Art in all forms!

So here I am in Seattle, Wa waiting for my daughter's first baby ...who has opted to take her time entering this world :-) thus giving me more free time than I originally thought that I would have!
Since a   trip to Washington State from North Carolina limits what can be carried, my unplanned free time means I did not bring any art to work on!

So a trip to the local Michael's resulted in a supply of felt, embroidery floss and a variety of fun stuff that goes back to my pre-painting days when my kids were very small and time and space were limited!
Yep I did a bunch of sewing back then and it was a substitute for my inability to paint as I wanted. And heck since I have a little granddaughter coming (maybe by this weekend) my daughter has already hung this little embroidered owl on the baby's wall :-)

Once I remembered how to do a blanket stitch among others (it all comes back) then I would up with this little, simple fellow-perfect for a nursery-made simply from cut out felt pieces and hand stitched (I could have used a sewing machine! Just 8" x 10". Will post some more as I work through this-leaving my poor artist husband Steve to hold down the fort in NC!

Organizing the art studio

Whew! I'm getting ready for a kid's summer art camp week in Sculpture and as always, getting organized in an art studio where the tables are covered with paintings heading off for the next show-this one in Blowing Rock, NC....the cool mountains! 


Organizing any studio is a lesson in discipline. Anyone can come in and organize a place but it's up to you to keep it that way. A recent article in an issue of Cloth,Paper,Scissors has a free download on studio organization for artists and there may be some fun and useful tips in it that you did not think about!

http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/free-art-studio-organization-ideas/?a=cpe120706

As charming as this photo of a studio is (above) I am a firm believer in plastic bins (well marked) and cabinets with doors. Unused chairs simply collect stuff! You can buy shelves and cabinets ready to put together at any big box store and home supply store. As a former single mom with four children, I had to rely on part of the kitchen table and used a sheet to cover up the clutter and discourage little hands from borrowing the art supplies! In fact I have a chapter in my ebook devoted just to finding space to create and store in rental homes (a given for the single moms as some point) where there is none! 

Now, be inspired to have a clutter free area to work and see if it does not make a huge difference!

skeleton keys-where to find?

It did not take the flea market crowd long to realize that old skeleton type keys were becoming very popular with the artsy crowd!

After spending a fruitless day browsing one of the larger ones in our state of NC and finding a $2.00 key (a bargain when everyone else wanted $4-7.00 per key!) I browsed the old stand by-Ebay.

It rapidly progressed from "old" and "ephemera" to 'reproduction"! And I could not be happier!

Sunsettraders on Ebay sells these reproduction and lovely skeleton keys for a fraction of the cost. 14 keys cost me $10.00. He has 21 listed for $14.00 and so on.

In my recent art journaling class retreat where I supplied everything, these were a BIG hit! Who would not want their journal to have the symbolic "key" and all it could mean somewhere within the journal or on the cover?

Thoughts such as "Key to my Heart" or "Key to my thoughts", "Key to Happiness", etc. all come to mind!

My cover below had the $2.00 key but visit other posts in this blog and you will see the reproductions in use!

example of a cover with key

June 30 Ladies Art Retreat!

Hey it's tomorrow! Only two spots left for this fun opportunity to learn to start your own art journal! No men-just us ladies :-)

http://artstudentacademy.com/Ladies-Journaling-Retreat.html

Starting a Travel Journal

A page from my travel journal

Art Journaling offers the perfect venue to create, maintain and embellish a travel journal.

You simply fill a bag with your journal, travel watercolors, a small container of mat medium (or elmers glue), markers, scissors and you're good to go!

Collect postcards, maps, travel brochures,...all available at welcome centers and tourist stops, and when the time presents itself, assemble the pieces into your book!

It's a fabulous way to pass the time in the car, a motel, on the beach  (a little sand in the glue?) and create lasting memories of a road trip!

I'm off on a road trip to the coast this weekend to participate in an outdoor art show and I'll bring along my journal to work in when things are quiet!

The Garden Art Journal

Cultivating a garden of any size, whether it's a plot of land or a patio pot, is work at some level :-). But behind that work is the promise of a reward and so we pull on the gardening gloves, bring out the trowel or shovel and commence to plant promises.

