2014 Journal52 - Week 34 - Alphabetical

The prompt for week 34 for Journal52 was Alphabetical. I started out adhering a river of thick letters to my page and covered the whole page with gesso. It didn't look like a river to me so I decided to make the Alphabet Fairy! I drew the head and neck on another piece of paper and drew the face and coloured it and cut it out. Then I added some doll hair to the head. I drew in the dress around all the letters and then drew the wings and arms and hands. I painted the dress and letters green and felt that the letters didn't show up enough so I painted the letters with gold metallic paint. Then I adhered the head onto the top of the dress. I painted the background yellow and added some swirls in red. I drew in a wand and a box of letters for the Alphabet Fairy to hold in her hands.
She sure is whimsical! *L*

2014 Journal52 - Week 33 - Gratitude

Week 33 for Journal52 was about Gratitude. I am very thankful for many things in my life.
I first covered the page with some hearts that I cut out from post-it notes to use as masks. Then I used Dylusions spray inks to cover the page. I removed the heart masks and added some muted coloured stamping in the background. I wanted my page to depict joy so I drew some stick figures jumping for joy in the hearts. They make me laugh! I stamped pictures in the other two hearts.  I made a large heart from a paper I had made with more spray inks. I wrote on the big heart and cut it out and popped it up on the page with pop dots. I drew around the other hearts with watercolour crayons and painted them.
The sentiment is something that I try to do every day.  :)

2014 Journal52 - Week 32 - Favourite Foods

The prompt for week 32 for Journal52 was Favourite Foods. I love the Fall when it is harvest time and all the fresh vegetables are so delicious.
I had fun with the background on this page. I painted it to look like a corn field and then did some stenciling, stamping. doodling, and shading with ink. I wrote the title on a separate piece of paper and then coloured it and adhered it to the page. I stamped the girl and coloured her with pan pastels. The corn and beans were pictures from grocery ads. I then added some washi tape.
It makes me hungry just looking at this page! LOL

2014 Journal52 - Week 31 - Friendship

This week's prompt in Journal52 was Friendship. I did the background on this two page spread on the gelli plate and I made the circles with a round sponge. I drew the girls and the banners on an old calendar and coloured them with markers. I cut them out and adhered them to the page. I drew in the hearts and did some stamping in the background.
I am thankful for my friends. :D Tell your friends how much they mean to you.

2014 Journal52 - Week 30 - Positive Words

The prompt for week 30 was Positive Words. I made a tag to go into a pocket in my Happiness File Folder Journal. I sectioned off the tag and then wrote the words and drew the zentangle patterns with a black fine line marker. I got my inspiration for the zentangles from a book called Zenspirations by Joanne Fink. Then I added some colour with markers.
Have a positive day!
I always appreciate hearing from you. :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 29 - Fashion

The prompt for week 29 was Fashion. This is my attempt at a fashion drawing. After I drew the picture I painted it with acrylic paints, drew over some areas with a black marker and added some flowers and bling to the top of the dress and some bling in the background. This was fun and a real learning experience. I'll have to keep practicing.
Take care and as always, I appreciate hearing from you!  :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 28 - Technology

The prompt for week 28 of Journal52 was Technology. I started by collaging the whole page with a map page from an atlas. Then I did some painting over the map and sponged some inks through a gears stencil. I did some background stamping and added a stamp of the world. Then I added a picture that I had found in the newspaper that week as well as the title of the article. I collaged the heart onto the picture and printed the sentiment with a marker. I then added some shadows with markers.
Click on the picture to see it closer and see if you can find the map page in the background. :D
Technology sure has changed out lives.
I always appreciate hearing from you.

2014 Journal52 - Week 27 - Nostalgia

This is a two page spread that I did at a workshop with Ania Dabrowska aka Finnabair. The workshop was at The Art House Studio in Cambridge.
Here's a close-up of the first page.

This is a picture of me sitting under a table. This was my favourite spot to watch TV when I was growing up. I now have that table from my parents' house. And no.....I no longer sit there to watch TV! *LOL*  The background of the page has a lot of texture from using heavy gel medium through stencils. We also added patterned papers, spray inks, stamping and embellishments.

