Poe Appreciation Day #4

Since I got a late start for this challenge, I will post two times today for the Poe Appreciation Day blog hop over at Leigh SB Designs. I am using the Tangled Dark Raven image twice today, as I really like the tangled bits.

I started with a partial journal page, added some Distress Oxides and some stenciling using a Jane Davenport stencil. The image was colored with the Jane Davenport watercolor brushes and colored pencils. I added some white splashes and some Washi tape from my stash. I finished with white gel pen and a final blending with the Oxides. 

Thanks so much for your visit. 

I love reading your comments.

Poe Appreciation Day Three

Today I have used one of my Stampers Anonymous to use the ravens from a Tim Holtz set for the Poe Appreciation Day blog hop over at Leigh SB Designs.

I have three different blogs going, so if you want to see yesterday's, I did a card. You can find it on my cardmaking blog. TangleStreetColorway. Today, my Poe work was done in a small journal so it gets to be on my journaling blog.

I used a print out of the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, covered it with watercolor brushes from Jane Davenport, did some splatters and random text stamping. Then, edged with Distress Inks in black. The flower is a paper flower from a spray that I cut apart, and I distressed the quote.

Thanks so much for your visit. 

I love reading your comments.

Razzle my Dazzle with Oddball Art and a bit of Pixie Dust

Another challenge over at Oddball Art. The theme is Razzle my Dazzle! I used the Whimsical Big Eye Fairy Nixie the Pixie #217.

First I printed this off and colored with watercolors. Then, I added some colored pencils and silver gel pen. I added more sparkle with a glitter pen. After ripping the edges, I pasted it into my journal. I did color and cut/paste a couple of extra images just for fun! The finished page is about 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 ".

Thanks for your visit. I love reading your comments.

Hamsa and Zentangle®

Life Book, Week 31, Traced Hand Hamsa Protection Symbol with Rachael Rice is probably my favorite lesson so far this year. I loved that it was short and to the point with just enough encouragement to get us going but allowing the creative juices to flow without getting drowned in them. Of course, as a Certified Zentangle Teacher, the design work was meaningful for me. I loved playing with watercolors, markers, pens, colored pencils and pastels for this one.

It's Water Under the Bridge

The April 4th Documented Life Project is to use watercolors and the prompt is It's Water Under the Bridge. My first thought was the song, Like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind (Simon and Garfunkel). 
I started with some Gelatos and gesso for the background. Then, I used a colored pencil to draw out the bridge. I mixed some Stucco Paint with Adirondack Color Wash in Espresso and pushed it through a dollar store dish drainer (amazing what you can find for art at a dollar store). Then, I crushed some blue Gelato with Golden Molding Paste and used a piece of acetate cut in a wave shape to push off some waves for the water. I topped the waves with some gesso. I then used my Koi watercolors to add the brown between the bricks, for detail in the sky, for more movement in the water, and for the background that you can see through the bridge. Fude pen for words and doodles, white paint pen for accents, and a stamp with tiny dots to add texture to the bricks completed the piece.

Field Journaling Some Feathers

Life Book, Week 14 Field Journalling with Alisa Burke. I haven't done field journaling in years, and it's about time I began again. This was very motivational. I found several feathers in my back yard do to a recent altercation between a neighbor's cat and our visiting birds :( But, they were great to work with. One of the feathers was one I found online, the one on the right, and used because it was more interesting.

I used my Koi watercolors on Arches hot press watercolor paper. a white gel pen, Prismcolor Verithin colored pencils, and a fine, no bleed Sharpie in black.

Shared with:
Paint Party Friday
The Queen of Creativity
Crafting With an Attitude

Life Book - Week Two with Joanne Sharpe

Another fun week from Life Book. Joanne Sharpe did a lesson on lettering and coloring that was really motivating. I have had her book, The Art Of Whimsical Lettering, for some time but just couldn't get motivated. It's a wonderful book, but I just wasn't there yet. Now, I am and will go back and learn more from this excellent teacher.

I used my new Koi watercolors. Yes, worth the money. and then filled the letters with Tombow pens and water. Then, a bit of journaling. I also added some white ink, white gel, and a dark black rim. Loving that purple onion!

Thanks for stopping by for a look, and go make some art!

Trompe l'oeil - Journal 52 Nature - Waste Not

Trompe l'oeil, fool the eye, was the prompt for Lesson 28 in Pam Carriker's Creating Art at the Speed of Life. This was a fun one. My hubby and I love to take trips on old fashioned steam engine trains and do you think I could find a suitable photo of my own to use? Of course not. But, good old Internet, I found what I was looking for. Same for the cat. I have tons of my own cats posing in all kinds of cute ways, but none looking the other way, so back to the Internet. This is my final. Both photos were printed in black and white, fussy cut, and then I had some fun with my Copics:


















Journal 52's prompt for this week was "Nature". Since I have been playing with watercolors this week as I work on classes for the Derwent Academy, I decided to do a watercolor of the miniature roses growing in my backyard.













And my "Waste Not" of the week. I found some Spellbinders dies on clearance at Michael's. They just wouldn't work for me. The paper just got stuck in the crevices and made an unusable mess. I was going to return them when I decided that I should look up the issue on the Internet. I found several places where the advice was to put waxed paper between the dies and the paper and it worked! So, I made some more passes with the dies and the waxed paper. When I finished with my pretty new cut-outs that could be used for cards or art journaling, I had the cut out waxed paper pieces too. The art journal page that I was playing with at the moment had some flowers already. I held down the waxed paper and pounced over it with Broken China Distress Paint, then flipped it over and pressed to make a reverse image, then glued down the original piece of waxed paper. (The flowers are from a stamp that I had made with craft foam and the center purple was just some paper that had overspray that I just couldn't bear to part with.)