Even the most novice of gardeners takes pleasure out of the seed actually turning into something! Starting with a plant, a seedling, is one thing. But taking those tiny dry "nothings" and seeing results start after a week or so truly borders on amazing :-)

I have also taken great pleasure in recording random vignettes in my art journal. There is no order or reason to it. With a bit of watercolor, ink and  crayon, I created a page of color. No serious painting or drawing or attempt at painting what I was looking at...just the randomness of expressing what it was that I saw and felt and making swirly lines that began to look like a flower. Not a journey of anything but the fact that I felt like making a permanent image of what I was feeling.

And that is the pleasure of art journaling. Add a beautiful morning on the art studio porch, a cup of coffee and a box of assorted art supplies and allow your thoughts to simply ....expand on that journal page in front of you!

front of studio

Embellishing the art cover journal

Front cover of 5 x 8 journal

So many choices!

So a piece from one of the heavy duty, textured fabric sample books has been re-purposed for the cover of this journal and the wire binder covered with silk scraps. 
Notice the old skeleton key, picked up at a flea market for just $2.00 that adds that certain "something" to the beginning of this art book.

Now what should this key unopen? :-)

Economical papers and fabrics

Purchasing individual sheets of scrapbooking paper can be an expensive undertaking, especially when you may not be sure what to do with them yet.

A good substitute? Both wallpaper and fabric sample books from your local recycling centers, back rooms of fabric shops or Goodwill type stores. A HUGE assortment of fabric textures, colors, patinas...all available for a fraction of the cost.

When you consider one sheet of 9 x 12 paper from a retail craft store can be $4.99-9.99, investing $2-4.00 for a 20 pound book with easily 500 samples ranging in sizes from "3 x 9" to as large as 12 " x 12" sheets of paper or fabric, well the choice is clear!

My next post will show you what I did with a few of the papers and fabrics. 

What do I need to start an Art Journal?

My trip to the Scrap Exchange netted several books filled with wallpaper and fabric samples. Finds such as these can offer a huge assortment of colors, textures and opportunities to simple experiment. After all, nothing happens if you don't try it!
But  don't underestimate what is already in your home. Markers, crayons, colored pencils, poster paints are usually in the art corner or drawer of every home. Did you know that scribbling on a page with markers and then lightly brushing over it with a wet brush will cause the colors to spread and blend into a beautiful random design?

An inexpensive box of markers

 As school begins to start back (yes I know, it's hardly out) the big discount stores will offer HUGE savings on basic art supplies such as Markers, Crayons, Glue (when was the last time you paid .17 cents for a bottle of glue? Rulers, colored pencils, puff paints, craft paints....
and the all important ways to organize them all!

Check the fabric sections in the same stores for sales on ribbons and buttons, zigzag material...KEEP IT SIMPLE!
Running around and around collecting "stuff" can block your creative abilities. Just use what is there, in front of you. The rest will come in good time!

Blending colors. A super background effect!

 

Journaling and Queen Anne's Lace

My Art Journal page

How can you not be inspired by flowers? Your garden or a friend's? 

The Queen Anne's lace is blooming  everywhere now. The warm winter meant it all came about two weeks early. In NC they bloom wild alongside what we  call "Tiger Lilies" Somehow "ditch lilies" doesn't do it for me! I let a few grow randomly in my garden and love that decision!

Both types of flowers are a fond remembrance of mine of my sister and I riding our horses down the roads and seeing these same types of wildflowers growing alongside the  road in upstate New York!

So a combination of using leaves (yanked from my grass) as a stencil, lace, paint, spray ink, markers and my trusty gel medium, transposed my vision into a fun 9 x 11 Art Journal page of a few sentences and all things Queen Anne's Lace!

It's easy to paint the flower...just blopping dabs of white paint in the general shape of the head of the flower!

The journal next to the Queen Anne's Lace in my garden

A new Journey into Art and Writing

 

Journals. I have kept them for years....written, typed, sketched.....in all formats and all the variables that come with time, where I last put it down and what I remembered or thought about. That is what makes a journal so special and individual!

Often we tend to unintentionally separate  art from writing.But, what better way to write and paint in the world of journaling than to simply become lost in the creation process!

I have SO many art supplies and some, in my art practice, become less useful as my techniques change. Ah but that is the beauty of art journaling. Nothing goes to waste!  
Oh, and all that sewing stuff tucked away here and there? What better way to randomly combine ribbon, ink, glue and paints and create an image to a thought? Join me in this journey into a creative world where there are no rules, no art critics and anything in your imagination is art!