something's fishy

positive thinking every day 3

2011-09-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

the "gratitude" page. instead of a list i put my thoughts on the action or attitude of gratitude on here. i keep a gratitude list in a small notebook so i did not think i needed to put it here also. i have played with the Dina Wakely type silhouettes before and they are fun. this is a representation of me shading my eyes and looking to the future which is very bright!

positive thinking every day 2

2011-09-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

the things that make me smile page. i already had some backgrounds done in a moleskine journal and decided to just go with the flow for these exercises. i always have scraps and such on the table and that is how the bird and the heart ended up here. it is not like i had to search high and low for them. the papers for the banner/bunting thing were near the desk also. i am loving the sort of muted colors here.

positive thinking everyday 1

2011-09-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

i am taking a year-long class with Dale Anne Potter right now. it started on august 15th. this is the "i am" page. i have not finished the doodling part of it. i am not inclined to doodling, but i have some doodle-type image rubber stamps. the fact that these stamps exist lets me know i am not the only one who loves the look, but lacks the gene!

this list made me realize that when doing a project like this i tend to put down the things i see myself as in the most positive terms. right around the time i did this i had done a couple of things that are not positive or nice or loving or many of the words/traits here. i wondered if i should be putting down the negatives, too. but this is a POSITIVE THINKING workshop. and my blahblah journal contains plenty of examples of my negative actions, thoughts, and words. thankyouverymuch.

hair!

2010-09-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

it was getting long and i wasn't happy with the way it looked, so i cut it! i lost a bunch of hair a few months ago so now i have to 'artfully' arrange it so the spots don't show. good thing i'm an artist, yeah? sheesh. i just started taking evening primrose oil, biotin and a big dose of super B complex. hopefully some of the hair will grow back fast. i have a bunch of shortie ones that are there, but don't help the style much since they are shorties. such is life...

hair!

2010-09-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

and the after shot. it has some layers and when i let it go a bit curlier it has some flippie parts that i like. i am happy with it and the difference in how hot it is without hair sitting on my neck is absolutely amazing.

Vale's cj June 2010

2010-06-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

my first foray into the GPP Street Team realm. this is still in Vale's journal, but it also qualifies for the Grid Lock theme Michelle Ward put on the Street Team page this month. since this bunch of 8 tags, i have made 17 more of this size and 9 of a size i hand cut to fit in a local partnership journal i am doing. last night as i was telling my non-artist sister how many tags i've done lately i was sort of wondering what i am going to do with them all. a few minutes ago i was walking past the pile (which i found fibers for last night) and realized that i could totally use it as a journal. i can use an O-ring to put them together and journal on the backs of them. i am/have been pretty rigid in my what-is-a-journal-and-what-is-not-a-journal thoughts for a loooooooong time. i am 51, i can branch out now and not be considered a crazy, rash youngster, so i just may do it. woo! anyway, these tags had their bottoms cut off so they would fit in the grid background and, of course, i have the pieces to be used in other stuff or maybe make tiny tags out of. these tags are glued down and not easily removable from the spread. it was fun fun fun. i've been having a blast using up snippets of 'stuff' i've been collecting for-ev-er.

Vale's cj June 2010

2010-06-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

Vale says she loves my blah blah pages so i did one just for her. this one was more planned than the gray one. this one is sort of about someone else, but since i did not use names and Vale will not ever meet the subject of the spread, i don't feel like i betrayed a confidence. also, the subject does not look at this blog. just some background stuff and the writing. an example of what a lot of my personal blah blah journals are FILLED with.

Vale's cj June 2010

2010-06-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

i've been watching a LOT of youtube vids lately. loving it. not loving how youtube subscriptions don't seem to be deletable, but that could just be me. i don't know. or care very much. anyway, i am trying to do better backgrounds. i did this one with dictionary pages and paint and squares cut from german napkins (serviettes). then i used stencils and hand-carved rubber stamps for the black parts. i punched a couple of hearts and glued them down and then covered them with crackle accents. i found out that heat setting crackle makes it not crack. or not for me anyway. so, i am not sure what this page is really about, but i like it and decided not to force anything more on it.

Vale's cj June 2010

2010-06-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

i mixed some white gesso and black paint and ended up painting a spread or a page in every art journal i had in the house at the moment. for this one i cut out some circles i had painted with watercolor paints and then coated with Golden's glass bead gel. they are cool, i like that gel. i got it as a freebie with a Dick Blick order one time. anyway, i had something on my mind and spilled it onto the page. the sentiment is not arty, but it is what was on my mind when i did the spread...

Terry's calender journal

2010-04-07T23:53:00.000-07:00

spread four. i have had alice in wonderland on the brain for a while now. and as i was playing around with ideas it occurred to me how well Zetti goes with the feeling of the story. so i went with it. i think this one came out really fun.

