Whoa! November First?

 

My how time flies, as they say!  Here it is the first of November and time to share our monthly calendars with the other "calendar girls" at Kathryn Wheel's HERE!

These are my finished October pages.  Note I did try to conform, a little, I made circles to represent the days for the first part of the month.

But, for the last half of the month.....I was back to writing in lines!  Sigh!

I've been helping to teach a class, sold some things at our show at the bakery, accomplished a lot of yard work early in the month and made some time for art!  It was a good month.

On to November.........with turkey day and Christmas just around the corner, and I've signed up for Diana Trout's bookmaking class that starts this Friday....I have a lot to look forward to.

In my hast to write this blog before the ghost and goblins start arriving at my door, I notice that I have not identified these pages as November....but that's what they will be.

I'll do it tomorrow, I promise!

These are a couple of my favorite pages in my journal.  On this page, I think I see some more circles in my future.

Thanks for stopping by and for sharing you calendar, if you did.

....and I quote!

 

I love quotes, don't you?  I am always amazed at how much can be said with just a few words.  H-m-m-m, not by me, but some folks have that skill.

BTW are you aware of a app, now available, for iPhones and iPads that was designed by Hope Wallace of Besottment by Paper Relics (to learn more check out her blog).  For a mere 99 cents you will receive and endless supply of quotes, I downloaded it yesterday and I love it!

So, these are just some ideas I played around with in my sketchbook using a few of her quotes.

 

 

 

Just  brainstorming some ideas for simple Christmas gifts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can add some color or some zentangles or maybe not.  Just ideas!

 

 

 

 

 

More ideas and more quotes.  This could be fun!

Black gesso........

 

I've wanted some black gesso for a long time!

For those who don't know what gesso is, it is a substance similar to thick paint that is use to coat a canvas before you start painting.  It helps the artist's acrylic or oil paint adhere to the canvas by adding a slightly gritty surface.   White is the most often used gesso color but it, also, comes in black.  I've wanted back for sometime!  Then it becomes that "want" vs "need" thing, 'cause I sure didn't think I NEEDED it......!  However, now, I'm not so sure.

I painted these pages with several coats of black gesso, to get the density I was looking for, and then painted over the gesso with a liquid blue acrylic paint before I embellished.

Yep!  I NEEDED it.

To my east coast friends, I'll be thinking and praying for you to stay high and dry over the next few days.  Stay safe.

Fall leaves.....

 

I know, everyone is doing leaves right now, there's a reason for that....they are beautiful and inspiring!  There is a saying that goes something like this: fall leaves are spring flowers, so true, beautiful color every where you turn.

Sooooooo, I had my go at leaves and a poem I really like.

This page was done using real leaves to mask the page then I sprayed the page with ink and stamped with hand carved stamps using acrylic paint.

........and just a few of the things I am thankful for!

Rainy days and journaling.....

 

It is still raining, I am still journaling and I still being inspired by my new book 365 Days of Journal Fodder and my class discussing Julia Cameron's book Vein of Gold.

Thinking of the places you have lived is one of the exercises in Julia's book! That started my thinking of the house I grew up in.  My Dad built it, with some help, just after World Was II had ended.  Materials were still difficult to come by so they had to work, almost as hard, finding the boards, plumbing and electrical supplies needed, as they did building.

Sorry, for the glare on the left side....I wrote in black and white ink to make the page look more interesting and blur the content, just a bit.  On the right, under the numbers, there is a flap............

 

 

Ta da!  Picture of the simple little house in Beaverton, Oregon where I lived between 11 and 20 years old.  The map shows the location of the house, which by the way, was torn down several years ago to make room for apartments.

Oh, how I wish these were the blueprints for the house but....they are not!

 

 

My other pages are devoted to the only piece of my art that has been saved from when I was a kid.  In 1951, I made up this story and drew the "photographs" to illustrate it!  Now days, if I had drawn this and given it to my friend at school.....the school would have gone into lock down! 

There really was a Barbara, my BFF, she really had a boyfriend named George but, as much as she might have liked to....she did not own a sexy strapless gown, opera length gloves or a long cigarette holder (an outfit, so, totally, influenced by the movies of the day). 

Barbara had kept this for years and returned it to me about ten years ago.  I'm not sure why the murder plot!  But, the format foreshadows my adult career of working for newspapers for 30 years.

Sadly, Barbara passed away in 2005.  I so appreciate that she saved this.

The other side of the page reflects just a few of the many memories I have of Barbara and some of the things that were important to us in our teen age years.

