Thirty One Days of Art

An inch at a time

Actually the challenge at Blue Twig Studio via Art & Soul Retreats was 365 days of art...an inch or two at a time. But that seemed too daunting so I committed to January. Thing is, I really like it. I've tried some new techniques and most times use something that is sitting around on my desk so I feel kind of virtuous even.

The one in the second row has clips from an instruction booklet that came in about a thousand languages (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration) which I thought looked very worldly so I made a shrink art compass to go with it. The one in the middle has embossed page enforcers, highlighted by Tombow markers I blended together. Some days are really fun like that. Others are more like row three that was a piece of my first attempt at a Gelli print with a few additions....not my fav, but I was making something!

My favorite inchie from week two was the first one, with the two hands. I had never tried to do shadow embossing...I think it has real possibilities. I used Ranger Rust and black embossing powders .

By the time I used the twinchie it seemed HUGE!!!! It's a great challenge. Care to join us?

The other thing I've been tracking in this new year is the amazing The Documented Life Project. So cool. Five friends are hosting it. Please do visit their website. And the facebook page is so much fun to cruise through. I do Kate Crane's calendar challenge, so I decided to forego the calendar and journal part and partake in the weekly challenge.

This is week 4 - where our challenge was to write and leave one word exposed. I have been puzzled as to  what happen to my mojo.....the little guys are fun, but I haven't really wanted to do much more. That's not the norm. Maybe it's coming back.

Hope things are good in your neck of the woods.....

January 2014 Calendar

Goodness Gracious. Time is flying by...zip, zip. Three years ago this month (also rather alarming since it certainly doesn't seem that long ago) I stumbled upon Kate Crane's calendar challenge and fell in love. Each month we make a calendar page - no theme, just the month - and use it how we want. I jot down little notes about the days.

This page turned out a lot differently than I had imagined. And I am sorry I don't have a better photo because it does look pretty cool in person. I knew I wanted to use the moon and the stars. We're all about lots of night time this time of year, and I was a bit tired of the snow theme. 

I made a background by fan folding wax paper and laying it on a piece of Bristol paper and pouring severly watered down acrylic paint down the page. I was hoping for water but what I got was ice (you know, in my mind) so I've been keeping it handy since October. I gave it a good spray of Perfect Pearls Mist in Pearl to add a little - okay - a lot of sparkle. That's one reason it was hard to photograph. 

Next I cut some large stars out of a Tim Holtz die and colored them with alcohol inks. Inside my container of alcohol inks was these bits of plaid paper I had made on glossy card stock a couple of years ago. 

I decided to use the blue, white, and pink plaid which took me in a whole other direction. 

I found a smaller sheet of of a pink plaid - so I made some more pink plaid and combined the two in the title. The journaling squares started as very light pink Dylusions spray but the fact of the matter is I'm not really a pink kinda girl. Out came the purple and turquoise along with the amazing white Dylusions ink and after about 7 or 8 layers I had something I liked AND something that reminds me of the arctic sky.

I'm happy to have had a fun and restful December, and be moving onto a new year!

Best wishes for a Happy New Year and thanks so much for stopping by the Fun Room!

Waiting for Blue Skies

Several months ago, I became resolved to certain colors being linked in my physique to certain months. This July I saw lots of medium greens, bright yellow flowers and the fuchsia -pink of our most beautiful weed, the fireweed. Of course by the time I made the August background, the fuchsia had pretty much evaporated. But it was on the calendar....

We have a saying for the rain in August....it's Fair-time. For 21 years my life revolved around the 11 day annual event as I worked for the organization that produced the Fair. Best job ever, with a group of wonderful people who only wanted to make it better every year. Now 17 years after I had to leave the Fair due to health issues, my husband still tells people I have it in my blood. I think he's right. 

But I digress once again. It often rains in August which can put a tamper on the festivities (or not)  but is often sunny immediately after the Fair ends. True to form, it's been raining for a while now and I am ready for the blue skies!

I made my September page for Kate Crane's calendar project...I don't even know if it's a challenge any more, but it does have a fun Facebook page. I stopped for a few months, but find I missed my little squares. It's kind of fun to look back over the time and see - in a glance - what was going on. So I'm back in. 

In true autumnal colors, I created a paper background of what the country around me will look like in a few weeks...with the minor exception of the actual color of the leaves. Although all the colors will be found in the ground cover, the leaves from our beautiful Birch trees will be yellow. I used the new Bo Bunny paper Autumn Song in the 6 x 6 paper pack and theTim Holtz Sizzix Autumn Garland die cut for all the leaves. My big discovery on this page was how will a Pitt Pen works. Man, those things will go over anything - glue, paper, adhesive, etc. pretty impressive. 

So I am waiting for blue skies....in September. 

March - Coming in Like a Lamb

I had such fun making my March calendar. Perhaps it was because it involved coloring which I found particularly soothing after my stupid computer at work ate an entire afternoon's efforts....ooo, don't even want to remember. So I came home on a Friday night and came right to the Fun Room to finish my calendar for the lovely Kate Crane's calendar challenge at her blog The Kathryn Wheel.

A sea scene in delight of the new Dylusions Ocean Backgrounds...love them!

I started with the seaweed and leaves on a separate piece of paper, colored those in, and then started cutting them out. Wasn't too long before I reached the conclusion I was NOT having fun. So I stamped right on my background and colored them in with a collection of Copic and Tombow markers. I used a white pigment ink pad to stamp the little fishies on the background and found some old Stamping Up! fishes my sister had given me which were easy to color and cut out.

I'm always challenged by the lettering for the page. March was no exception. These started life as white chipboard, which I almost used but decided it was too white. Painted them green, didn't like that. Covered them with distress stickles, wasn't crazy about that either. And then IT happened. I rubbed a little white paint on it and the stickles acted like a resist and I LOVED the result. Happy Accident. Yay.  I can't wait to try that combination on something else!

The circles are my continued attempt to push the envelope beyond the squares. They remind me of golf balls right now, but will look better once they are filled in, I'm sure. Lastly, here's February all done!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday #195

Julia is too funny. Each week she hosts this marvelous event which connects people literally all around the world so we can see what one and other are up to. This week Julia is having a just a wonderful time rolling up her ribbons. Or not. Still every once in a while it must be done. It being the organizing thing. So more power to her and good luck.

What I'm doing is getting ready for a couple of other things. The blue green paper will eventually be my March calendar for the challenge which Kate Crane hosts monthly on her blog. I started last year and found it to be lots of fun. Turns out I have very definite ideas about what colors go with what months. I just got one the new Dylusions Fish Stamps - well actually I got the background seaweed but I'm happy to have that. So I have printed out several on white paper ready to be colored in tomorrow after work. That's what the white piece of paper is. The red page was me trying different inks on the fish stamp to see which one I want to use on the calendar. And lastly among the general paraphernalia on the desk is my small art journal with the first step in Dina Wakely's intuitive painting technique. Don't know what it will turn out to be yet.

Just finished up the February class over at the Stamp Cache where we did tags this month. Here are a couple I made up for the class. I think I might like the name True Bunny Love better than the actual tag!

And then there is the Not So Caged Bird. I cut  a folded piece of manilla with Tim's Tag and Book Plate Die but moved it in a hair so it didn't cut on the left side - and Viola, I got a tag that opens like a card!

We're pretty excited up here in Alaska, the daylight is coming back by leaps and bounds - actually we're gaining almost 6 minutes a day. That means it's almost light in the morning when we go to work and plenty of light in afternoons when we come home. Now if the north wind would shift, we'd have it made. Hope all is well in your world!