Terry's calender journal

2010-04-07T23:51:00.000-07:00

Terry's journal. i was trying to channel samantha kira on this one. i just doodled a little bit. i do not doodle. considering that, i think it came out pretty nicely. the background paint was applied with a credit card scraping method. the circles were stamped with acrylic ink using the end of a pen. i also played a bit with my left hand to see what would happen.

Terry's calender journal

2010-04-07T23:48:00.000-07:00

second spread for Terry's calendar journal. just some colorful stuff and a bit of journaling.

Terry's calender journal

2010-04-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

the first spread in Terry's calendar journal for march 2010. i am trying out new things to find a method or style that i like. this one started with masking tape all over the thing, then i used ink for the circle stamped things, water soluble oil pastels for shading, some cut out circles of various coordinating papers and the little bird from a collage sheet. i like it. it is not my usual look, but i don't want everything i do to be similar.

i am taking 4 online classes right now in hopes of finding some new techniques and maybe what my 'style' really is. Journal 365 with Pam Carricker, Color Beyond the Basics with Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen, Extreme Collage with Julie and Chris also, and watercolor pencil techniques with Marilyn Harris. i think i am going to come up with some good stuff out of these.[Photo]

Birthday 2010

2010-03-17T00:55:00.000-07:00

this is my cake and loot at Celina's house. the cake was completely a dream. the whole thing was like a 3 year old's fantasy cake and i so loved it! it was a carrot cake under that frosting. i at almost half of it. i did that knowing that i was going to start Atkins two days after that. it was so worth it. so, i am 51. how did it happen? it just completely boggles my mind that i could possibly be that old. boggles, i tell ya. it was a very good day. Tony bbq'd brats and burgers, we had salads and beans and it was amazing and delicious. best birthday since the single digits i do believe. i am so lucky to have the bestie that i do. she loves me and she did this for me.

Word of Intent swap BAJ Group

2010-03-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

My word of intent to focus on and keep in mind this year is 'heart'. It means many things to me and those things have been explained elsewhere. Since this blog is for art, I just wanted to share the cards I received from the swap members in my group. Starting upper left and going clockwise these were made by Anne, Carolyn, Jenny, Valerie, and Mary. They are wonderful and this swap now becomes the best one I have ever been involved in for quality of work. Just beautiful.

CJ 2010 my work/my book

2010-02-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

a little ditty about where inspiration comes from. an an ink blot. what do you see? only kidding. but then again, it is kinda a profile of a butterfly in flight, right? what does that tell you about me, doctor? and i made up a silly thing on the left-hand page. because i am a dork. and i live alone and sometimes i have to make myself laugh since there is nobody here to do it for me. eh, hem. so, these are the pages i did in my 2010 calendarjour before mailing it out into the world for other pepole to play in. i love doing this stuff! bon voyage, little book. be safe. come home full of stories and art.

CJ 2010 my work/my book

2010-02-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

i belong to milliande's ning group. she did a bunch of art journal prompt videos in january. one of them was to make some collage houses. this is my take on her video prompt. i really like how it came out. i did a lot more pen and ink work than i usually do. well, really, ever do, and it was fun and i like it. the writing is real, but not real. they were words about living on cat street if i remember correctly, but i wrote very loosely and funky so you can't actually read it. it wasn't meant to be anything but decorative. and i believe i succeeded.

CJ 2010 my work/my book

2010-02-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

this spread tells a little story about my niece when she was around 3 or 4. i think you can read it so i won't print it here. it is just one of those kid stories that makes me smile. i don't have kids of my own, so i really cherish the memories i have of the kid stuff my niece and nephew did. she, my niece, was a precocious little thing. love you, taytay!

CJ 2010 my work/my book

2010-02-24T23:13:00.000-07:00

i don't remember what i was googling for when i found this bird (yes, i modified her eye, don't freak out!), but i printed her and she was sitting on my desk and ended up on this page. i am obsessed with dictionary pages lately so i've been using them in quite a few things. i suppose i could/should prove that statement by putting more here, but whatever... the blue circles were made with both ends of a cough medicine measuring cup thing. the hearts are punched with a martha stewart punch out of starbucks cup protectors (or whatever you call them). i am also obsessed with hearts punched out of cardboard, go figure. i am also feeling a little bit broken-winged and need to remember that i can still fly. it just takes some practice, some determination, and getting OUT there. maybe i'll see YOU out there!

CJ 2010 my work/my book

2010-02-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

i don't know why this one is so blurry. or maybe it is a loose nut behind the camera. whatever. this page is about the fact that my chosen word for the year is 'heart'. i am trying to live with more heart. to come from a place of heart/love. to find a romantic relationship with a wonderful man. and to figure out what is physically wrong with my actual blood-pumping heart. so, yeah, 'heart' for 2010! oh yeah, i love pink.