Here is the second page close-up.

This is a picture of me as a teenager sitting at the top of the Appalachian Mountains where we were visiting. It was fun to look back at old photos.
When is the last time that you took a step back in time and got nostalgic? Good memories. :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 26 - Under the Sea

I had a lot of fun making this scene for week 26 in Journal52. The prompt was "Under the Sea". I used a page in a tall journal that had been gessoed and had leftover acrylic paint on it. It seemed very suitable for water so I used that page.
I drew the fish and coloured them with pencil crayons and then cut them out and glued them to the page. I drew, coloured and cut out the anchor and the rocks the same way. I used some deli paper that I had painted for the tall grasses, cutting it in long, thin strips. I drew and stamped some underwater greenery on the background. I added some bubbles with a white gel pen.
I wonder what those fish are thinking? *LOL*
I hope you have this much fun with your next page. :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 25 - Nature

The prompt for week 25 in Journal52 was "Nature". I did a collage for this page. The background paper was recycled from paper that was wrapped around some flowers that I had received. The frame and banners were cut from patterned paper. The flowers were drawn on scrap paper and book pages and then coloured with watercolour crayons and cut out and collaged onto the background. The bugs were stamped and cut out and added to the scene. Then I added some texture stamping with silver metallic ink. Thanks for looking.
Take care! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 24 - Courage

The prompt for week 24 in Journal52 was "Courage". It made me remember my own struggle years ago. I used some spackle scraped through a brick stencil for the bricks over a painted background. I painted over the bricks and between the bricks. I did hand lettering for most of the words and used letter stamps for the words courage and walls. I added a bit of stamping in the background and doodled around the edges.
We all show courage many times in our lives. Be brave!
Take care! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 23 - Passion

For this page I took my inspiration from a journal page done by Kasia Krzyminska.  I gessoed the page and then added dimension by scraping joint compound through a stencil. When that was dry I drew in my flowers. I coloured some of the background with spray inks that I painted on instead of spraying. I then added some random stamping, writing, and bits of paper. Then I sponged some ink on the edges and some through a stencil. You can see more detail if you click on the picture to get a closer view.
This page is covered in texture and fun to touch.
What are you passions in life? :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 22 - Travel

The prompt for week 22 was Travel. We were to do a page that showed one of the ways we like to travel. I looked in my paper stash and I found an old piece of patterned paper that looked like an outdoor scene so I used it for the background. I stamped, coloured and cut out several trees and glued them down. I stamped the Stampin' Up camper from the stamp set Happy Camper and I enlarged it on my printer. I coloured it with pencil crayons and cut it out and adhered it to the background.Then I added some doodling, colouring, stamping and journaling to complete the page.
What is your favourite way to travel? Have fun doing an art journal page about it.
Take care and have a great day! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 21 - Mandala

The theme for week 21 was to draw a mandala. I really like this shiny, colourful mandala that I had done 3 years ago and posted it on this blog on Nov. 23, 2011, so I used it for week 21.
I drew the circle by very lightly tracing around an apple corer/slicer and traced the sections as well. This was the base for the drawing. Then I tangled the sections with coloured gel pens and did some shading with coloured pencils. I put one gem in the middle of the mandala. If you click the picture you can see a closer view.
Thanks for stopping by. :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 20 - Book Inspired

The theme for this week in Journal52 was Book Inspired. I drew the owl on a separate piece of paper and coloured it and cut it out. The background paper was done by putting a stencil down and then sponging through the stencil with inks and stamping through the stencil with stamps and different colours of inks. I then glued the owl to the background and drew the branch and drew some zentangle patterns and leaves on the branch. I found some ornate letter stickers for the O and A for my lettering and wrote the rest with my calligraphy pen. I like the way this one turned out. :D What do you think? I appreciate hearing from you.
Have a fabulous day and read a book!

