Thankful!

So much to be thankful for!

Still!  Always!!!

autumn

Loving autumn...

...and journaling inspired by this season...happy, happy!

blind???

Yep, blind...as in blind contour drawing.  You don't look at your paper...keep your eyes on your subject only...and use one line...you don't lift your pencil off the paper.  I was reminded how much I enjoy this exercise in a class by Teresa McFayden. Since you can't look, I feel like the pressure is off...I mean it really CAN'T turn out well if you aren't looking at your paper, right? Anyway, I may draw better "blind" than when I am actually looking...and I just love the whimsy that the sketches have...a bit of an exercise in faith...letting go...hmmm...

Here is a lamp that I drew "blind"...

I used my Stabilo ALL pencil to do the sketch and then used the waterbrush to wet and smoosh the lines a bit...Super fun!!!

Try it !  :)

onto the page

I L-O-V-E art journaling for so many reasons...but you know that already don't you...I love it just for the joy of creating, but there are times when I am working through "something" and the processing is screaming to be expressed on the pages of my art journal...this is what happened with this page.  As I was "struggling," a picture of a cherry pie came to mind...hmmm...and so I hunted through magazines till I found just the right picture...and I propose that even that "hunting" helped with the processing...anyway, here is the process as it developed on the pages...

First, I "spilled" what needed to come out all around the edges, creating a border...

Then, since it wasn't "pretty,"  I covered over parts of the journaling with dictionary text and strips of a magazine page...

Then came the "antidote"...one of my favorite Scripture verses, written big and loose, some of the letters ending with an upward swoosh and some with a long finish line...

Next, I added some swipes of gesso over some of the journaling and the collage elements, plus some texture paste through a stencil, to unify the different elements... 

  

Since I knew I was using a cherry pie I decided to sketch some cherries over the verse and watercolor them with Tombow markers and a waterbrush...kinda scarey, but so much fun once I just committed, and did it...I had fun with the doodled leaves too!   :)  I also added a bit of shading around the sketches with a Distress marker (Antique Linen) and waterbrush...

Finally, I outlined the pie with a Fudeball pen-all squiggly-plus a Stabilo pencil and the same Distress marker and then blended with a waterbrush...

That's it!  I had worked it all out right there in my journal...it is hugely significant to me and the page will serve as a reminder and encouragement to me to engage and be faithful to the process. Once again, our art journals serve us well!  :)  Hi Ho Cherry-O!!! 

The Big Trip

I'm baaaack...wow! it has been a very long time since I have shared here...sorry!  The past month-plus has been very busy...very fun...lots of classes, getting ready for The Big Trip, then The Big Trip, and finally catching up after The Big Trip.  AND The Big Trip was wonderful!  For those of you that don't know, my dear hubby took me to Europe...woohoo!  I had never been before and what a treat it was...AND part of the fun was that it included a Viking River Cruise (you know, the ones you see advertised on PBS)...okay, so I will just say that it was the best...I highly recommend it.  We took the cruise that traveled from Paris up the Seine River and then back to Paris...did I say wonderful?!?  We saw and learned so much that we would have never been able to see on our own.  I could write pages and pages but I am not going to do that...whew! Right! :)  Instead I will share a few pictures of just a bit of what we saw...

Our ship...(just a small portion...where we boarded...it was too big to get in one photo)

Everything we saw was beautiful...a visual feast...

 Monet's garden and studio...incredible to be there...THE lily ponds...

The cathedral in Rouen that Monet painted 28+/- times at different times of day...

...and the window across the street from which he painted the cathedral...

Rouen is alson the village where Joan of Arc was tried and burned at the stake...

a bit of shopping...for art supplies, of course!

 Mark on Omaha Beach in Normandy...

Amazing art at the Louvre...

Crazy opulence at Versailles...

 ...more art...

A super fun O-L-D art store in Paris...

That was France.  And then to London...

  Look what we found!

Another museum...

That is just a peak...yep, yep, yep it was an amazing trip! Part of the fun was that my art-heart got all filled up! (Could you tell from the pics?)  :)  I am so very thankful for the opportunity and blessing that this trip was.

the gaze of the soul

Another art journal page prompted by the Documented Life Project. (The challenge was to include fabric on this page.)  Here is how it came together...

The yellow circle is a piece of fabric that I adhered to the page with gel medium.  This photo is a favorite of my sister and I...part of my story...and I am currently reading a book by A.W.Tozer and that is what I journaled...I love to include on my journal pages notes from my reading that are significant to me...it is all part of the processing.  And it seemed to suit the photo.
Hope you are adding a little art to your summer days!  :)