Escape…..

Oh I had fun doing this page in one of my altered books! The giraffes are part of a napkin that I got from a friend.  I used pieces from a dictionary page with the word tranquil especially chosen.  I used some retired Stampin'Up! stamps….one of which was the little alphabet set.  I really like how this turned out - very therapeutic!

Have a great day!

Create something everyday.

Joan

New Gelli Plate

I got a new round Gelli Plate for Christmas from my daughter.  I experimented with it a couple of days ago.  Want to play some more - but there are so many things I'm trying to catch up on right now that I just flit from thing to thing in my art room……I'll get to more prints soon - it's just so much fun!

Have a fantastic day,

Create something everyday.

Joan

More Show Pages

I haven't done any pages in my "Showbook" for a very very long time and thought the Christmas holiday would be a good time to get some more created.  This book is a way of holding show bills and ticket stubs from the various musical productions that we see - as a family, or just my husband and I.  I collage bits and pieces that (hopefully) have to do with the show and then write the titles of the songs from the productions around the outside edges.

When I did this page and saw the date - I guess we've been going to Broadway Across Canada since 2008.  We've been pleased with MOST of the shows - not all, but most.

Have a great day - 

Create something everyday,

Joan

Silent but busy

The Christmas season has come and gone with all of it's school preparation for concerts, card stamping and general busyness.  I haven't done a lot of arting, but I have done some, and through the next few days I can catch up - yet again with all I've been creating.

Today I worked on the above mandala for one of the Tangents and Tactic prompts - that I'm behind on.  I did it on watercolour paper with my watercolour pencils and used a small brush to bring the colour away from the lines.  It's a different sort of mandala than I'm used to doing and it was fun and very relaxing to do.

I'll share more soon.

Create something everyday,

Joan

Birds and a Mandala

Well, this is certainly a modge-podge!  I've been holding off on drawing over this - just seeing what would happen.  The original picture on the right hand page of the bird was what sparked a bird theme.  I got some bird stamps, washi tape and used up an old Stampin'Up! decor elements wall sticker.  The blues came from excess paint from other projects so that was the reason I added blue to the mandala.

Create something everyday!

Joan

Reused Calendar Bits

I finally got around to creating a art journaling page using pieces from a calendar I've enjoyed this year. I got a bit daring this time too and expanded the paint for this particular spread onto the underlying pages.  You can see a bit of a black and white page underneath, but I've covered two additional pages with the greens and oranges.  We'll see what comes to pass when I start working on those pages.

Create something everyday!

Joan

Found Paper Books

I've been busy lately binding found paper books - I created all the signatures at the same time, but I'm taking my time with the covers.  

The background for this one - the stones - is a paper napping, and the keys are tissue paper; except for the "real" one that I attached with a ribbon so it moves.

Lots more paper napkins used here, a bit of washi tape and some letter stickers.

Create something everyday.

Joan

Zigzags and Quotes

Daily Paper Prompt - Day 65 - Wax Resist

I used a white crayon to create the zig zag lines.  Down in the left corner there had been a stamped image of diamonds - I coloured them in so they'd show through a bit.  Next I good some watercolours the same colours as the stamped diamonds and went to town in zigzaggy sorts of strokes.

It was a busy day, and I hadn't worked in my quote book for quite a while - in fact I had started the vine at the top of the page on an earlier day.  

Doodled Stencil

I have had this background in my little "fire book" for a long time - the turquoise background that has a bit of fleck in it and the stencilled green leaves.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.  Covering it with a mandala didn't seem right - so I decided to fill the leaves in with different zentangles.  It's always good to practice and try new zentangles.  

Create soemthing everyday.

Joan

Circular Zentangles

I've been working on this piece for a long long time!  I painted some of the circles this past summer when I was arting with Emily Lagore on afternoon.  The page is out of an Eric Carle book and expands just as far in the other direction in another section of my book.  It was fun and hard deciding what to draw in each of the sections.  I've broken the sections down for you here….and then added a photo of the whole spread.

If you look carefully, you can see the dragon peeking from underneath the designs.