CJ 2010 my work/my book

2010-02-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

a couple of weeks ago i brought my stack of cool magazine pages and my 1-inch punch into the living room to do some inchie preparation while watching who-knows-what. these are the fruit of that labor. they were just sitting pretty on my desk and i grabbed them and started gluing them down. i suppose i could tell a story for each one. who knows why we gravitate toward the images that we do? it is fun whether i understand it or not. and, dudes, inchies are kewl!

CJ 2010 my work/my book

2010-02-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

tipping my hat to valentine's day and sort of easing into the whole zentangle thang, don't ya know? i love hearts and i love black and white and i love my white signo gel pen and i just loved playing with this spread. a few thoughts are on there having to do with valentine's day. (by the way, don't you HATE it when people say, "happy valentime's"? well, now you know i do. people, there is NO "M" in valentine. ever.)

CJ 2010 my work/my book

2010-02-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

found this picture of a french press coffee maker and just fell in love with it. i love the metal cutout stuff. i think it was priced around 100 dollars, so i won't be buying it any time soon, but it sure is pretty. i have actually never used a french press and have no idea how it makes the coffee different than my black and decker coffee maker, but i am willing to give it a try. i love coffee, but it has to be completely adulterated with either irish cream (the real alcoholic stuff) or one of the flavored coffee creamers. yummy.

12 tags of xmas tags with Tim Holtz

2009-12-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

Day 10. yes, i know i skipped a lot, but that is because a lot of the stuff being used is coming from an online supplier, eclectic paperie. i spent way too much money considering that i am unemployed, but wtf, right? this one was a new technique for me. i used metal tape, but had to put two pieces side-by-side since it was not wider than the tag and then colored with copic markers which are alcohol-based and fun to manipulate with a q-tip dipped in alcohol! the silver looking parts are a bit darker as they were stained with black paint, but i guess the flash wiped that out.

12 tags of xmas tags with Tim Holtz

2009-12-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

Day 3. these were done in their original form with alcohol inks making plaid paper, but i did not have the ingredients so i used scrapbook paper. someday i will try the plaid. these will definitely be redone, but they are happy for now.

12 tags of xmas tags with Tim Holtz

2009-12-10T17:59:00.001-07:00

Day 2. this one is also pretty much done by improvisation. but that is part of the point and i like it.

12 days of xmas tags with Tim Holtz

2009-12-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

Day one of the 12 tags. a fun one. the original had a snowman on it, but when i put this together i did not have a snowman so i used a reindeer. and the song run, run, rudolph runs through my head every time i look at this!

AJS Lesson 4

2009-11-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

for this lesson we made ATC size journal prompt cards and then swapped them. i could not get an unfuzzy picture. the prompts are: pet peeves ..., the funniest thing ..., dear ..., i love ..., and one time ...

8th/9th/10th november art every day challenge

2009-11-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

this beauty is what i have been working on for two days. and i am not through yet for today so it will be longer by bed time. it is flat peyote stitch. it is called Veil and the pattern is in a book called Beading Her Image by Margie Deeb. love this and have already finished one other project in the book and purchased the beads for the next project. sometimes i don't make it into the 'studio' to do paper art, but that does not mean i am not making something wonderful!

11th november art every day challenge

2009-11-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

i have been beading every day, but figured i'd do some paper art also. i painted the background and then while looking for text for the ruffle at the top i found the suitcases and, ta da, the 'baggage' page was born. i put some of the things i keep in my baggage suitcases on there. i may do more to this, but this is where i end tonight.

7th november art every day challenge

2009-11-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

today i learned how to do viking knit. this is the bracelet i made. this one is single knit, but i am working on a sterling silver version with what they call double viking knit. it is soooooo pretty. i love silver!

6th november art every day challenge

2009-11-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

watched about 9 or 10 videos today which were done by Teesha Moore and so i was inspired to do some stuff like she does. it is by no means as good, but it was fun. she reminded me about my copic markers and my chalk pastels and i used some stuff that was on my desk and on the magazine i cut some stuff out of. fun. liked it. glad i am doing this art every day month! people are doing some cool stuff...

5th november art every day challenge

2009-11-05T22:17:00.003-07:00

tonight i was playing with the Dina Wakley stencil lessons from a class i took with her on Get It Scrapped website. my fingers are a mess! i guess anyone looking will know i am an artist!

and this one is Mod! think laugh in, if you can remember that.

5th november art every day challenge

2009-11-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

don't know if this actually IS chic, but i was running low on adjectives.

5th november art every day challenge

2009-11-05T22:15:00.001-07:00

this one maybe should have been labeled 'camoflage', but i did not have enough space. and i didn't notice it until it was done...