2014 Journal52 - Week 19 - Photography

Photography was the theme for Journal52, week 19. I chose a picture of myself holding a mask to my face. I cut just myself from the photo and added a skirt made from some wrapping paper from my Mother's Day gift. I did some ink sponging through stencils for the background and added some stamping with the Mardi Gras theme. I coloured in some of the stamped images using inks and pencil crayons. I also did some doodling and added some washi tape.
This was a fun page to do. I'll have to use photos in my art journal again sometime. Have you tried it?
Have fun and thanks for stopping by. I'd love to hear from you! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 18 - Creative Hands

The theme for week 18 of Journal52 was Creative Hands. I decided to use the lyrics from the Beatles' song "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" as the theme for my page. I used a gelli print for the frame and the heart and glued them onto black cardstock. I drew the hands on white cardstock and drew the border and did the writing with a black marker. Then I cut out the white heart and glued that to the gelli print heart. Then I used my white Signo pen to write the lyrics of the song onto the black cardstock.
I've been humming the song ever since! :D
I really appreciate when I hear from you so please leave a comment and let me know that you visited.
Thanks and have a great day!

2014 Journal52 - Week 17 - Refresh

In what ways do you refresh yourself? This was the prompt for week 17 for Journal52.
I first gessoed my page and then added acrylic paints and rubbed off with a wet paper towel over several stencils. I stamped the birds by Dina Wakley and then painted the birds and the branches. I wrote the words with a black marker and used a white Signo gel pen to highlight the words. The word "Refresh" was stamped with an alphabet stamp set.
Have a wonderful day. I would really appreciate hearing from you so that I don't feel like I'm doing this blog for no one. Thanks. :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 16 - Recycled Art

The prompt for week 16 in Journal52 was Recycled Art. I recycled many things on this two page spread. The journal itself is a recycled magazine from the University of Waterloo.
I covered the page with some pieces of cardstock that my friend Linda had used to punch out oval shapes and was going to throw away. I glued them all over the page and then painted over it with gesso and then some acrylic paints. The girl was one of my quick drawings on an old calendar that I call my calendar girls.  I cut her out and glued her onto this page. The kite was made from the patterned paper on the inside of an envelope. I drew and cut out some flowers from a paper that I used behind some ink spraying that I had done. The bottom of the page and doily designs were from a napkin. The birds and butterflies were stamped on a piece of a gelli print.
 It's fun to use up things that you have saved from other projects.
What have you recycled lately for your art?
I'd be pleased to hear from you! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 15 - Party Animals

This page, for the prompt "Party Animals", was done with my grade two class to demonstrate the crayon resist technique. The scene was drawn with crayons and then tempera paint was applied over the crayon and the crayon resisted the paint. I call this "Party on the Pond".
This was a simple and fun page. :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 14 - Rain or Shine

I stenciled gesso onto the background of this page and then added paint, stamping and splatters. I drew and painted two watercolour paintings for the rain and sun theme. I glued them to the background and added the writing. If you click the above picture, it will enlarge so that you can see the detail in the background.
Enjoy your day no matter what the weather! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 13 - How Does Your Garden Grow?

I started this page by covering it with Tim Holtz patterned tissue paper. I put a light coating of gesso on it and then stenciled the background with paint using the brick stencil. I did not cover the entire background. I did some stamping using different colours on parts of the background as well. I stamped some flowers onto some of my gelli prints and cut them out. I drew some leaves on a green gelli print and cut them out. I glued the flowers and leaves to the background and did some doodling with white and coloured markers. Then I stamped the sentiment.
I wish my camera would take pictures that show the true colours of my pages. The photos always look washed out.
Have a great day! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 12 - A Day in the Life of Me

The background for this page was inspired by Julie Balzer. The top and bottom of the page were masked off, and then paint, sprays and stenciling were used to do the design on that area. Then I removed the masks and watercoloured the rest of the page. I then drew in the circles and did lots of doodling and wrote in the activities for a typical day for me. I used black markers for this part.
I don't get all of that done everyday, but I try! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 11 - Stars

