Monday, October 25, 2010

Friday, October 22, 2010

sketchbook

On October 19, 2010, I decided to start a sketchbook. I hope it will be more visual than textual, as I started it with the hopes of practicing my drawing skills. I also hope to exercise my imagination and free my inhabitions. Here are a few of the pages I have so far.



Friday, October 1, 2010

doodles and a zendala

Since I started my new babysitting job and my new tutoring job this week, I have been slacking with my art work. However, here is a zendala I made over the past week and a page of doodles I whipped up today. I used some Zentangle patterns from the book by Sandy Steen Bartholomew. The book is called Totally Tangled and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in Zentangles!




Thursday, September 16, 2010

This too shall pass!

This is an art journaling page I made over four days last week. I used a salt resist with Twinkling H2Os watercolor to make the background. I included bits of collage from Samantha Kira at www.journalgirl.com. I also used Sakura pens, tissue paper, colored pencils, and Caran d'Ache Neocolor II crayons.







Saturday, September 11, 2010

Pretty in Pink: A Quick Collage

Here is a quick collage I made today. It is not complete, as I plan on adding some lettering to it, and perhaps some other touches. I also made my second-ever ATC today! It is for an art swap that Samantha Kira (www.journalgirl.com) is hosting. I fear that my art swap partner will be disappointed, but hopefully she will understand that I am an amateur!

Friday, September 3, 2010

doodle mania!

I have been making doodles for Traci Baustista's "Creative Doodles" class. It's so fun to make these! I love to experiment with my different pens and different types of marks. Doodling is very liberating. These are just four of the many doodle pages I have made.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

drawing exercise and three works-in-progress

Here is an "upside down drawing," a drawing exercise I did from an instructional book, Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner. I think it came out better than I thought it would. Also, here are three works-in-progress. I did these on individual sheets of paper.





Saturday, August 21, 2010

first attempt at drawing!

I've been doing lots of art-related activities recently! Everything from coloring pictures for a charity called Color a Smile (www.colorasmile.org) to painting backgrounds to doodling designs in my art journal. I don't have any completed pages of my art journal to show you, though. However, I do have my FIRST attempt at drawing to show you. I followed an exercise from a website called Teach Art at Home (http://www.teachartathome.com/). I will be taking an online drawing class with Leslie Herger (http://www.comfortableshoesstudio.com/) in September, so I wanted to experiment first. Here is my final product! (PS- I know it's terrible!)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Rome and Sparta pages

Roma- I made this spread about a month ago. But, a few days ago, I added to it. I used an ultra fine black Sharpie, a fine black Sharpie, pictures and a map from an old book about Rome, gesso, and walnut ink.

Sparta- I made this spread about a month or two ago. I used watercolors, Twinkling H2Os, a black Sharpie, green acrylic paint, and two poems from a book of modern Greek poetry. After reading one poem by CP Cavafy (one of my favorite poets ever), I was inspired to art journal about Sparta. Writing in cursive is always a challenge for me, as I usually do not write this way. However, I was happy I chose to use cursive writing for this piece.


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

zendala

Here is my very first zendala! Zendala is a cross between a zentangle and a mandala. I made this zendala early in the morning after a sleepless night. I used an 03 black Micron pen and a fine black Sharpie permanent marker. I would like to thank Milliande at http://www.milliande.com/ for her video about zendalas! It was her video  that inspired me to make my own zendala.

Shape your Happiness spread

Here is a collage I made today. I started with the intention of making a gluebook-style spread. So, at first, I used just paper and a glue stick (and a scissor to cut out the elements). After I made the collage, I decided to place a player of yellow tissue paper over the spread. I used gloss Mod Podge for this. I find it interesting that this is the second art journaling page I've made this month that is yellow. Maybe a psychologist would be able to figure that one out! lol


Saturday, June 19, 2010

Art Journal Stimulus Project (with Dawn D. Sokol)

This is an assignment for Dawn D. Sokol's art journaling class. With a permanent marker, I wrote all the nasty emotions I have been feeling and the causes of these emotions. Then, I painted two layers of white gesso and two layers of deep yellow paint. Next, I used a red permanent marker to write all the good things about my day. I also added a quote by Dr. Seuss and three pictures of song birds.

