Watch art develop

I've had this title for an advertisement laying on my worktable for a couple of weeks. What I originally wanted to use in my journal was the photos that went with it. Every time I've tried to use them they don't seem to work. The other night I stuck the title on the page for some reason and the rest of the page flowed from it. I think I used it because it always amazes me how I can sit down with no earthly idea what I'm going to do on a page, and most of the time something just seems to come together on my pages.

The girl in the black flower is my grandma again.

The End

I'm not too sure what was going on with this spread. It was one of those where I just started grabbing things and gluing. This is what came out.

My grandma

When I first saw this photo, I was amazed at how much it looked like me at the same age. I still am. It's my grandma at age 13 in 1919. She always hated the fact that her sister had let her wear the straw hat with her borrowed furs. I have several photos taken of her that summer and she has on the hat in every one of them.

Calves and swans

I went outside and sketched our black heifers. They were sure hard to see well enough to get any details. That and they didn't hold still very well.

Hollyhocks

We love the hollyhocks beside our house and it seems like Johnny plants more every year.

June 8 entry

I carved a couple of eraser stamps after buying Gloria Page's Art Stamping Workshop. I'm enjoying using them. The flowers were stamped with a shaped eraser that I bought at Dollar General and carved the center out of it.

100 Art Visits

This spread actually looks a bit better in person. I used the technique in Visual Chronicals where you put down a base coat of paint and then wipe the second coat off after a few seconds. I'm going to have to give it some more practice. I didn't mix any glaze with it this time around. The look is a bit different.

Yes, I know there are only 32 boxes. When I fill these, I plan to do another spread to continue the record.

Change your mood

I love the colors on these pages. The cat was copied from a magazine photo I had saved.

The living room scene really spoke to me with its colors, but I didn't like the looks of the lady standing in the room. I just cut her out! This is the second time I've done this with a photo in my journal and I really like the results of both of them.

I sort of gave myself a challenge with this page to visit art sites - museums, studios, galleries, etc... I immediately made a page to record the visits. Now I'm thinking about places I can go and how long it will take me to go to 100 of them ~ quite a while I'll bet.

Waiting room sketches

Recording with color

Journaling reads:

There is something about recording with color and design

that fills a need within me,

a need to create,

to make marks, something that will last

or at least reach out to a world that couldn't care less,

but occasionally my attempts touch someone near

or far across this world of ours.

And that is enough.

So I stay up way past the time that I should be

in bed and sound asleep,
reaching,
stretching myself to do something more,
different than what I have accomplished before.

And once in a while I even succeed.

And then I can go to bed.

M's and Smiley faces

My little Madelyn has been practicing M's. She made one with each crayon. She also loves to make smiley faces and will tell me what each thing she is drawing is, "Eye, eyeball, eyebrow..."

I plan to add a picture of her to the top of the page when I print one out.

A day with Madelyn

We spent a wonderful weekend a couple of weeks ago babysitting our sweet granddaughter. This page was done on their deck while she took a nap.

Second try

My second try for the day turned out better.

Maritime mess

This background started out pretty, but it went downhill from there. I added journaling that is barely legible. Tried again to go over the lettering with a lighter pen and it didn't help much. I was frustrated with the results, so I went on and made another spread. When I'm in the mood to journal, I don't seem to be able to stop until I get something that satisfies me.