

I liked the contrast of the Northwest

art images and the watercolor, right.

This was a new way for me to 

use the Artist Trading Card size format.

I put this together while watching television,

trying not to over think the process and

using what I had on hand.

It's a format that has infinite possibilities...

The text reads:

nomads adapting to the signs
In the chapel
printed in Japanese
reviving interest in
the Northwest Indian arts
hostile beauty
faded into the distance.

Pumpkin Man

My taste in Fall decorations has turned to vintage style pumpkins, as shown on the black round box (center). The country angel was made a few years ago with twig angel wings and a raffia garland of wooden stars and a heart. The Halloween ATC's from a previous post can be seen in the foreground. The "Pumpkin Man" was created because I couldn't afford to spend the $65 or so on the one I saw in a shop...mine turned out differently, of course, but I like him. I used panels of golden yellow and rust/orange fabric for the pumpkin, and painted his eyes and mouth in artist's acrylic paint. His nose is 3-dimensional, stuffed with poly fill and darker green paint for shading. I love the look of the skinny legs and feet, but they were terrible to turn right side out! (I know there are gizmos for turning tubes of fabric easily, but I don't have one)

As my paper arts projects, paintings and art journals have been consuming more of my time and interest, the sewing projects are less frequent. The fairly large fabric stash that most sewers and quilters accumulate is still lurking in closets, bags, and bins however...so fabric is turning up in my collages. With the trend of small "art quiltlets" gaining popularity, I may have to try one, but I wonder if my experience with traditional quilting methods may interfere with the art and experimental aspect.. raw edges showing is not a problem for artists, but traditional sewing doesn't go for that. And did you know that Fabric tends to be like art supplies, you are forever seeing one more item you just have to have...?!

Gypsy ATC

Artist Trading Card entitled Gypsy, inspired by Go Make Something. Background is cotton fabric. Image is hand-drawn in ink and watercolor. Embellished with sequin, beads, and copper spiral.