30-Day Art Marks Challenge - Days 24-28

I'm finished! I've done the 28 prompts for the month of February. (Since we are leaving for Mexico tomorrow, I went ahead and did the last day today so I could post.)

Day 24 - Primary

Day 25 - Hidden

On the left is the "primary" page. I glued tissue paper in red, blue and yellow to the base page, overlapping a bit to also create the secondary colors. Once dry, I brayered white paint lightly over all. I had a happy accident - I had used bleeding tissue (Spectra) so it tinged the white paint in all the colors.  Then I doodled lines and circles in blue, red and yellow over the page. Finally, I glued on three round labels and doodled them into flowers.

For hidden, I glued a bit of printed tissue paper to the background and then journaled all over the page. To hide the journaling, I glued on pieces of dried paper towel left over from a painting session and scraped over with white paint to tone it down.  The butterflies are stamped in black Archival ink.

Day 26 - Singular

Day 27 - Continuous

For the singular challenge, I watercolored the background and then stamped the leaf in dark green paint. I accented it with white pen. 

For the continuous prompt, I painted the background and then made a continuous line with a black Sharpie.  Then I doodled white and black marks within the circular shapes created by the line.

Day 28 - Painterly

For the last day I painted blocks of pink and orange paint with a flat brush and then used a palette knife to spread white paint. The white paint marks were made with a small round paint brush.

And, finally, I decorated the front and back covers with randomly cut-up scraps of mostly gelli printed papers. The "Make your Mark" is something I'd cut out of a magazine ages ago but it's just perfect!  

And here, again,  is the before photo, in case you've forgotten what this little throw-away calendar looked like to begin with. I think it's quite a transformation!

I had lots of fun doing this challenge. Most of the time the prompt was helpful and it certainly challenged me to sometimes think outside of the box. I would certainly do this again. It is so good to have a daily art exercise.

30-Day Art Marks Challenge - Days 16-23

I'm keeping up with my daily art marks in my little journal. Here are six more entries.

Day 16 - Assorted
Day 17 - Reverse

For assorted, I used a gelli print for the base and then added many different marks using stamps and  paints.

For the reverse challenge, I stenciled one feather in white and then flipped the stencil to get the reverse feather in black paint. I added contrasting polka dots and then doodled a black and white border.

Day 18 - Circular

Day 19 - Hash

Day 18 was easy - I collaged book text and patterned paper circles over a gelli printed paper. The I added some paint with my finger and doodled in black pen.

The background for Day 19 was also a gelli print, this time on deli paper. I added artist paper scallops and the hearts are cut from some melted crayon prints from years ago.  I added the hash marks with black pen in different sizes to fill in the background.

Day 20 - Suspended
Day 21 - Bold

For  suspended, I watercolored the background and then painted three yellow stars outlined with gold Stickles and white pen. I stamped the words and doodled the hanging strings for the stars.

The background for bold was leftover paint and a stencil from a previous page. The pink scallops are cut from a gelli printed scrap. I stamped the bold arrow shapes in black ink and hand-cut the title from painted paper.

Day 22 - Reflective/Shiny

Day 23 -  Simple

I combined two days' prompts which were similar for Day 22. (Since there were 30 prompts and I am only doing the 28 days of February, there were a few extra.)  Again, I glued down a background of gelli printed deli paper. For the shiny element I used a new Christine Adolph rub on with silver foil. It's hard to see in the photo but the "negative" is a silhouette of wildflowers.

Day 23 was simple! I did a wash of pink and yellow translucent paints on the background and then made simple marks with a paintbrush and hot pink paint.

Only five more days to go! My little journal is bursting at the seams!

30-Day Art Marks Challenge - Days 8-15

Day 8 - Rings

Day 9 - Chevron

For the rings prompt I painted the background and then stamped circles with white and purple paints. I doodled more rings with a black pen and filled the centers with white paint pen. I also made lots of tiny white ring marks and black cross marks throughout the background.

For chevron, I painted the background a neon pink and then stamped with a chevron roller stamp in white and darker pink. I also stamped a smaller chevron design with grey ink, added chevron washi tape and then doodled large and small chevrons on the page.

Day 10 - Criss Cross

Day 11 - Lines

The criss crosses are doodled with white and black pens on the fingerprinted background. I collaged a few circles cut from some messy paint scraps and made them into flowers.

For the lines prompt, I used the colored pencil border that I had cut from a magazine ages ago. I glued it over a painted and stenciled background. The lines were made with corresponding colors of colored pencils. Easy!

Day 12 - Puddled

Day 13 - Patterned

Day 12 was "puddled" so I dropped very wet watercolors on the page. Once dry, I drew in loose petals for flowers and veins for the leaves. I wrote messily with a fountain pen in a few places and then filled the remainder of the background with tiny black dots using a Sharpie.

For patterned I collaged some vintage ledger paper on the background and then painted over it. I drew the heart on and then filled the areas with different patterns in black and white paint pens.

Day 14 - Dashed

Day 15 - Loose

The left page shows the dashed prompt. I went crazy with hot pink, yellow and blue paints on the background and then stenciled over it with hot pink dots. I laid a leaf mask on top and then painted around it with a dark indigo acrylic paint. Once that was dry I added my dashes in white Signo pen and a hot pink gel pen.

For loose, I loosely finger painted two green and one turquoise paints with lots of water. Then I watered down white paint and painted a circle at the top of the page, letting it drip down.  I doodled the flower and hash marks with a pencil and a turquoise pastel pencil. By holding the pencils near the end and lightly drawing, I was able to keep it very loose.

I hope you're enjoying my daily art exercises. They are very freeing and are forcing me to do something every day!  

Life Documented 2017 - First two weeks of Feb.

