A Little Road Trip

road trip!

A few months ago, I found out one of my favorite teachers Traci Bautista would be attending the Great American Scrapbooking Convention as an instructor.  I could not believe it would be happening while I was in the states & in my backyard.  I asked Grandma & Grandpa if they'd watch the kids while I took a little road trip.

me & Traci

It's always something for me to meet someone I've taken classes with online or "met" creatively via swaps or blogging.  Traci did not disappoint!  Her class was fun & she shared lots of ideas, techniques, favorite things to do & supplies.  It was so sweet that she remembered me from the online classes I've taken.  She sent me home with some mixed media supplies knowing I don't have access to much in Kuwait.

look, i got my book signed!

My canvas while a WIP

I took the Stylistic Scrawls Canvas Art Journal class.

Many of the found papers I was working on for my book.
The manila folder in the foreground is the cover for my journal.

Traci doing a demo for us

Traci's sample

So I still have to finish my journal.  I have all the pages done.  I'd like to add more to the cover & I have to stitch it together.  I'd really like to complete it since I'd like to use it as my summer journal.  I'm thinking of titling it "3 Months, 3 Countries".  Yep, that's the summer for me & the mini-men!

more demos - assembling the journal

If you have the chance I highly recommend taking a class with Traci.  The class time flew by, but I learned so much & had a chance to experiment with some new techniques & supplies.  She is a creative soul with a very kind heart!  I am so happy the timing was perfect for me to take a class with her.

The following are pieces I worked on during the scrap night.  This was what I posted on my FB page:
So I don't scrapbook & didn't even go to the convention. I just wanted to take a few classes. I even
went to an evening scrap session, but I made canvases. I always just do my own thing...

I just want to be around other creative people, that's all!

authentic 5x7 canvas panel WIP 

cupcake doodles 5x7 canvas panel WIP

home is where the heart is 6x12 canvas panel WIP

dancer 5x7 canvas panel WIP

to travel is to evolve 4x6 canvas panel WIP

Blue

Blue Flower Doodles WIP 8x10 canvas panel - ink

WIP crochet necklace with Czech firepolish beads

Blue WIP 3x12 gallery canvas - acrylics

I've been thinking a lot lately.  There has got to be an end to these feelings.  3 1/2 months of emotions due to all the change came piling on me this week.  I feel like I'm at a crossroads - roll up in a ball & disappear or take the bull by the horns & run.

Blue Flower Doodles WIP  detail

The Week in Pictures

 The last hurrah for summer! Did some last minute shoe shopping with my oldest son (lunch included) & lunch (again) near the Kuwait Towers.

Momma cat is back!  I've missed her.  There have been a few sightings but Rick wouldn't pull over the car or loop around.  Yes, I love this cat but this cat only!

My Byzantine Queen earring kit

Thanks to LB o'Jzazz for the terrific class.  The fruits of our labor.  A class picture after finishing our first earring.

Family lunch at Organica - again.  Picked by Josh.  Yummy fresh lemonade!

Can they be any cuter?  The Force Luke, the Force.  Thanks to our friends for the Jedi capes - now a necessity to play Star Wars Lego on the Wii.

The training continues.  I had a bit of a rocky patch with a sick bout.  I was off the treadmill for a week & a half.  I'm back on the program & have recently accomplished a personal best.  3 continuous miles under 45 minutes.  That is blazing for me!  I used to run 18 minute miles & now I'm hanging out in the 14 minute mark.

Is it the shoes?

What is this you ask?  I call it the Pile O' Green.  This is the pile of herbs & leaves I must maneuver every week when I go grocery shopping.  The weekly questions include:  "Is there any cilantro here?"  "Which one is spinach?"  and  "Did I just buy parsley 3 ways?"

but I'm not a painter

Believe 4x6 flat canvas panel - acrylic & ink

Sometimes I just gotta laugh.  I get all up in arms about others setting my boundaries, preconceived notions, prejudgement... yet I do it to myself all the time.  

Me to my card making group "but I don't really make cards".  

Vogue 4x6 card various decorative papers, German foil, stickers & vintage Vogue cover.  The fleur de lis & crown transfer are also digital clip art I printed but the seller is  no longer on-line.

Me to, not 1 but 2, beading groups "I'm not really a bead weaver or seed beader".  

All classes taken from LB o'Jazz.   Peyote
Ring Squared,  Luscious Lariat, Arabesque Earrings

 

Me to myself for most of my life "but I'm not really an artist".  So down comes, "but I'm not really a painter".

dream WIP 8x10 flat canvas panel - acrylic & ink

Thanks to wonderful classes I have been able to take on-line by Christy Tomlinson & Traci Bautista.  I have learned how to become comfortable working on canvas.  At this point, it's more than comfort, it's forever love.  I'm at the point that I will probably never stop working on canvas.  More & more I've become more comfortable using less paper.  Don't get me wrong, I still have a strong love for paper, but I've been going a bit out of my comfort zone.  I've found a style with ink & acrylics using quotes & words. 

the week in pictures

had to go see the Chihuly myself - still up & mostly intact, thank goodness!

art time with my dudes - it was a fun afternoon!