Monday, June 7, 2010

bronchitis and backgrounds

I've had bronchitis that has lasted more than two week! I am starting to feel much better now, and I am back in action with creating art. Two days ago, I painted some backgrounds, some with watercolors and some with acrylics. I am starting to realize that I like creating art journaling pages on individual sheets, rather than in a journal. However, I still use journals, as well. Here are some of the backgrounds I did the other day:

Saturday, May 15, 2010

10 minute collage

This is a collage I made a few weeks ago while doing an exercise in Diane Trout's book, Journal Spilling. In this exercise, Trout encourages readers to work quickly and without stopping. I followed her advice pretty well. It took me 10 minutes to make this collage. Here is the collage:

Thursday, May 13, 2010

no art recently!

I have not been making much art recently, as I started a new volunteer position two weeks ago. I now volunteer with children at a domestic violence shelter. I've still been writing in my journal a few times a week, but I have not been taking out my art materials and playing with them much. So, instead of posting a picture of my art, here is a picture of Vasya, the orphan from Ukraine whom I have been sponsoring for three years. He is holding clothes I bought him in this picture. If you would like to sponsor a Ukrainian orphan, check out: http://anorphansmiles.org/

Thursday, April 29, 2010

two collages

These are two simple collages I did using some elements from Kira Harding, Traci Bautista, and a few other places. I did them both fairly quickly, a suggestion from the book Journal Spilling by Diane Trout. If you have not heard of Kira (www.journalgirl.com) or Traci (http://www.treicdesigns.com/), I highly suggest you visit their websites! Both of them have digital downloads of collage elements. You absolutely must buy Kira's collage book! It's AWESOME!

Monday, April 26, 2010

"consumption" mixed media piece

This is a mixed media piece I created a few weeks ago. I was thinking of adding more to it, but then I realized I am happy with it the way it is. The inspiration came for it when I was in an artistic and playful mood one day. First, while I was looking through images of birds, I fell in love with one bird in particular. I thought he looked like he should be swooping down and grabbing a fish. So, I decided to add pictures of the bird and four fish to a watercolor-painted sheet of paper I prepared the night before Then, I thought it would be humorous to make a slight political statement by drawing a comparison between the bird and Marie Antoinette. Once I thought of this comparison, the word "consumption" immediately came to my mind as an encompassing term.I added two portraits of Marie Antoinette, along with the word "consumption." I finished the piece by using acrylic paint to paint a yellow sun.



Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Pippa the Fairy

Here is a drawing I did! I followed the instructions from the ebook I received from an awesome artist named Nicolette Anderson (http://nickieblog.blogspot.com/). I first drew the fairy in pencil. Then, I went over the lines with a black Micron. Then, I colored her in using crayons. After I drew her, I decided she needed a name. So, I named her Pippa. I used Crayola markers to write her name and draw a heart. Finally, I did a green squiggly border with a green marker. So fun! NB: The paper is thin, so the zentangle-style mandala I made on the next page is peeking through a bit!

PS- This is a great site for people who love to doodle or who want to learn! http://www.doodle-art-alley.com/

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Japan page

Here is a page I finished today. I did the watercolors a few weeks ago, but then abandoned the page because I did not like the way it was turning out. However, after flipping through my art journal, I rediscovered the page's potential. I used markers, writing, and lines to complete the page. I even included my best friend's name in kanji (or some other Japanese alphabet).

Monday, April 5, 2010

mandalas

This is my first attempt at making a mandala. I am using Erin Dragonsong's ebook about mandalas (http://www.wicca-spirituality.com/mandala.html). The ebook is only 35 dollars and I think it is very much worth that price. I know that this mandala is not good. Again, this is my first-ever attempt at making a mandala. It was fun to create this mandala. I will probably try to design a few more before I go over the patterns in ink and color it.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

My first decent art journaling page!

