Raindrops

As some of you are aware, I spend roughly 20 hours a week managing a satellite warehouse in the Pacific Northwest for a Canadian Design company that offers classic baby clothes, rattles and is the inventor of the infamous PPTP.  The remaining roughly 20-30 hours are spent pursuing my passion in the studio. It's a great life and I am grateful.

However, as today's journal post below illustrates, on my first day back from our Christmas break, the warehouse was threatened with flooding. The usually idyllic duck pond/stream behind the warehouse had swollen with recent rains and breached its banks. I called in the Professor who was still on his Christmas break to help me raise everything to at the least 4" off the ground. While I was madly trying to send out the accumulated orders, he kindly gave me his last day of vacation. Many thanks, my love. You rock!

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday:
Don't be afraid to ask for help, even when it might appear to inconvenience the person you've asked to help. They may get a charge out of your request. And it may make their day.

You are valuable so when you need help, let people help you.
And remember, I love you. Bunches.

First Game Blues

Between basketball games, the first a big loss and the second a rousing win.  If I'd had the ability to see into the future, perhaps my journal would have reflected the joy of the win. Instead it seems to communicate the feelings of defeat we all felt.

We don't know what is to come. Not a clue. Perhaps this is why I need to keep an attitude of hope... Don't forget: Hope Lives!

Love you. Bunches.

Live Loud

For so many years, I pretended to myself that I was invisible. I concentrated on helping others chase their goals, while postponing my dreams. One day I woke up, or at least that's what it felt like. I realized that while assisting others was a valuable and admirable pastime, I was also responsible for becoming the person I could be. Every bit of the person I could be. And to do that took time, a very limited resource in this busy world. That was the beginning of my journey.

So here is today's journal page. A reminder to be fully alive.

 I am including a link to some free techniques (and paid workshops, too) that I thought you might enjoy.  Art to the 5th Just remember to make your art as well as learn techniques!

So, dear ones, don't settle for someone else's life. Grow to your full potential. Dare to be different if that is who you are. You are beautiful. You are wonderful. I believe in you.

Art Journal

As we flew us home from AZ, I worked in my journal reminding myself to enjoy the process. This turned out to be more of a challenge than expected, considering the turbulence during the final approach!

I thought I'd try posting a page from my journal each day as samples for my nieces. So here you go, girls. Page #1.

Mind Mapping

There is something great about beginning the week with a creative project among friends. This afternoon at Creative Playtime, we did a little mind mapping. Now if you're not familiar with this activity, give it a try after you read through today's blog post. First we prepared the background. Using a partially wet (spritzed with water) sheet of sketch paper. Onto that was layered color with Derwent's Inktense Color blocks. These wonderful sticks of pure color go on like watercolor pencils, but the colors are richer, brighter. And once the ink has been wet and dried, the color becomes permanent. Great for layering more color or glue or any wet media. No running or smearing. These may be my new favorite tool.

Look at these backgrounds. We set them aside to dry while we rummaged through the collage items to fill our pre-cut heads.
  The heads were covered with the collage materials and then attached to the dried backgrounds.

Next week we're planning to do aprons to protect our clothes from paint splashes. Stay tuned!

Artful Briefcase

This unique, hand-painted briefcase up-cycle has been simmering in my mind for quite a while. Today's sunshine lured me out of the studio armed with an old briefcase,  masking tape, extra fine grit sandpaper, a clean rag and some rubbing alcohol. First I taped off the area I planned to decorate.

Once the section of the case was taped off, I took a fine grit sanding paper to the taped off area. I didn't have a really fine grit sandpaper, but I used the finest I had to rough up the surface of the briefcase. The point here was to rough up the surface and give it more tooth to hold the paint.

Once I had sufficiently roughed it up, I carefully wiped it with a clean cloth soaked with Rubbing Alcohol to remove any remaining finish I might have missed while I was sanding.

Next pre-painting the area. Mix equal parts of water and paint. I used a mixture of Primary Cyan and water with a couple of drops of Carbon Black.

Apply the watered down paint to the taped off area. Do not let each coat dry completely before adding the next coat.

These layers of paint (I used 3) will appear streaky and should be moved and creased as they dry in order to keep the paint from cracking.

After the third coat, I added the first coat of undiluted paint, using Golden Quinacridone Red fluid acrylic.

After this coat was completely dry, I added a second coat and allowed this to dry completely as well.

Then came the final designs. A few silver and black lines and a peaceful face were added.  This briefcase will be available in my Etsy Store if you're interested.