February = More Light

Yee Haw.... more daylight will be wonderful. And just think in 2 1/2 months we might be able to think about Spring. Ah well. In the meantime, I'm finding the preparation of my calendar pages part of the ebb and flow of life...which I like, a lot. Each month over at  The Kathryn Wheel Kate Crane hosts a monthly calendar event, I guess you would call it. I started last year, and love entering a bit of something on every day of the year.

In fact I got so excited I gave myself an extra day in January! I used it to highlight my intent for this year, which is to learn. Try new things, really try new things, work on the basics and see if I can find my own voice....

To that end I am taking some on-line classes and have been pretty successful at getting into the Fun Room 4 or 5 times a week, so hopefully that's a  good start. 

My February page is a real wonder to me. I wonder why there is so much pink, why I used gold instead of silver and why, oh why is it so damn busy? --- seems to be a failing of mine in February -- It's odd to use colors you don't usually use, but I do seem particularly drawn to circles as of late. So much to fun to color in. The page started out as red, and I just kept painting, and painting... I did use one of my current favorites tho - a Sharpie Poster Paint White Pen...what a wonderful little score that was!! Thank you Dina Wakely for turning me on to that.

I wanted to try out new shapes and arrangements this year; this month seemed like a good opportunity for a vertical arrangement. I figured that entitled me to go back to my little 1.5 x 1.5 squares. With the background so busy I went back to my trusty dry brush technique for a bit of color on the days...and then of course I put way too much paint down so I used my finger to "edge" all of the blocks. I do that every month - they seem to stand out a bit better with that extra bit of definition I think. 

So there we have it. Happy month of love and more sun!!

2013 - Bring It On!!

It's gonna be a great year. And one of the reasons I know is because I like my January calendar page. What 's a calendar page you ask? Well, the talented and beautiful Kate Crane came up with a lovely little challenge which you can find on her blog, The Kathryn Wheel, three years ago. Each month you make a page with a place to make art, or notations every day, and we all link up here. It's a great way to keep track of things, try new ideas, etc, etc, etc.

I was new at this last year and used little squares all the time, so my goal this year is to play around with daily shapes and layouts and see what I like. Small problem though, can't count, so the middle row/week has eight days. Whoops.

So voila! I have a bonus entry for the new year. Lol. I wanted the page to reflect the blues that are so prevalent in the Alaskan winter skies this time of year. I also want SNOW - badly. Today it was 38 and raining. Bummer.

My background started with gesso, and then a layer of London Blue Dylusions Ink and Tattered Angel blue of some sort with lots of water. I let it sit for a bit and then wiped it off with paper towels. A layer or two of Picket Fence Stain, a bit of an accent here and there with Shaded Lilac Stain and then white acrylic paint through one of Dyan Reavely's fabulous stencils. Actually white acrylic paint through a couple of Dyan's stencils. I thought it needed a border so I just drew a couple of lines with dashes and dots with a gel pen.

The tickets were made pretty much the same way but with some added extra Evergreen Bough Ranger stain applied in many ways, including plobbing it down a few times to get splash marks. I cut the tickets out with a Tim Holtz Sizzix die,  and a nod to Marjie Kemper who really opened my eyes to the possibilities with a ticket. I mean, who knew?

Lastly the snowflakes had to bring some glitz, and some of the purple back in by applying the Shaded Lilac ink pad directly onto grunge paper covered with Picket Fences Crackle Paint. I also took the Dusty Concord Distress marker to the top of the flakes.

This seems more me, than my December. But I still loved HAVING a December...

That's us dancing in the upper right corner....you can tell right?

Here's the rest of my year.

December 2012 Calendar Page

It was just about a year ago that I discovered Kate Crane's wonderful blog The Kathryn Wheel. She is an amazing artist who has opened my eyes to lots of new adventures. One of her ongoing projects is the  calendar project which is to inspire us to make art every day...366 days this year to be exact.

