Doesn't This Look Juicy?!

Just came across this online workshop from Joanne Sharpe.

There are a million and one online workshops out there from artists.

I rarely take them and hardly ever promote them.

But this one looks REALLY awesome...

Are you taking it? I think I'd be more inclined to take it if I knew that some of you were taking it too. Then we could compare notes and chat about it (informally).

Let me know :)

NEW INFO (updated March 8 at 3:30 PST):

*online class goes live April 9, 2012*


*25 alphabets in

*25 video lessons with

*25 printable reference pdfs

*FOREVER ACCESS CLASS*

*5 weeks April 9-May 11, 2012

$35

Book Love

One book in particular, actually.

I've had my heart set on this book since I saw it last week at our Art Club meeting. It's a book all about different ways of visual journeys, maps, geographies, goals, plans - anything, really!

The title is Personal Geographies - Explorations in Mixed Media Mapmaking

The author is Jill K. Berry - aka my new idol.

The artwork in the book is truly fantastic and I've just this weekend received a copy of my own to pour over and dig into.

I took a quick shot of the book when it was passed around at the meeting.
I sense a full book review in the coming weeks since I was unable to stop myself from ordering it on Amazon!

One page in particular caught my interest.
My good friend Violette loooooooves crows, and she would definitely fall in love with this art exercise...

Current Barnes & Noble coupons might be available for Personal Geographies - Explorations in Mixed Media Mapmaking.

WIWO Wednesday - It's What I'm Working On

I received some incredible cards in the mail this week. They are made completely out of fabric, felt, threads and yarns.

Today I'm trying to figure out the best way to show them in my home. I had to photograph them though, to show you.

I am so in love with them both.

"Enchantment" by Kathy McElroy 

A close-up of "Enchantment." I love fiber arts.

This one appears to be hand-stitched (aside from the edges) by Joan Flynn in Australia. 

The details here are amazing! It must have taken her hours to make this. I feel so fortunate to have received this.

What to Do?

My friend and fellow blogger Cheryl Ford gave me this Duracell Battery display box.

I looked at it and imagined there could be many different uses for it.

What do you think I should do with it? All suggestions welcomed! :)

Postcards Are Rolling In!

Are you getting some great postcards? I can't beLIEVE some of the art that I'm getting.

In honour of Valentine's Day, I'm sharing some "link love" with all of you.

I've taken some photos of my favourites so far... have a look.

This card is from Carlene Taylor Simmons.
I was so tickled to get this because of the texture that she has created using fabric and her sewing machine along with the paper and paint...
I LOVE your work, Carlene!

This one is from the talented Pippa Gore. Have you checked out Pippa's blog?
She updates it about three times a day - you wouldn't believe how much art this woman makes.
She is truly an inspiration!

This is another card that really blew me away. It's from Pam Parker in Australia.
Get this: the leaves on her tree are made from APPLE STICKERS! Cute and clever.
Pam is just starting out her journey into mixed media and I'd say she's doing a splendid job!

Mark Montano has to be my number one idol in so many ways. I love what he pulls together.
He is like the MacGyver of Art, craft, and DIY.
Who else would put Mary, skulls, butterflies and glitter all in the same place?

I've never seen my name look so beautiful. I dream about being able to write in such a pretty way.
This is how Mark Montano addressed his (butterfly) envelope to me. 

WIWO Wednesday - It's What I'm Working On

Last Friday I showed you some designs and a video from one of my artist idols, Teesha Moore.

What I DIDN'T tell you is that I've been watching her videos (which are pretty much the same as free online courses) and following her steps to create my own beautifully bizarre images.

I've enjoyed exploring Teesha's style of art so much that I decided to make a 16-page book inspired by one of her videos and create every page in this style. It's only about half finished so far, but I wanted to give you a look at what I've been working on.

Today, tomorrow and Friday I will be showing the pages that are "done."

I'm SO SO SO in love with these works! I really hope that you like them too and that they inspire you to watch Teesha's videos and create your own pieces of art.

This quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is one that I think of often. Isn't it inspiring?
Materials: acrylic paint background, chalk pastels, ink markers, paint markers, magazine collage. 

My Fake Romance With Teesha Moore

*Just a reminder that today is the

LAST DAY to sign up for the

International Mixed Media Postcard Swap!

In the meantime, here's a little eye candy for you.

By Teesha Moore



By Teesha Moore



By Teesha Moore

Have you been wondering where to start when working on your postcards?

I have recently watched the entire series from Teesha Moore on how she assembles her amazing journal pages and I thought that a lot of the ideas are so postcard-friendly

I decided to post the video below on here since she is a major inspiration for my own work. All of her videos can be found at http://www.teeshamoore.com/.

She takes these two pages from start to finish in her overall series, so they're really interesting to watch. I really thought that watching her go step-by-step was great, since I am in awe of some of her other pages.

I love how she fills her pages right up and makes them look energetic without being overcrowded.

Sit back and enjoy the process, Lovelies :)

Zentangle-rific!

I've really been enjoying my zentangle exploration. I came across http://www.tanglepatterns.com/ and now it seems like my love affair with doodles is limitless!

Here is my latest page, "Be Love." It started with a plump, upside-down heart.

Orange is Overrated

I know some MEGA orange-lovers.

One of my favourite bloggers is Tula Jeng over at Whorange. She can't get enough orange.

I can't get far enough AWAY from orange.

To humour the orange-lovers of the world, I decided to try a page in my art journal completely dedicated to orange. I found some orange origami paper and got out all of my orange crayons and felts. And then I created.

I couldn't finish fast enough. It wasn't therapeutic or calming like art journalling usually is for me, it was painful, stressful and I felt anxious....

