More Journaling and EBAY!

I'm  now  in  week  3  of  the Strathmore  journaling  workshop.  My pages  pretty much  look the  same  with  just  more  color  added  in the background  and  little  details.  There's  one  more  week, and  I'll post it when  I'm  finished.  Once  I  start,  I  get real  fussy  with  the details--does  anyone else  have this problem too?

Well,  I  wanted  to  do  another page,  and  I  decided  to  do  the very first  one.  All  the  journal  artists  say to  start in the middle  somewhere,  because of the  fear  of  messing  up  a  brand  new journal, and not to start at the beginning.  But  I wasn't  "afraid", so I made  page #1-

Since  it's  my  journey  into  the journaling world,  I  had to use  the map for the collage elements.  I really liked making my face on the map!

And now  on  to  the  Ebay.  I've  been  cleaning  and  "purging",  but there are some things  that  I  can't  possibly  throw  out,  but yet  have enough  of  these items to last  me  2  lifetimes,  so  I  put  them  up  on Ebay.  Let  me  show  you  what  is  up  for  bid--

I  have  some  vintage  handles  that are  aged  very  nicely, plus  these larger  hinges.

These 2 great vintage magazines that  are  in  remarkably  good  condition--great victorian  images  and ads!

And  how  about  this  fun  lot--all of  it's  included  in  this  cigar  box.  That  book  is  dated  1892!

And  speaking  of  journaling  or  possibly altered  books--here's  a  great  lot  of  children's  board  books. 

Everytime  I  saw  them  this  summer  at  garage  sales,  I  would  get  them---I  could  now  start  a  board  book  library.

These  are  all starting  at  low  bids  and if you  want  more  info,  you  can  go  to  my  Ebay site  HERE.

And  on  a  side note,  Darla  asked  me  if  I  was  having  problems  with  blogger--you  know  moving  photos  around  or  changing  your  text--well-- haven't  we  all.  Somedays she (Miss Blogger)  can  be  very  disagreeable,  but  she's  nothing  compared  to  MS EBAY--this  lady  is  in  full  PMS mode!  It  took  me  about  2  hours  to  list  these  4  listings.  Alot  of  times  when  I  would  press  continue,  it  would  tell  me  that  the  web  page  was  "expired"--just  a  way  of  saying--start  over and  do  it  all  again!  But  I  didn't  give  up,  and  they're  now  all listed.

I  also  wanted  to  tell  you  all  about  my  latest  purchase.  When  I  was  at  Border's  I  bought  this  setchbook (a  nice 5 x 7  size)  I  have  papers  that  I've  made  sketches  and  ideas  scattered  all  over  the  house.  And  it  was  the  last  straw  when  it  took  me  over  an  hour  to  find  this  sketch  that  I  made  and  put  in  a  place  where  I  could  "find"  it.  So  now  this  book  never  leaves  my  side  with  all  of  my  ideas  in  it.  I  now  have  a  little  black  book--

: )

P. S. American  Idol  starts  tomorrow--I'm  very  excited!!

Look What I Made!

When I go to the art festivals, I always like to take whatever I'm working on with me.  I do this for a couple of reasons.  One of them being, is that there are alot of down times at shows.  It would be nice to be busy with people all day, but that's usually not the case. There's only so much people watching  or eating I can do--I would go crazy just sitting there for 2 days with no art to work on.

And another reason is that it helps people from asking me   "Did you do all this?"  Yeah, I hear that alot.  So when I'm sitting there making art, they don't ask.  Alot of them like to watch and ask questions.  And if you haven't noticed by now,  I LOVE talking about not just my art, but all art, so if they're interested--I'll talk  their heads off!

And now that I'm a blogger, (and I know that all of you can relate to this) I'm never without my camera, because you never know when you'll find that perfect shot for your blog.  So I decided to show you my work in progress during the show.  I started with an 8 x 8 gallery wrapped canvas and collaged  papers on it from an old sewing book--

After that, I put down a watery acrylic wash--

I brought with me a  scrapbook paper pad which I used  to  put my picture together.  This was a little tricky, because on Saturday it was a bit breezy to say the least--

And then when I was back on Monday, I finished it with details and buttons (the buttons were an obvious choice--to go with the sewing pages)

BUT ALSO (are you still with me?), I had brought 2 more canvases with me, and I made another one--

So what did I make?  I made a diptych!

Actually, I was going to make a triptych, but the other canvas was like a half inch larger than the other two, so I just made another piece of art to add to my button town!

So, needless to say, I was very content at the show, just playing and talking to people, plus the fact, that I have to step it up.  I have another show in 2 weeks!

Angels

This week The Three Muses challenge is angels.  I love  angels in artwork.  I especially love the folk art  and handpainted ones.  And of course angels are always around, no matter where or what you're doing. That's why I decided to make a garden angel.

Even though we still have 3 good months of winter here (Spring doesn't begin until April around here), I'm thinking Spring with blooming flowers and butterflies, and starting your garden.

For the background of this, I used another vintage favorite book of mine--

I found this a couple of years ago at a yard sale.  Look at that price--what a find!  And I know that book was headed for the trash if I hadn't of rescued it.  I've used it on countless numbers of artwork.  It's probably about 15" tall and the pages are aged perfectly. I also collaged again this time with scrapbook papers, and the butterflies are Dover images.

Something Old, Something New

So this week The Three Muses challenge is Something Old, Something New, and here's my entry--

My something old was the background pieces and the birds  that I collaged onto the canvas--

I found this vintage book at a flea market with a few others.  At the time, I didn't really look through it, but it's one of my favorites now.  It's called The Junior Instructor for the parent and child, and it was published in 1918.  It covers every topic relating to school with many illustrations, colored photos, sheet music, and even a full page of the alphabet, and it's oversized (about 12" tall)--I love it.

And for the something new, I used one of my Christmas presents--

This set of Winsor & Newton Galeria acrylic paints.  I've never painted with them before--I really like them.  The colors are very vibrant, and there is a good selection here so that you can mix them to get many more shades, plus a little goes a long way.

Now that Christmas is over, and things are getting a little back to normal, it was fun just to take my time and just paint as long or as little as I wanted to without worrying about anything else. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!!