Category : Art

423 posts

A second look: Wishes and Dreams

I thought I’d play along today with Second on the 2nd and share a second look at an art journal page I had a lot of fun creating.

Take a look….

Wishes and Dreams – 11/7/2015

I’ve been very drawn to the multi layered look of journal pages, collage and mixed media of all sorts lately. The more textural, the better. As I sat down to create, I had two things in mind…texture and spray mist color.

wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

I placed masking tape down the spine then layered joint tape randomly in opposite corners of the pages. Next I gave the whole thing a thin coat of gesso.  Even with the thin coat of gesso, I got impatient waiting for it to dry so I started spraying sooner than I likely should have.

wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

At this point everything was so wet I had to walk away.

After it was thoroughly dry, I began laying down some texture.  I used foreign text from a Brothers Grimm fairy tales book, leftover burlap from my monogram wreath, rusted fabric, a clothing tag and a bit of calico fabric for my layers.

wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

In addition I used a punched square from an old greeting card as a focal image on the left hand page. A sweet little girl blowing a dandelion seed head making a wish.

wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

Which ties into the words I used on the clothing tag. The words are from a Tim Holtz sticker pack.  I cut the phrase apart to place on the clothing tag.

I watered down some black craft paint to make splatters but was unhappy with the result so I attempted to soak them up with a cloth.

wishes and dreams art journal page | Halle's Hobbies

Lastly I used vintage photo distress ink to stamp a floral vine in opposite corners to give balance to the pages.

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Hope you had a happy and safe New Year! Wishing you all the best in 2021!

 

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T Tuesday: turtle shell edition

I can’t even begin to tell you how long it has been since I have even considered posting or even visiting other blogs. I have been “turtled up” so to speak in my shell. Sometimes I feel the need to do that. When things are out of my control or I feel I have nothing positive to share. At times like that I often turn to my art to walk me through. Other times, it’s all too much.

I finally felt the drive to create. Maybe because things are starting to look better. We still have a long way to go but I’m trying to see the silver lining. I think COVID is really starting to weigh me down. My emotions are raw. 

Regardless…I made art!  It felt amazing. I wish I could get that into my head when I’m feeling down. Art this good therapy. It’s just like exercise…I feel so much better after I do it…it’s just the getting out there and doing it that is the challenge.

So what else have I been up to? I made a few more masks for both my family and commissioned orders for kid sizes.

I’ve also been making pretty envelopes in hopes of sending out purchased items from my Etsy store inside. Of course I’d have to get a few more things listed for that to actually happen. Baby steps…

I had a health scare almost a month ago now which I believe sent me into my proverbial turtle shell. All is well on that front though. I went back for further tests and got the clean bill of health.

Mini-me has committed to her college of choice for next fall. We will be empty nesters with kids almost 3 hours away in different parts of the state. So crazy. The thought has given me very mixed emotions. Can you tell I’m extremely emotional right now? It’s not my usual state of being. I am usually quite stoic. I’m Norwegian…it’s the way we are made. But I feel as if I’ve been running on adrenaline and now I’m crashing.

As usual. I dressed up for Halloween at school.

What else made sense in a pandemic but to be a doctor?!

School continues in-person for me so far. I can’t imagine it will be much longer before we go to distance learning though…at least for a time. Exponentially more positive cases and self-quarantines every day. 

One of the things I do when I’m stressed is starting purging things. This weekend I tackled my clothes. I’ve lost 20 lbs and it was time to get rid of the old, the ugly, the ill-fitting, the “why did I ever buy this” and the vastly out of style. Amazingly, I still have a ton of clothes. Nothing super cute but we aren’t going anywhere now anyway. The time will come and I will buy myself something cute. I may do a bit of thrift shopping between now and then to fill in some gaps but the thought of going into stores to browse doesn’t thrill me. I’m shopping out of necessity only these days to stay safe.

In keeping with the rules…here is the obligatory beverage alongside a yummy open faced bagel with cream cheese and lox. 

Another day of school is in front of me followed by my at-home teaching day.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: so many photos edition

I’d like to apologize in advance for this long post and the excessive number of photos. Thankful most people these days are on high speed internet…if not…you may want to return at a later date. You have been warned.

Where to begin… Well let’s start with a journal page I had slated to post last week and never got around to it.

It’s a page in my wonky junky journal.

It started its life as this…two different sizes and textures to work with. A challenge really.

The images I used are from an elementary music book. these two reminded me of a Romeo/Juliet thing…only with a happy ending…it is elementary school after all.

It’s not my favorite page but at this point, I’m just happy to be creative.

Another page I finished was this one…which I believe I posted a WIP shot the last time.

 

Making time to craft and create is a priority for me but as you know, life sometimes gets in the way.

Enter exhibit A:

Do you see what I see…? This image was texted to me simultaneously with a frantic phone call from Mini-me.

Lets back up a little for context shall we…

We had inadvertently left the garage door open a few inches overnight which was an obvious invitation for a mouse to waltz on in looking for a snuggly place to overwinter. Marvin clued me in to this on Friday morning by laying in front of the washing machine, diligently peering underneath. Since there was nothing I could do to help him with his task, I went back upstairs and proceeded with my morning. Made lunches, brewed coffee and had just sat down on the couch to enjoy my cuppa before moving on with the day.