5th november art every day challenge

2009-11-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

5th november art every day challenge

2009-11-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

4th november art every day challenge

2009-11-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

just playing with the stuff on and around my art desk. it probably needs more, but not today...

3rd november art every day challenge

2009-11-03T22:57:00.000-07:00

i beaded all day, but feel like this art every day challenge should be paper or something similar. if there were a word for equator but meaning four instead of two, that is the word i would use to name this piece. quatrator? quadrator? black gesso on white paper. white gel ink and black glaze ink pen for the branches (a stencil from the book Stencil Me In). acrylic splotches of black and white on the opposite colors. this background was inspired by a shirt tony soprano was wearing in one of the episodes i watched a few months ago.

i am sort of wondering what else i could do with this stencil. maybe i should do a study of this stencil and all the ways i can think of to use it. interesting idea. maybe i need to do 'tree stencil every day' when art every day is over.

2nd november art every day challenge

2009-11-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

this is a spread inspired by a lynne whipple example in the artists' journals and sketchbooks book i am doing a workshop in. this fulfills the lesson 3 requirement for the workshop and also for today's art. yay. yeah, i realize this is only day two, but i am finding this fun and also weird because by 1800 i was thinking i needed to go do this or i was going to be in trouble and be behind. man, i am behind in so many things right now. classes online that are still ongoing and some that are long over, but i have the information for. prompt a day (three months worth from kelly kilmer...) there is no reason i should ever be at a loss for inspiration or ideas. all this stuff in in folders right in the center of my computer screen. can't miss. so, yeah, done and i had a good time doing it. this is gonna be a good thing. anyone who knows me knows that i could do with less time in front of streaming netflix and hulu and more time in 'le studio'. see you tomorrow!

1st november art every day challenge

2009-11-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

amazingly, i stumbled on the Art Every Day Month on the Creative Every Day blog. the amazing part is that i stumbled on it on november 1st. the day it was to start! cool! that never happens to me. i always end up being 17 days behind.this series of pictures were done on the evening of november 1st and they fulfill the requirement for lesson 2 of the Artists' Journals and Sketchbooks by Lynne Perrella workshop on the A.R.T. group. two birds, one stone, baybee.

this one is the original image used for the following pieces. this came from a Paper Whimsey collage sheet.

1st november art every day challenge

2009-11-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

1st november art every day challenge

2009-11-02T09:50:00.001-07:00

1st november art every day challenge

2009-11-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

1st november art every day challenge

2009-11-02T09:49:00.001-07:00

1st november art every day challenge

2009-11-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

1st november art every day challenge

2009-11-02T09:48:00.001-07:00

1st november art every day challenge

2009-11-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Tessa's cj september

2009-09-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

the page five and six spread. i love doing the name pages and this one was one more where i played with grunging up the pages and the paint. i am trying to figure out why so many people love layers of paint and paper and covering so much stuff up sometimes, so this one had a coat of way-too-bright paint so i layered some watered down gesso over it to soften it. i like the way this one came out. the crows in party hats are from a stamp sheet i bought at art unraveled last year by lost coast designs. i will definitely be using them again. don't they just add to the party atmosphere?

Tessa's cj september

2009-09-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

page four. this one just came together with some information on my feelings about gardens and cut flowers...

Tessa's cj september

2009-09-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

this is page three. i am practicing the grunge look using pencil and smearing it around. i got the inspiration for the house from the newest issue of art journaling from somerset publications. i really like this page and may have to do one for myself to hang on a wall. this one used a book page, a bird cut out from a paper whimsey collage sheet, a door stamp from an artchix stamp sheet, a brass doodah from tim holtz, a graphite pencil and some different colors of portfolio water soluble crayons smeared around. it was messy and fun to do.

Tessa's cj september

2009-09-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

this is page two. i got a copy of Violette's new book and took some inspiration from it and used the masking technique i learned in a Dina Wakley class at get it scrapped. i am trying to find a style i love and can really make my own.

Tessa's cj september

2009-09-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

this is page one in Tessa's Simplicity calendar journal. i am taking a class from Suzi Blu and this is my interpretation of the petit dolls she is teaching. she is actually the first one to be colored and she went right into Tessa's book. i hope she likes her.

Vale's Group of Seven CJ

2009-05-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

Using my amazing powers of poetic (or, i suppose, artistic) license, i put some paper on here that are sort of wheat-ish. this painting is called something and wheat. sorry vincent.

Jo's VanGogh calendar journal May

2009-05-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

after the study comes the painting. well, in my story anyway.

Jo's VanGogh calendar journal May

2009-05-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

The design board for the background of a picture with asian flavor...

Jo's VanGogh calendar journal May

2009-05-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

A true classic, but only the beginning of the story of the star's journey...