Patterning

The lesson this week for Wanderlust, Everything Art, is presented by Nathalie Kalbach with an emphasis on patterns. Maybe got a bit carried away and drowned out the pattern, but I was on a roll!

Hope is Never Lost

The lesson this week for Wanderlust, Everything Art, is presented by Mary Beth Shaw. Very inspiring. I started by creating some pages of my own to use. Then, I made a pile of these papers, printed doughnut tissue paper, and some magazine pieces (torn or circle cut). 

I used Distress crayons, stencils for texture paste, stamping in inks, touch ups around the edges with Artist's Pitt pens, and I did some messy journaling inside of the circles. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Alice and Friends in a Tiny Book

Was inspired by Kate Crane to make some gelli prints and a tiny 3" book. I love anything "Alice" and finally was able to get some newly released stamps from Miss Ink Stamps and had a blast playing with all kinds of mixed media for this tiny book of Alice!

Closed Book

Open Book

I often wonder if anyone at all looks at this blog. I have another on for my cardmaking and coloring that a lot of people visit, but I don't thing anyone can ever see this since Facebook has deemed this site "not following community standards", whatever that means. So, if you're looking. Thank you. I really hope I'm not blogging for absolutely no one, LOL!

Create Joy

The lesson this week for Wanderlust, Everything Art, is presented by
Art by Marlene. The theme was the stepping stones to create joy. Well, we all could use some happy thoughts right now. I love Marlene's style, but try as I might, my style never looks anything like hers. But, it does look like mine!

This is the finished two page spread followed by some close-ups.

I used some Tim Holtz, Stampers Anonymous,  stamps in the background stamped on green tissue paper. The flowers are from a Stampendous stamp set, stamped on to some round Distress Oxide backgrounds I had sitting in a pile. I used acrylics, watercolors, sequin waste, Stabillo black pencil, gel pens, paint pens, and some glass beads with yellow metallic acrylic paint through a stencil. This was fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Joy of Scribble

Have been so looking forward to a lesson from Kate Crane. I love her joyful approach to art, and she did not disappoint! Her lesson this week for Wanderlust, Everything Art, encouraged us to enjoy the scribbles, and layer to our hearts content as we might have done as children.

What a mess, but a joyful mess for sure! Started with a practice sheet of fun scribbles to use in the final piece. Loads of acrylic paints, pens, pencils, Distress Crayons, ephemera and much more to complete this happy piece.

Then, a day later, I'm editing to add the two pages that happened from the first. The first was using the leftover deli paper as a base, then the second with the leftovers from that one plus items lying about my desk.

Thanks for stopping by!

Joy

Find Joy! Kasia and her husband, Jamie, both presented a lesson this week for Wanderlust, Everything Art, and encouraged us to just play and not worry about results. Just find joy in the process. Fun!

Gelli plate print.

Black Gesso through stencil.

Joy can not be forced. It comes unbidden in a burst of unexplained lightness of the heart, a surprise of a smile, a giddy lack of concern or fear. Not something that comes about easily or planned. Cherish the moments of joy!

Thank you for your visit.

Field Notes in Pencils

Kelly Hoernig presented this week's lesson of Wanderlust, Everything Art. She gave some really great lessons in shading and using acrylic paints as washes. Sometimes, lessons are wonderful motivators to go in your own direction and my pencils were calling to me. I found my nature items from my back yarn. Placed them on Kraft with a bright light coming from my right, and took a photo. Then, I printed the photo out on Kraft using only grey tones of ink and washed out. Prismacolor pencils were used followed by a stump for blending just the shadows. 

The final piece was added to my journal with more texture and color.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Hand Designed Papers for Nature Collage

Sarah Gardner presented this week's lesson of Wanderlust, Everything Art. She had us playing with paints and papers to use to cut out our own collage papers.

Often, I just have to use whatever is in front of me (a big follower of the laws of propinquity). I had a piece of Kraft on my desk, that I dabbed with white paint, a piece of purple cardstock, that I scraped with the leftover white paint. Some Kraft that I had run through an embossing folder and run over with Distress inks. Ripping and cutting produced this forest-like scene. The background was a page that had remnants of a used stencil, and the additional colors came onto the page from Pitt Artist brush pens. 

What fun! Thanks, Sarah, and thanks to anyone who visits!

A Bit of a Take on Kandinsky and Nature

Marieke Blokland presented this amazing lesson of Wanderlust, Everything Art. She suggested using an artist's rendition of nature for inspiration. As I looked for something, I was very surprised to find that Wassily Kandinsky, who I always thought of as an abstract artist, did this landscape (photo under my rendition)!

I was also surprised to find this little lady, almost visible in the original, helping that little train....I think I can, I think I can..... 

Super lesson and so much fun. The hardest part, for me, is waiting for layers to dry....well, and clean-up!

Thanks for stopping by!

Nature From My Yard

Kasia Avery presented this lesson of Wanderlust, Everything Art. Her theme was "nature" and it was fun to collect what I could find in my yard to add to this page.

I found some tiny pebbles, some seed pods, and thin branch pieces. The base is Fibatape, then modeling paste, some brushed on inks, and a final layer of clear gel. Weighs a ton, LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lino Cutting and Art Embroidery

This lesson of Wanderlust, Everything Art, was presented by Jeanne Oliver! I enjoyed every second of the process, from dying my own fabric, to lino cutting, to embroidery!

The final piece in my art journal was done with the lino cut on the dyed fabric and then embroidered. I added beads that I had made in the past, Copic sprayed through a stencil for the "dress", and did a bit of stamping to make a border.

Thanks for stopping by!

Side-View Portrait

This lesson of Wanderlust, Everything Art, was presented by Kasia Avery. Doing a side self-portrait was different for me. I wish I had taken photos along the way, because at one point I really liked it. Being too impatient to let things dry properly caused me to add way too many layers thus muddying things up.

I did finally get back to a place where it made me happy though. That's the fun of art journaling and mixed media. Never too many layers!

Thanks for stopping by.

Magic

First page for 2010, Wanderlust, Everything Art. Not first prompt, but first page as this one really called to me. It was suggested that we do a portrait based on our heritage which really got me thinking and hunting on the Internet. I am primarily Hungarian and always though of myself as an "old" soul with deep roots. In reading, I found that the term "gypsy" is considered derogatory by some. Sad, as it evokes such delightful thoughts in my mind.

I found using real fabric a delight. I had some from a tip I had made with wonderful memories of times with a good friend that I used for her "babushka" and the stream on the facing page. The coins were cut from embossed gold paper, the tarot cards were free on the Internet for personal use.

Thanks, Dana Bloede, for such a great lesson!

And, thanks for stopping by.

Junk Journal Using ClarityStamps Die

Got an idea to create an art journal using the Nested Window dies from Clarity Stamps as a base. I made a simple accordion fold paper page holder.

Pocket in this one.

Another pocket

Thanks for stopping by. This was really so much fun to do. I couldn't stop adding elements. Give it a try!