Groovy Grunge - Outside/In

Wow - I managed to from relatively nothing to more than I thought I could manage with online classes lol - not that I am complaining. Randel Plowman's 30 day collage class started today - I think is more academic than previous classes I have taken but that is a good thing. Will share about that later.  Meanwhile, Tammy Garcia's Groovy Grunge started over the holidays - I've managed to get two spreads done so far following the Outside/In activity.

This was the first - you paint up your background, start collage around the edges and then do whatever you want in the middle. The quote is from Teddy Roosevelt - words to live by when it comes to looking at other's art work!

For my second spread (which included "painting" the text instead of using markers) I committed to a black and white theme - but with a little added colour using a technique by Naomi Vona. 

Sprayed the this 1941 thrifted picture with a fixative and then used POSCA paint markers to add some pop. 

The next exercise is ominously called THE WALL lol. Enjoy. Jewels

HELLO world...still going strong at Maple Hill

Goodness - May!!! My poor neglected blog. I'm thinking I am going to do some revamping over the holidays...

..of course saying and doing are two very different things.

But I am going to give it another go and see if get enough traffic to justify posting. I am much more active these days over on Facebook and Flickr.

Just seem to get more interaction there.

The pictures I am sharing are from my Sales Catalog (Younkers) Art Journal that I have been trying to do 15 min exercises in (though often it goes longer than that)....

Any who, hope you will leave a comment to let me know your visiting. Enjoy. Jewels. 

DLP 2015 Week 12 and 13

Catching up on my posts for DLP! Both past weeks were new and fun things for me.

Week 12 - Challenge was As a Focal Point and the prompt was Coming into Focus....I started with the back ground not quite sure where I was going with "focus" ( a lot of folks used it for things like glasses, cameras, etc).

I decided to go with focus on "time" - I was actually inspired by a bill board I had driven by on the highway!

Not sure on how to draw a clock so I went over to Graphics Fairy for inspiration and found this lovely image....
... and the last minute decided I needed to add wings to it (seriously I thought I was done!)

Week 13 Challenge was Make a Custom Element and the prompt was the quote "Ride the Energy of your own unique spirit" (Gabrielle Roth).  Well, that was easy because I LIVE with a unique spirit...my little man Mr. Darcy...

...and he reminds me everyday  :) ....I took a photo of him and drew on a piece of dictionary paper (my custom piece) and then just went from there....My Dad always says he sees purple hair in Mr. D's coat which is why I went with that colour...

Wild stuff going with layers in the background but I love the colour.

That's it! On to water colours this week... Enjoy. Jewels

Winter Solstice Coming!

This year's winter solstice has extra meaning. On Friday I will embark on a 52 week journey with others feeding my creative soul in different ways.

I am really looking forward to it  - the first thing we had to do was write down our personal 20 Soul Care Practices. I decided to capture mine on a tag I made. I crinkled a piece of card stock, smeared inks on it and then sprayed with water to get it to "run"...

..both sides. Others have posted their practices that have reminded me of other things I will add later to my list.

It was also suggested we get a journal to use - I am looking forward to looking backwards (LOL) 52 weeks from Friday and how "plump" I hope my journal will be by then with different things. The background was done using a technique I learned from Mary Green. I photocopied a dictionary page of butterflies onto a page from an old Typewriting class practice book. I did "stiffen" it by brushing on some mod podge before I sewed on the vellum.

So this first page has a pocket for my "Soul Tag" that I can take  out and look at it while working on other parts of my journal.
AND there is still time if you are interested in joining - just click the link to The Creative Underground on my sidebar and it will take you to more information. Enjoy. Jewels

Tag and ATC and Journal

Where to begin...well today is Tag Tuesday and the theme is Swimming. As soon as I saw this one I knew exactly what I wanted to do...I grew up on the Great Lakes - Lake Huron to be exact - in Canada. On the shore line is a park called Canatara (which means Blue Water) which we went to many times when I was young.

I have this great picture of my pretty Mum (probably late 50's early 60's) sitting on the beach (with her purse LOL). I tinted with chalk, used stickles for bling and some text I found in one of my scrap boxes. Sweet eh!

Over my vacation I also did some artsy things - including this "flawless design" ATC using some scrap from experimenting I was doing (yes they are right - keep it all because you never know). I believe she is from an old McCalls Magazine (I think the flowers tucked in her waist was a photographer's after thought, ha) . So what is that background you ask (LOL)....

Well I prepped my "first" art journal - using what I had (essentially water colour paint from the dime store in town, too funny - I would not vouch for its "archival" properties). I managed to bring brushes and gesso and stamps and ink  - but no paint! 

But I actually like how the colours turned out - what do you think? Unfortunately my pics don't show them well...

Hold on - that ATC has potential on this spread...

And what about my tag here? I can do some journaling  beside it about going to the park...How serendipitous (big word for the day)! Argh, now I have to do the rest of the pages... Enjoy. Jewels