Cereal Box Journal

I have learned so much from other people, too many to remember to list them here. I do want to mention Jane LaFazio, who introduced me to cereal box journals, and Jane Davies, who taught me about lifting paint. I have learned a great deal more than that from Jane and Jane. They are both brilliant artists and excellent teachers, and their classes are fun and filled with new ideas. Check out their workshops and online classes on their websites!

Okay, my cereal box journal. I save cereal and cracker boxes and cut off the sides and ends to make pages. I punch holes in them so that I can hold them together with rings.

As you can see, we eat lots of cereal
and crackers around my house.

I am working on collage and paint pieces (not in the journal, on printmaking paper), and sometimes I want to remove paint that I have applied. I grab a cereal box page or a piece of drawing paper and blot to lift the paint. I love the interesting effect of this. The cereal box by-product is just a bonus! When I have blotted enough that the CB page is covered, I make marks on it and sometimes I add more paint.

These finished pages are fun to play with. I have no stake in how they look. They do not have to be perfect! If I end up with something I hate (it happened once) I can either paint or gesso over it or throw it in the trash.

Sometimes I use cheap drawing paper to lift paint. I learned about this paper from Jane Davies. It is on her Favorite Materials web page.

I love to write on these pages. I overlap the writing so no one can read it (really, I say things I would never want anyone to read!), and I love the blocky squiggly effect.

Rather than punch holes in this paper, which I think would soon be destroyed by flipping through the heavy cardboard, I stick it on the CB pages with acrylic medium. I am sure PVA glue would be just fine, I just haven't had a bottle near me when I have been doing this. In this photo I have folded the drawing paper in half and wrapped it around the cardboard page.

I'll add some paint and some writing certainly, and maybe more. Whatever I do, I will enjoy doing it, and maybe learn some things that will help me be a better artist.

Big CQ Countdown -- Block 2

I had fun doing this block ... well, I always have fun embellishing blocks. Unfortunately, my iPhone camera didn't do a great job on the colors. The oranges are brighter, and the blue area behind the big yellow flower is actually purple. I'll be leaving Durango for home tomorrow and I'll use my better camera to photo the rest of the blocks.

10" block, muslin backing, silk, taffeta, velvet, cottons.

Thank you, Betty Pillsbury, for the
paisley class.

White sequin flowers, pink stop beads,
green wool stem stitch vine

On a different note, I've enjoyed spending the last month with my aunt, who continually amazes me with her energy, generosity, creativity, and intelligence. We have enjoyed talking about old family stories and current politics. We've eaten healthy foods, and enjoyed a 5pm beer every day. When we followed the beer with wine at dinner we called ourselves drunken sluts and laughed like maniacs. She is only 12 years older than I am and we have become more like sisters than aunt/niece. She has an adorable dog, Muffin, who makes us laugh every day with her persistent attempts to finagle food. (She is very well fed, but not allowed to eat all day long, as she seems to want to do.)

 Muffin, 2011

I am not looking forward to returning home as the temp in my hometown, Norman, Oklahoma, today is 108F, with a predicted high of 110F. Durango is very cool at night (50's and 60's) and usually in the 80's in the daytime. I hope I don't melt in the driveway when I get home and get out of the car. I feel so fortunate to have air conditioning. How did our foremothers survive weather like that?

While I'll be sad to leave, I miss my husband and my little dog, Abby, (at left) who has probably forgotten me. 

Wish me a safe journey -- it's a 12 - 13 hour drive from Durango to Norman. My son is riding back with me, and this will be the first time we've been alone together for that many hours since he was a little boy. He spent 3 months in Chile earlier this year, and he just spent a week in California. The purpose of the California trip was to take his girlfriend to see Stevie Wonder in concert. I am hoping for lots of good travel stories.

Safe journeys to you and yours, 

wherever you may be on the planet

Digital Poppies for Houston ATC Swap

I took time out from stitching to work on a few Artist Trading Card designs for the ATC swap at the Houston quilt show in November. I plan to print this on fabric, probably draining every drop of ink from my printer's color cartridge, iron it on to peltex, and embellish with beads and embroidery. I'll iron a fabric back on it, and finish the edge with a machine zig zag stitch or a hand embroidered buttonhole stitch. I love the colors, and I hope my printer will duplicate them as vividly as they show up in PhotoShop.

I started with a layer of solid fuschia, then added layers of brushstrokes in various colors. I added the flower photo (taken in my front garden in the spring), and placed it between layers until I got the effect I wanted. The green floral design across the bottom is a brushstroke, and I even tried some embroidery stitch brushes (didn't like the effect). PhotoShop brushes are fabulous, and with so many free ones out there it's easy to build up a large library. Some of my favorites are French handwritten script, kanji symbols, floral designs, and abstract designs.

Art Journal

I am playing art with paper, paint, collage, crayons, pens, and pencils these days. I love working on my art journals for the same reason I love crazy quilting: the results are unpredictable and random. Unlike crazy quilting, however, the finished piece comes together very quickly.

The photo is a two page spread from one of my journals. I gessoed the pages because I wanted to use acrylics, then layered paint, stamping, and collage. For the collage I used an image from a Cherry Republic catalog, some torn strips from a linens catalog, and white tissue paper.

I know it isn't great art, but I am developing a finer sense of what shapes, colors, textures, and so on appeal to me. Lately, I have thought about using the art journals to explore what I'd like to put on canvas. How odd. I never imagined that I would like to paint.