SOLILOQUY

ART JOURNAL CARAVAN 2012 has a whole new format this year. Tangie has us focusing on a word prompt but I think our words this year a from "How To Increase Your Vocabulary by 52 Words in One Year." Whew, these are words that I know but don't often appear in my day-to-day conversation and keep me thinking about how to get down on the page with images.

This week was a little easier. Soliloquy basically means "talking to yourself." LOL And there is plenty of chatter going on in my head at all times. I did notice that it only took me a couple of days during the week Mike was gone to start my own personal conversation, my on-going soliloquy once again.

This was a fun spread to work with lettering while I journaled about all the decisions I talk myself through as we work on phase one of finished the other side of the house ... Toby's studio and living quarters for the summer seasons at Tanglewood.

Supplies used on this spread include: A collage background using images from collage sheets Tangie Baxter shared with all the people participating in the Book of Days project plus tissue paper. The base was prepared with gesso and I used Pitt pens from Faber Casterll for the lettering. The outlining with done with a white Gelly Roll pen.

STAMP CARVING 101

I've been having a blast in another on-line class with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. This time I'm taking Stamp Carving 101 and learning all kinds of tips and tricks about carving my own rubber stamps. This is the journaling I did for January 24th and 24th about stamp carving and the good time I've been having with the class as I learn new techniques and materials to use that are different this time around.

I really had to chuckle inside as we worked on the first lesson. It was just like teaching beginning machine applique. We started with an open heart so we could learn how to do inside and outside points and inside and outside curves.

I did some hand carving of rubber stamps years and years ago. I found a few of those stamps while unpacking boxes (yes, I'm still unpacking boxes - a job that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life) while I was looking for texture stamps for creating backgrounds for my pages. I was also looking for alphabet and number stamps. Now the funny thing about that is, just a short year ago when Eryn was here we went through some boxes and I gave her any of the alphabet stamps sets she wanted because my thought was, "When will I ever be using or needing these stamp sets?"  Just goes to show, you never know what lies in the path ahead.

On with Lesson Two of the class ... we worked on creating interlocking or nesting stamps. These stamped images were like mirror images. We carved stripes in the block and then carved an identical block removing the opposite strips.

And last week we worked with a project Julie calls "contained chevrons." Doesn't this create a cool pattern. I love using it for a tag design and will be making some tags with this stamp to send out in "Happy Mail" packages to my Book of Days friends.

I added a few more carvings of my own just for fun and extra practice. I like the texture created with the rounded rectangle shapes that look like a remote control to me. I tried carving a Queen Anne's Lace flower stem. It's not light, airy, or lacy like the real flower is, but I rather like the primitive nature of this image.

    

And then I carved a word. Sentiment stamps can be fun but I think you must be careful with the frequency of use. Another words, you don't want the same message coming up on every project you create. However, I figured the word "enjoy" would have enough places or times it could be used to justify the time spent carving. So meticulous in design and execution ... I worked like a master. And then I was ready for the first test stamping. OOPS ... forgot about reversing a directional or word design ... sigh ... note to self ...

30 DAYS IN YOUR ART JOURNAL: DAY 1 and Day 2

Today is the day I start a new-to-me online workshop with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. I stumbled across her blog the other day, did a little exploring and found myself signing up for her class. I excited to learn some hands-on techniques with my art journaling. I've been playing with the digital side for quite some time now and feel like I missed a step or two in my learning along the way because I have never done the paper scrapping.

And so it begins with a wonderfully organized lesson format delivered daily ... lessons filled with clear consice directions, great suggestions for alternative materials or techniques, and learnings to take away from the lesson of the day to tuck away in your bucket of tricks.

Day 1: we prepped our pages and played with creating a background, stamping, and journaling.

Day 2: we continued adding more visual interest to our page

Now I'm frustrated because I don't seem to have the supplies I need to get the effects I want to create. I'm struggling to find the right pen that will write over my painting ... arrrrgh ... I see a shopping trip looming on the horizon.

I also don't like the way my journaling is jammed up against each other. I need some breathing and doodling room between the entries. I think it might be time for my favorite "hands-on" delete key ... paint over what I don't like with gesso and then start again.