Wanderlust week 3 - Vision board portrait

So many things I liked about this art journal lesson:

1. It's more or less a vision board for 2020, first one I've ever done, maybe because I was more ready than ever before since I actually have specific plans thanks to the moon manifestations I've been working on.

2. I like to include self portraits ( the greats did it, why can't I? lol) but I've never even thought about doing a profile, so this is my first.

3. I like firsts, don't you?

Links to supplies I used in case you like them:

Rubbermoon stamps, collage elements 

Some of the art elements came from a Cheap Joes catalog  

It may be a little time consuming and a little fussy for some but the effort of cutting out my pages just looks SO much better and yes, it's a little bit of pain that brings me joy in the long run, kinda like diet and exercise, lol

And a little peek into my "beautiful" mind, ( behavior or personality is outside social norms (very similar to the cliché of the socially awkward nerd )because I'm recording as much as possible to see if and what happens. As it stands right now, color me impressed with following the moon phases, doing the work as evidenced on the paper on my desk. It's a huge sheet that I can record everything on it and really map out what's relating to each other.

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted but I was preoccupied with testing and debugging my next set of stencils to be released in September. (insert big woo hoo here, lol ) I did do some art journaling but didn't post them like I should. I've gotten lazy and been putting things on IG, so anyway, for anyone not following me on IG or FaceBook..here ya go :)

linking up with

Paint Party Friday

STILL trying to adjust to a new video editing program, but it's been a tough transition. I still prefer my old one...sigh...old dogs, new tricks, blah,blah, blah...

Etegami...kinda sorta...

Hahnemühle sent me a wonderful set of 30 Cold Pressed watercolor postcards that came in this beautiful limited edition tin, perfect for both wet and dry techniques. I love sending out postcards much like snail mail art where the outside can be enjoyed by every person who touches the card. 

I thought delving into some Etegami would be perfect. 

Now I am not going to even pretend that they are true Etegami but more like a nod to Etegami, lol

 (Etegami principles that I kinda used are all noted in red.)

A simple, hand-painted image — outlines in black ink and filled in with watercolor.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows I love to outline so this part was easy enough. I did use my bamboo pen and tried to not be precise and to not worry about any bleeding since the

 Motto of etegami – heta de ii, heta ga ii translated means

 "Clumsiness is no problem. 

Clumsy makes it better.” 

Something that sounds simple but is one of the hardest things for me to achieve. I would have started over after the india ink bled under the stencil but then I wouldn't have used my supplies in the way that I did and for this I just smiled. 

Generally, use no more than three colors.

Etegami always includes words and I love to add words to my art although I do try and write them as best I can, Etegami forgives less than perfect lettering.

 “Etegami (e=”picture” tegami=”letter”) 

are simple drawings accompanied by a few apt words, done on a soft absorbent postcards. They are meant to be mailed off to one’s friends, not hoarded. They often depict some ordinary item from everyday life.

In Japan, people do not sign; They use stamps. 

They are called Han or Hanko, and every individual in Japan has one.

Now I don't have a Hanko but I grabbed the closest thing I could think of, a mini hand carved wood block stamp that you can find in Gwen Lafleurs online store. I didn't even have red ink so I choose a hot pink which I got from Rubbermoon which came in one of the Moon Mail club items.

Linking up to Paint Party Friday

You can purchase the Hahnemüle Limited Edition tin of watercolor postcards from:

Rochester Art Supply

Jerry’s Artarama ( looks like a better deal )

The postcards are excellent quality and they came with the address field on the other side so they make for a very professional presentation. I've been in love with the Hahnemüle watercolor paper for awhile now and their watercolor postcards are equal in quality. 

The artist on the cover of the tin is Alexa Dila, urban sketcher from Berlin, Germany

And if anyone wants to see pictures of Blossom,
 my fiberglass bear I painted for charity please visit here 😊

Art gives you a story to tell...

Well, what can I say except that this has become a favorite technique of mine. Collaging with both strips of mono printed papers and old stash

 ( in this case, rub on letters ) and then using my ColourArte Twinkling H20's shimmering watercolors ( China Black ) to cover the entire page.

Grunge and Aging

This time I did not cover the entire page in a coat of decoupage so there are some areas where the Twinks absorbed into the paper and some areas where the Twinks stayed on top of the paper. Love the combined effects of aging and grunge.

Oops are OK

I did have one little oops where the clear sticker was not secured to the page so a little bit of the black watercolor ran under it and you can't see the last "L" in the word "tell" very well.

Perfectly Imperfect

Because some of the stickers were old they didn't completely come off the sheet perfectly and it looks freaking awesome...lol...couldn't have managed that distressed look on my own probably...well, not without some thought and planning. 

Happy accidents 

As an added bonus I discovered that the rub on sticker letters actually acted as a resist to the watercolors, I was afraid that the black watercolor would cover them up but it was a happy accident to discover how they almost pop off the page.

So currently, this is one of my favorite art journal pages...

until the next one, lol

Sundays with Sandee and Daisy Mae

Last week over at Simon Stamps they asked to see your pet, and this is the picture I took of little Miss Daisy Mae, I thought it was cute enough that it inspired me to paint her for my weekly Sundays with Sandee video.

You will see in the video that she added her own distressed look to the watercolor paper by chewing on the edge during taping.

And this is my final result, between chasing her around the desk, trying to keep the barricade I created from falling over on her (because she was trying to get around it!) and defending my art supplies, I think it turned out pretty well!! lol

You can watch all the chaos here.

