Wednesday, April 30, 2014

48 weeks: week 9


Another spread from the 48 weeks class. I thought these pod flowers benefitted from some extra embellishing and you can see it better in the close-up with the stenciled words and white paint pen words.


Tuesday, April 29, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 4

I love a good collage lesson - especially when you draw from snippets of things that you like, and that was Kelly Hoernig's lesson for LifeBook 2014. I chose a collage sheet vintage image with a great dress and shoes, a cool old row house from a Paper Whimsy collage sheet - I can always dream of living in the past, right?  - and built my piece from there.

Monday, April 28, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 3

This was a really fun and whimsical week at LifeBook 2014 done by Carla Sonheim who gave multiple different drawing exercises to do.  These were some of my favorites from all the ones I did. Have you ever tried drawing with your non-dominant hand, drawing with your eyes closed, or drawing without picking up your pen? I hadn't and found it fun to try her exercises, and found that you actually DO get better the more you do them.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

48 weeks: week 8


This spread from the 48 weeks class was a fun exploration of graffiti grunge style. It was fun just being sloppy and random. I completed it just before my birthday earlier in the year.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 8

Yes, this Documented Life Project planner page was done the week of my birthday : -)  The prompt was to add a flap to your flap. I added a tag with a washi tape hinge and then embellished it.

When you flip the flap, here's another face I drew then painted. I was really inspired by videos I was watching done by Jodi Ohl. She has a great style with her faces.



Friday, April 25, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 7

This week's Documented Life Project prompt was to add a shape - repeat - add color. I think my page was very inspired by Dina Wakley's style - a circle motif, reductive stenciling (actually ghosting with water over Dylusions ink spray), drips, stamped top texture with white paint and book text circles collaged in. I love how this one turned out!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 5

This week's lesson at LifeBook 2014 was by Marieke Blokland. I really enjoyed playing around in her style.  She draws fun doodled people so this was my attempt to draw a figure that has more of a doodled face with exaggerated features.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 6

This week's Documented Life Project prompt was to open your pinterest board and be inspired. What I chose to do was to draw a face inspired by Marieke Blokland who had a LifeBook 2014 lesson around the same time. She draws very fun doodle-inspired faces with exaggerated features - a fun style to play around with.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

48 weeks: week 7


Here is the week 7 spread from the 48 weeks class. I really enjoyed adding a face to this one, but it was a process! Originally it was more colorful, but I just didn't like it so I painted over it with gesso and started again : -)  I used a stabilo pencil and activated it with more gesso and it gave me great shading. That trick I learned from Dina Wakley and it's funny how many times I go back to it!  I decided to leave her black and white as a contrast to the colorful background.  I loved the modeling paste through a script stencil in the background and highlighted those areas with Inka Gold. Doesn't it look cool on her face? It's like her thoughts are written on her face.

Close-ups:



Monday, April 21, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 2

A simple quick page from week 2 of LifeBook 2014. This week's lesson was taught by Micki Wilde. I really like that art journaling doesn't have to be complicated, because you can get a lot of satisfaction playing with pens and markers and cut out book text over a quickly painted background and paint blob.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 5

Another Documented Life Project prompt - add a doodle border. I started with a smear of acrylic glazes in the background for color and then lettered a quote - something I really enjoy doing. I don't think I'm a good doodler - some people just do it so naturally, but I stayed simple and comfortable for me - a scroll drawn over again and slightly off-set so it looks like a ribbon, and small swirl flowers.

Friday, April 18, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 1


These pages are from the very first week of LifeBook 2014 with a lesson by Tam Laporte. I loved just getting out supplies and PLAYING to create a colorful background.


The second page was more practice with faces - it's to be a guardian angel for the year. It was fun to work with watercolor crayons and gesso and blend them creating her skin tones. I'm not really an angel person and I don't tend to draw winged-things, but the great part of LifeBook is that you get to try out different styles. Still working on faces.........I think it's going to be a long process......

Thursday, April 17, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 4

Another prompt from the Documented Life Project - add a secret message then paint over all but a key word. I used a technique I originally learned from a class with my friend Catherine Scanlon who made flowers out of words she wanted to highlight from random free writing all over the page and then painted out the rest.  I used payne's grey paint for my obscuring background - it's such a great color!

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 3


This week's Documented Life Project prompt is to add an envelope to your flap page.  In my collage I used a glassine envelope with a left over tag that had a gelli printed background and some doodles and postmark stamps, and then further embellished with postage stamps I've received recently.



Tuesday, April 15, 2014

48 weeks: week 6


This is week 6 of Donna Downey's 48 weeks class. What do you think of my finger painted poppy-like flowers?  The textures in the background for these pages come from drywall tape and stamping into gesso.


Monday, April 14, 2014

48 weeks: week 5


This spread is from week 5 of the 48 weeks class.  I liked playing with the deeper shades of blue like anthraquinone blue and payne's grey - which isn't a grey at all I've learned, but a wonderful deep blue like nighttime.  What I liked even more on this page was the texture layer of fiber paste over collaged book pages - creates a great depth in the background as you can see in the close-up.