Create something every day.

Joan

Zentangles and Swirls

Thought it was time I tried a few new zentangles …..there are so many to choose from!  The background for this page was leftover paint from another project.

Bit by bit my little 6x6 zentangle book is filling up.  I added a bit of extra stuff to this basic tangle….that's what so fun about them - you can start out with something basic and flourish it for yourself.

I did this while sitting in a waiting room.  I quite like the movement the lines create!

Create something everyday - and add some of your own flare.

Broken Mandalas

Playing some catch-up with art I've done since the end of October.  My little 6x6 "Fire book" is getting filled up quite nicely.  With this mandala I'm experimenting with not having all of my lines touching…..gives it a different look.

I've been waiting a long time to work on this particular background.  It's made of tape strips  from left over gelli print paint.  I loved how they showed up on the black paper.

This is in a different book - I have a number of photos I took at the Louvre that I'm going to use for gell transfers.  I'm happy with the way these two turned out because sometimes I rub too hard!  

Daily Paper Prompt #64 - Contour Drawing.

This took a bit of practice - drawing a face without lifting the pen from the page AND without opening your eyes.  She looks a bit angry!  I added some flowers at the bottom in a continuous line too.

Create something you've never tried today.

Joan

Bold Patterns

This is a piece I did for Tangents and Tactics "Bold Patterns".  It was fun to create little designs on small pieces of card stock and then "quilt" them into my book; overlapping or cutting as needed.  This page actually came before one I've already posted HERE.

Both of them were fun to do.

Create designs on small pieces and then block them together.  Create everyday!

Joan

October Mandalas

I haven't posted for a while, but I have been busy doing things - mostly.  These three pieces were for a Daily Paper Prompt "Random Acts of Art".  The backgrounds are from gelli prints I did quite a while ago.  I cut them into 6x6 squares, drew mandalas and then cut them in half again.  I will be leaving little notes on them and then leaving them around my community.

Create something and then share it with a stranger….

Have fun,

Joan

Doodle Grid and Background Paint

Doodle Pattern Grid - Tangents and Tactics

This is a different take on the bold shape page I did the other day.  I still did each of these on a small piece of paper and attached them to my book.  Coloured in-between the squares with my watercolour crayons and smudged them a bit.

I was working on my gelli plate yesterday, and sponged the leftover paint into a book for a background!  Tons of fun!

Have a good one!

Create everyday.

Joan

Monochromatic Music

Day 60 - Daily Paper Prompt - Monochromatic with Black and White.  I love monochromatic creations - and this one was fun.  I made good use of the old "fashion" magazines that I've held onto.

Day 61 - Daily Paper Prompt - Create while listening to music.

 I have a very eclectic array of music on my computer, so I scrolled through my playlist with my eyes shut and clicked on a song.  The chosen song was "Two Bare Feet" by Katie Melua.  I wasn't really familiar with the song, which was nice because then I couldn't anticipate the rhythm,  The colours were chosen before the music and I used a palette knife and plastic card. 

Create something every day.

Joan

Altered Map

Day 59 - Daily Paper Prompt - Altered Map

I found through the stuff I still have from our trip to Paris and found a Map of the Museums throughout the city.  Then…..a mandala overtop.

I spent a bit of time Sunday afternoon peeling the layers of acrylic paint off of the scratched up  Big Shot plate that I use for my paint palette sometimes.  I covered the top of it with Self Leveling Gel and let it dry overnight.

This is the backside of the gel skin that I now have to play with.

And here is the top side.  I can tear it and adhere it to collages and such in the future.  Yippee!

Create something everyday.

Joan

Backgrounds and tangles

We had a Professional Development day last week and I took one of my doodle books along with me.  I didn't do all of these zentangles that day - but I finished them up that night.

I made this wonderful blue background for a Tangents & Tactics background…..and then covered it up with these little photos. Well, actually, we were suppose to add little magazine pictures, but I ended up zeroing in on black & white photos and then I had to find one of my favourite Katharine Hepburn!

Create everyday!

Enjoy yours!

