9.12.2010

Playing in my art journal again

And it feels wonderful
Playing with my watercolors. 
I have been inspired (again) by Geninne's amazing watercolors.
There is so much to learn.
How does she make the colors swirl so gorgeously?
I also joined in on Michelle Ward's 44th Crusade.
I have painted by scraping with a card or palette knife
many times, but it was the perfect prompt
to get me back in my art journal.
What I started with:
pre-painted page and my scraping devices.
Many layers later, I ended up with this:
I scraped on paint,
sprayed water and dabbed off.
Scraped on more paint, dabbed water...
repeat.
At the end I added in some birdie masks
with some spray ink.
Now this page is just waiting for some journaling!

Next up was an art project with the kids I babysit for.
I love these kids, so last night I made them little
books out of recycled cereal boxes and extra moleskine paper
from my Sketchbook Project rebinding.
I decided it would be fun to have them design their own stamps,
and I would cut them out. 
Max, who's 6, wrote out the "I love you Mama and Mommi"
How cute is that?!
It is such an EASY thing to do if you have kids.
I also think how it is a permanent reminder
of them stuck in time.
All I did was have them draw in pencil 
whatever they wanted on tracing paper.
We then flipped over the paper onto the rubber,
gently rubbed the back of the paper to transfer the graphite,
and then drew over the design in Sharpie.
I cut out the stamps while they painted their book covers.
I love it. 

20 comments:

  1. Dawn - terrific pages! That watercolor is a knockout! Love your scraped pages. Bravo for the clever scraping device - was that once a foam brush? Love all the layers. Thanks for sharing that you had a water bottle nearby - it can be an essential tool. And the carving? Too cool!

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  2. Your pages are wonderful. The watercolour with the butterflies is amazing and the scraped page...fabulous colours!!

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  3. Your scraped page is GORgeous!! I love all the subtle texture and rich layers and oh! beautiful colors. Also love the butterfly page.

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  4. Your own pages are awesome ! I love the layer upon layer play ! What lovely pages you will have to work on. I too have been itching to get back into my journal...the great thing is that I know it is there when I finally get the moments to dive in...love that !
    Your kiddo friends are lucky to have you to keep their creativity stirred up ! Love the stamps and love that young ones are learning the benefits of art journaling so young. Rock On, Dawn !!!Big Love !

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  5. Beautiful journal pages! The watercolors are soo soothing, and I love the scraping technique. However, your time with the children ... what a sweet memory you all created together! Wishing you a beautiful day.

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  6. Lovely journal pages, and lots of color and vibrancy in your final scraped page! i love the carved stamps, too, and the kids' art. Very nice! And you're in Charlottesville! Hi, neighbor (i'm in Waynesboro)!

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  7. your watercolor page is a slam dunk, girlfriend!! bravo!! and i love your "layers" artwork....fabulous! great fun with the kids....love the stamps!! xox, :)))

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  8. What a fantastic, creative idea for the stamps! Those are so cute :)

    Yay for getting back into journal pages too! Your pages look beautiful and I think you've got plenty of gorgeous swirly colors in that first one!

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  9. That water colour page is g-g-g-gorgeous! And the stamp idea is super cute.

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  10. Dawn, what a superb post! I find it very uplifting that you babysit these kids and teach them the joy of creativity (in a green way too!). Your butterflies are beautiful and you have a ton of creativity in your glorious scraped pages!! =)

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  11. Love the colors and depth from your many layers.

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  12. It's all so gorgeous! Watercolors and I do constant battle, with the watercolors winning most of the time. I really really am loving those butterflies!

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  13. What beautiful butterflies!! I love that you left the text in white. And what a great project to do with kids! I make my own stamps too, never thought of making my kids some = brilliant!

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  14. Thought I left a comment here, but I had some troubles with blogger ;-) Anyway, have to say I love your butterflies, amazing colors ! Your scraped page turned out beautiful as well, and the art you did with the kids, what a superb idea !

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  15. Oh such a beautiful page! Butterflies always enthrall me :)

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  16. I love the colours you ended up with; the page has such a strong sense of depth. And the kid's project? What a treasure.

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  17. I love it all, and what a great idea for a kids' project...they'll be able to use it for a long time. As soon as one piece gets tattered on mom's fridge, they'll be able to do another :) Nice watercolor and scraping - I'm into butterflies lately too. -Kim

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  18. Wow Dawn, those butterflies simply glow! and I am captivated by your layers upon layers in your scraping....
    Cindi

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  19. What fun you're creating with those kids! Love your pages.

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  20. Wow your scrapers are cool (so are the pages of course)... are those popsicle stick maker things? The kids stamps are too sweet...! Happy creations from germany, tj

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