Sunday, April 13, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 2

Here's another page from my weekly planner with a Documented Life Project prompt to add a selfie. Shortly after this I did get my hair cut.....short......not a smart thing to do in January.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

LifeBook 2014 week 6


Back to another one of my favourite LifeBook 2014 pages.  This week's lesson was by Tam Laporte, the originator of LifeBook who does a lesson every month. The initial warm up lesson was using spray inks giving fabulous drips.  Anytime I see drips I'm inspired by Dina Wakley who uses them as journaling lines.

For the lesson, the end result is a folded page. This is how it looks closed - I had great fun playing around with different lettering styles over the multicoloured spray ink blob.



Then when you open it up, here's how it looks:


More work with faces - I find profiles to be hardest!

And just look at the effect of the layered blobs and drips - isn't it gorgeous?




Friday, April 11, 2014

48 weeks: week 4


With week 4 of Donna Downey's 48Weeks, I got to try out my figure drawing skills :-) I've been working on them quite a bit after being introduced to faces in classes with Dina Wakley and Pam Carriker. For this one I wanted her to be lost in a daydream. This page had such cool textures - both raised flowers and impressed flowers and diamonds.  I wish you could touch the page through the picture because it has such a cool feel.

Here's a close-up:


Thursday, April 10, 2014

48 weeks: week 3


Week 3 pages for Donna Downey's 48 weeks were so fun to create! So much texture in the background, and I love the pastel look of it with the bold pop of color of the flowers. I thought this quote was a perfect touch.

Here are a couple close-ups:



Wednesday, April 9, 2014

48 weeks: week 2

Here's the spread for week 2 of Donna Downey's 48 Weeks. Much more of a doodle style for these pages.  I see people who do this style really well......not sure I'm one of them. I did enjoy all the layers in the background and how you can get lost just playing and making marks.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The Documented Life Project week 1


Another journal project I'm participating in is the year long Documented Life Project. Before online calendars and iPads with calendar apps, I always chose a planner for the year and used it to keep track of appointments and birthdays and events. I've missed doing that in a physical form and last year tried out Kate Crane's calendars where you write in a little bit in each day's calendar block. By the end of the year, instead of having neat little blocks, I had a jumble of written memories about each day.  Some days there was a simple sentence, but other days there was a lot more I wanted to write. I was excited to see this idea using a Moleskine weekly planner and altering it by adding a flap to each week and having a challenge prompt for each week. You have a place to write day to day stuff and events, another blank lined page for space if you want to journal more, and the extra added page for the pretty stuff that makes your journal even more "you". There's even an online class about altering your planner (more details HERE).

Here's my week 1 page : show your front door:

I used a gel medium transfer of a photo taken that week of our door decorated with a Christmas wreath. Funny, but we never use the front door! Is that true at your house, too?

Check out the weekly challenge prompts on the Art to the 5th blog.

Monday, April 7, 2014

My favourite LifeBook 2014 project so far....


I'm participating in LifeBook for 2014 after having completed last year's class. I love that each week you have a different teacher and a different project video in the teacher's style so you get exposed to many different ways of art journaling and can try out a style and see how it fits you. Instead of starting all the way back with week 1, I'm sharing one of my favourite pages done in Anna Dabrowska's (Finnabair's) style. I love the richness of her pieces and all the different textures that she combines so well.

Here's my page celebrating our 19th Anniversary this March.


Here are close-ups to see all the different textures I used.  Such a fun piece to do!!




Sunday, April 6, 2014

48 weeks: week 1



I was always a fan of Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesday videos and when she decided to stop doing them and created a year long art journaling class called 48 Weeks, I decided to splurge and take the class. Through her blog videos I have learned so many cool techniques and learned about so many different products and how to use them and I am definitely enjoying the class because it feeds my need to learn and try new things. I have completed the first set of 12 pages and will share them over the next couple of weeks. The journal is an A3 Moleskine which is HUGE! I have not worked this big before, but as the pages are filling up in the journal I am loving what all the space allows you to do.

This is the first spread:


A close-up of the left side with a gel medium transfer of a vintage image I've always loved:



...and this is the right side. Love all the texture!!!!


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Hello Again!


Just in case you were wondering, I've been here all along, I've just had a new edition to my life over the past year that takes up a really big part of it. This is Nora. In this picture she's 9 weeks old and 20 some pounds. I hadn't had a puppy in 15 years and I must say that it's a good thing that they grow up fast :-) I really didn't expect her to rearrange my life as much as she did - you know, things like getting up at 5am, spending time housebreaking, spending time playing, going to puppy classes, etc. etc. Needless to say, it was impossible to have crafty pursuits! She's is now grown up at almost 1 1/2yrs.old and 132.5lbs (eek!) and she's not quite finished growing...... I do enjoy having a dog again, and I think the cats have finally forgiven me.

We've had a very snowy winter this year and here's another picture of her after playing in the snow:


Have you ever tried taking a selfie with a dog? I wanted to show just how huge she is and these are my attempts:




So this is us now. She hangs out with me, but she won't go upstairs where my project room is so I have had to become more portable. I am able to play in various journals and am finding time for my creative pursuits again and I have a lot of pages that I can share.

I hope to reconnect with all of you again!