Weather Abstraction

Surprisingly, I still love playing with abstracts. It has opened me up to becoming more open to mixing up what mediums I use, though I'm still trying to not go overboard on supplies.

The artwork above was created with watercolor pencils and acrylic paints. I seem to like using acrylics in bits and pieces. It is definitely growing on me.

I'm not happy with the way parts of this artwork turned out, but I loved the process and was surprised where I went with this.  I think that I am heading in the right direction with this, incorporating a looser style and eventually mixing my more detailed work with some abstract.

The Layered Pear

This one was bolder than usual for me.  Not only did I collage on some patterned papers, I also used acrylic paint.  If you didn't know me by now, I really don't like using the stuff.  For some reason I keep going back to it, just to see if I end up doing something that would make me like it.

I started off with taking strips of patterned paper and gluing them side-by-side on bristol, then painted on an off-white color to bring all of it together.  I stenciled over it to bring it together even more.  Feeling like the stencil was too bold, I lightly brushed on more of the off-white color.

I've got to admit, I've been craving pears a lot lately.  During one particular craving, I looked at the background I had done so far and thought that a pear would be a perfect subject.  So I quickly drew in a pear, painted the silhouette of the pear white and then inked it in.

I loved the outcome and was going to leave it there, but the more I looked at it I felt like something was missing.  A quick mix of watercolors onto the pear ended up sealing the deal.

I'm glad I pushed it a little more and added color, it made a big difference.  And to tell you the truth, acrylic paints grew on me a little with this one as well.

I Am

This is a fairly new site called On The Wing, that is a place for all things art related. There was a recent journaling challenge that I decided to try. This challenge was to write a poem (just filling in blanks) then make a mini book and collage about the poem inside it; also, we were to make a watercolor background using salt.

This is my interpretation of that challenge:

The poem was actually harder than I thought. I got stuck on many lines but pushed myself through it. When I was finally done, I was actually surprised at many of my answers. I loved how this challenge pushed me out of my comfort zone and inspired me to try new things. You'll see the poem is typed out and placed on the shipping tag.

Above is the first inside page of my minibook. It was simply acrylic on graph paper. The words were stamped on white cardstock and then ripped and added to the book. They were words taken from part of the poem. The flower was outlined in charcoal.

This is the second (and final) page of my mini book. I'm not a religious person, but the mention and imagery of prayer flags has been popping into my life a lot lately. So I ended up finding a picture and plopping it into my book. After reading my poem, it was actually sounding like I was praying for something and thought it appropriate to paint the words "I pray" over the picture in acrylic.

And that's it for now! Thanks for looking and have a good weekend!

Love Pennant

There is a great site called True North Arts that focuses on art journaling prompts. It is celebrating it's one year anniversary and the latest prompt is to make a pennant.

I wanted this to be a symbol of where I am today - wishing, hoping, and appreciating. I ended up writing love as the keyword because I realized it all pointed to loving those special to me and actually taking the time to love myself.

So happy anniversary, True North Arts! And here's to creating and finding ourselves!

Hoping to share more soon! Have a great weekend!

So Simple

On Friday, Ali Edwards gave a really easy "Weekend Creative" project that I couldn't help but to jump on board.

I took a journal page that already had a layer of craft paint on it.  Drew in the flower and quickly wrote in some things that make me happy right now.  Just to add a bit more color, I colored some areas in with watercolor crayons and then wet it with a brush.

I really love this simple idea and think I will be using it again in the future - especially with the kids!

It's Okay

As a mother and a wife, I have the tendency to put myself last.  My family is the most important part of my life.  So sometimes I forget that I need to take care of myself too. Okay, not sometimes, more like many times.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one that does this.  So I hope you take this to heart as well.  I know that taking care of myself keeps me sane!

If you liked this, you may like:

• Dream Big, Work Harder
  
• Keep Calm
  

So Lucky

Here is a quick journal page I started yesterday and finished up today. Being St. Patrick's day, I thought about luck and how lucky I am to be where I am in life.


I'm lucky to have a loving family, caring friends, food on my table, a roof over my head, opportunities for friendship, and a chance to dive into what I'm passionate about. Some days it can be easy to forget that and so much more, so I quickly made this in my journal as a reminder.

I Am

Here is a new page based on SuziBlu's challenge to do an "I Am" art journal page:


Thanks for looking! Happy Monday!