I also got THE CUTEST STAMP SET...can you tell I really, really like it?

It's called If cows could talk, and if they could, they would tell you how cute they are! Plus you get a coordinating die which I love! I used a scrap of monoprint to cut him out. The background is made from my Gel Press® plate and Distress paints, looks like I'll be doing this technique like forever! 

 This is my card I made to enter in 

Simon Says: Anything Goes

And for fun, I created a matching envelope for him. I used the same technique for the background ( and if you're interested in it, you can watch a short video tutorial here ) and, then I painted a barn. The barn is where you would write the address to the person it is going to which is why it's a white barn. :)

or should I say I write barn? lol

Don't they look cute together?

Nuance of Summer

What does summer mean to me?

For me, it is hiking in the woods where you can beat the heat under the shady canopy of trees.

It's cooling off by strolling along the creek looking for rocks to stack.

It's sitting on your balcony at night watching the lightening bugs display their own special light show.

Simon Monday Challenge - Summer

Used the Tombow markers to color the trees on the stamp, then spritz with water for watercolor effect. I used a fan brush to add splatz of color with my watercolors.

MATERIALS LIST:

Arches Water color paper – 140lb weight- cold press

Grumbacher Water Colors – Viridian Green

Helmar Craft & Hobby PVA Glue

Watercolor brush, fan brush

assorted card stock

Verses stamp – Good friends are like stars – FS1132G-CL

Tombow markers- 245,296,249 and Signo white pen

Stazon Ink

Spritz bottle

Sympathy card

MFT color challenge #24

I used the colors above in watercolors, the shell is done through The Crafters Workshop stencil. Hand stitched the ocean sea caps with some french knots.

MATERIALS LIST:

Arches Watercolor paper – 140lb weight- cold press

Grumbacher Water Colors – Lemon Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Burnt Sienna

The Crafter's Workshop stencil – TCW500

Helmar Craft & Hobby PVA Glue

brush

embroidery floss

font – Traveling Typewriter 16pt 

Montage sketching

Montage :  a composite picture made by combining several separate pictures

So...ususally I try to paint what is directly in front of me but today I was "called upon" by my inner muse to go here and there to create my drawing. I was surrounded by a plethora of beautiful things to draw and simply wanted to do them all, so I did the next best thing and tried to incorporate as many as I could in one drawing. I've never moved my chair so many times during one art session! I did forget to take a picture of the mountains to put in my collage, but I think you can get the idea. So here is my composite drawing of 4 different areas that we had at out disposal today to draw from. 

Flowering Bridge - Lake Lure NC

Officially dedicated Oct. 19, 2013, the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge blooms on the historic 1925 Rocky Broad River bridge in Lake Lure, NC. When the bridge was closed to traffic in 2011, the Friends of the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge came together to create gardens on the 155 feet of the bridge and along a pathway at both ends of the three-arch span itself. With an emphasis on native plants, the Friends mission is to create a “Gateway to Somewhere Beautiful” for the enjoyment of the public.

I really enjoyed doing a watercolor sketch of the bridge, there is just something about bridges that I love. Water on the other hand is very hard to do and rarely is the water actually blue so I always think it looks a little weird, but I am trying to draw what I see regardless of whether I think it looks right. I did enjoy the goose that swam into the picture and was glad I captured him. I did however make sure I stayed under the shade of a big tree so I didn't add to my sunburned body parts from the other day!! I do need to remember to add sunscreen and insect repellent to my arsenal of sketching supplies.

Hogback Mountain

One of my favorite things to do is to take my sketchpad and watercolors outside to create with. This is a picture that has a story too....

 First, here is the view of Hogback Mountain that I sketched...hopefully you can see some similarities!

Usually when I set out to sketch I have a public destination in mind but this time my friend Jamie and I just set out to see where life lead us. It lead us on many a road but finally we turned up Pinnacle Mountain and saw some breath taking vistas, the one pictured above really caught our eye and we stopped on the road to gape...lol....that's when we saw the man watching us from his yard!! I rolled down my window to explain we were looking for something to draw, and he invited us to sketch from his porch!! OMG...it was awesome, I was in house envy! His wife was so sweet, offering us ice tea and the use of their bathroom if we needed it! Here is a picture of Jamie sketching...

It was such an unexpected and fun adventure, the only downside was that were sketching in the sun, so I came home with a sunburned neck, arms and feet!

Ouchie....

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This is day 6 of blogging for 90 days in a row!! Be sure to check out how the rest of our 90 day bloggers are doing!

Sharon Estes 

Yvonne Armitage Gebauer 

Sandee Setliff

Sandy Beach

Donna Lueders

Rainy Daydreams

The image and the journaling don't have anything to do with one another, just 2 random thoughts that came together. I was surfing Pinterest and found a site that listed famous people who used journals and I found that to be interesting and my journal was sitting beside me so I wrote the list out.

Andy Warhol,

 Guillermo Del Toro,

 Claude Monet,

Pablo Picasso, 

Vincent van Gogh, 

John Lennon,

 Frida Kahlo,

 Marc Chagall,

 Tim Burton,

 Henri Matisse

And on a lark, I added my name too.

Then I searched my photos that I keep as sketch fodder and found one I had taken of an elderly couple out walking the gardens at the Arboretum during a shower.

I thought I was done at this point, but evidently I wasn't . How many times have you gone back to a sketch and added just a little something more? It's like I couldn't stop myself, but here is the finished version...I think...maybe.