Painted Fingers

 The supplies came out last night! Journals, rubber stamps, spray inks, paints, stencils, crayons, pencils...

While I have all these goodies and more in my own studio, sometimes it's fun to take a workshop and try the unexplored. Last night the visual journals came out at the Occasional Artist with artist, Dina Wakley leading the way.

 

The first thing I grabbed was my new Dylusions Creative Journal. It's perfect for paints and inks although I'm not sure I would use it much for collage.

 

We started out stamping then built up the layers with each step.

Getting me to use figurative imagery takes a lot of prodding but if I'm taking a workshop I should be willing to get out of my comfort zone. I was in a crazy hair mood.

Anything goes in a visual journal. One of our prompts was to draw. A Picasso wasn't required. Simple shapes would do. Here's a good start. The right side is ready to go with the left waiting for more layers of fun.

While I stamped and slapped color on multiple pages, this was the last of the almost finished pages. I held off on any journaling. The creating part of my brain and the writing part come out at different times.

I came home excited and inspired. Then after sitting for a moment in the studio the day caught up to me, lol. All my classes have been painting so it was a day full of color.

The temperatures are up again after a week of unusually freezing temps here in the desert. No spending time indoors in the studio when it's this nice but I plan on playing some more the next few evenings. First stop, revisiting some of my rubber stamps that haven't seen the light of day lately.

Marissa

Gotta Paint!

The school server doesn't seem to let me upload photos to the blog. #!x%***#!!!!! OK, got ONE!

I'm still working on my visual journal and Kelly Kilmer's A Prompt a Day online class. I finished January and was going to take Feb. off and start up again in March. There's still some January pages I haven't shared. I think....

I journaled something about my bedroom, or the furniture in my bedroom. The dresser is my focal point. I found my it at a thrift store when I first came to Arizona. It was a hideous, dark olive green with brown hardware. Typical 70' yuck. Once it was sanded, varnished and the hardware was given a coat of black, it became a real gem. More of a Danish modern.

As for the lamps....I must have a thing about light. My bedroom is two small rooms made into one big rectangle. I have two bedside lamps plus two more and it's not always enough. I've switched to energy efficient light bulbs but a 100 watt "green" bulb doesn't emit the same light as as an old bulb so I turn on more lights. How energy efficient is that?????

Turns out I had more "distractions" than I anticipated in March and a lack of motivation that has stunk. It sure doesn't feel good. I'm finally getting some "butt time" in the studio this week. Relief! I'm going to bed with a sense of accomplishment.

All of Arizona is taking standardized tests this week. My regular schedule has been modified so all my regular lessons are on hold for the week and am letting the students do some free art activities to let their "left brains" take a rest and give them some "right brain" time.

I'm getting some painting done on my March prompts. Thirteen done since yesterday!
Whoo hoo!
Marissa

More January Collages

OK. Looking at all the pics I've uploaded I can now understand why I was running around all week. I was busy! There are still a few more collages left to finish off the month of January of the Kelly Kilmers' Prompt A Day online class. It's been a blast and I am loving the journal that is becoming full of images and stories to hand down to the Chicklet.
I see brown and pink together and I think of Baskin Robbins where we used to go get ice cream. Strawberry sundaes with chocolate chip ice cream, mmmmmm.....
Oh boy, this was was tough writing about. I had a boyfriend overseas but we continued the relationship after I returned to California and went to college. He was killed in a freak accident at work. I was 23. At that time I was young enough to believe and hope that I could still have what we had again. 23 years later with a badly failed marraige and having gotten off the dating bandwagon the hope of youth is elusive.
Halloween...I can't decide which was better. Tearing sheets and wrapping my brother up as a mummy-my sister and I had to keep wrapping him up throughout the night OR the Chicklet as elephant and me as her Peanut sidekick...
Oh, how I'd love to have Tom Oldham come design my home. Yet, I do like enjoy my Mexi-Scan decor. Part Mexican, part Scandanavian...
Tiffany blue? Nope, Estee Lauder perfume box blue. I haven't smelled that scent since my Tia Mary passed away.
Who would have thunk I could find not one, but 2 images of blowing gum. My brother taught us a few things....Still can't whistle, though.
Ever have a book you never read but wore out from looking at the pictures? That was me and Hans Christain Anderson's "Snow Queen." I found that book again. Mom saved everything!
My brother and sister both had names chosen from the bible. Me? My mom said she liked the name. Somewhere I read that it means, "of the sea." I like that.
Valentine inchies, lots and lots of Valentine inchies for a swap and then a few extras for friends.
More Inchies for a swap due last week. I get tired just looking at everything I did in one week. Whew!

The laptop has been making the trek home but hasn't made it out tof the bag. Between swaps and journal pages, the Chicklet's Frida Kahlo costume and going out of town for the weekend, it was non-stop. I'm sure having fun though!

Collages this week

Every evening I plan to go to bed at a reasonable hour and yet, i manage to get distracted and stay up late. Today Kelly Kilmer sent out all the prompts for this month of her "A Prompt a Day" online class. I only happened to peek at January 31st but nothing else between then and today. Ooh, the suspense!