Joan

Headache Mandala and Paper napkins

I wasn't feeling very well last week - had a migraine for three days - I tried to do a bit of doodling but it's hard to concentrate with a headache!  So this mandala took three days to do - and the lines are so close you can almost feel my tension!  I do like it though!

Day 57 - Daily Paper Prompt - One Word Journal Page

I love how this turned out.  I painted a bunch of blues for a background, attached some leftover hexagon pieces from another project, then glued a wonderfully pretty paper napkin on top.  The colours and shapes of the hexagon paper show through!  Next I attached paper letters, outlined them with a white paint sharpie, and added water to make the white run.

I spent all of Thanksgiving Monday in my craft room - this is by far my favourite page of the day!

Create something everyday!

Have a good one.

Joan

Grids and Torn Paper

Day 54 - Daily Paper Prompt - Organize Ephemera

I had to break down and do this a number of months ago!  I end up with little piles of stuff, and when it gets too big I divide it into categories.  The tall accordion folder is one I take with me when I travel someplace in the car as well as the little green accordion folders which comes with me if I'm traveling by plane.  Of course that means I have three different places to look for things - and three different places to "lose" things that I remember I've collected.  Oh well!

Day 55 - Daily Paper Prompt - Patterned Grid

I didn't really follow this prompt correctly - I did a zentangle in each of the grid boxes.  Maybe I should have repeated designs.  Doesn't matter - there's no right or wrong!

Day 56 - Daily Paper Prompt - Torn Paper Collage

I just happened to have a pile of torn pieces from other projects in a corner of my desk - so I was happy to be able to put them together in a totally random way for this prompt.

Organized Ephemera

Daily Paper Prompt #54 - Organize Ephemera.

Well- I didn't do this in one day - this is how I am all the time.  And this isn't all the ephemera I have!  I can organize and categorize things forever - sometimes I spend more time organizing than creating - and it drives me nuts!  And then, of course - there's the organizing so well that you don't remember where you organized something to!  But I love my boxes.  The two large ones stay at home all the time.  The black accordion box comes with me if we are driving someplace on holiday, and the little green accordion holder come with me when I fly.   That way  I have little bits with me - and then I add to them wherever I am.

No art today because I was stamping last night and again today.  Hopefully I'll get a bit of doodling in later.

Have a good day!

Joan

White and Neon

Daily Paper Prompt #52 - White Page

This went completely in it's own direction.  I had scrounged up a number of white things and was just going to create a collage - but one of the white things was a feather from a bunch I had picked up after our Terry Fox Run yesterday morning.    I was only going to add one feather - but then I drew the face on a separate piece of paper, cut her out and gave her feather hair.  A bit creepy maybe - but I had fun and that's what counts.

Daily Paper Prompt #53 - Triangles

Can you tell I used neon paint!?  I didn't clean my brush between colours all the time - so I got a bit of a mixture.  They certainly don't work the same way as acrylic paints!  I was going to doodle in each of them, or outline them in black - but I decided just to let them be.

Hope your day is great - 

Create something fun today.

Joan

Bordering Zentangle

Daily Paper Prompt #51 - Borders

Some of the spray ink from the previous page went over onto this one - so I just added a bit more and some stencils.  Then I drew some borders before adding one of my favourite zentangles to the inside.  I've never drawn a border before - but I can see where I'd like to do it a bit more often.

Have a creating day!

Joan

Vogue - Negative - Fall

Daily Paper Prompt #49 - Vogue

This was difficult!  We were suppose to create an imaginary magazine cover including headlines for articles.  That was the tough part.  But I just picked things that have been happening right now - 

Daily Paper Prompt  #50 - Negative Space.

This was fun - I painted a bit of a background so the "negative" wasn't stark white.  I then adhered a silhouette cut out from a magazine and painted around it….then added some thoughts.

I also spent the weekend working on a piece for my front entry.  It took a number of transformations, but I'm happy with the end result.

I'm hoping to get some more arting done tonight - I've been designing Christmas cards - so I'd like to get a bit messy before designing more.

Have a great day

Create something negative.

Joan