This is Why...

This is why I need a cat:

From I Can Haz Cheezburger

Or a dog:

From Etsy Seller: BeanTownHandmade

Pretty Picture

I was feeling lazy, so I cut a pretty picture from a magazine and painted it into my altered book:

Empty Spaces

It's kind of disorienting to work all night. Midnight shift always feels like an alternate universe. After a few days I'm in this strange zone where I can fall asleep in less than two seconds or be wide awake just as fast. 

The other weird thing is that I kind of lose the ability to censor myself - and I wind up with some very interesting journal pages! I decided to finish the project that's been taking up floor space. But I really don't like it anymore and it's nowhere near finished. And I'm also low on patience this week.

So I just called it done. The one flower I had finished went in my journal, along with some writing. My theme was knowing when to quit - and it was one of those moments when you read what you wrote and go "of course! How did I not see that before!!"

(I would totally overshare, but I named names so I decided I'd better use the blur!)

Then I put the background back in the frame and hung it up. It's my reminder that it's ok to have some empty spaces - it leaves room for something good to come in.

Have Journal, Will Travel...

Oh look...the Canada Labour Code.  How boring:

I was cleaning out one of my lockers and I found this little binder from my days as a Health & Safety Rep.  It's 7" x 9" and it seems like a nice size so I decided it would be a good travelling journal.  The reason I don't use the 9 million books I already have is that I can never decide which one I like best.  Sometimes I want to draw and other times I want to paint.  So I have all different books of paper types and brands.  I have a few pages done in each one - then it annoys me because they're all out of order!

So I took my Canada Labour Code and I threw away all the boring stuff, then I made a new cover for it:

There's a little pocket in the front, so I put a colour wheel in and I filled the binder with different kinds of paper - watercolour paper, mixed media paper, bristol board and sketch paper.  I'm thinking that once I fill all the papers or finish a theme I'll just take them out and use binder rings to make them into a complete book.

And my dream finally came true!  I saw the Peerless watercolour film at Akamai Art Supply in Port Townsend and from the moment I bought them I've been wanting to make a travel palette, like Jane Davenport shows in her video.  I finally made one for my new book!

I'm not getting on an airplane anytime soon, but for now I think it'll travel well - maybe to work or to a coffee shop.  I'll even admit - the place it's likely to travel to first...is the couch!

Clean Your Room

Another happy thing from Jounalfest - I met another artist from Toronto!  Cynthia tells the story better than I could here on her blog.  So after our Journaling meeting at Bizzy Bee she sent me some links for online classes and I absolutely loved this one called Remains of the Day.  I loved it so much I signed up and started watching the videos.  This morning I thought I should take out my sewing machine....

"I'll just put it right here on my table":

"Oops. I haven't finished my travelling journal yet.  And I'm going to try that technique from the meeting with the ink and UTE.  Oh, and I'm also making a Peerless palette like Jane Davenport."


"That's ok - I'll just put some of this stuff on the shelves":

"Oh yeah - my half finished books from Journalfest are already there.  My Into the Crypt book and my altered books.  Plus a few new ones from Value Village that I'm cutting up for a collage...."


"Clearly this is desperate.  Maybe I'll just move something to the floor":

"Huh. That other thing is already taking up floor space.  (Please ignore the trashy novels - the edges curled up so they're just there to flatten it back out!)"

Ug.  So maybe today I'll clean up my art room.  Or better yet finish a project or two!

Journalfest

I loved Journalfest!  Even though I've been thinking about it for 2 weeks, I can't come up with any words to describe it.  So I'll just show the pictures!

I loved the funny old dormitories.  They looked a bit like an old insane asylum, but it was fun because people would leave their doors open and you could wander in and out and chat and show each other your art:

I loved Fort Worden.  The light here was incredible, even when it was overcast the colours were so vivid:

I loved going to classes in a building called "School":

I absolutely loved the classes themselves.  The artists were so talented and generous and they packed tons of information into every class. I was so excited to be slopping paint around that I completely forgot to take any class pictures.  Here's one from Liesel Lund's blog - it was the Joyful Altered Book class (and it was fantastic!)