Some recycled silk sari strips hanging in my studio

fly WIP 4x4 canvas panel - mixed media, acrylics, inks, vintage & new papers, rub ons

Another "I am completely spoiled in this country" moment.  Asked if my frozen yogurt was to go.  Packed in a bag with a block of ice.  I may never get this kind of service again!

New art supplies - perfect pearls sprays - iridescent & right up my alley!

Starting up the bead crochet necklaces again.  Love this color combo - she may be a keeper!  how embarrassing that I have to reteach myself how to crochet.  Perhaps I've stayed away too long.

Technically these are photos from last week!  I am completely falling in love with my iPhone.  I have it with me all the time & I can always take pictures at a moments notice.  I also love instagram - cute square photos, funky filters & "polaroid" frame - I look like a genius!

Keeping Myself Occupied

My hubby was traveling & I was lonely so I did some retail therapy.  I bought myself into a new class Inscribed by the uber talented Traci Bautista.  Her book Collage Unleashed was one of the first mixed media books I purchased for my library.  By the way, there is a new one coming out the first of the year, Doodles Unleashed, & I can't own this one soon enough.

My inspiration board with color palette & damask pattern on Colourlovers My actual piece bottom left: 4x6 flat canvas panel WIP.  Bottom right: another WIP 8x10 flat canvas panel

The class is a art journaling workshop & I'm not much of a journaler.  I keep notebooks & journals, but they are not pretty, artsy, fancy ones.  I'm pretty much a list maker & that's what you'll see in the notebooks.  I sketch a bit, but not very often, & when I do, it's normal pencil or black ink quick sketches.  I was so drawn to this class by the preview video.  I wanted to learn her techniques & transfer them to my canvas craze.  It should be interesting to see where this takes me between Christy's Classes & Traci's.

Beginnings of the background

Ink doodles detail

Current WIP picture of piece

So Many Canvases, So Few Complete...

Sometimes I have a million ideas in my head & I start getting them all out.  Or I have a background or color idea then the inspiration stops there.  All I know is, I gotta whole lotta canvases going on at the same time.  Actually, I'm perfectly happy with that!

WIP You Inspire Me to Soar 4x6 canvas flat panel: Just started this as a gift for a sweet someone.  I'll be adding a quote.

WIP Untitled 8x10 canvas flat panel: Part of my Americana phase.  I also have a 4x12 with the same pattern in the works.

So I have lots of canvases I've started.  Sometimes the backgrounds will sit there for weeks.  Either I get majorly inspired & complete the canvas.  Or I get an idea, work on it for a bit then come back another day & another day & another day... one day it's complete

WIP Fashion Plate 4x6 flat canvas panel: LOVE the colors on this one.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  There are 3 shades of aqua - light to dark, a white damask stamp on the right edge & a lime green dress form stamp.  Not sure where I'm going next but it's one of my faves.

Inspiration for the piece below

WIP Untitled 4x6 flat canvas panel: I started with lilac & light blue acrylic paint.  The rest of the design will be hand drawn doodles & lettering.  Not sure how I'll add color - maybe acrylics & my pitt pens - may add some patterned paper.

 

 

I do have a few new pieces done, just need to photograph them, maybe I'll get them posted this week.  Just finished another class with Christy Tomlinson Creative Color Workshop.  It's a quick 1 week workshop on color but it's jam packed with lots of good info about searching for color inspiration & transposing that onto an art piece.  I'm also in the middle of the Three Hearts class.  I'm still watching the techniques portion of the class & have not even gotten into the journaling yet.  Christy shares so much in these videos that it makes it easy to go off & experiment.  As you can see from above, I'm not holding back after that She Art class!  Wow, the places my art has gone this year all because of Christy!

All About the Red, White & Blue

I took this anklet class from my friends at LB J'Zazz

Land of the Free - 4x6 flat panel mixed media canvas

Hero WIP

Hero Detail - 8x10 flat panel canvas

These last few months I've been inspired & drawn in different directions than my usual path.  As an artist, that's okay with me!  I'm known for my glitter & pink but have been finding tangents; different color combinations & themes for me.  It's been red, white & blue & Americana lately.  I don't know if it was because I was feeling a bit homesick or part of the trip home to the US, but I am enjoying it!  I have more to show including the finished "Hero girl".  She was inspired by something my sweet sis told me - boy am I lucky!