Passing the Time

This has been a busy week for us.  Birdie has had 4-hour rehearsals every evening at Ohio State. I decided that since it is 40+ minutes to drive her there,  I would stay and find a way to amuse myself on campus. The first day, I brought a few books and thought the 4 hours would never end.  The next 3 days, I took ran errands and went to a movie.  I thought it might be fun to see "adult" movies.  I learned that I don't like R-rated movies.

Finally, last night, I brought my art supplies.  The time just FLEW by!

Birdie made a rubber stamp of her uncles.  I colored two of them and did pen and ink shading on the third.

I'm not particularly happy with the results, but at least I was happy while I was doing it.

Don't Stop Believing

Birdie told me I HAD to include Don't Stop Believing. Since I love Journey, I agreed even though I hadn't a clue how to illustrate that.  I finally decided to just go with copying the album cover and trying to use some more "interesting found objects."  (This is a fancy term for trash.)

I found this gem under a cake.  Yep, it's a foil doily.  I tried stamping with it, but that didn't work as planned, so I lined it back up as best I could and used it as a stencil for a spray of Perfect Pearls mist.  
Is it perfect? No, but at least it is somewhat interesting.
I had a lot of fun doing the record label. I used my 4x6 chevron stamp and LOTS of embossing powder.

Finally, here it is in all its glory.

I did the wings using Prismacolor pencils that I layered and layered some more.  To make them even brighter, I used applied odorless mineral spirits with a brush.  I went outside the lines to put the blue shading between the feathers. The rest is done with watercolors and Stickles pearl over the white on the stop sign.  This one is so sparkly and 3-dimensional I wish you could see it in person.

Stamping Fire!

Def Leppard says, "It's better to burn out than fade away."  I agree.
It's a fun way to live and it turned out to be a fun page to make.
For my "fire", I used the damask stamp that I carved for Julie Balzer's Stamp Carving 101 class.  To make it fiery, I applied Whispers markers in warm colors directly on the stamp. I stamped once on the left page, once on a scrap paper, and then again on the right side for the faded look.

Finally, here is a close up of the "record label."  I used a watercolor wash and then clear embossing powder.
You can also see the grooves in the record more clearly here.

My Multi-Mixed-Media Sketchbook

If you are reading this, I am betting that you are a collector of art supplies, like me.  This is a picture of my desk showing some of the supplies I used for my sketchbook project.

hand-carved stamps, embossing powders, distress inks, glue, Zentangle markers, gel pens, glimmer mist, watercolors, Stickles, Stayz-on inks, paint pens, plus colored pencils and markers. 

I thought I would do my sketchbook as a kind of Zentangle-focused art journal.  Of course, I've never done an art journal before. I've only read about them on the internet.

The theme I chose was "How to Tie Your Shoes and Other Things to Learn."  My version was going to be "Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from the Radio." But, I ended up with the more sedate Pop Proverbs, with wit & wisdom from the age of vinyl.

Since I turned 50 last year, I've become obsessed with time. Where did it go? How much is left? How come time seems to be moving at such a frantic pace? So, the first line I chose was, "Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping, into the future" from Fly Like an Eagle by the Steve Miller Band.  On each page, I cut a circle out of card stock, and  embossed some grooves on it.  I made a stamp by cutting a circle out of a styrofoam take-out container and "carved" it using a pencil.  It worked surprisingly well.

I wanted jewels instead of sand in my hour glass, but we weren't allowed to use glitter.  Finally, a use for my Stickles paint!  It is very hard to see how sparkly it is from the photo.  (Observant readers may have noticed that the first picture is actually a screen shot from the video I tried to make showing how I made this book.  Let's just say that I have a new respect for those who do "how to" videos on their blogs.)

The clock hands are just an opened brad, so this page is interactive.


This is the one layout that looks most like an art journal to me. At least there is a bit of layering. It is also one of the most literal. As time went on, I became less literal and also went back to using more familiar techniques.

Stay tuned to this station for more pop proverbs.  It's sketchbook week here at Tangled Up In Art.

(If you can't wait to see the whole thing, you can find it on my Flickr page.)

Challenges, Challenges

I get so inspired every week by the Diva's challenge, the I decided to join a few more, just to keep me growing as an artist.  I am joining the Second Floor challenge whose sole purpose is to spark creativity and challenge yourself.  According to the challenge, 

at some point you need to “take it to the second floor.”  What does that mean?  It means trying something vastly out of your comfort zone.  Doing something that might not work.  Experimenting with a crazy idea.  It’s all about pushing yourself.  If it works, awesome.  If it doesn’t work, awesome!

If it sounds like fun, click the new button below and join me. 

Tools!

I am short on time this week (who isn't?) because I've been traveling and taking care of a sick kid, so I decided to combine the two.  The Diva challenge is to tangle using a spiral string with paradox.  The Second Floor challenge is to use gold paint.  Hmm. Not having gold paint on hand, I decided to go with my new Brillance Galaxy Gold stamp pad and my gold Sakura jelly roll pen. And to up the difficulty, I decided to go big and use the 7x11 sheet of watercolor paper that has been staring blankly for the last week.  I also decided to experiment with my Whispers markers to tangle with - using the brush end!  

Paradox in a spiral - "shaded" with my water brush on the Whispers Markers.  Who knew plain H20 could do that?

After looking at this a while and wondering how to add the gold "paint," I thought perhaps it was time for another Zentangle-Inspired stamp.  I guess it is true that if all you have is a nail, everything looks like a hammer.  So, I carved a Paradox stamp and put it all over the background. I went right over the paradox string, but masked out the big spiral.  

I didn't want to cover my "echoism" ribbons because I like the shading and it was too much effort to mask them out, so I decided to fill the inside with spirals using my gold pen. 

Gilded - for the 2nd Floor Challenge

At this point, I wasn't sure if it was done, but I got called to tend the sick kid and when I came back, I discovered that it looked pretty good from across the room.  It's amazing what a difference a break and change of perspective can make.

The picture doesn't do it justice, so here are some close-ups.

 Hope you like it.  Thanks for stopping by.

More Stamp Carving Fun

Stamp Carving 101 is officially over, but I am not done with this hobby.  I find it almost as relaxing as Zentangle.  Just like Zentangle, I love the oftentimes totally unexpected results.

How weird is this? I think it totally Picasso-esque...

But when you print it, it turns into me.  Not Picasso-esque, but Reubenesque.

Trees!  Too much fun to carve.  And mistakes just make it look more realistic.

Just for fun.

I had so much fun carving a stamp of myself, that I want to do more.  Do you think anyone would want one?  How much would you be willing to pay for a custom-carved stamp of yourself or a loved one?  My Etsy shop has been just sitting empty, but I think this would be something fun to sell.

Comments greatly appreciated.