I loved the journaling parties - this was at the beach bonfire night.  Lori, me, Corry and Margie worked on our journals in the beach shack:

Everywhere we went we put down a layer of books, papers, pencil crayons and snacks:

Walking around Fort Worden was awesome - the scenery is gorgeous and every time I stopped to take pictures these deer would come walking out:

I loved how co-operative everyone was:
Me: "I always end up with just scenery pictures.  I want pictures of people - can I take your picture?"
My Dorm Mates: "Seriously?  It's seven am...."
(Thanks for not killing me:)

Color Theory?

So all my paints are lined up across the top of my painting table - that way I can reach them all while I'm painting. As in "ooh blue - I'm gonna make her dress pretty blue".

Which is nice, except the background was already green. Maybe I'll start choosing colors ahead of time - and remove the ones that don't match!

OK With The Ugly

Sorry - I know the previous posts have all been pretty ugly.  I beat myself up with that for a long time.  I didn't like my finished products, but I was really loving the process.  I loved the way the painting calmed my brain and freed my thoughts, the way feelings could come up and be resolved through the symbols and the words that came out on the page.  So I just kept going.  Once I finally accepted that my art wouldn't be realistic or gorgeous I was ok with it.  I was ok with the ugly.  And just like that - it started to get pretty!

(PS:  I didn't paint the girl by myself - I used a template from this awesome book:  Mixed Media Dollhouses)

My 21 Secrets

By now I was loving online classes and the next one I did was 21 Secrets.  It was a whole bunch of different artists doing workshops - perfect for a short attention span!

The first face I drew all by myself - from Violette's class.  She's supposed to be my society face:

I don't remember the point of this one, but I think my personal style is starting to come out:  Pink, Bright and Messy!

This one was fun too - we started with a girl from a magazine and painted over her.  Not pink, but still nice and messy!

Starting Pages

I love it when the universe is synchronous, when one thing just flows into the next. On one of my many trips to Michael's I had bought a blank white mixed media journal. I wasn't sure what I'd put in it, though, so it sat - all clean and pretty.

I'll admit - being a control freak made this a lot harder than it seems. Normally I would buy a book, make a plan and just power through it - get it done. Instead I decided to let go and just let things happen when they were ready to happen. It was so difficult to just let it be, but I managed to breathe for a while, drift a bit, look and watch and absorb. When Inspiration finally made her visit it seemed almost random.

I was reading decorating blogs - and there it was - the most amazing room I'd ever seen. It was like candy - yellow and pink and piled high with the most scrumptious art supplies. It was Teesha Moore's. The more I explored her website the harder I fell. I watched all her YouTube videos and I knew exactly where to start with my book: with some magazines and candy colored paint! I don't think I went far enough with these pages, but I loved the process - the way stuff kind of sorts itself out on the page.

Location:Silver Dart Dr,Mississauga,Canada

Mixed Media Girls

I was a long time scrap-booker and I loved it - I have stacks of albums that are absolutely gorgeous.  But I started to feel like I wanted them to be more handmade and a little less manufactured.  I wanted them to look more like something I created instead of a collection of cute stuff I bought.  So I started collecting pens and markers and paints and I began to experiment with different styles.  My new books weren't nearly as pretty, but I had a lot of fun hand colouring borders and splashing paint around.

My major turning point was last January and it was actually caused by a foot injury.  My doctor called it tendonitis - I called it serendipity!  Either way I scored two weeks off work with nothing to do but rest my foot.  I'd been wishing for more free time because I had bookmarked some online art classes.  So I made a supply run to Michael's then spent two happy weeks covered in acrylic paint and Golden soft gel.

My first art class was Wyanne's Mixed Media With the Girls.  Her videos are step by step and she even gives you a template for the faces - you just transfer them to your watercolour paper and paint them in, so I wasn't too scared.  For the backgrounds I had to keep rummaging through the kitchen.  The things she showed with stuff like salt or saran wrap were just so cool I had to try them right away.  Doing this class was, hands down, the most fun I've ever had being home sick from work!

I finished a few paintings on different size canvases and I still haven't decided if I like them or not.  But I'm gonna show y'all anyway.  Here's one of them - my first ever mixed media painting:

Inspired

I've always wanted a blog, but I wasn't sure what I'd put on it or what I could possibly write about. Now I've been inspired - I can put up pictures of my art journals! (This isn't an original idea - I'm copying off my friends!)

The people who inspired me:

My first post!

Yay!  I have a blog!  But the signing up and finding a name that wasn't already taken has left me completely exhausted.  So for my first post I give you....a random picture I took out the window a few weeks ago: