Empowering your juicy life!
Good morning! I am happy to announce that my Weekly Art Journal Video #6 is now up on YouTube. Here is a list of supplies I have used today, and the list is quite extensive! 🙂 HB 2 Pencil Liquitex white gesso Ceramcoat acrylic paints: …
Good afternoon! I am so happy to share that my 5th weekly art journal video is now posted out on YouTube: I will tell you my thoughts behind this spread, but first here is a list of what supplies I used: Apple Barrel acrylic paints: …
Good morning!
I am happy to announce that my weekly Art Journal video #4 has been posted to YouTube for your perusal!
I have a bunch of pictures to show you, but first the supplies I used this week are:
I had a lot of fun doing this spread this week! Unlike most weeks, where I am just winging it, this week I had a vague idea about what I wanted to do, but had really no idea what my thought was going to be, or how to pull it all together. It wasn’t until I was finally spending time arting in quiet, while I was actually doing these art journal pages, that it finally seemed to come together!
Did you notice how much gesso I used? ACK!!! I was very heavy handed, which means it really took forever to get that layer to dry! Matter of fact, it never did completely dry until the next day!! Too much gesso +  an immediate layer of gel medium + another layer of thick body acrylic paint = mamma-has-no-time-for-this-drying-craziness-so-I-had-best-be-careful-not-to-mess-this-up!!! 😉
I don’t really have any hard and fast rules for art journaling, or for mixed media in general, except for one, always ALWAYS let your layers dry thoroughly!! Unless you want them to blend together, smear, run, slide off, or flake off, than that is a different story, but I was having a heck of a time sticking to this rule for this spread! What can I say, patience is NOT one of my virtues! 🙂
As you may have probably noticed – I have a heck of a time getting drips to look right! I think I know how to do it, but when I am in full on “art mode”, the proper way to do this seems to slip my mind, and I find myself struggling to get the look right! Not to worry, though, this is all a learning process for me, and I know I will continue to get better! That is the point, right??? 🙂
I also have been wanting to find a really good quality neon fluorescent paint set! I did purchase a cheapie set this past week, but it was not a high quality brand, so there isn’t much pigment in the paint, which means I have to use A LOT of it to get the rich pop of color I am wanting, so I will keep looking! If I find a really good one I will let you know! ( I should’ve known – you get what you pay for!)
So, when I was stamping, to get more texture, I stamped right into a big glob of wet green thick body acrylic paint. This happens, and it is fine, and can add a lot more texture because it causes peaks and valleys in your acrylic paint if you let it dry that way, but make sure you stop what you are doing and clean your stamp thoroughly, right away! II have an old toothbrush on standby for just such occasions.) If you leave the acrylic to dry on your stamp, it will ruin your stamp, because it changes the shape of the stamps ridges. NOT what you want! I’m just saying’! 🙂
Anyway, although this may not be my favorite layout – I am not sure how I am digging this silver butterfly decal – it was a learning process, which is the point, as well as stopping just to listen to what your soul is saying to you, so in that way I LOVE this spread!!
Now for your input, do you have any questions, or comments for me? Is there any kind of mediums or techniques you would like me to use in future videos? Just let me know in the comment section of either my blog, here, or at my YouTube channel, and I will try and get a timely response to you! 🙂
Until next time!
Here is to a FABULOUS day!! 🙂
Good morning! I am happy to announce that my new weekly art journal video has posted! I would love for you to check that out here: Materials used: Acrylic paint colors: Americana: Carousel Pink (DA274), Turquoise Blue (DA268) Folk Art: Wicker White (901) Apple …
Good morning! As promised yesterday, here is some close up pics and details about my first ever weekly art journal video! That video can be found here. As with all of my art journal pages, I always go into the project with no real idea …
Good afternoon!
I have been “retired” since the 4th of July of this year. These past 3 1/2 months have practically flown by.
I have been spending my time taking care of myself, catching up on some much needed sleep, getting back in touch with friends that I hadn’t had time to spend time with before, watching copious amounts of artist’s videos on YouTube, arting with friends in town, and playing up in my art studio. Yes, I know I am a very VERY lucky girl!!!
Those of you who have been reading my blog might know that I really love arting, but in the past 3 /2 months I have discovered that all things mixed media and art journaling have become quite essential to my sense of happiness. That really shouldn’t be surprising to me, but it really has been! Because of my newfound love affair, (hee! hee!) I have been trying all sorts of new products, mixed media techniques, and all sorts of new art ideas and projects to help me explore this new creative outlet!
Although I wouldn’t change a thing about the past 3 1/2 months, I think that it is time that I stop frittering away my time, and put all of this arty goodness to use, at least in some small way! So, as my first act of artsy bravery, I have decided to start sharing my artwork with the world…er…well, at least anyone in the world who might be interesting in seeing it! 🙂 To do this, I thought it would be fun to start my very own YouTube channel!!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm4Of6Y-cX-foVyd-upZKbQ
I am so excited to also announce that I have started a weekly Art Journal Page video series, and I am very happy to share that I have already uploaded my first two videos! Last week’s video took such a long learning curve, that I couldn’t seem to muster the strength to have a blog post accompany that video, however I will get it together enough to post today’s video details now! and, I will work on getting last week’s video info up tomorrow!
