Coming Together

I decided to photgraph this art journal page in process.  I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

This is the beginning of the page - I made sprays with different colors and water. This first spray was made with Cadmium Yellow and  Cereluan Blue.

 

Next, I added strips of masking tape horizontally.

Then, I sprayed Pthalo Turquoise and Jenkins Green.

I put squares of modeling paste, and stamped them with plastic canvas for texture.  I stamped on punchinella with Stayzon with a sponge.



Last, I added color to the squares, put on the dots, stencil, and words.  Before I finished, I added some more white to the squares.  This is one that really looks better in person!

Forward Motion

Today I'm feeling very introspective about my art journal.  When I began this journal, I was taking bits and pieces from Donna Downey and others online.  I'm now coming to the point where I'm beginning to see what is in ME!

I'm discovering that my favorite colors are Cobalt Turquoise, Green Gold, Cadmium Yellow, and Phthalo Turquoise - as well as White and Black - all in Golden Fluid Acrylics.  And, while I like a lot of textures, I do like to keep it simple, using only a few shapes.

I think I need to refine my use of color - I seem to start out one way, and end up getting all muddied up!  In my next journal page, I'm going to take photos of each step.  Maybe from that, I can learn where it is that I lose my way.

But, the main thing that I absolutely love about Donna Downey, is her use of the phrase "Forward Motion"!  She has posted tons of videos of her "Inspiration Wednesdays" - and in a lot of them, she isn't inspired, and has no idea what she will do.  But, she uses the "Forward Motion" phrase a lot, and it really makes sense - just keep on going forward, and something will work out.  I'm counting on it!

Road Trip

So, we decided to take a little day trip on Sunday - down to Clearwater and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to see the famous dolphin, Winter.  We had been to the aquarium before, in 2002 - way before Winter.  It was kind of a sad little place then - not much going on, but we got to see some fun things.  The kids were little, so they enjoyed everything.

Fast forward -- today, the aquarium is more like a theme park!  We had to park 2 blocks away, and stood in line under a tent to get our tickets.

Once inside, it was wall-to-wall people.  And hot and steamy!  We went to see Winter, but instead, watched a training session with a new baby dolphin, Hope.  After that, Haley wandered around and touched stingrays, and I found air conditioning in the theater!



We finally got to see Winter - under water - and then decided to hit the gift shop and go home.



But, when we got out of the building and back into the tents, the rain was coming down in sheets - wind was blowing and the lightning and thunder was tremendous!  We had to wait another half an hour just to be able to walk to the car.  Then - the long ride back in the rain.  I'm looking forward to doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING today!

Keep Calm and Carry On

This is the journal page that I made yesterday in Art Club.  One of my friends had this cool stamp, and I just had to use it!

Granddaughter Haley (she's 14) has been with me for 10 days, and then Bill's granddaughter, Victoria (she's 15), came to visit us on Thursday.  So, both girls went to Art Club with me.

Both girls made collages - Victoria's is above, using photos of her grandfather's school trip to Chicago.  Haley's is below, using bird images from my huge stash!



I must say, I think  both girls did very well!

Fun With Haley

My granddaughter, Haley, came to visit from Lee's Summit, MO. on Tuesday.  She landed at Tampa Airport during a lightning storm and downpour!  After waiting for a couple of hours for them to unload the baggage, we were on our way home!

First order of business was to go to my hairdresser's, and have her put in a beautiful blue streak in her hair!  I'm surprised at how nice it looks.

Then, on Friday, we went to Art Club.  Below is the beautiful lioness that she drew.

And here is my journal page for the day - there is a quote written on here.  It says, "Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by Imagination" ~ Voltaire



Today was spent swimming and making chocolate chip cookies!  Fun times!

Unity Art Club

Some of my past students and other artist friends have started an Art Club.  We meet every Friday afternoon at the Unity Church of Citrus County - and spend the afternoon making art!  This was the first day, and we were missing several members, but I think next week should be quite full.

Michael wants to learn watercolor - this is his first practice piece!

Judi is starting another watercolor background!

Jeanne doesn't look too happy (I'm sure it was the photographer - me!), but her watercolor floral is coming along nicely!

Sande is making a collage journal about her recent trip abroad!

And, here I am, working on my collage page for my journal!

We had a wonderful afternoon, and are looking forward to next week!

Life is Messy!

Oh my gosh - Just when I think I'm getting a handle on this art journal thing, I shoot craps!  Oh well, from the first day of this blog, I said that I would publish EVERYTHING I painted, good and bad.  It helps to give me perspective, and hopefully teaches me some lessons.

The only thing I can say about this page is UGH!  I guess I still haven't learned how to save the ones that go bad.  I wanted to use some new supplies that I got - LIFE tissue paper, new stencils and spray inks.  It didn't work out,but no matter what, I painted today.