Week 9 journal jar

Heartfelt Dolls using stamps...

I was inspired to do a version of Julie Haymaker Thompson's Heartfelt Dolls that were featured in the Somerset Studio Gallery Winter 2014 issue.  Julie's are assembled from odds and ends as actual dolls.  My version was to to take odd stamps and put them together for the same quirky doll image on paper.

I used marker, gellatos, and scraps of gelli printed paper to color my images and background.

Derwent Inktense pencils

Derwent Inktense Ink pencils: 

Work like watercolor pencils but leave a more vivid intense color.

Inktense play, torn, punched, and added to a gelli printed page in my art journal.

ME!

I needed a picture of myself in my new Rough Linen pinafore for the owner of Rough Linen.  She requests pictures of her products in real life to use on her website.  I had my Maddie home this weekend and took advantage of the beautiful NC weather for having a little photo shoot.  I would prefer to be behind the camera instead of in front of it!  Why is that?  Kids love having their picture made...when does that change?  I guess its a confidence thing....we should love everything about ourselves... we were made by a master artist.  When I put on a great hat, my magic shoes, a simple white tee, and a comfy pair of jeans or overalls, I feel like I represent my true self.  True is my one word for this year. The plain white tee and jeans is the simplistic part me, the one who is content to stay at home creating, watching a good movie, cooking, and reading.  The hat and shoes reveal my eclectic spirit, love for color, whimsy, and willingness to take risk.  At 47, I love who I've developed into on the inside, and accept, with pride, every wrinkle and curve on the outside!  ME!

Filling Jars

I grew up in a time when my Granny and Pop recycled long before either one of them new what recycling was.  There were no recycling centers, or recycling curbside pickup.  Recycling for them meant, not throwing anything away and reusing stuff over and over again. Granny had stacks of meat trays, a hoard of bread bags, butter tub food savers, and a jar of twist ties!  Heaven help you if you tried to throw a glass jar away.  Jars became drinking glasses, pickling jars for Pop's hot peppers, fresh strawberry savers, and of course the canned vegetables from the South Carolina summer garden.  Thats just jars in the kitchen.  Pop kept old nuts and bolts in them in the shed, and pocket change in one on his dresser.  Granny would put buttons in some, make them into rooting vases for her Wondering Jew porch plants in others, and I saw her more than once put her teeth in them! I hate to admit that I throw out (recycle bin) more of my jars than I keep today instead of filling them for practical, frugal purposes.  Granny would shake her finger at me and tell me I better straighten up and fly right....that I was being wasteful!  Thats not to say that there are not a few filled jars around my house.  Some hold seashells from walks on the beach, some have art supplies in them, and 12 blue mason jars line the open shelf in the kitchen that we use for drinking glasses.  My favorite jars are not glass.  My favorite jars of date are made of wood and rubber and are of unlimited number because I get to stamp them onto paper and fill them with all the things I imagine.  Filling the jars each week has become the little pieces of my journaling that I enjoy the most.  Granny filled jars. Pop filled jars.  I fill jars.

Jar stamps were bought at Michael's and Paper Source.

Art Journal: Feb. 3 - 16 and DLP Challenge

I ordered a great linen pinafore from Rough Linen.  It is awesome!  So awesome, I took measurements and made two more out of an unused grey Ikea curtain.  I love the linen one so much that I didn't want to mess it up with paint.  My two grey ones are for my studio.  I documented my measurements, sewing notes, etc in a little booklet insert.

I carved stamps this week and tried out some watercolor in Geninne's style.

The Documented Life Project: Challenge: Add a flap to your flap.

My extra flip up flap is the source picture for my large truck painting.

This is a picture print out of the actual painting I did on Saturday.

On the big easel...

The urge hit last night to put paint to canvas. 

 I am loving this large scale,

 traditional acrylic painting process this morning! 

 Big, long handle brushes.  

Using the big easel.  

Standing on a step stool.  

Mixing paint right on the canvas.  

Stepping back to look.  

I paint dark to light.  I start with the absolute darkest colors I have and layer lighter and lighter for up to 4 or 5 colors.    I think I have been painting for about 12 hours today.  Loved every minute!  I did have to share my work table.......

This is Burlap.  he jumps up onto the little sofa, then onto the back of it and up onto my table every time I start working.  I decided to just put a little bed up there for him.  He was totally content to be there all day!

Carving Picasso's Dog

I am practicing my stamp carving today.  I have always loved Picasso's simple line drawings.  Of course, I have the same kind of dog (3) that Picasso had!

A southern snow

A southern snow doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it is unbelievably breathtaking!  It has been snowing steadily since early morning.  My coffee tasted way better while watching the snow fall out the sun porch windows.The kids in the neighborhood are sledding on the big hill beside our house.  Several stopped sledding to build a snowman in our yard. The young family across the street are taking pictures of their two wee little ones in their first snow. Not a single car has moved down the road.  There is a no more comforting day than an unplanned day at home during a southern snow!