As I sit taking my first glorious sip of coffee, I hear Marvin make a sound somewhat like it would be if you were trying to say “mouse” with a sock in your mouth then proceeds to bang around on the stairs with his giant paws. In an instant, I realized that he had caught the mouse and was bringing it to me…but decided to “tell” me about it…therefore releasing his jaws and the mouse. Marvin is cute but does not have a big brain. He lost track of it and I determined that it had gotten behind the baseboard and into the wall. Crud. Off to work I went with Marvin staring at the fireplace.

Now lets get back to this photo above…the mouse was on the mantle…he can climb bricks.

♫ spider mouse. spider mouse ♫

*shall we now collectively shudder*

My kids have now discovered the mouse on the mantle…send me a photo…call me… Yeah…I’m working…good luck kids. In turn I messaged Mr. G telling him the tale. I got this image back from him with what I can imagine was peals of laughter.

Image credit: Great Outdoors

Long story short…they did not get the mouse. I did late Friday evening with their help in corralling said mouse. Saturday was spent cleaning…everything… *shudder*. Gross.

Marvin was thoroughly exhausted from staying up for almost an entire day. Didn’t get his 18 hours of beauty sleep.

We did have some fun too…movie night at the neighbors.  Chicken Run was on the projector.

I got my vote in at our county election office.

I also made a knitters wreath that I have had rattling around my brain for a while. Finally made it happen after all the cleaning and purging of things. Funny what you uncover like a wreath base.

Time to settle back with a lovely glass of red wine by the glow of my salt lamp. I don’t drink much red wine or any wine these days. It tends to make my joints hurt…I think it’s the sulfites.

I had to snap a photo of this sign at Goodwill…it made me laugh.

My kids have dubbed my cocktail of choice, gin and club soda, “spicy water” after inadvertently taking a big gulp of it when they were younger.

That about sums it up for me… my life is chaotic. But its good.

One more thing! Mini-me got accepted into both the universities that she applied to. We now need to make one more visit to cement her plan. Her college of choice is even giving her a yearly scholarship. Not full ride mind you but hey, every penny counts.

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

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The little things

My new wonky junky journal is proving to be a fun challenge to work with. The pages are different sizes and textures. Different colors and finishes. I loving how it makes me think outside the box.

I’m really not able to preplan a page. I have to trust the process and let go.

I was planning to use some really wet mediums but I realized that the magazine page on the right would never hold up to that abuse.

I ended up stacking layers of papers, beginning with a card front for stability. After adding the floral scrap and photo off-cuts I knew where I was headed.

I stamped a flower garden across the bottom of my pages then used watercolor paints to add a bit color. All that was left to do was add the right words.

 

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Jo’s theme of Texture.

Art Journal Journey

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Beautiful morning

A few days ago I was very inspired to make art. I actually had two pages that I was working on simultaneously in different journals.

This is the one I started and finished first. Once again…lots of texture going on…which has been an overarching theme of my Ivanhoe journal.

I’m not in love with the colors on this one, with the exception of this pop of teal on a citrasolv paper. The teal made it work for me when I was feeling the page too muddy. I added a couple other pops of color such as the gold to try and draw the eye to a more pleasing color. Not sure if it worked as planned.

I added so many textures on this side of the spread. Fabric, wallpaper, paint, book page, washi sticker…all layered up. I do really enjoy the look of this…especially the cut lemon on the wall paper. It makes me smile.

When I was nearly done with my page I decided to add a bit of dark green to anchor the spread. I’m not sure if I am entirely pleased with the result but that’s ok. Art journals are a great place to play and experiment…learn from mistakes…grow as an artist.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Jo‘s theme of Texture.

Art Journal Journey

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Bravely

My plan for the morning was to go for a walk immediately upon waking…the weather didn’t cooperate. Instead I made art.

The page on the right was the inside of a security envelope…I decided to do a gradient of color from light to dark blue. That, honestly, was my only plan or inspiration.  Next I added some random stamping to the background.

By this point I was starting to get an idea of the direction I was headed.

The gradient blue represented standing at the edge of the unknown…like the edge of the ocean. Nothing certain…endless possibilities. The branches are what I’m holding on to…my support. My stability.

I cut a tag from another chunk of masterboard. This piece had a scrap on which I had tested a compass stamp. It seemed fitting. There is guidance but really we just need to navigate our way through.

My current journaling has been really helping me express my feelings leading into the coming school year.

It’s all so unknown…uncharted…unpredictable and frightening. But here I am…standing bravely…ready to go support my kiddos at school the best way I know how.

Marvin gets credit for his supervisory role in our photo shoot.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey again for Alison’s theme of  Pockets and Tags.

Art Journal Journey

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The adventure begins

This page and the words I used are multi-layered in meaning.

First…I’m using a new journal in a new way. Junk journal being an art journal.

Secondly the words reflected how I am feeling about this new school year. Both my kids are doing college from their bedrooms, while I will be in the classroom 4 days a week and remote another day. A school year that no one can predict. Something to tell the grandkids some day…a long, long time from now. ;)

I layered up a couple of tags that were cut from masterboards. I love having pieces like that in my stash. They really make quick work of journal pages while adding depth and interest.

The ticket was a last minute addition…it’s my ticket to the new adventure ahead.

Linking up today with Art Journal Journey for Alison’s theme of Pockets and Tags.

Art Journal Journey

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