For week 11 of the Journal52 prompts, we were to do a page based on stars and the night sky. The background is done with acrylic paints and a stencil of stars. I gessoed the page and then applied the paint and put the stencil down and wiped away some of the blue, green and red paint to show the stars in the background. I then did lots of white splatters with watered down white paint on a paint brush. I hit the brush and let the paint splatter over the background. Then I did some splatters in gold paint.
The stars were drawn on shiny white paper and and then painted over with sparkle glaze and cut out.
The fairy was stenciled onto white paper with acrylic paints and then also covered over with sparkle glaze and cut out. I wrote the sentiment, cut the words out and applied them to the page. Then I highlighted the stars, fairy and words with a fine point black marker and some shadow marker.
Wouldn't you like to dance among the stars? I would.
Have a great day! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 10 - Art for a Cause

The prompt for week 10 of Journal52 was Art for a Cause. I chose to use a journal page that I had created a couple of years ago in my Healthy Living Art Journal. I am reading a book called "Clean Cuisine" by Ivy and Andrew Larson and it inspired me to choose "encouraging clean eating to feel better" as my cause.
This page was first painted and stamped and then I did some collage of patterned paper for a boarder and pictures of healthy fruits and vegetables. I wrote the title with marker.
Cheers to all of you as I drink my clean, green smoothie! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 9 - Colour Swatch Inspiration

For the week 9 prompt for Journal52 we were to take our inspiration from some colours that we like and use them for our art journal page. I decided to draw some flowers with a pencil and chose a few colours of my Twinkling H2O paints to paint them in. Then I doodled around the flowers and leaves with a fine black marker and a white gel pan and also drew the frame. I splattered some paint onto the painting for interest.
The next picture shows some of the details.

You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

I did a second painting for the same prompt. 

For this one I used watercolour paper and painted with the wet-on-wet technique. First I wet the paper with clear water, then painted the flowers and leaves. I did not draw them first. I outlined my flowers and leaves with black paint with a liner brush. Then I splattered black paint on the page and drew a frame with a marker.
I couldn't decide which one to post to the Journal52 group so I posted both! I thoroughly enjoyed painting these. I can't wait to get rid of the snow and see Spring again!!!
Take care! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 8 - Found Poetry

The prompt for week 8 for Journal52 was to do a page with Found Poetry. You were to find some words from a page in a book or any other written work, and make a poem. I chose to do mine with book spine titles.
My poem reads, " Toxic Bachelors, Night's Gift, Sweet Everlasting, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Morning, Noon and Night.
I stacked the books and took a photo and printed it out on regular printer paper. Then I made a frame for the photo with some black textured paper and rubbed gold metallic acrylic paint on it. Then I marked where the photo would go on my page and collaged some patterned papers around the edges. I added some paint with my fingers and with some bubble wrap on the patterned papers. I then collaged some pictures from a magazine and drew around the collaged papers with a black marker.
I then added the title and drew around that with a white gel pen.
This whole journey of following some prompts with Journal52 is really helping me try new things and making me think outside the box and taking me out of my comfort zone. It's quite fun!
Take care! :D

Art Journal - My First "Houses" page

My friend Linda came over to do some art journaling and showed me her page that she had done of some houses. I loved it! Her inspiration was Cathy Bluteau who does awesome "Houses" art journal pages and has some videos on youtube.
Linda wanted to do another one so we both got to work and this is my first attempt at making a page of houses. It was so much fun adding all the different little details. I put some things in there that make me laugh. If you click on the above picture, it will enlarge and you can see more of the details. I know I will be making more little villages in the future. I have already started my second one.
The houses on this page are all patterned paper cut free hand into house shapes and collaged onto the painted background on the page in the art journal. Then I added some paint and doodling and stamping and rub-ons.
This was too much fun. Give it a try! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 7 - When I grow up...

Our Journal52 prompt this week was "When I grow up". We were to think of all the things we thought we would like to be when we grew up or interpret it any way that we wanted. Because my career as a teacher is over, I chose to do my page on how I'd like my retirement to be. I found I could have filled many pages with things I like to do, but I narrowed it down and tried to keep it simple. I used the mind map technique for my composition.
I stamped the background randomly with black ink images, then scraped some paint onto it with an old credit card. I added some texture with bubble wrap and white paint. I sprayed three colours of Dylusions ink in spots and let it drip down and sprayed it with some water to disperse it.
I made the main figure by tracing a model from a magazine and cutting it out. I then stamped some black ink images onto the silhouette and drew in a few details and then the word "Retired".
I made the framed word cards for my subtitles and then added a small picture of something from each topic by each card. I grounded the figure with some washi tape.
I then stamped a handmade border stamp a couple of times and inked the edges of the page with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
If you want to see more detail, click on the above photo and you will see a larger picture.
Thanks for stopping by! :D
I'd love to hear from you.

