More art journal pages

hi friends. Well, I'd hoped to update my blog more frequently, but looks like I failed again, lol!
I guess we all go through phases where you feel like you have nothing interesting to say.  Since my last post, I continued working on journal pages. The above is more my 'style', and I attempted to paint a fox with the fairy girl. He didn't turn out too great, haha! but if you don't practice, you will never learn. So far I've been adding lyrics from songs I love with these pages, and I wasn't sure what to write with this one. I had some oldies music playing in the background and when this song by Marvin Gaye came in, I knew it was the perfect song to add. Funny how it's still appropriate today, in fact, even more so.

Now this girl gave me lots of trouble, I was trying for an innocent look but I think she looks more irritated than anything, haha!
I can't tell you how much fun I have had working in a recycled children's book.  There is no pressure to make anything look perfect, and it's a great way to experiment, and find your style. There are a couple more pages to go before I finish, then I need to paint something on the front and back, and maybe embellish it with ribbons, or lace. The entire book is simply girls, with lyrics to various songs on the other side.  I'm not happy with the 2 pages I showed  in my last post, and will go back and add more 'stuff' to them, just to fill up the pages. Do you know that there are dozens of art journaling videos on Youtube?? You could spend hours getting ideas, and being inspired! If only there were more hours in a day to fit in everything. I could never be bored :-)
thanks for reading, stay inspired ♥

Some journaling portraits

hi everyone.  I finally started doing some of the workshops I had signed up for. I am forever behind , it's worse when they are ongoing. It gives me an excuse to postpone working on them. Last week, I decided it was time to get to to Jodi Ohl's workshop called 'lets face it'. The above is my first page using her instruction.
I was watching American Idol, and Casey sang Nature Boy, which was going through  my head as I painted the girl, so I thought I'd write some of the lyrics down, changing it to 'girl' of course. The rest of the page is blank, as I am stumped as to what else to add, lol!

This next one is another fun portrait I did. For this one, I didn't do a sketch first, but started painting the face free lance. This looks nothing like my usual whimsy faces but I am very happy with it.
I am trying to get more creative with journaling, as it's been something I love when others do, but I have such a hard time with it. Practice makes perfect I suppose. I love the quote used. It's a reminder for me to work on what I love and stop wasting so much time!
Once I finish this post I will be working on my next face. Who knew this would be so much fun?
Maybe my renewed motivation is due to spring coming? Or the fact that it feels like time is speeding up, who knows?  With everything going on in the world, art is a refuge for me, and I know for many of you as well. It's what makes us happy. It's also a way to leave a bit of ourselves in our art.  When I paint, everything is beautiful, and time stands still. I could do this for hours, taking only short breaks to make some delicious coffee.
After the long slump I  had this is a refreshing change. Hopefully my muse will stick around longer this time, lol!

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PS -Regarding my last post,  Thanks to everyone who mentioned stretching my watercolor paper. Of course!! How did I not know that? That's exactly what I needed to hear, so thanks to those of you kind folks who  took the time to remind me of something that should have been so obvious. The art community is filled with the best people on the planet, and I adore you all :-)

Just one of those days...

hi friends. Do you ever have one of those days when you plan to paint all day, but by the end of the day, you've accomplished so little? that was today for me.
I woke up looking forward to a day of painting. My goal was to create at least 5 or 6 ACEOs, and work on a portrait workshop I am behind on. Well, everything I painted came out just awful! I spent hours on a flower fairy, changing it, trying to make it better, and in the end scrapped the whole thing. My owls, which I paint regularly, were also giving me a hard time.  The above painting is the second version, the first was a disaster, so I started that again as well. I couldn't do anything right!

I'm going to blame the paper.  I know most people when using watercolor, use 140lb paper. How do you all do it?? I find it warps so easily. Am I adding too much water? Also, I find the colors are dull.
I ended up starting over again on 200lb paper, which I normally use. So what am I missing, is there some secret? The 140lb paper isn't cheap, it's Arches brand. Any of you watercolorists out there, do you have any tips for the rest of us?
In the end, I worked most of the day and have 2 lousy ACEOs to show for it...I swear time sped up! Before I knew it, the day was over.

On a happier note, on Friday I went to my nearest art shop, and picked up some Copic markers. Folks, if you haven't used them before, they are a joy! I will be going back for more. They're perfect for little details, and the colors are gorgeous! Unfortunately they are a bit pricey, so I can only pick up a few at a time.

Well, that's it for today, hope you are all enjoying the spring weather (or the fall for my friends in the South hemisphere).


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And just like that the snow is back...

It's been sunny and mild (for this time of year) the last couple of days, so naturally you would think we were on our way to spring right? Forget it! As I was at my desk painting, suddenly it started snowing, and blowing around.  Well after a few hours, we now have a winter wonderland out there, the trees are covered with snow, and it is beautiful! Thank goodness I didn't remove my snow tires yet, you just never know what crazy weather you will get from one day to the next.
It didn't stop me from creating some new spring time art though, like the ACEO above.

This weekend was one where I mostly sat and watched movies. Yesterday I finally watched 2012, which I enjoyed. I'm probably in the minority but I've always loved disaster movies like War of the Worlds, the Day after Tomorrow, Independence Day.  Besides, I've had a crush on John Cusack for a couple of decades, lol, so that made the movie more enjoyable. He still looks great after all these years.

Next movie on the menu was The book of Eli. Fantastic movie, but it did have a bit of violence in it. Loved the premise, and would not have been able to predict the ending.

Today I watched Brothers, and boy it sure had some intense scenes in it! Another great movie which I would recommend.

The only dud of the bunch was an old one called Baker's Hawk. Sorry if anyone likes this, but I could only get through 15 minutes before I was bored, and moved on.

I'm still in that phase where I can't get too motivated to create, even though I did manage a couple of cards. Hopefully as the weather improves, I can feel like spending more time painting. For now I will just go with the flow.