inspiration monday

when it comes to working in my favorite art journal….

 the pages i enjoy most are created when i allow
inspiration to take complete control…..

and i stick to matters close to my heart.

and speaking of matters-of-the-heart,
please pass the chocolate, and let's talk some happy!
xox


{supplies:  moleskine journal, derwent watercolor pencils, derwent inktense pencils,
pitt artist pens, 2B and 6B graphite pencil}

happy places

what is it about finishing a journal that makes you feel like you've just conquered the world?!
i put the last few touches on the back cover of my "elvie journal",  and i'm happy all over
with a super feeling of accomplishment (even if it did take me almost a year! :)))!

             

here's a little cover-to-cover peek inside!

(you can watch it in larger format here!)

thanks for sharing this little art adventure with me! 

i hope you find yourself in lots of happy places this weekend!  

xo

{materials for the back cover:  elvie journal, derwent inktense pencils, koi watercolor, 

pitt artist pens, uniball signo white pen,  and a 4B pencil}

creative fun

i hope you're having some creative fun today.....!

doodle supplies: watercolor pencils, micron pens, 2B graphite pencil,

hand-carved thumbprint stamp

discoveries

i've been making blank journals for several years now, and as much as i love to create the journals, for some reason i have a mental block when it comes to creating in the journals.

i've been so inspired by many of you who are so good about filling your journals with creative play....and i've been thinking that it's time to jump on the bandwagon. so....i finally took one of the many blank journals that i've had forever and made some marks on the first page. it's not fine art. mainly, because i've discovered that i'm not a "fine artist".....i'm a "fun artist". and i've also discovered that a little watercolor pencil, micron pen, doodle art, and ice cream sandwiches make for journal page happiness!

five minutes

after almost three weeks of packing, moving, cleaning, unpacking, organizing, and cleaning some more, i'm finally starting to feel "at home". today i took five minutes to do something creative in my journal....wow, did that ever feel great! now, i'm off to smell some flowers....

happiness house

this week i worked on a project for an online class that i took from claudine hellmuth called "home is where the art is"

this project includes 12 different mixed media techniques using her sticky back canvas and other products in her studio line.  but the nice part is that if you don't have a certain product, she provides another option...and i always love to know i have options!  as most of you know, working with paint and other paint-type materials is not exactly in my comfort zone, but claudine's fresh style and easy instructions made this a project that even i could do!

one of the nicest things about this project is that it was so easy to make it "my own".  i decided that i would use our new house as the focal point (our move-in date is two weeks from today...yippeee!).  while i still used some of claudine's images, i changed a few to reflect our new house.  for example, the house image is a rendering of our new house, the text block is an excerpt of our house contract, there's a butterfly outline to represent transformation, the number "179" is our house number, and of course, i had to sneak in a heart-in-hand image!

thanks, claudine...this was a really fun project and i learned a lot!  you can read more about this online class here!  

click on images for larger view

happy dreams

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true. Joseph Cardinal Suenens

i don't know how or when it happens, but it seems like one day i'm rolling along just fine balancing the house, the etsy shop, the blog, the errands, the studio work, the appointments, the life-in-general-stuff...and then just like that, something will happen to throw everything out of balance and it takes me forever to catch up!  so, this morning i made my list of priorities, and decided that the house needed my attention first (the dust bunnies were starting to carry their picket signs again in protest for better conditions).  and, actually, i really don't mind cleaning the house or the wonderful sense of satisfaction when i'm done...and the big smile on my dutch boy's face when he notices i spruced the place up a bit certainly makes it all worthwhile!  but, i must confess that i'm dreaming of a day when it won't be so obvious that i cleaned....or, that the house won't get so bad that i have to pretend that i'm not home so that the health department van that keeps circling the block will go away.  yes, a clean house and life back in balance...now, that's a happy dream!

you can see more images and read more about this handmade book here or here.

cutie patootie

i have always been inspired by baby stuff.  i love the calming colors, the simplicity of the artwork...and all of that soft and cuddly cuteness!  it's a little world of happy all its own.  and i was oh so happy to make this little book for sweet macaulay (my good friend martha's daughter) who's first child will be born within the next six weeks!  each page is a pocket that holds a piece of cardstock...perfect for mounting a photo, writing thoughts, or using as a scrapbook page.  and, it was made with lots of love for sweet macaulay and marc...and their little world of happy!

hello sunshine, inchie style

today began with overcast skies and a few rain showers...and now the sun has peeked through and we're in the midst of a beautiful florida day.  i've been thinking about my fun trip to donna's (see yesterday's post) and decided to put a few "inchies" together to celebrate our great weather.  i used scraps of paper, because, well, i have tons of that!  the other elements were created from a small flower punch, tiny beads and my original artwork and lettering.  very fun to do, no stress, no worries, just fun happy art!

