Art Tile: Color Wheel

Keeping with the small canvases, I picked up some 4x4 art tiles. They're supposed to be for Zentangles, but they're just as good with paint! The Art Journaler's September theme is Color, so I decided to make a color wheel. And because I've been missing my photo apps, I grunged it up a little.

Check out The Art Journaler community site for more details: http://tajcommunity.com/2014/08/28/translating-life-into-the-language-of-color/

The Art Journaler - Postcards

This summer, the group at The Art Journaler is sending each other postcards! Go here for more info on the group: http://www.theartjournaler.com/tajcommunity

I found a great set of postcards with envelopes at Marshall's that were perfect for this. With the envelopes, I could use watercolor and not have to worry about the cards getting wet in the mail! I added some collage bits to them first (planetary hours charts, if you're curious)...

Then I gave them all a thick coat of pan watercolor. A few of my pans got used up, so I added some tube watercolors.

Next I stenciled on some dots with the drywall tape... I'm liking this a lot better than the bubble wrap I use to make dots in acrylic: a lot neater! You may have noticed the cardboard box - everything I've done lately has been able to fit into this shoebox! I've been working on a smaller scale lately.

After that, I stamped on some stars with a foam stamp I found in the kid's section of a craft store... I wish I could find some more: the little star is starting to fall off! I glued it back on and so far it seems to be holding up.

A little spattering of metallic pan watercolor, glued on silver foil stars and some quotes, and the card were ready to go!

I wish I had thought to make some extras for myself this time around! But I did scan them in before I mailed them off.

Wishing you all a wildly creative summer!

Studio Sunday - Art Journal

I've finally got a start to my new art journal! I regularly keep a sketchbook, but I've wanted to get into regular art journaling for awhile now. So I decided to join The Art Journaler group run by my online friend, Teresa Robinson. http://www.theartjournaler.com This month's theme is "Catching Dreams."

One of my goals for the month is to think about my artistic dreams and aspirations and where I want to take them. In the meantime, I've been reading the Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, one of my favorite artists (and a fellow Aries!). I decided to use one of my favorite quotes of his for my first journal spread, since I still had some printed out and lying around from the Inspiration Deck Swap.

"I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream." - Vincent Van Gogh

I started off with the glue designs I had "drawn" last week while I was waiting for my canvas to dry, and added some watercolor crayon, with some pan watercolor to intensify the colors. I then added a spattering of metallic acrylics.

Then I added my text, some punched out stars and wrote the word 'dream' under the star.

I had fun with this... there will definitely be more to come in the future!