2014 Journal 52 - Week 6 - The Lost Art of Love Letters

I found myself getting emotional as I made this page. My Dad passed away 18 years ago. Making a page with my Mom and Dad's wedding picture on it brought back many memories of the times when Dad was still with us. I am blessed to still have my Mom.
I used several stencils on this page. The church window was from a stencil by Finnabair. I sprayed white ink through the stencil onto black paper and then cut it out. I copied a photo of Mom and Dad onto plain paper, glued it to cardstock and cut it out. I added some colour to them with pencil crayons.
I made the envelope with my We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board. I added white paint to a red heart doily. I used acrylic paint and markers for the background.
I wrote the love letter and put it in the envelope. I'm happy that I'll get to show it to my Mom.
Why don't you write a love letter to someone you love? They will  cherish it.
Happy Valentine's Day! :D

2014 Journal52- Week 5 - Abstract Art

The theme for this week's Journal52 was to make abstract art. I chose to do an abstract cityscape by the river with the reflection. I didn't know that's where this would end up when I started out though! Lol
First I took an old credit card and scraped several colours of acrylic paint onto deli paper for the background. I let that dry and and took a couple of days to figure out what to do with it.
I  took a stencil by Ronda Palazzari called Urban Landscape and sponged black paint through it to create the cityscape. Then I flipped the stencil over and sponged a lighter paint through it to create the reflection. I wiped some of that paint off to give it a hazier look.
I painted the windows and some of the details on the buildings with white paint. I did the same on the reflection and again wiped some of the paint off. I then glued the deli paper to a page in my art journal.
This was an interesting theme and I am pleased with my attempt at abstract art. What do you think? :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 4 - Character Building

This page started out with a coat of gesso. Then I took a magazine image of a girl and lightly traced the shape and features. I took an oak leaf stamp and covered it with two colours of gelatos, spritzed it with a mist of water and stamped it several times on the background.  Then I painted with some acrylic paint and put a stencil over the wet paint and rubbed off the paint in the design of the stencil. This is called reduction stenciling.  Then I took another stencil and sponged some ink through it. After that I drew in the girl's face with a stabilo pencil, which is water soluble, and took a paint brush and painted in those black lines. Then I used watercolour paints to paint in the face and hair. I wrote the message in black marker.
This page was a lot of fun and is my entry for week 4 of Journal52.
I hope you're having fun too! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 3 - You Make Me Smile

My page for week 3 of the Journal52 series has a lot of collage and a picture of my husband. I started by gessoing the page, and then I added lots of different types of papers which I collaged to the background. I painted some diluted white paint over all the collage to tone it down and unify it. I stenciled some spackling to the page for texture. I also added some washi tape. Then I added some LuminArte spray paints and let them drip down the page. I also added some colour with some Silks acrylic glaze. I did some stamping in the background too.
I framed the picture of my husband and added it to the page. Then I wrote the text in marker.
Keep smiling!!! :D

2014 Journal52 - Week 2 - Somewhere, A Simple Place

My page for week 2 of the Journal52 series is about the joy and peace I find while walking on the walking trails by the river. I love to be out in nature. This is a mixed media piece. I first drew the scene with pencil, then I painted it with watercolours and added some details with pencil crayons and markers. I wrote the words with a straight pen and ink.
Where is a simple place that you like to go?
:D

2014 Journal52 -Week 1 - Up, Up and Away

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2014 will be a great year for all of us!!!  It's been a while since I last posted , but I am back after a busy holiday and visiting season.
I joined a group on Facebook called Jouranl52. We are being given an art journal prompt every week for the year 2014. This mixed media page is my week 1 page for the prompt Up, Up and Away. I have used paints, stencils, tag, stamps, markers, mesh tape, ink sprays, and some bling.
Why don't you come and join us? I hope to see you there. Let me know if you join. :D