There's no pressure to get the pages done in order or by a certain time. That's up to each participant. She's already taking registrations for February. Hmmmmmmm... I'm strongly leaning towards continuing. I've been challenged to go beyond my comfort zone, the group is creating cool work and our online community is great.
Color, movement and rhythm. I'm more self conscious now but I've always loved to dance. I've got the Latin hips even if I don't know all the dance steps! The other night I was dancing The Swim with the Chicklet as we listened to an old Monkees tune.Speaking of swimming...if we weren't at the local pool in the summer, we were heading out to the beach. My brother lived to surf. We used to make cracks that he had webbed feet. I went on to spend more time at the local pool with swim team and lifeguarding. I was spoiled to have an Olympic size pool in my backyard.
The Chicklet takes swim lessons every Summer. I tell her she's growing a fin on her back like her mom, lol.More water. Until I moved to Arizona I lived near water. Even if I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, the beach was a short drive away. Every trip to California is an opportunity to get my ocean fix. It doesn't happen often enough.
Does the picture look familiar? It's dated but I adore this shot of the Chicklet and I taken at the beach. We spent the afternoon on the beach with good friends. Last night's page. It's interesting where the prompts have lead. I've remembered things I hadn't thought of for years. My journaling is still hit or miss as far as being readable. I've created pockets between every two pages to slip the prompts in. I may rewrite the journaling and slip it in the pockets to make it easier for the Chicklet to read at some point. I have no qualms about letting the Chicklet read this journal YET.
Marissa

New Collages

The new year started with a new journal. I'll be hauling this one around until March. I took a composition book with blue, green and pink vertical stripes thinking I would emphasize the cool colors for a winter-ish theme. As you can see it didn't quite fall into place. I did like the image of the hand drawing and glued that onto the cover. If I tuck my pen in right, it looks like it's in the hand. Cheap thrills. I admit it, I am a cheap date.

Pocket page. I continued with the electric blue theme. Some things I like, some.....my focus has been elsewhere.

I was still in the mood to cut and glue. One more collage in the journal.

Studio time got sidetracked over the weekend but I'm still keeping up with my Prompt A Day pages. My first album purchase was Elton John's "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy."
If I could walk out the door and go anywhere... Hmmmmmm... Should I go somewhere I know or somewhere I've dreamt of going to? Norway or Africa? Mexico or the Northwest Territories to see Polar bears? Finland or the South Pole?

I could drag the Chicklet to anywhere in Arizona and we'd have a good time. I hope she gets to travel the world. That sounds corny but it's true. I may not get far now but I've been more than lucky to have traveled to and lived in far away places.
I don't get to LA much anymore. This was one of my favorite destinations. The front porch of my parent's house. I'd sit in the sun like a lizard to get warm. Or I'd write in my journal. Or I'd sit on the top step, lay back and take a nap in the sun.
One of my chores was to clean up around the plants. It was a relaxing task. Lots of greens and pinks and purples. I miss having a garden.
Marissa

School started! Can you tell?

Tomorrow I'll be whining and moaning and groaning about getting grades done for Friday. Yes, it's that time again-report cards. I was a big meanie and sprung drawing realistic self-portraits on my 4th graders this week. Some of them are pretty good.
In the meantime I'm dealing with a little "invasion" in my kitchen. They got to the fridge. Yessiree! It's the invasion of the Littlest Pet Shoppe Creatures!!!!!!!!!!! (Insert "Psycho" music here).Rows and rows of these varmits are camping out on the fridge. The Chicklet decided this is why they come with magnets, lol.

Tonight I'll be in the studio working on the next 2 prompts for the "Prompt A Day" online class.
I'm having a blast. Making, participating and seeing what everyone else comes with given that we're all following the same steps and journaling prompts.Project #3: Layered acrylic paint, decorative handmade paper, rubber stamping, Sharpie pen, photocopy on transparency.

I'm not a big fuschia with purple fan but the colors were perfect for this lay-out of my friend Kelli. These are her colors. It's been so crazy at work this week that I haven't been able to share this page with her. Over the years we've become close and know that we can turn to one another. I have to find a way to keep her from retiring in 5 years!!!!! She's my partner in crime in our Fine Arts Posse.
Project #4: Layers of acrylic paint, patterned tissue paper, patterned napkin, Google images, Sharpie pen, Sharpie paint pen, watercolor pencil.

I had to call my Dad to find out what kind of car we had way back when. He remembered it was Pontiac but didn't know the year or model. After googling images for an hour or so, I'm pretty good at telling the difference between the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's models!

The lay-out isn't my favorite. I had an idea of the image I wanted and I couldn't find it nor in the size I was thinking. At some point you take what you get and I went ahead with what I found. The best part was remembering going the grocery store in the evening in East Los Angeles with my Dad as a little kid. My big job was to carry the strawberry jam...I think I was about 4 or 5 years old.Project #5: Layers of acrylic paint, magazine clippings, glaze jelly roll pens, Sharpie paint pens.

Fire on the water. I spent some memorable years in Western Norway right after high school. My idea of paradise is still being on the fjords in summer. Back then there were only 2 major TV channels so I spent a lot of time watching the ferries go back and forth. We lit a huge bonfire on the water's edge on the Summer solstice.Project #6: Layers of acrylic paint, magazine clippings, Sharpie pen, Sharpie paint pens.

The Ladies of Thursday Therapy Rock!!! Who are these gals? They're my company of choice whenever I have a free weekend or a school break. Otherwise they meet every Thursday for a day of creating and drinking wine with a nibble of lunch.
The image is from a sand sculpture competition in Haifa, Israel. I pulled it from Hadassah magazine and threw it in my clipping file. I went thru my "orange" basket and this sand goddess fit perfectly with the my idea of the TT gals. Regal Goddesses. I cut out words and phrases that described them and glued the words amongst the journaling.

It's not important to me that anyone who sees these pages reads the journaling. In fact, I'm so used to keeping my journals to myself that I really don't want my words to be readable. Even if the writing can't be read easily, it's obviously there. It adds another texture to the surface and a little element of mystery.

If you're interested in trying out any of these techniques you can take (a) class(es) with Kelly Kilmer in Scottsdale February 6th-8th! She's teaching 5 classes at Frenzy Stamper OR sign up for A Prompt A Day!

Marissa