Mixed Media Greeting

Happy Halloween!

Art Journal Pages

More pages from the 

Scrappy Green Journal.

Above, drawing and collage.

The flap with writing opens up

to reveal the drawing of a face.

The notes about drawing a face

tell how I approach the process.

On the left, 'found poetry' from

a book about art of the early middle ages.

Click on any image for

a closer view.

This Scrappy Green Journal was a 

gift from Elizabeth. She sewed two signatures

of pages into a book with a green fabric cover.

The pages are a wonderful assortment

of scrap papers and recycled images.

Flaps and pockets abound.

The yellow Post-It note was a flap,

so naturally I had to add images underneath it.

Quotes and doodles...

Paper and fabric scraps...

The ice cafe package is sewn on

to make a little pocket

that holds a tag.

Notes on 'shading' are written on

a piece of paper from a

vintage-style popcorn bag,

which I glued onto the page, 

along with the fabric scraps.

It has been a lovely journey in this book...

and an incredibly generous gift from

Elizabeth. Only about 5 more pages

are left to go, which is sad in a way.

But I have many more journals

so there will be no lack of opportunity

to keep making art! 

I have signed up for 

Mary Ann Moss' on-line class

"Full Tilt Boogie," so be looking

for the results of my 'studies' here...

I am going to be making more journals

and plan to reveal them here!

What is your favorite  journal?

Did you make it or purchase it, and what

 do you put in it?  I love to receive comments,

so share your insights!

Have a colorful day...

Color Inspires Me

A quilted art journal cover

made similar to Teesha Moore's technique~

making little 'pillows' and then sewing

them together in an

unplanned composition. 

You can see video of Teesha's

 Fabric Journal Workshop here.

As a traditional quilter, it was hard to

avoid carefully planning it all out,

especially the crazy haphazard non-matchy

stitching to connect the pillows together.

But I do like the colors and the beads

and the texture of the quilting...

Click on any image to see more detail.

The back of the cover is one piece, and I 

just started quilting with the contrasting

colors of floss in circular patterns, 

without marking the pattern ahead of time.

I will put watercolor pages inside, probably

one or two signatures with a pamphlet stitch binding.

Above, a collage in my 9" x 12" art journal.

I am trying to use up scraps I've saved. 

I generally don't use magazine images,

but the intricate scroll work in this gate

was just too good to pass up.

Acrylic on cardstock, collage & magazine images,

white gel pen on black cardstock.

Have a colorful day!

Art Journal Pages

Art Journal pages 

in the 9" x 12" journal.

Above, background of craft acrylics,

phone book pages and

gesso, with watercolor drawing

added last.
Click on any image to
view enlargement.

Above: Random magazine clippings,

painted papers, a map

and collage images combined

to create this page.

Above: The word 'signs' came first.

It was from a poster that I had made

for a talk that I gave.  I tried to think

of as many phrases as I could

with that word in it ...

Craft acrylic background, scrapbook papers,

phone book clippings, watercolor and 

acrylic painted papers, and 

Sharpie pen.  

What signs do you look for?

Pink, Red and Yellow

Pages in my little pink journal, above:

gesso, craft acrylic paint, Sharpie pen,

and hot pink gel pen on pink paper.

(Click on the image for a larger view)

Beautiful pages received from Jan

at Dandelionanddaisy

for the Color Swap.

The colors I chose were red, pink,

and yellow.  Lovely interpretation!

Relief prints have a unique look

that I love,

and the paintings and collages

are full of texture.

Another great print on the tag,

this one in several colors.

Thank you Jan!

Color Swap

Color swap pages for Jan at

Dandelion and Daisy.

The colors she chose were

pink and orange.

Couldn't resist using my stash of

fabrics, and embellishing them

with embroidery for texture.

Photo images are from a 

collage sheet. (unknown source)

 Dresden plate quilt pieces

showed up on this page...

I enjoy the combination of 

fabric and paper, and stitching

through both. Some of the stitching

is drawn on in Sharpie pen.

The tag for the pocket 

used a tag from the office supply store

painted and collaged.

Sharpie pen 'stitching'

around the edges.

I hope your day 

is filled with color!

Collage and Quotes

I realized that my desire to 

fill my journal with complex

two-page spreads was

leaving my art journal a bit empty.

So I've been working backwards

in the journal and doing quick collages

and quotes on the back side

of some of the pages.

You may remember the monsters

from the Index Card a Day challenge...

I thought of them when I wrote down

this quote and glued the card 

into my art journal.

A piece of art made years ago

when I was trying out 

rubber stamping as a medium.

There are lots of drawings 

and doodles too...

This was torn from a drawing pad/sketchbook

and collaged into my journal.

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!