card party

it looks like all of the gals in pollyanna's garden got together for a little party!  well, sometimes i do wonder what goes on in my studio when i'm not there...but, actually, these are just some notecards that i made recently using my flower images.  setting up the template in photoshop was the most time consuming part, but, in the end, i'm happy with the result.  they look great printed on linen card stock and i placed a piece of speckled bond paper inside to make a smooth writing surface.   

bug in a rug

i have memories of my mom saying this to us when my brothers and i were growing up.  so, i figure if my mom said it, it surely falls into the "so true" category...which makes this the second in my new series.  i was curious to see what it would look like framed, and, unfortunately, i didn't have the correct size frame.  my preference for this piece would be a black frame and i'm sure that we must own a 5x7 black frame, but i don't know where it's hiding.  these small 2.5 x 3.5" pieces of art are fun to do, but i'm learning that simplicity is definitely the key!

live, laugh, love...repeat

this is the first in my new series, "so true".  all of the artwork in this series will measure the ACEO size of 2.5 x 3.5" and focus on a short quote, quip or truism.  this piece was written on canson paper using dr. martin's bleedproof white (which is like gouache and used by photographers and graphic designers to do touch-ups).  while i like to work on a smaller scale, i think that this will prove to be a fun challenge!   we'll see how it goes!

 

kindred spirits

i still have some "pollyanna's garden" ideas floating around in my head, and i've been wondering what these little gals would look like in a grouping, so i had to satisfy my curiosity.  it looks like check-mate and swirly girly have been friends for a while...and pollyanna couldn't be gladder about it.

hardest years in life

this is a quote by helen hayes that brings a smile to my face.  how true is this?!  well, actually, i don't really know because i'm still aged between 10 and 70.  but my friend eva gave this to a friend of hers who is in her 90's and she confirmed that, yes, "it's so true!".   it's good to have confirmation of these types of things...

love grows here

here is another ACEO (art cards, editions and originals) that i worked on this afternoon.  i'm still enjoying working on these happy pollyanna flowers, but i've noticed the past few days that i've had a nasty little itch to get back to bookmaking, which has been a passion of mine for a long time.  if you have some time to browse on etsy, there are some beautiful handmade books offered by talented artisans at a very reasonable price.  anyway, i think that pollyanna likes to read, so maybe i can come up with a way incorporate her garden with my books!  i'll have to think on that...

swirly girly

pollyanna's garden continues to grow....here is flower number six in the series.  with all of this horrible weather from tropical storm fay over the past couple of days, it was wonderful to be able to hide in my studio for a while and paint something happy and colorful.  i can still hear the wind howling outside, and the rain continues to beat on the windows, but this swirly girly reminds me that better days are ahead.

harley-kin

i didn't realize that pollyanna had such a green thumb!  harley-kin is the fifth in my pollyanna's garden series, and if i had to choose favorites, she would be towards the top of my list.  i really love her quirky nature, and i've always been partial to blue-purple flowers in the garden.  and, i'm still having fun painting these little darlins...

heart-2-heart

finally, here is the first flower in my pollyanna's garden series. you may have seen this flower in a previous blog post, titled "joie de vivre".  that original watercolor was actually created for walther's sweet aunt nellie, who recently turned 85 years old.  i enjoyed working on her gift so much that i decided to paint another one...and, well, the seeds for pollyanna's garden were planted!  thank you for indulging me in posting all of these happy little paintings...they put a smile on my face, and i'm hoping that the same is true for you!

moving ahead

all of my blog posts up to this point have been highlighted with an image, usually of a recent piece of artwork.  today, i would like to showcase the artwork that you see above...my elvie studio banner.  i created this in photoshop, using a piece of scrapbook paper and an image of my lettering that i scanned into the computer.  while this banner is new to my blog, i actually created this banner for my new shop at etsy.  i've been working on all of the specifics for the shop, as well as creating the artwork that i plan to begin selling as prints. admittedly, i've been dragging my feet a little, as life has a habit of interfering with my best-laid plans.  but, i hope to have my "doors" open soon, so stay tuned....

rosey o'dottle

all of the rain that we've had recently has been good for pollyanna's garden! rosey o'dottle is a cheerful, colorful flower, which makes her a perfect pick for this happy flower series (plus, i'm having fun naming them, too!).  my challenge in painting this was that i wanted to use lots of bright color...and when i did, it looked awful. i finally realized that the design of the flower is too complicated with the swirl and dots, so i had to keep the color somewhat monochromatic. in the end, i like the results and i think that rosey will be happy in the garden!