Art Journal Page - Painting with Collage

 I was kind of annoyed with myself when I forgot to cancel my Skillshare subscription; initially thought it wasn't worth the money.  I have to say though that I have seen some great classes on there.  The latest one I completed was another one with Froyle Davies.  Her project was on a canvas but I opted to pull out an unused and forgotten (and quite nice I now realize - a large Dylusions one) art journal.  I ended up using a calendar image as the focal point and dug into the gel print stash to use some of my lovely green prints. 

I'm also still in using-the-supply-stash mode and pulled out some ancient embossing powder, Distress stain, an old background stamp and modeling paste.  Gotta use this stuff up!

Have a great day!

Altered Tea Bag Box

 When I'm on a creative roll and The Muse is itching to play all day my work space can get a little chaotic.  Challenges like ICAD or The 100 Day Project really get that going and I noticed that my completed cards (for The 100 Day Project) were starting to get scattered around my desk and lost in clutter.

When I first participated in ICAD a few years ago I altered a tea bag box to store the cards in.  The box is the perfect size for 3" x 5" index cards.  (You can see that box HERE.)  The other day as I was glancing around the studio I spotted my collection of ICAD boxes on the shelf.  Lightning Bolt!  Time to create a box for the latest project.  Not only is it fun to look at it perched on my desk awaiting more creations but it inevitably leads me to wandering through my cards to see my progress so far; that's a good motivator.

In the spirit of  my 100 Day theme (using under-used supplies or items that have been in my stash for ages) I went through my gel print and washi tape stashes to find these oldies but goodies.  I opted to decorate the inside and outside because I think it just looks nicer - especially in the beginning stages where it's not very full yet.

I love monoprinting on book pages and I love this green.  It makes me think of wandering in one of our beautiful Pacific Northwest forests with dappled sunlight peeking through the branches.

Looking forward to filling this baby up.  Have a great day!

#the100DayProject 2022 - Days 1-7

 Initially I thought I was going to opt out of The 100 Day Project this year. Last year I lost interest pretty quickly and, let's face it, 100 days is a long time - practically a third of a year!  BUT, as I was working my way through the Creative Jumpstart workshop I started realizing how much STUFF I have.  My art space is chaotic and overflowing and even though I know where things are 95% of the time there are so many supplies I have that I don't use.  In the spirit of rediscovering old favorites I decided that I would work my way through my stash of supplies for the next 100 days.  I recently went through a couple of drawers where I was apparently hoarding school supplies as well and I discovered an overabundance of index cards so my creations will be on 3"x5" index cards.   

The first week found me digging into my stash of paper scraps and gel prints.  Like any good art supply hoarder I keep almost all my paper scraps.  I also have so many gel prints (because who doesn't love a good gel printing sesh??) and many of them have been waiting for the 'perfect project'.  Honestly, I could probably spend my whole 100 days just using these 2 supplies.  Who knows...maybe I will.  In any event here's what I came up with this week.

Day 1/100

I love this little gargoyle.  He has been floating around waiting to be used on something for quite some time.  The book pages have been in the paper scrap bin for a while, too.  The green paper bit above is what inspired the whole thing and I thought I would be using it, but didn't this time.  The Color Burst watercolors have been in my stash since they were released but I've only used them a few times.  Washi tape hoarding is also an issue.  😏

Day 2/100

Falling on Valentines' Day it seemed obligatory to use a heart this day.  I am trying to use up acrylic paint that has been in my stash for a long time (background), more paper scraps, a stamp that I've had for ages and my cheesecloth stash.  The blue you see on the background is actually a pearlescent pink paint (that I may have used once?) over black paint.  It's really pretty - I should use that more often!

Day 3/100

That Sizzix die is ANCIENT.  I honestly don't remember the last time I used it, if I ever have.  I also used my sewing machine (hardly ever pull that out), paper scraps, old rubber stamp, and a security envelope from my stash.

Day 4/100

Again with the paper scraps...I also used googly eyes.  LOL...I really had a thing for googly eyes several years ago,  I came upon Clare Lloyd, a collage artist, while roaming around Pinterest.  I love her work.  She inspired this card.

Day 5/100

I don't know how I found her but I was blown away by Froyle Davies, a New Zealand artist, this week.  She makes the most beautiful collages.  I took one of her Skillshare classes and had an excellent, inspired gel printing session (oops...more prints that need to be used).  I LOVE these prints!  In addition to print bits I used a marked up index card (X's) and some printed tissue paper from the stash.

Day 6/100

I guess I was still feeling collage-y.  I noticed a gel print scrap sitting on my desk and it reminded me of hair for some reason.  Dug into the scrap bin again today to come up with the bits for this guy.

Day 7/100

Our last one for the first week!  Using up older acrylic paints, scraps, Posca pen (need to reach for these more), and a Bingo card that I've had forever.

Thanks for stopping by.  Cheers!

CAS Christmas Challenge: Winter Scene

 Wow, I'm on a roll...my second month in a row - ha ha!  Baby steps...

When I saw the challenge theme for February I knew immediately that I wanted to use these stamps - they're just cute and I hardly ever use them.  Need to justify storing them, right?  The bonus is that a while ago I had colored and cut out a whole bunch of these so it was really just a matter of putting everything together.  Love that.

If you want to build up your stash of Christmas cards before December create along with the CAS Christmas Challenge HERE.

Thanks for stopping by...

Creative Jumpstart Projects Continue (some others too...)

My husband had Covid, which was unfortunate of course, but being a glass half-full kind of person the good thing about that was that I couldn't go to work which left me more time in the art studio.  Gotta love that.  Here's what I was up to...

Following Cheiron Brandon's lead, I made a couple of mixed media-ish cards.  My base was some cork paper that I bought ages ago; it was cool to work on - need to do that more often.  I finally figured out how to get zig zag stitches the way I like them too.  Yay!

In the lesson above, she used printed tissue paper by Ranger on the background, but offered that you could always make your own if need be. I did that and loved how it turned out.  I need to remember to do that again.

This ATC, cleverly named "Orange Flowers" - ha ha, was for an orange-themed swap on SwapBot.  Another mixed media gem, I used Archival ink, Neocolor II crayons, gel pen, Stabilo pencil, cut bits from a greeting card floating around on my desk, and the background was made up of layered bits of gel printed tissue paper.  I don't usually reach for orange but I'm happy with the way this turned out.

This next ATC is the last of a 3-part 'Exquisite Corpse' swap.  I'm so bummed...I forgot to take a picture of the torso, but you can see the head I created HERE.

And one more ATC for a SwapBot tic tac toe swap (pick three prompts in a row from a 9-spot grid).  I used vintage, acrylic paint, something found.

That's a wrap for now...cheers!