Celebrating the first half of 2012……

 

Here it is the first of July, already six months into 2012…..where does the time go?  So, here I am sharing my calendar pages on Kathryn Wheel’s Calendar Challenge.

June is all filled in and looks like this……

I’ve had a pretty good six months…..lots of positive things have happened with my art and my family, I’ve taken some really cool on-line and in the classroom classes and I wanted to celebrate all of that.  So, I put together this special layout……”Celebrating the first 6 months of 2012”.

I listed the classes I’ve taken under the flap and made note of some of “my favorite days” over the past six months, on the right.

With the flap back you can see I took a class, almost, every month and it was great!

So, now I’m off to journal July….

This is my daily journal and garden journal…..so notice, I’ve already put a reminder in place to fertilize the roses on July 10.  I suppose I could have used a phone or my iPad to remind me, but what fun would that be!  The “Daisy” word is a practice piece for the lettering class I took from Joanne Sharp.

This layout is for the last half of July!  Once again, my pages are not side by side and I don’t use the box format but I cram a lot of memories into this little journal.

Here’s wishing you, in the U.S., a Happy 4th and everyone a Happy July!

Hot Wax and Tissue Paper……

 

I took a few encaustic classes earlier this year and fell in love with the medium.  Unfortunately, it does require a little more time, and set up, than some mediums so I haven’t played with wax as much as I would like.

But the other day, I created this is 8” by 10” piece based on Jane Davies class Sketchbook Scribbles,  I collaged newspaper to a wood board for the base then I covered the background with acrylic paint, oil pastels and encaustic wax medium….resulting in this!

For the next piece, I have a tissue paper background and acrylic paint and ink for the design…..no encaustic wax involved….yet!

I’m trying to put together a few pieces for a show in August…..this is a start but I’m still shooting for a more, especially, more encaustics.

Art Journal Everyday…..

 

My daughter-in-law peaked my interest in searching for heart shaped rocks with this beauty, the big one!  I found the almost looks like a heart small one….well, if you look at it from the right direction and use your imagination…..you can see it!

So, I decided to do a journal page using this photo as the inspiration.

I’ve taken a lettering class from Joanne Sharpe and a doodling class from Alisa Burke so I decided this was a good opportunity to combine what I’ve learned.

My heart rock whenever you are near, love!

Thanks for stopping by…..please feel free to leave a comment and follow me over to Julie Balzer’s Journal Every Day!

I’ve been busy playing in my journal…..

 

I made this page using the radish stamp I carved/printed and one of the original photos of radishes that I took for inspiration…..”Grow your own art and stamp it!”.

A fun thing happened yesterday, I received an e-mail from a chef who is opening a new catering business and he asked to use the radish stamp image, above, as his logo.  Can’t wait to see his business cards!

This is a work in progress….the  birds were inspired by an ad in a magazine and the shoes, pens and apples (on the right) are a part of a Target ad.  Magazines are great source of ideas and collage material.  This, likely, will become a daily journal page. 

I’ve been busy……this is another project completed this week.

I will be sharing this blog with Julie Balzer’s Art Journal Everyday blog party.  Follow me and we will learn and be inspired.

Same backyard….different week!

 

Last week, I took photos of our backyard and wrote a blog about it!  Interesting, how much changes in nature in a week.  There is always something new in bloom and something old that is fading.  Like life, the garden is always changing and evolving.

More roses in bloom and the lavender is about to “pop”!

 

 

 

Our backyard is twice as wide as it is deep…so this is a view of almost the entire width….garden shed and all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the other side of the backyard where the white Sally Holmes rose is in it’s full blooming glory.

 

 

 

 

Looking the opposite direction….this is a small yard with a ton of plants!  What can I say, I like plants and, apparently, I’m on a mission to own them all!  (LOL) So, I’ll leave you with collage and a wish for your days to be full of the flowers you love.

This week, I am once again joining Outdoor Wednesday.

Of marigolds and other stories…….

 

We had a very enjoyable Father’s Day weekend, I hope yours was too.

Saturday, after a morning spent doing yard work, we decided to go to a matinee movie……

I’m not often this inspired by a movie but we, both, really enjoyed “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”.   Full of great stars such as Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith it was funny, poignant, sad, colorful, scenic, wonderfully well acted by an amazing cast of professionals and had several story lines going at once.  I’m guessing, you might enjoy this movie more if you were…..say over 50, but there is enough story going that you don’t need to be a “geezer”, to appreciate it.

P.S. I, also, loved the wardrobe they dresses Dame Judi in, now, I need a scarf and a tunic top!

Both, pages finished!  This is the first movie I’ve seen that has inspired a journal page but, as soon as, we got home I was in sketching this page in my journal.  The color and photography in the movie is awesome…..all about India and the lifestyle.

Today, Mom, Dad and………

Jack…. lookin’ all snazzy in sepia  with a fancy museum frame…. courtesy PicMonkey (a free on-line photo program), went on a hike in Molalla River State Park.

This is a beautiful state park located about 15 miles south of Portland.  The park marks the confluence of the Molalla River and Pudding River with the Willamette River.  It is beautiful park with a walking path along the river, a boat ramp and a nice play area for dogs.  So, we packed a lunch and off we went.

Plus, the wildlife and wildflowers are abundant this time of year! 

Now, it’s crab cakes and salad for dinner topped off with strawberry shortcake….woohoo!

It has been a great weekend.  

Do, do….doodling!

 

I write in my journal everyday and I try to do a little art everyday, so……today I am combining those two thoughts and joining Julie Balzer’s Journaling Everyday blog party.  Come visit, if you are into journaling….you will be inspired.

I am trying to wrap my mind around “doodles”……sounds easy, right?  Not for me, my mind really doesn’t get it….I think it has something to do with repetition, I’m not very good at doing anything more than once.  But, I am determined to just get a basic grasp of doodling and adding it to my art.

This is the page I finished last night……..

My doodle inspirations came from many places, not the least of which is Alisa Burke’s class "Doodle Delight", click here to learn more.