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?

Asian Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art

I had the pleasure of re-discovering

The Cleveland Museum of Art this summer.

Admission to the museum is free!

(Parking in the garage is not, but if you arrive

early, parking on the street for free may be possible)

I was pleased to discover that

on the day we would be visiting,

there was an exhibition of Asian art,

one of my favorites.

The exhibit was called

"The Lure of Painted Poetry."

Click on any image to enlarge.

Above, the listing of other exhibits...

I didn't have time to see them all as

carefully as I would like. 

The Asian exhibit was breathtaking.  The lighting

in the gallery was very low in order to avoid damage

to the fragile paintings on silk and paper.

Most of the work was quite faded, in muted

tones of black, brown, and sometimes a little color.

But after all, some of the work was dated

as early as 1470, during the Ming dynasty!

The economy of line in these inked scrolls

was impressive, suggesting so much

with just enough line, form and space.

Postcard- 'Old Pine Tree'

One of my favorite motifs is the somewhat 

scraggly trees clinging to the sides of mountains.

I seem to remember from my college art history classes

that these represent the 'spirit of tenacity'

in both nature and mankind...

surviving life's storms with dignity.

Post card - 'One of Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang Rivers, 1788

I had my index cards with me and took a few notes,

and made a few tiny sketches.  As I began to sketch

a tree from one of the scrolls, a museum guard came over

and said, "Ma'am, we've been instructed not to permit

sketching in the exhibit. I'm sorry."  

How embarrassing.  No photographs I understand.

But no sketching? Seriously?

I guess they wanted to sell more exhibition books 

in their gallery shop.  I was quite nonplussed.

Post card- One of Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang Rivers, 1788

I had earlier seen a mother and two elementary-aged 

daughters in the same exhibit, sketching in little journals

and thought how wonderful that the mother was encouraging

such an appreciation for art. I wonder
if they got 'caught' too? Sketching was permitted
throughout the rest of the museum.  I even saw
one gentleman doing a small painting of the

landscape painting in front of him.
I can only guess how long it had

taken him, but he was doing quite well, and

was almost finished when I saw his work.  

One of my favorite scrolls was quite a large piece,

which portrayed a "Painting Party."  Of course I 

can't find my notes on it now...but it was a lively

portrayal of calligraphy and landscape painters who

had gotten together to paint, view and evaluate

each other's work.  Brilliant!  Sounds like 

an event that I would love to attend.

Maybe something like a workshop, though I 

suspect there was no monetary charge...

In Asian art, carrying on the traditions of

generations of artists was an important aspect

of their art.  Perhaps that will be a post

for another day...

I also  thoroughly enjoyed viewing Picasso,

Van Gogh, Braque,  Matisse and Warhol.  It is quite

an excellent museum.  Just remember to ask a guard if

sketching is permitted, before you whip out your 

art journal and pen!

Pages in Pink

You know that swap I was talkin' about
in the last post?

I got pages in the mail today from

Halle, of Halle's Hobbies.
She forgot to take pictures before
she sent them off, so intent was she
to get them to me quickly...
so here they are.  Must share
the color fun...

I chose my colors to be 

Hot Pink! and red, and

whatever other bright colors

the artist chose...

I know hot pink isn't everone's

cup of tea, but I am very fond of it!

The cutest house...and the

'music'...

"Feel the rhythm of home."

Superb.

Thank you Halle.

Asian Art Swap Pages

My friend Elizabeth, of Altered Book Lover fame,

organized a swap with a few folks to trade pages

with the theme to be chosen by each artist

for the pages they will receive. Rikae

has received her pages in the mail,

so I can show them to you without

spoiling any surprises...

Rikae chose Asian art as her theme,

using the color Jade, with touches of 

red and blue.  Since there are many 

shades of Jade, I just kind of winged it!

The image above was inspired by

art work that I saw at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

It is supposed to be a bird with its head

tucked beneath its wing.  The silhouette of

bamboo is a classic oriental theme, as is

the image of plum blossoms.

This quote seemed appropriate, 

and the decorations are from a wonderful

book called "The Grammar of Ornament"

by Owen Jones.  I frequently use it for

design inspiration!

The pocket, above, was made from some fabric

with an oriental-style design. The leaves are

detailed in gold thread.

The tag shows a design from a 

Columbus Museum of Art porcelain

piece, that is featured in a booklet I 

brought home from one of my visits.
The quote is from the Cleveland exhibit.

My bookcase is fairly overflowing with booklets,

free postcards, and books from my visits to 

exhibits!  But they are a great resource...

The back of the tag explains the inspiration

sources for each of the pages

What themes are favorites 

for your art inspiration?