Monday, March 26, 2018

Monday Art Journal Peek - March 26th

Happy Monday friends!!!  Here in Iowa, we got one more wintery blast over the weekend.....several inches of snow.  The heavy, sticky kind that is great for making snowmen!  The neighbor boys down the street took this last opportunity to build a tunnel of epic proportions.  I stopped and had a lovely conversation with them, where they clarified each of their individual contributions to the project.  My sweet chocolate lab, Bosco, was a happy boy too...he loves the snow.  It makes him frisky.  And there were lots of new piles for him to mark.  Ha! 

There's a little bit of sleet hitting the windowpanes as I type this today.  My errands are run, and there's no place to be but in the studio, with the space heater warming my toes!  I'm intrigued with working on wood panels right now, so will continue that this afternoon, I believe.

Onward, to this week's journal peek!

This spread was actually made back in mid February.  My brain was kind of all over the place, so I just went with it.  Ha!  Sometimes, my "journaling" is nothing more than scribbling down some lines, and laying down blocks of color.  Sometimes within the lines, sometimes not.  I just allow my mind to wander from one movement to the next.  This color palette is kind of fun for me.....so I may reference this for a painting later on down the road.


The girl makes me laugh.  I scribbled her in with pencil, then colored her with water soluble crayons.


I'm obsessed with these weird rose/peony/whatever flowers.....I don't really know, nor care exactly what they are.....I'm drawing them on everything lately.


Here's a closeup of a small section.....those stars and the "peachy" scribble make me happy too.  I hope you are finding joy in all the little scribbles and marks in your day!  Until we meet again!  
Cheers!  -Dori



Monday, March 19, 2018

Monday Art Journal Peek - March 19th

Good morning friends, and Happy Monday!!!  Errrr.....March is flying by....have you noticed that?  We celebrated the hubby's St. Patty's Day birthday on Saturday by going out to breakfast and relaxing at home with a movie before he had to run out and perform in TWO....count 'em....TWO plays!  He is in Diary of Anne Frank and Bent.  I had the pleasure of seeing them both this week at Theater Cedar Rapids, and they were gorgeous!  Well done!!!  

I'm popping in today, as promised, with another peek into my art journals.  This spread was created in an old altered book about Whirligigs.  Ha!  

I'm really loving gray alongside the brighter colors.  The collage paper in this piece is a leftover scrap of kraft paper that I cover my work table with.  Every few days, the paper gets messy enough that I need to change it out....so I save the most colorful bits for collage.


As you can see from this pic, I also really love scratching into wet paint.  When it dries, it leaves behind the coolest texture.  The scribbles are from a heavy graphite pencil, and water soluble crayons.

I keep a little notebook handy of quotes that I love....so this is the one that made the cut.  Easier said than done sometimes....being bold everywhere....but it's something to aspire to, nonetheless.
Have a wonderful day!  -Dori




Monday, March 12, 2018

Monday Art Journal Peek! March 12th.

Howdy pals!!!  I'm going to TRY to be consistent with a new weekly feature here on the blog, and call it something catchy, like "Monday Art Journal Peek."  HA!  Every Monday, I'm going to give you an in depth look at a fairly recent journal page.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  Hopefully it will inspire you to crack the spines on those neglected journals and altered books again, and move your hands.  

I absolutely LOVE working in a book.  There's just something about it.  I guess it's the "non-preciousness" of it all.  It's 100 times less intimidating than a (sometimes) expensive blank canvas.....and there's something about knowing that what you're making is just for you.  No need to share it with anyone else, if you don't want to.  That idea is so freeing to me.

This spread was done in an altered book....an old book as opposed to a blank journal is even MORE freeing, because the page isn't blank.  Someone has already made the first mark for you!  Ha!  


That patch in the lower left corner is fabric that I stitched on the sewing machine earlier, and I just felt called to use it up....so I gessoed it, added some marks, and the quote.  I glued it down with some heavy matte gel medium.  


These pages are a mix of acrylic paints, and collage papers, glued down.  The stars were already cut out, found in a goodie bag at a thrift store.  The angel sticker.....she literally just fell on the floor while I was rooting around for things, so I slapped her in there.


Pencil marks.....I adore them.....and crayons.  Scribbling is one of my favorite things to do, to get the cobwebs outta my brain.


And my favorite part of this spread is the stitching!!!  I punched holes along the curve of the page with a circle punch, and then randomly stitched over the openings.  This was really meditative for me....and I just love the "webs" that I created.  They seriously excite me, and I feel like I want to stitch up my entire book now!!!!  Happy Monday, friends.  Make it a good one.