After this experience, I looked up the meaning of the colour orange. Emily Gems says that orange can be used to increase creativity. Hmph. Orange also increases the craving for food, which is a bit bizarre. I don't have any orange around my house yet I'm always feeling snacky...

Anyhow, here it is, my simple, couldn't-finish-fast-enough orange page.

The Philosphy of Love

 Angels have no philosophy but love.

Materials: Acrylic paint, white Sakura Jelly Roll pen, paper towel, magazine cut-out, sharpie fineliner.

Materials: Acrylic paint, white Sakura Jelly Roll pen. 

Materials: Acrylic paint, foil stars in silver and gold.

DIY Bathroom Decor

Bathrooms. Not the prettiest room in the house.

I don't know about you, but on the back of our toilet there is a spray can of room deodorizer for those "less fresh" moments. How UGLY is that? The toilet is ugly enough, but then we have to keep a can of room spray on the tank. Yech!!

My mother-in-law showed me a way to pretty up your bathroom by hiding that ghastly can of spray for FREE!

Supplies (all on hand):
- empty Pringles chips can
- tissue paper in a colour that matches your bathroom
- mod podge
- trinket, fake flower or figurine (optional)

When I saw the full-sized Pringles chips at my local dollar store for a buck apiece, I snapped up two cans!

Once you've emptied the can and given the inside a wipe with a dry paper towel, give the outside a coat of ModPodge.
Oh, and you can put the plastic lid aside - we won't need it for this project.

Our 1950s house came with a blue toilet, so I'm using a royal blue for the tissue paper.
I put a full layer of plain tissue paper down first so that I could be sure that none of the can showed through.
You can see my pretty tissue paper on the table.
Make sure that you cover the whole can, including the bottom, with this first layer.

Once you've covered the can and bottom completely with one layer of tissue paper, apply another nice coat of ModPodge for the pretty paper.
I placed the pretty paper upside-down on the table and just rolled my can onto it.

Make sure that you completely cover the solid bottom of the can, and tuck your loose ends into the opening with more ModPodge to stick it down. 

Here is what my can looked like with a full layer of the pretty paper.
(This is the bottom, but it will be the top when we put it to use in our bathroom!)

You can use your can as seen in the previous photo, or add a little something to make it even more awesome. I chose this little porcelain bird, but you can add anything from fake flowers to Scrabble tiles to river rocks - whatever you'd like!
I glued my bird on with carpenter's glue, but depending on your trinket, you could probably use a glue gun.

The finished product with the can bottom as the decorative top.
The spray can of room deodorizer will be underneath it. Just lift up your new decorative cover when you need to access it!

And here it stands on our throne. A little bit of pretty in a bathroom can't hurt :)
("Frog Girl" original art by Laurel Swenson  http://www.laurelswenson.com/  )

Breaking Into a New Journal

I started a new Art Journal (insert giddy giggle here). Some people are afraid of a big empty book. It's too daunting, a big commitment, or just too blank. Not me.

I have one thought when I start a new journal:

I get to create ART in this journal. ART!

I was at a loss for how to customise the cover of the book until I went over to my friend Violette's house. (If you haven't visited Violette online, shame on you!)

While I was there, I met the Colour Goddess. One look into her crystal green eyes and I KNEW that we were destined to be together - in art.



My new Art Journal cover!



I etched out a square in the middle of the cover in order to make room for her.
Pretty big commitment, huh?

But alas, isn't she gorgeous?

Journal Love

I'm absolutely salivating over the two new journals from Debra Cooper over at A Little Imagination and a Pile Of Junk.

Feast your eyes: http://www.debracooperart.com/a_little_imagination_and_/2011/12/a-tale-of-two-journals.html

Click on over to her etsy page for more details. :)

Let's Build a Rainbow!

Tammy at Daisy Yellow is running a GREAT creative activity this week! We're building a rainbow one day at a time. Today's colours are Orange and Yellow and I've taken a couple of photos of some of my orange pages.

It's interesting - I'm noticing that I tend not to work in Orange and Yellow; I lean more towards Greens and Blues....

Anyhow, here are my Orange pages:

This was all crayon circles before I decided to give it an orange wash.
I love the ways that the orange made the circles into more of a muted background than a focal point.
Now I can use this page to journal on!



After reading Violette Clark's Journal Bliss, I've been playing around with creating my own font. Here are some letters that I like. I painted the background in orange and yellow watercolour paint, then pasted on some magazine letters. The letters that I couldn't find are the ones that I attempted to do by hand. Not my best work, by any means, but fun for the exploration!



December Calendar

I came upon an awesome artist/art journaller/blogger yesterday: The Kathryn Wheel. She uses a lot of stamps and stencils in her art which is something that I stay away from, but I really like the overall look and feel of her pieces.

One thing that caught my eye in particular are her calendar pages. I've seen them before from other art journallers and I LOVE them - just a little space to put what to do or what you have done on that day. No need to keep a long winded journal with this, just jot down a note of what happened on that day and file each month away!

Here are some examples that got me going:


I LOVE the crows in this one bny Kathryn Wheel

 





I couldn't see who created this one, but I LOVE the date stamping that they did... (if it is YOURS, please let me know!)



  I decided to make one for December in my own art journal, since today is the first. No time like the present, right?

Here is how it's looking so far:



I used watercolour paint on the squares and acrylic for the background. The month title was done with a Sharpie fineliner.



Not bad, I think! I still have to add the dates in, and maybe some embellishments, but I'm REALLY liking the look of it so far!

Thanks for the inspiration, The Kathryn Wheel!