• Art - Blog - Creativity

    Junk Journal November challenge

    November 9, 2019 - By 

    I did it. I committed to a new challenge. Even knowing I’d be behind in the beginning.

    I’m over halfway to being caught up.  Not too shabby.

    Time Travel 1/30

    All the pieces fell right into place for this one. I had the tag premade from another scrap busting project. The clock face is vellum. I have no idea where I got it…I have a small baggie of clock faces and gauges in vellum.

    Collage 2/30

    I wasn’t sure where I was going with this one…I didn’t really think, just started layering papers. I knew I’d end up with a focal image or words. The fussy cut elephant told me she belonged on the page. I love elephants. One Saturday I spent the afternoon watching documentaries on elephants while cutting fabric. Such a great way to spend a couple of hours.

    Old-fashioned 3/30

    I’m sure this prompt was meant to be old -fashioned as in a period in time and all that went along with it. My mind went in another direction entirely. I immediately thought about Don Draper of Mad Men. The character had a drink of choice…an Old-Fashioned.

    I did my best to mimic a low ball glass with whiskey. I even added ice cubes.

    Reduce 4/30

    I didn’t particularly care for this prompt so this is what I came up with to get it over with.

    Fox 5/30

    This one feels a bit too scrapbooky. I journaled about the time we had a sick fox under our deck. It was really gross…we could smell it before we could see it. The police and animal control were in the area looking for it as they feared it had rabies. It ran away before they caught it. I never heard the end of the tale but I have to assume they got it or it crawled in a hole somewhere and died.

    Stay tuned for more pages as I get caught up. You can also see them on Instagram if you can’t wait for them to post here.

  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    New junk journal

    November 3, 2019 - By 

    I can hardly believe it but I’m posting something other than T Tuesday. It’s been a while. I’ve been in a creative slump. Not sure how it happened but never the less it did.

    I’ve sat down a couple of times trying to force creativity.

    Don’t do it. It’s ugly.

    What I did finally decide that I’d like to create was a place to create. A junk journal. I’m sure you’re thinking…hey wait…didn’t she just make one of those. Yep sure did. But that one is for bits of my life, more personal.

    This one is for the creative process. Whether that may be art journaling, responding to a prompt or a challenge.

    I loved this calendar ephemera my BFF sent in a package. She knew I’d love it as much as the actual gift she sent.

    I used some rusted fabric on the inside of the softcover.

    The outside is watercolor paper that had been painted and whitewash some time ago. I found it in my stash and knew it would make a nice flexible cover.

    I decided to use a 5 hole pamphlet stitch this time instead of my usual go-to of three hole stitch.

    This journal has a wide variety of papers that should prove to be a good and challenging launching point for the creative process.

    I’m considering joining another junk journal challenge on Instagram as I did in July. I need to decide soon otherwise I might be too far behind.

  • Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: canvas edition

    October 14, 2019 - By 

    I have been all over the place this week with ideas. None of which have actually come to fruition. But ideas are the start, right?

    I am thinking of making a few seasonal canvas paintings. While digging through my canvas stash I found this one. I feel like it needs some words.

    On these canvases, I threw some color down on the background to cover the previous paintings. I picked these two canvases out of a free bin at a garage sale over the summer. No idea where I’m headed with these…or if this is even a remote representation of the background colors….it was just a coverup.

    My journal keeps getting more things tucked inside without any actual placement or journaling. One of these days…

    The same goes for my travel journal. Although I did get photos printed, so I’m a little closer.

    In art class this week the kids are working with clay. One of my students wanted to make a creeper from Minecraft. On the day I missed, it was decided that he’d make a mug. I helped him assemble the pieces and create the signature face. This week it’s all about adding textures and interest.  I’ve been assisting in the assembly a few other students’ projects as well…I love playing with clay. It would be so fun to make a project myself too. 🙂

    This weekend brought us an unwelcome visitor…snow. As you can clearly see, we are nowhere ready for winter. Thankfully it was short-lived and we made it above 50°F today.

    On Saturday we also had welcome visitors. They brought over this hard cider,

    It was really quite good. I didn’t think I’d like it as most hard ciders are too sweet. This was not…it was almost like a dry white wine in flavor.

    And I promised photos of all the assembled furniture…the white pieces are Mini-me’s and the dark brown is in J’s room.

    We have a choir concert tonight for Mini-me. She is in two choirs this year…she and a couple of other girls are helping to lend more voice to the small freshmen girls choir. This means a change of clothes for them…floor-length dresses to choir robes.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?