Here is a page I did that I actually like! I am trying to add more layers to my art journaling pages. So, I started out by writing with a Micron pen on the blank page. Then, I painted on a layer of white gesso. Next, I used a Sharpie to write "Therapy," added three pictures that were cut out from magazines, and added two textual elements I cut out from a literary journal. I then added a layer of white gesso over the three pictures. Finally, I painted over the entire page using Twinkling H2Os (a brand of shimmering watercolor) from LuminArte. I completed the page by adding more writing.



Tuesday, March 23, 2010

flowers and a dragonfly

Here are some doodles I have done! One is a page of flowers and the other is a dragonfly. I did these with pens and markers. Nothing special.



Monday, March 15, 2010

Flower and more borders

I know, I know- I've been slacking. My health has not been good, so I have not been doing much. Here is a flower I made a little while ago and some practice I did with borders. Both are for Nicolette's classes. Sorry about the last picture- I am using my mom's laptop and I have no idea how to crop on here.




Friday, February 5, 2010

painted borders

I've been slacking! Of course, it's due to fatigue and pain, but, still, I feel like I've been slacking. Anywho, here are some borders I made in Violette's art journaling class! I love the class... check it out here (http://violette.ca/). I used a credit card to smear paint on paper. Then, I cut the paper into these strips:

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Creative Lettering Class

I am taking a lettering class with Nicolette Anderson (http://nickieblog.blogspot.com/). I love it and highly recommend it, especially for people like me who stink with making pretty lettering. So far I have done three assignments: writing out an alphabet, writing a quote ("It's all about the climb") in an alphabet called Tinkertoy, and writing the same quote in a different alphabet and then using color in the negative space. Here's my "homework"!




Sunday, January 17, 2010

blue heart

I made this piece after reading about the technique in Violette's "Journal Bliss." I put two layers of gesso on a page in my composition book. Then, I glued on a blue heart made of construction paper. Next, I glued on a layer of light blue tissue paper and used some pearly white paint. Lastly, I applied gel medium.


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

comp book cover

I decorated the cover of my composition book! I wanted a simple design so that I would not feel intimidated to use my art journal.

I used sandpaper on the cover to get some of the glossy finish off. I used Original Tacky Glue and attached three layers of yellow tissue paper. I attached a piece of pink construction paper and then a red heart made of construction paper. I also attached another piece of pink paper with my name and "Art Journal #1" on it. Lastly, I covered it with a gel medium.

I wish I would have used gesso after I used the sandpaper, so that the writing on the cover would be covered. I may add a few extra layers of yellow tissue paper.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Michael's coupon

I went to Michael's again today! This time, it was to use my two coupons. I bought:
  • some acrylic paints
  • brushes
  • more glue sticks
  • Original Tacky Glue
  • more gloss medium varnish
  • some brads
  • some more heart-shaped buttons
I was originally supposed to pay 48 dollars, but, with the coupons, I got it all for 32 dollars! What a bargain! Now, I should be set for a while!

I love you, Ao!

This year, I asked my best friend, Ao, to be my Valentine. I am bribing her with a collage I made! haha. I used three sheets of patterned paper as the background. Then, I wrote "I love you" in six different laguages using a ballpoint ink pen (I have not yet received my fountain pens from www.dickblick.com). I used a glue stick to attach them. I really hope my "Aoica" likes it!



simple piece for a soldier

I made this very simpe piece with markers on plain computer paper that already had "Erika" printed on it. Erika is my "adopted" soldier through Soldier's Angels (www.soldiersangels.com). I am going to mail it to her tomorrow, along with a letter I wrote her. I cannot sleep again tonight, which is a bummer. Oh, well... I will make the best of it by making things and such. Just a note: the bottom of the paper got cut off by the camera.



a poem for this day

New Year’s Eve The new year’s hazy night sky  is upon us and we think  to ourselves  what beauty the future  could hold. Of course we are sc...