Time To Dream

Here is a canvas called Time To Dream. It is an 8x8 stretched canvas.

Time To Dream

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Which way do I go from here?

Over the last 6 months I have been playing in many different mediums. I think maybe too many. Every time I try something new I love it. I was really hoping to hate something. Hoping to find my voice in art and go in some direction except my voice looks like a map and I'm lost.  Well maybe not lost but still searching.  The one thing I tried, loved, but frustrates me enough to walk away for a little while is assemblage.  I really don't have the knack for that and not enough stuff to put on a piece. I know I will go back to it and try it again.  I find I do love working on a canvas so far no bigger than 8x8 or 4x12. I started a 12x12 canvas but I keep going back to it putting on more paint or college then letting it sit and doing it all over again.  It's just a little big for me.

Right now I love to make cards; mixed media, love tags, collage, tried assemblage but I will walk away for right now; art journals, and calligraphy (not good at all!).  I want to try stamp carving, working with metal, and paper clay. The list can go on and on.

Do you have a favorite medium?

Are you still finding your voice in art?

Let me know! Leave me a comment!

I will leave you with a background I made on a journal page.  I still have used the page yet.

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Fleeting Time

Time. It seems to go by so fast. April is almost over! Can you believe it? Thinking about time my art seems to reflect that lately.  You will see that in this weeks posts.

Before I start a canvas I sometimes practice on a tag.  I usually practice on a tag when I'm not sure on colors.  Here is what my tag looked like when it was finished.

I used yellow, red, brown and white fluid acrylic paints over the modeling paste clock faces. I knew I like the colors together but wasn't sure about adding the white paint. I found that I like the drip look especially when it drips through the clocks.  It's sort of an Abstract piece.

Here is the final 4x6 canvas panel.

Fleeting Time

I love the way it came out. I decided to drip the white paint but sprayed it with water and let it drip in a different direction than the way I wanted to panel to go.  I also didn't use as much brown paint.

So what do you think of my Abstract art? At least I think I can call it that. I love Abstracts.

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Art Journal Every Day Challenge

Hi Everyone! Tonight is the first time I'm using blogger with all its updates.  Still trying to figure it out. It's a little weird so if something looks funny when reading this post, please let me know.

I've been feeling pretty lazy and mostly playing in my art journal making backgrounds with paints, inks, stamps, and modeling paste. Also, doing a lot of reading. I am reading the Hunger Games trilogy with my god-daughter. I got a little behind during tax season so I'm still in the middle of book 2 but she's already on book 3!  This weekend I've been trying to catch up.

Here is a what the background looked like before I finished this journal page.

Here is a close up of the modeling paste bricks that I made with a Crafters Workshop Template.

Here is the final page. I'm joining Art Journal Every Day with is page. The tulips is an actual photography I took and cut for the page.  Julie's post showed how she used Prima's loose leaf journal. You should check out her great pages. Love them and the journal is pretty nice too.

 

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Honeycomb, bees and weeds!

This journal page was already painted blue, had a green mark on the page, and purple honeycomb spots so instead of painting it over with gesso I decided to use this photograph and make the rest of the page look like the picture.   If you look at the close up picture you will see I extended the weeks from photo to the page. It looks pretty cool.  I'm going to try it again with another pictures. I like the way this looks. It's a weird page with the purple spots but I just went with it. Isn't that what art journaling is all about?

Here is the close up of the photo and where I extended the weeds.

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Seth Apter: The Pulse of Mixed Media

Seth Apter is celebrating his new book The Pulse of Mixed Media with an open call to everyone to join The Pulse with an online project. At first I said no way but then after reading his questions I knew I had to do it.  You must go over and read all about it here.  If I can do it so can you!

He has three questions that he wants us to answer. You can answer 1, 2 or all 3.  I decided to answer just one. 

His question: Passion in Action: Who has had the most impact on your creative life?

As soon as I read that question I knew I had to answer, my mother. She is an artist and growing up I always wanted to draw like she did. I would try and give up.  She always said it's in your heart just go and make art. After a while I stopping making art figuring I just couldn't do it.  Then years later on a vacation with my husband and daughter I walked into a rubber stamp store and found my way of making art.  She was thrilled that I finally found a way.  I have many of your paintings in my house so I decided to take pictures of them to show you her art.  She loved nature. She would paint from whatever was in her head to painting from a photography.

Ugly Ducking by Shirley A. Hector

Parakeet by Shirley A. Hector

Skunks by Shirley A. Hector

Later in life she had a fondness for painting in miniature. She decided to start painting on milk bottle caps. She had the whole church bringing her bottle caps in all colors for her art. She would sell them as magnets in art shows. She even started taking orders for special caps with some one's dog on it.  To give you an example, this is Heidi. She was my family's dog and this is her as a puppy.

Here are more bottle caps that I have on my fridge that she painted.

My Mom and Dad died in 2004 but her impact on my art is still there loud and clear. She told us once that she had days where her art table would call her name and she needed to make art. I never understood it until now.  My art room calls my name all the time even when I'm at work which makes it very hard to focus!

