But...I can't draw!!!

The one thing that has always made me think that I wasn't creative was the fact that I couldn't draw. I stopped at that, and just believed if I couldn't draw, I wouldn't ever be creative. If I learn nothing else from my foray's into art journaling, I will forever be grateful to find out that I AM creative! I also have wanted to expand my drawing skills from stick people. I found www.drawspace.com. There are a ton of online drawing lessons you can take. Step by step drawings? That takes the intimidation factor out of it. Here are a few of my lessons that I've done. Now, keep in mind--that I can barely draw stick figures!! You can see all my guidelines, but that is what learning is for.

I am QUITE proud of myself! *Pats self on back*

In art journal land, I am addicted to the idea of black backgrounds. I could play with fun colors on black all day. This is just black paint and neocolor crayons on top. And sharpie pen. Love.

Spray Paint Station

What to do on a holiday? If it is warm and sunny, you spray paint, obviously!!! I will be heading to a friend's house for dinner in a little while, but before then I just had to do some spray painting.

 

   By the way, see that beautifully colored masking tape? In my art journal. Colors, Layers, Textures, oH MY! How absolutely wonderful is it to have a by-product be so wonderful?

Have a Happy Thanksgiving for anyone who is celebrating.

Michelle Ward: What's Your Sign?

In Michelle Ward's monthly crusade for November, she challenged us to find our "Sign."
 Something that reminded you of a loved one, your childhood...a symbol you related to. Me? I found nothing. So, here's my sign:

A question mark. Kind of fitting, because my life right now is a giant question mark.

I hope one day to find something more substantial, meaningful...but this will have to do for now.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving...Jack says it too

Yep. He's wearing a green HOODIE with a peppermint on it that says "Sweet." HAHA. I laughed for about 10 minutes when I came home to my roommate going "I bought Jack his Christmas present."

More papers...

I have now gotten to the point where I feel...off if I don't create SOMETHING every day. How awesome is that? I can't believe I've spent so many years thinking I was not creative in any sort of way; except maybe in a childish "I like to color things!" kinda way. I love it. I hope this can take me somewhere, but where I am right now is good enough.

I am also addicted to making paste papers.

And one that is drying....

Making another journal

I finally got around to making a journal that I learned in Julie Prichard's SuperNova class. I wanted to wait until I had enough art journal entries to make a book.

After many tries, I finished it! I am SO not a sewer...and this stitch took me a few tries to figure it out. It was more unwieldy than anything else. I also made some too loose, other too tight...but it works.

The cover was inspired by a picture of Munich in the winter. Gorgeous teals and crimson reds covered in a soft layer of snow. Beautiful.

The stitching on the outside. Messy, but thats ok, it was my first try.

And some inside peeks of the pages...most of which have been posted here anyway.

Hope everyone had a great weekend creating.

Experiment Journal: Pages in Progress (I still have Art ADD)

I am AMAZED that I am STILL feeling creative!!! Its been like two whole weeks! This is amazing for me. *Rock on!!*

Here are a couple of pages I have in progress....

Zentangle-like doodle in my tracing of my hand. I am using Micron pens...boy do I love them.

 

I first tried a spray of acrylic paint + water. It didn't quite have the effect I intended. I was trying to replicate spray inks...but my straw on my spray bottle doesn't reach to the bottom, and I don't want half a bottle filled with one color for just a few sprays! I like the mottled effect, just needs to be tweaked. The papers glued down are some of the paste papers I made.

Buy your spray paint at Walmart!!

If you buy this type of spray paint for your artwork, you should go into your local Walmart and purchase it. I REALLY try not to go to Walmart unless I know something is cheaper, and this is the greatest difference in price I have seen. Every other store sells it for $6-$8 a can....Walmart, $3!

I had to get that out there to Blogland.

Also: Go to Simply Me's  website and enter a comment to win a Cricut Machine!!

The Experiment Journal

Remember Teesha's Journal I made?

I have decided to label the journal "Experiment." Obviously, it is self-explanatory. I want to use these 16 pages as an experiment to open my mind with paints. Here is the first page.