February Monthly Calendar Page

This is my monthly calendar for February, using watercolors, washi tapes and a felt heart sticker. The dates are written on punched card stock hearts.

First Week - days 1-4

For this spread I used watercolors on the backgrounds. On the left page I used days-of-the-week stickers and stamped dates, some washi tape and photos printed on my new Polaroid Zip Mobile Printer (love that for journaling!). The right page has a flower and butterfly cut from napkins and decoupaged on. The girl with balloons is a favorite of mine - cut from a notepad from the $1 Spot at Target.

Second Week

The backgrounds on this spread were done in acrylic paints. I also used some stencils. The dividers between the days are made with a new thin washi tape (Jane Davenport Mixed Media line). I stamped the days and numbers. For the right page I collaged bits of an artist paper download, added the blue circles with paint on my fingertips and then enhanced everything with white and black pen doodling.

30-Day Art Marks Challenge - Days 4-7

Four more days of the Art Marks Challenge and the prompts:

Day 4 - Just Three

Day 5 - More Than One

I so didn't quite follow the challenge on the fourth day. The idea is mark-making and I used collage (three vintage children). I guess I did make marks with stenciling in the background but it wasn't just three! Oh well, I had fun. I tried a paint-over technique - but wishing I hadn't done the faces.  I need to keep reminding myself that this is an "exercise!"

For the right page I did the background with a gelli plate. I brayered red acrylic paint over the plate and then used my finger to write X's and O's directly into the paint. Of course, that removed the paint in those areas so they showed up white when printed on the page. Then I doodled little x's and o's in white and black pens and added stamped hearts.

Day 5 - Gridded

Day 6 - Dozens

For "gridded", I used a paint chip swatch for the background and added gold washi strips between the chips. The pear is a portion of a napkin decoupaged to the page.

Dozens was easy enough - I made a splotchy paint background and Stamped with white paint and the bottom of a flip flop. The black lines are stamped and then outlined with my favorite white pen - Uniball Signo. It needed something to "contain" the page, so I stamped and embellished the scalloped borders on the top and bottom edges. Even then it still needed something, so I added the "12" with Tim Holtz plastic numbers. (They are actually black - must have picked up a glare when I took the pic.)

Valentine Houses

I have now received all three of my Valentine "row" houses from the recent swap. This completes my "village." Aren't they adorable? I think I might make them into a little banner for Valentine's Day.

In case you missed my previous post, these were the three I sent out.

This was a fun swap. Love my little houses!

30-Day Art Challenge - Art Marks - Days 1-3

Rae Missigman came up with an idea of doing an art challenge for 30 days with a prompt for each day. She's called it "Art Marks - A Daily Exercise." In a nutshell, you create a small journal (or even work on separate pages) and work in it daily. She has even provided a list of prompts if you can't think of anything to do! (You can find out more information here.)

I love the exercise of making a bit of art each day so I wanted to join in, but I just didn't get my act together for her time frame (Jan 15 to Feb 13.)  Then, just a few days ago I received a "care package" from my mother in which she sent me a yearly date book (those small 7" x 3.5" calendars). Since I already had at least one, along with other planners, and I didn't want to just throw it out, I decided that it would make a perfect journal for this exercise! It has the right amount of pages. I could start on Feb. 1 and do it on my own for the month.  (Anyone want to join me?)

So, here I go!

This is the datebook - we will see how different it looks in a month! I have gessoed most of the pages because they are very thin and will do one side of one page for each day.

Here are the first few days and their prompts.

Day 1 - Petal-like

On this page I painted magenta and blue acrylic paints, then braider over with white paint. I used yellow and white paints on my finger to make the petal-like marks, outlined with black Stabilo pencil. I also added white and black marks with paint pens.

Days 2 (Needlework) and 3 (Concentric)

Day 2 started with a gelli-printed paper that I stitched on and then glued into the journal so it wouldn't show through onto the other page. I "saw" the flower within the random paint on the paper so hand-stitched around the petals and flower center with overdyed floss to emphasize the design. I also added a whipped backstitch for a stem. Except for the tiny circles stamped in black on the background (and filled with white pen), everything else was already on the print. 

For Day 3 I had "cleaned" my paintbrush on the background so went from there. I glued on three paper circles (pink and two blue) in the center and from there just started doodling with paint pens and other pens until it grew to fill most of the page. To complete the page I added some doodled circles in black and added pink dots to the centers.

I am enjoying these daily exercises, but it is hard to not make a "finished" piece. The idea, of course, is to make marks and just randomly create each day. The original exercise suggested to set a timer and create within a time frame, but I'm not doing that.

Happy Mail Day!

Today was an exciting, happy mail day - I received my "The Planner Society" exclusive planner kit and Traveler's Notebook finally! I pre-ordered this in October or November as an early Christmas gift to me, knowing it wouldn't ship until February.

This is the full planner kit. There are 6 double-sided sheets of paper, 2 sticker sheets, tabs and labels, 2 rolls of washi, a glittery pen, a girl stamp, package of die cuts, a girl paper clip, pack of 7  3"x3" journal cards and a darling sticky note pad (dresses).  The first photo is mine; second is from the website where you can see everything better. Even the paper bags this was packed in are adorable and match the papers!

And this is the Traveler's Notebook which is gorgeous! I am in love with the pattern, which is why I ordered in first place. It is made of "faux" leather but is matte rather than shiny. The inside is beautiful too, lined with white with black bows printed "leather" and with pockets both on the inside front and back covers in light pink "leather" with multiple pockets and a pen loop. It even came in this precious muslin bag.  Again, first photo is mine and second is from website (better photos).

I am so excited about these! Can't wait to start using everything. Unfortunately they are no longer available so I'm so glad I didn't hesitate to pre-order when I saw them.