Here is my submission for Seth's open call (hope its okay to post!).

Side of Canvas

Second side:

 

I'm sending it to Seth's open call in memory of my Mom, my inspiration and my biggest fan forever.

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Spring Fever!

For Art Journal Every Day Challenge I made these journal pages. Its warm and sunny here today so I decided to make pages with flowers, butterflies, and color.

First I used a Crafters Workshop template and modeling paste on the pages. Once it was dry I sprayed inks and with an extra spray of water so it would drip down the page. Then added stamps, alpha stickers and my written works on the flower stems. 

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Embracing Imperfections

Hi. I'm very late with this post. With tax season looming over my head I made a quick calendar for April for Kate Crane's calendar challenge but never posted it.  Now with the season coming to a close I'm getting caught up on posts.  It's not the way I thought it would come out and I'm trying to use my own hand writing in projects and I don't like my writing. I need to practice that one. Anyway this is it for April. I haven't even had a chance to write in it except for one important day. 

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Modeling Paste and Butterflies!

I didn't realize when I was playing with modeling paste that I used it on so many things. I found this tag drying on the shelf across the room.  I decided to use markers, distress stickles and spray inks on the tag.

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Calm before the storm

I have a journal page from my photo journal. This one has a picture of the harbor in Chicago. A storm was coming in and I love the look of the sky.

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Roses, matte gel media and red acrylic ink

On this tag I had a few red spots of matte gel medium that I mixed acrylic ink into. It used it originally in my art journal and was having so much fun I picked up a tag and left more there. So I added a little more and made a small rose bush.  It's okay to laugh I am. I can't draw no matter how hard I try.

THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS!

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Poppies Will Put Them To Sleep

This is the last week of tax season and I will be very busy and working late including this weekend. So I thought this week I would share with you some journal pages and tags that I've been playing with.  Hopefully after next week I will have more to show you but until then enjoy!

Any questions or comments I would love to read them!

I will try to check in on and off when I can.

For now I have scheduled a few posts for the week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring!

I made this journal page thinking about Easter. Growing up my mother cooked a big meal, leg of lamb, carrots, potatos and more.  It was my favorite holiday in the food category.  The Easter Bunny would come to our house and leave us some wonderful baskets.  In each of our baskets he always left a big chocolate bunny, jelly beans (the tiny ones not the big fat ones), and chocolate eggs. We ate so much candy before linner (Lunch/Dinner..to late for lunch for to early for dinner) I'm surprised we were able to eat. The smells from the kitchen were amazing.  The chocolate bunnies in our baskets I never ate mine. I don't know why. My brother and sister would eat theirs first but mine would turn to dust before I ate it. Times have changed and now we go out with friends for lunch and back to their house for dessert.  Relax, play games and have a few tasty adult beverages!

Today's page for Art Journal Every Day I was thinking of that bunny who came to our house and left us such wonderful baskets.

Happy Easter!

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Modeling Paste and Bees!

Hi Everyone! Today I have a little canvas to show you. Last weekend I had some wonderful adventures playing with modeling paste.  I used a Crafters Workshop template to add the trees, colored the background and trees blue plus I used a gelly roll pen to add the shimmer to the trees. The honeycomb is a Balzer Designs Crafters Workshop Template that I put on with a signo white pen. The bee is a very old stamp from PSX. 

Here is a close up of the trees.

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Creative Chemestry 101

Hello! I'm am taking Tim Holtz online class called Creative Chemistry 101. It is so much fun. Although I use all his products, except I need to buy his distress markers, I've learned quite a bit from his classes. I am bit behind in classes with tax season looming over my head but the good thing is once you buy the class you can watch them forever! Very cool.  Today's tag is using many of his techniques with distress inks and stains.  I also use my tags to wipe up extra inks and paints to use later so this tag also has acrylic ink on it. The rabbit and the twigs are Tim Holtz stamps but the other stamps are Stampin Up. The tiny stamps I used in the background are my newest from Stampin Up. I love using them. I don't think they will ever find their way back into the container.

The rabbit is attached to the tag with a spring thing. They are handmade springs attached to sticky tape so when you open the envelope he pops up (I didn't make them). If you hit is foot he moves and it looks like he's running through the flowers. Sorry I can't show you that.

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Art Journal Every Day - Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

This weekend I've been playing with modeling paste. I'm having lots of fun with it. I have paper, canvas, art journal pages, tags, cards, etc. all over my craft room drying.  Today I have a journal page for Art Journal Every Day, to show you where I used two Crafters Workshop templates trees and Julie's template, mini punchinella.

I used the tree template and placed it on my page and filled it in with modeling paste. Once the paste was dry I painted the trees and used watercolors, acrylics and distress inks on the background. I used Julie's mini punchinella template for the honeycomb that the bees are carrying away. I don't know what the page means but I've been added the honeycomb and bees on everything this weekend.

Here is a close up of the trees so you can see the modeling paste.

You should head over the Julie's site she has been interviewing different artists about their art journals and it's been very interesting to see how others make their journal pages.

Thanks so much for stopping by!