 

Making the journal Teesha's way gives fun little flaps throughout. The green matches the cover, and part of the pink/red page. This is probably the closest match to the real colors on the page.

The colors are all different between the three pictures. I don't know how to fix that!

Some detail.

Paste Papers

I feel like I have art ADD right now. I want to try EVERYTHING! And I also have art buying syndrome. I want to buy everything too! Bad me. I just got this out of the library yesterday:

Oh, its a beautiful book and I want to make papers look like that! I made the cornstarch recipe, and today tried my hand at it.

My first attempt. The colors are off because these were taken in my awful lighting in the bathroom, as these are hanging to dry over my shower. I don't really like the design, but it IS my first attempt.

 

Second attempt. Better. I experimented playing with a paintbrush to make this design. Ok.

Third attempt. My favorite. I love the pattern here, and all I did was use one of those can-opener helper thingys. You know, that you put over a jar that is hard to open and it helps with the grip? One of those things.

A few things I have learned.

1. It is hard to get a uniform amount of paste over the paper. Suggestions?

2. I can only get the thinnest of layers on, and if I try to add more on top, all it does is move it around and create more un-uniformity. Not a word, but you get what I mean, right?

3. MESSY.

I really like the idea of playing with paste papers, but it is way harder than I thought. Maybe I made it wrong?

UPDATE: These dried, I ironed them, and I think they look so much better dried! Yay! I can imagine this will be an addicting habit.
Peeking in the back are a couple painted journal pages. Those will be shown later.

I'm on the Teesha Train

Like many people in blogland, I have been following Teesha Moore's video tutorials on how she makes a journal. I LOVE IT! I am always up for learning something new. Off to the store I went to buy some Fabriano paper, and did this bad boy in 40 minutes. Thats pretty good for me!

Go watch her videos and create! The next step is to paint them all. Yay!

As you may notice, this journal isn't without its mistakes. The thread is not on the spine, a mistake of not punching the holes in the same spot on each page, and I somehow didn't cut the pages evenly, so the signatures stuck out at the top. I attempted to fix it, so its a little jagged. Oh well!

 

An inside view. Such beautiful paper, isn't it?

I had to edit this post because I just HAD to post my cover I painted for this journal. I'm in love with it already. I have been in such an art frenzy lately and it feels GREAT.

Re-Organization and a journal entry

Tonight, I decided I have had enough of my wayyyyyy too cramped space with my ever-growing art fanaticism. Therefore, I emptied my bookshelf of all my books and cds...and made room for my art stuff. Sorry books and cds! I have thrown them in the living room, and will deal with them later. haha! I took pictures of my newly re-decorated space. Now, I live in a tiny apartment, so my art "studio" is in a corner in my bedroom. I had to make do.

Where all my art supplies have gone to, where books and cds used to be.

The right side of my desk with the beginnings of my color mixing chart I have begun.

Next to my desk, all my paints and brushes. Mmmmm. Makes me happy.

My books. I spend a LOT of time at Barnes and Noble reading books, but I can't afford many. The journal on the top right is all homemade! :)

Bin #1: Paper and Ephemera.

Bin #2: Stamping materials

Bin #3: Book Binding stuff

Bin #4: Pens/Markers. Glorious, isn't it?

Bin #5: Stenciling stuff

Bin #6: Watercolors-in a pan, in a crayon, and in pencil form.

Last, but certainly not least, a journal entry I did last night after I found out my Uncle has prostate cancer. The prognosis doesn't look good.

When good ideas go bad

There is no such thing as failure within art, right? Its all a learning experience, right? I am sure it is...but it is frustrating when you waste an hour of hard work, only to realize in the end that it is not usable.

I received this awesome ad in the mail and decided it would make a great stencil. I spent an arduous hourish cutting it up, THINKING I was doing it correctly. Well, I guess I need to really study how to do stencils in more intricate designs. I kept cutting out the middle parts, and messed up the whole design.

Sigh.

Life (and inspiration) is in the details

Don't you think? I went out on a photography trip around Charlottesville today. I will let the pictures do the talking.

 

And the last one...a little bit of paint.