It is fun to look back and it is interesting how much longer the good memories last than the bad.  The bad memories are still there.....the edges are just softened by time.

I'm linking to Mary Walker's "Show me what you got" Art Link Up party.  Join me in viewing more cool journal pages.

Woo Hoo! New Book........

 

I think I'm in love!  For whatever reason, I am finding this book soooooo INSPIRING!

 

 

Journal Fodder 365 by Eric Scott and David Modler is, now, my all time, favorite journaling book!

I love the format and the suggested ideas for building a journal page.  I like the journal prompts because they are making my brain "pop" with ideas and I love their suggestions for incorporating words into the page design.

 

 

I'm, also, helping to teach the class based on Julia Cameron's book "Vein of Gold".  Between mining my past life and the new book with its cool ideas for incorporating writing in to the pages.....I can't stop!  I'm enjoying it while it lasts, cause it won't last forever.

For those who have read the book "Vein of Gold", you are aware of Cameron's use of the term "cups".  She refers to cups as the places, in our memories, where we store our good and bad experiences.

I wrote about the wonderful woman who encouraged me to start oil painting on canvas and filled my cup with "sweetness and sunshine".  I was doing tole painting and teaching, she was in my class.  One day she suggested to me that I try painting on canvas!  Well, I said, "I can't do that.....I'm not an artist"!  Sound familiar?

Fortunately, she kept after me until I took oil painting classes from her and several other teachers over the years.  I owe this lady, who past away just last year, a lot.

I liked the idea, from the journaling book, of writing my story with a watercolor pencil and then went back over with a brush and water to blur the writing a bit.

I used this page to talk about my love of paper dolls, rather for my love of drawing and designing clothes for paper dolls, when I was a child.  I would cut figures out of catalogues and magazines and then I would spend HOURS drawing clothes for them.  In the fifth or sixth grade,I remember sitting in the back of the classroom drawing clothes for my friend's and my paper dolls instead of studying.

On this page I wrote my story with a bamboo pen and acrylic ink, trying to make it look like it had been written by my "12 year old self".

 

 

I believe I could get back into drawing clothes for paper dolls and I'd still love it, cause this little exercise felt really, really good.

Have you ever heard the Frank Sinatra song "I'm going to buy myself a paper doll"?

I wrote the lyrics around the drawing and the "paper dolls".....now, you've got the words stuck in your brain, too.....don't you?

 

As if this wasn't enough.....I have a third page close to completion!  I need to finish journaling about the house I grew up in and then, that page will be finished, too.

I'm loving this "spurt" of creativity and wish I always had this much excitement and enthusiasm.  As, I said I'm enjoying it while I got it!  And now, I'm off to post to a brand new linky party being hosted by Mary called Show Me What You Got Art Linkup!

Arty weekend.....

 

The rains have finally arrived and this was the perfect weekend to stay home, make some cream of cauliflower soup, some pumpkin bread and play with my art!

I'm having fun making these little accordion books....so I made another class example.  This time I used primarily photos from magazines.  Since, we made zentangles, in class, I included one of those and one of our projects is going to be making a coffee or tea cup, so, I included one.

 

 

 

This is the front cover......

 

 

 

 

From Vincent's color love to a welcoming front door and a few bright ideas.

As I am writing this blog, and looking at this photo, I am profoundly struck by what this little booklet reveals about me! I love color, unconventional art, red doors, shiny smooth sculptures and using outdoor furniture inside!  Hmmmmmmmmm, maybe Julia's book is helping me discover my "vein of gold".

The other side refers to the tenets of Julia Cameron's book "Vein of Gold".  She suggests doing daily morning pages, taking a walk everyday, making artist dates with yourself and writing your timeline.  "Cups" is another term used by Julia.  I still have one page open....waiting for the perfect inspiration!

Sunday, we took the dog for a long walk and along the way I picked up a few colorful, fall leaves.

Aren't the colors amazing this time of year?

Voila, another page for my nature journal and a lovely, relaxing weekend comes to an end.

Class wrap-up……

 

For the last couple of Vein of Gold classes, that I've been helping with, each student is going to make their own accordion booklet. 

Our fearless leader (and the other, Jan)  uses the first part of each class to discuss Julia Cameron’s book and encourage the students to think and write about their life experiences.  The last half of class we have been doing some simple paper crafts or other creative experience.  So far, they have enthusiastically embraced each project.

For this one we are starting with a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 watercolor paper.  Each person will write a message or thoughts that they would like to get out into the world on both sides of their piece of paper and then cover it with a layer of gesso or paint and a little stamping with stamp pad ink.