In this crazy year of moving, moving, moving, packing, packing, unpacking, etc.  my monthly pages are one of the few things I've been able to keep up on - well almost (missed July). And I was super excited to do my December page after my horrid November. Check out Kate's page for her November page and links to other followers!

I used Dylusions spray inks in red, pink, and yellow for the background, and then the greens on a piece of bristol board that had a coat of gesso on it. This was a happy surprise ---when i mopped up with the kitchen roll, a lot of the color came off which I find easier to write on. And then I put a bit of glaze over the page because I find it easier to write on. 

The last blog post had the empty August, so here's the completed version. 

September was the month we moved into the new house and I think the first thing I actually did in the new, smaller, more compact Craft Room. 

October reminds me of growing up in Pennsylvania with beautiful blue skies and red and orange and brown and green leaves...alas we don't have that here in Alaska....but old habits die hard. Tee Hee.

And I kept hoping for snow so of course I had to try out the new Dylusions snow stencil. Actually we are still waiting for snow; very unusual we don't have any at this time of year. Lots of cold and plenty of wind, but no snow. Kind of weird....

And this is November. A good idea, gone bad. But this fall I just don't seem to have much time so I used it.

I am so thankful for Kate's great idea and look forward to new techniques and ideas next year. 

August Calendar

Crafting and Inkeeness have been significantly absent for a while, as we are between abodes and staying at someone else's lake cottage. But things finally settled down long enough on Sunday morning to think about an August calendar page. I am SO glad that Kate Crane started this monthly calendar project lo those many months ago on her blog, the Kathyrn Wheel.

And while I wasn't thrilled with the background I had grabbed on the way out of the old house, I did at least have it! I made the day tags out of manila tags since that was literally all I had with me except scrapbook paper. Out came a few of the stamps I have with me and some Distress Stains and I was in business. It was SO FUN TO PLAY.

As you can see, it's a bit too much on the sparkly side, which is why I didn't use it months ago, but now I'm LOVING it!!  August is about biding our time until the house is done.

I did start on a calendar in June - late - didn't finish, and skipped July all together. I found I really missed it...

So I'm back on the band wagon. Happy August everyone!!

All Things Seem Possible in May

Ah, the beginning of a new month. And here in Alaska I could actually see little, tiny, leaf buds on the trees today. Cause for great excitement!!. After all the cold and snow we had this winter, many of us thought spring would be a long time coming, but this is almost early for us.

The lovely, talented, and Ranger U educated Kate Crane invites us to her blog, The Kathryn Wheel  each month to post our on-going calendars. Kate has been hosting this challenge for a few years and it's a fabulous journey. I use it to record my artistic endeavors of the month, what I'm working on, sometimes why I'm not working on anything, what I'm doing, etc. For May I'm celebrating green!

I played with my Dylusions spray inks....what a gas. Such vibrant, sassy, amazing colors. Just love 'em. I've found that a coat of glaze on top of the finished piece makes writing oh, so smooth. So after I spritzed, misted with water, dried, and used a touch of black paint with a very dry paint brush, I put a quick little coat of glaze on top of the background.

The design is pretty basic...please note my ode to the mosquito (got my first one today!). All the little white dots and the bird are Ranger white enamel which I like a lot...very glossy...comes in white and black - the black is way cool around Halloween. The bird was a bit too white though, so I popped a bunch of seed beads in its tail and body. This is all a result of thinking about the design for about, oh, maybe a fraction of a second. It started to rain this afternoon...so I used the umbrella. One of those things.

I had the most fun with the journal blocks. Dylusions spray inks again, but in lighter colors, more water, and more blotting. I used Gesso instead of white acrylic on top of the stencils, and liked that technique better.

In the end I have to say, May looks more like me. I love that I got a nice, light, creamy yellow for April because I tried pretty darn hard to do that, but I just couldn't use one ink color for journaling and had to put some pictures in from my trip to Los Angeles. It got a bit busier than I kind of pledged to do at the beginning of the month...oh well.

Hope you all have a great month of May!!