Look at My Tote Bag

I really like Zazzle.  I discovered the site a couple years ago.  There are other similar businesses on the web, but I've used Zazzle and haven't been disappointed.

I would like to put some of my art on greeting cards, coffee cups, tote bags, etc.  So, I uploaded a piece to Zazzle and ordered a tote bag and a card to see how they would look.  I'm pleased, considering that I photographed the art journal page with my iPad.  If I actually decide to try to sell something, I will photograph my art using more professional equipment (better lighting, better camera, etc.)

I ordered the extra large bag, so it makes the picture look like of small.  It would probably look better on the regular sized tote bag.

This is a drawing that I did while watching "Dance Moms" last night.  I think this would look really cute on a coffee cup or dishes.  I think I'll order a coffee mug from Zazzle to check it out.

Spring - When Everything Old is New Again!

Here's last night's art journal page.  I started out by painting some pink flowers with watercolor.  They make watercolor look so easy in the videos.  But no...........it is not easy!!  I decided to add some birds to hide some of my watercolor mess.  Then I kept adding and adding, and it just kept getting worse.

Never one to give up, I decided to start putting glitter on it - hey, what could it hurt?  Then, finally, I reached for the Dylusions spray inks and Liquid Pearls and figured it may not look like what I was going for, but at least it would be colorful.

Spring is a time for starting over.

Material used:
Artists Loft Watercolor pencils
Pigma Micron pens
Rubber stamps
Stickles by Ranger
Liquid Pearls by Ranger
Dylusions Spray Ink
Stencils
Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber
washi tape


Watch how easy this girl makes it look.

Zentangle Peacock

Here is the 4th and last zentangle drawing in my little series.  I can't say that I'm thrilled with it.  It needs something on the bottom so that it will be similar in size to the other three.  I've been staring at it for about an hour and can't think of what I want to do to the bottom.  I really wish that I had just made the peacock a little bigger.  Oh well..........

Close-ups

Collage Couture

I've seen the work of several artists who do collages of women in pretty clothes made out of paper, fabric, flowers, little gems, etc.  So when I was in the bookstore the other day and saw Collage Couture: Techniques for Creating Fashionable Art, I had to get it.

It starts at the beginning teaching you how to sketch a fashion figure (you know, those tall, skinny figures that fashion designers draw for their creations).  Then she moves into drawing clothing, painting backgrounds, choosing colors and styles for clothes, then putting it all together into a piece of art.

The hardest thing for me was choosing the papers.  Then the only scissors that I could find were huge, which made it very difficult to cut out the body and dress.  Next time, I will make sure that I have some very small, very sharp, pointy scissors.

Here's my first attempt.  This was the first project in the book.  I made a couple changes.  She made her background by rubber stamping flowers and the word Vogue.  I didn't have a flower stamp that looked right, so I stenciled some leaves with a few small flowers.  I added a couple silver skeleton leaves.  I used bubble wrap to make the little white cirles and fine black marker to outline the stamped areas and add a couple more flowers.

Here's the most recent art journal page and some zentangling that I did while I was keeping my parents company in the hospital.  Actually, the girls face couldn't be consider zentangle - it's just doodling.

3/12/2013 Art Journal Page

Zentangle

Three Tears

Animal Print Doodling

Last night I was doodling around with leopard and zebra print.  I had to add some zentangling at the bottom.

Egg Timer

It was so windy today that I wasn't able to let my chickens out of their coop. I guess that's why I was thinking of eggs when I started today's art journal page.

For this page I used Golden acrylic paints, stencils, rubber stamps, Stazon ink, Gelatos, charcoal pencil. I copied the map from a book, the eggs from a Clinique ad, and for the large symbols in the upper right corner, I just typed on my computer then enlarged it on the copier.

I also started working on a collage today.  I'm really into doing transfers with gel medium.  It is the greatest thing. Even though the ink from the photocopy transfers onto the canvas, you are still able to see the paint through the transfer. I like the way it looks so aged.