 

 

The page should look like this before we paint over our thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And something like this, after it has been painted but before I added the stamps and sprays.

 

 

 

 

 

We will cut the page into four same size rectangles.  Then we will trade three of our pages with three other people.  The idea behind trading is we are sharing our thoughts and energy with other.  I compare this step to Prayer Flags where we are sending our positive messages out in to the world.

So, our finished book will be made up of one of our pages and one page from three different people.  I did not do that step in this sample book, these are all my pages only.

 

We’ll use masking tape or scotch tape to bind the pages together.

 

 

  Each person will then add art work and quotes that are meaningful to them!

 

 

By the end of the class they will have filled their notebooks with their thoughts, their timeline and their art….including this special little book!

Easy-peasey paper cloth......

 

I love Diana Trout's blog and I'm anxiously awaiting her on-line longstitch book making class to start!

One day last week, as a precursor to her upcoming class, Diana showed us how to make "paper cloth" which she used to make her book cover for this class.  You can go to her blog HERE and watch her step by step video.

 

 

So very easy, simply glue tissue paper onto muslin or any light weight cotton fabric.  I used Elmer's glue thinned to a milk-like consistency with water. 

 

 

 

 

 

Then spread glue on the fabric and arrange pieces of tissue paper or any light weight paper on top of the fabric.  Use a brush laden with glue to smooth the paper unto the fabric!  Let it air dry and that is it.

 

 

 

 

 

To give the paper a little more color you can add paint while the glue is wet.  Or, if like me, you forget to add paint....I got out a stencil and sprayed it.

 

 

 

Next, I stitched with the machine around the edge to give it more strength and body.  This was so easy and fun that I made two pieces of "paper cloth".

 

On this piece, I painted the "paper cloth" while the glue was still wet, otherwise, all the steps were the same.

 

Two different, cool papers for my book covers....DONE!

 

So, let the class begin, Diana!

A funny thing happened......

 

One day last June, I received an e-mail from a chef who was starting a new business and wanted to buy a piece of my artwork to use as a logo!

What!  I was surprised.....I don't sell on line, I don't even think of myself as promoting my art on line.....I JUST blog.  Well, I quickly learned "it is a small world after all". 

Chef Jess had gone on line looking for an image of a radish and my relief print of a radish popped up!  You can read the blog where it was featured in HERE!

So, to make a long story short.....agreements were made, money was exchanged and the print was mailed!

Today, I'm sharing my little pride and joy with you and wishing Chef Jess and The Roaming Radish the best of luck on their new enterprise.  Her new business is located on Whidbey Island in the town of Freeland, which is very close to Langley.  Whidbey Island is located north of Seattle, Washington in the Puget Sound.  Beautiful area!

If one day, you find yourself in Freeland stop by for an excellent meal and tell Chef Jess  "hello" from me.  

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch…….

 

Just got home from a fun day at the pumpkin patch!  Ours is close to home, located about four miles down the road at a year-around, family owned flower and produce farm where they grow most of what they sell.

It is a beautiful sunny 75 degree day, so there were LOTS of people.

We got there just in time to see this pumpkin weighed in at 875 pounds.

That was next to the giant sunflower heads…….

 

  That’s our great-grandson, Gaven, posing for me.

I don’t know the other folks!

 

 

 

 

 

Next…the big, exciting pumpkin drop!

I said we are easy to entertain! I overheard someone say “only in America”!

They lifted this 900 pound pumpkin in the air and dropped it into a swimming pool full of water!

It drew a pretty big crowd!

 

 

 

From there Dad took Gaven to check out the maze, haunted house and assorted other fun kid’s activities.  Meanwhile, Gaven’s Mom, Gramps and I wandered over to check out the flowers and the produce.  Later, we were joined by another granddaughter and her family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out this “to die for” picnic table with built-in water feature and planters!

 

This is the water bowl at the end of the table that the water circulates into….so cool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the table top with the water trough in between the rows of Hens and Chickens and assorted other plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A photo op at every turn!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, some of the family……..NO not the ones above!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Granddaughter Cyndi who is Gaven’s mom and Granddaughter Staci with her two girls, Emma and Lucy and Gram and Gramps!

So, if you live in Oregon anywhere between Portland and Salem, I highly recommend you check out Bauman Farms Harvest Festival, Sept. 29 through Oct. 31.  Lots for the kids to do, good food, great produce and plants and perfect day with the family.