I went into this spread with no idea on what was going to come out on the pages. I just picked a few colors I thought might look good together and went for it! The background stamp that I chose is one of my favorite stamps! I find that I use it often in my journaling projects!
I also thought some drips would be nice, I have seen a lot of my favorite artists do this and thought it would be easy to do, which I am sure it really should have been, but as you might’ve seen…it was a little trickier, and messier than I had expected!! At least I didn’t get any of the red paint on my beige carpet!! WHEW!!! Can I also mention how much I love my new fineline bottles??? I just love how easy they are to use. I have one bottle for my white paint, and one for black! I highly recommend them!
The green that I added to this page was purely a gut reaction to wanting to go in the absolute opposite direction from where the page had gone at the get go. After putting the red drips down the page, it just looked like the scene of a bloody massacre!! LOL! I think the green turned out rather well, and felt the need to make sure to spread the green all throughout the design.
By the time that this spread was completed, I was a very happy girl!!
Not only because I was able to salvage this design and turn it into something that looks like I had planned it that way on purpose, but because I got some much needed guidance on some questions that I had been mulling over.
While I am arting, I do so in silence. I do that so I can hear my soul tell me what I need to hear, or teach my what I need to be taught. This page caused me to reflect on how amazing this past 3 1/2 months has been. It has been amazing, but it has also been a dream that is not maintainable…at least not yet. Even though my sweetie has given me a free and clear to continue on like this for as long as I want, I want more. I want to be earning my keep, making a living.
I really don’t know what all of that will look like, but I know right now, this first step of sharing my art with you is my first start! I keep hearing, “You don’t have to see all of the steps in the staircase, just see the first step, and all subsequent steps will appear at the exact right time!” That is what this is. My first step!! I can’t wait to see how my staircase unfolds!! 🙂
As for my YouTube channel and videos, I would LOVE it if you would watch, thumbs up, subscribe, and share any comments or feedback you might have! That would be EXCELLENT!!
So here is to putting on my big girl panties and taking that first step!! 🙂
~Chrissie B.
Good evening! Some days, this little mantra, from Melody Ross, “She did it anyway”, keeps me moving forward! This morning, I had made the decision to get back into my art studio and after doing a little bit of cleaning, and organizing, I would finally …
Good afternoon! I was struggling with what to share today, and while I was perusing the internet, I stumbled upon this amazing artist, and just had to share her with you! Her name is Heather Hansen, and I am SOOOOO in love with not only …
Good afternoon!
I wanted to share with you how my arting night with my girl friend, Mary, went last night!!
Let’s just start out by saying, it really is SOOOOOO MUCH MORE FUN when you art with someone than when you always art by yourself!!
Well, as you may remember from yesterday’s post, I met a very lovely girl on Saturday. Her name is Mary! Well, Mary came over last night so we could get our art on!!!
YEAH!!
We met up at my place of work, (on a side note, we have agreed that we are both SERIOUSLY directionally challenged, so she was pretty proud of herself that she found me, and I have to admit I was pretty impressed too!! ;-)) and we made the trek across town to my place!!
I was kind of worried, because you know like most people, there are things about my place that I find rather embarrassing, but like Melody Ross says, ” She felt (blank), but she did it anyway!” So, in we went! I gave her a quick tour, introduced her to our doggies, Faye and Sophie, and headed straight to my art studio to get to playing!!
We didn’t really have a plan for what we were going to do, but I had a fall back plan of creating our own life/dream/smash books, which is what we ended up deciding to do!!
Paper, pens, paint, scissors, Mary even brought over her Cricut machine (SO COOL!!), some happy music in the background, and stories back and forth mixed in with a bunch of giggling, add some funkily cut pizza (BTW pizza should NEVER EVER come in squares!!), and you end up with a night that was OH SO FUN!!!
My sweetie got home, and ended up being our chauffeur to drive Mary home, which in and of itself ended up contributing to the fun of the evening! You see, I am currently rocking the Frozen soundtrack in my car at the moment, which my sweetie just loves!! Well, we both have a few favorite songs, so as Mary and I are continuing to chat it up in the back of the car, Jason is blasting this Disney music, swaying to the beat of the music, and singing!! TOO HILARIOUS!!! I hadn’t realized that we were going to be entertained by a cute floor show during our travels across town!! LOL!! Thanks for that Love!!! 🙂
Anyway, I am calling last night a HUGE SUCCESS, and I am hoping we get the chance to do it again real soon!! If anything, I can’t wait to see what kind of progress she makes on her life/dream/smash book!! Yeah, we really do have to decide what we are going to actually call those things!! Well, whatever they are called, we really did have a GREAT TIME!!
Friends are good!
Art is fun!
and I am feeling UBER BLESSED!! 🙂
Here is to another day filled with HAPPINESS & CREATIVITY!! 🙂
If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!
Good evening! As promised during this previous post. I have finally completed my journal project that was inspired by Dyan Reaveley’s YouTube video ‘Creating a Patchwork Quilt with Diane Reavely.’ As I was painstakingly blacking out all of the work that had taken me literally …