Art Journals and Other Stuff

Before I get to the Art Journal part a bit more on the quilt.  I showed you some close ups of what Beth did with the quilting, here are some close ups of patches I did, some of what makes it special....

Practicing some embroidery

Old Man Winter

Part of Ed's baby pillow
 

Some of Grandma's lace

Now on to the Art Journaling....

Seems that art journaling has been around for a long time and I was never sure exactly what it was all about.  The images I saw were way different than what I do in my sketchbook which is what most art journals are.  This is the type of thing I normally do... done last Tuesday with my Tuesday Painters group.

 

But what I see as an art journal looks more like this....

 

As I am sorting and purging in my studio I notice I do a lot of this too; however, it's in a variety of different journals.  That's because I make journals.  I'm not a bookmaker but I do like to make different types of books and every time I think... hmmmm... that could become an art journal and I do a page or two and set it aside.  I have several and I will show you a few pages that I've done over the years but first... why I'm talking about this.

 

My focus this year is to try different media and different styles... It's been a couple years since I've done any major work of art and I realize it's because what I had been doing bores me.  I started doing some different things and loved doing different things so, time to try that.  I've also decided I really do need to get rid of a lot of things that are just taking up space or that I just don't have a need for. 

 

Purging meant I found some of those journals I'd made with one or two pages done.  Well, what do you know, I do art journals... and they are experimental....

 

In fact, one that I found, an old one, is something that had just recently decided I would try, cold wax collage.... I have no idea when I did this but it's cold wax collage....

And here are a few more... some starts that I've finished in the past few days and some that I did awhile back.  I plan to finish some of the books I started.... and maybe make some new ones.  Some I find I like working in, some not so much.  I will just have to see where this takes me....

 



And here is one of the books I made...

It's an old book that was in pretty bad shape.  The insides came out, the cover got a make over and new pages were inserted.  I think I'll make more like this one if I find more old books that are in need of repair.

 

Finally Finished

It took me 6 years but it was worth it.  No, I didn't work on it regularly, in fact I believe there was actually a year when I didn't work on it at all.  I had it done once, decided it was too small so put it away for a very long time. The idea of more blocks didn't appeal.  This is my 2nd quilt.  I made the first one 40 years ago.  Decided then it wasn't my thing, too many rules and too many exact measurements so the blocks go together.

 

Finally I decided I didn't need to do blocks, I could do whatever I wanted.  After all it is my quilt.  So I took it apart and started over and I love the result.  Once done it had to be quilted, that was going to be another problem, who or how?  Enter my friends Betty Boyink Roberts who owns a long arm and Beth Hwacinski who wanted to learn how to use Betty's long arm. 

Beth used my quilt to practice.  I don't think she needs anymore practice.  Here are some examples of what she did. 

Coffee and books (we read a lot)

A hat, there are more, I do love hats

 

Another love, oars from an old rowboat

No need to explain this one.

 

I haven't done much painting this week, binding this to finish it took much of my time.  And I may think about making another quilt one of these days.

 

And the flu hit our grandson so we had him for a couple days.  He's well now and rested.

Wondering Where I'm Going?

I was doing acrylic pours and must confess they are fun to do; however, not something I want to do as my primary art form.  I've also been playing a lot in my grunge journal, practicing faces for no particular reason, just good to practice.  This is the latest....

It's my great-grandfather, Sylvanus T. Percy.  I recently had my DNA done by Ancestry and have been having fun finding more about my family history.  Of course, I knew about Sylvanus but there are so many other branches of the family tree to find... what an adventure.  This is another person on my paternal grandmother's side of the family.

I'm back to the 1400's and not sure where she fits but I think she'll be fun to draw so she will be the next entry in my Grunge Journal.  Looks to me like she may take me awhile to finish.

So what does this have to do with wondering where I'm going?  I've committed to Daily Paintworks and it's costing me money (which is the reason I signed up.) If I have to pay for it I am committed.  So far I've done some acrylic pours and some watercolor sketches but neither of those grab me on a daily basis.  So this month I plan to play... a lot... with several different things... two of the top of my head are 5 minute paintings and 10 minute collage.  Another possibility, Gelli Plate prints. They will all be small and may or may not be for sale.  Hopefully but the end of February I will come up with something that I want to stick with for awhile.  We shall see.

Oh, and some good news.  I entered two pieces in the Winter Arts Festival at the Gallery Uptown and both of them were accepted.  This is one and I just realized I haven't gotten a photo of the second one yet.  I'll have to do that sometime soon.