Traveling Journal Journey: Tammy's Journal

I know, I know......it's been FOREVER since I posted.  We've had a ton of projects going on around here- had a tree in the front yard taken down which led to a ton of other projects and I just haven't been painting.  Except for in the traveling books.  This month, I had Tammy's book to work in and her color theme is Black, Tan & White.  Tammy loves reading and gardening just like me so I took that as a starting point....and I'd fallen in love with a pin of an incredible garden window....so it all fell into place.
Here it is; I wanted to have a shadow box effect, so the woman and frame are raised up and glued onto a piece of cardboard.  The other side actually opens to read a note for Tammy.

 

 I found a quote by Cicero that I thought was perfect

 The woman reminded me a little of Jane in Disney's Tarzan......

And here's the window that inspired it all:

Check out our Magical Journal Journey Pinterest page to see what everyone else has been creating!  That's all for now, I'll try to get by to visit soon and share some of these projects I've been so busy with!
xx

Stephanie

More from Kim's Journal

Here's the other page I did for Kim, I wanted it to be much looser and free and show a contrast between the warm reds, oranges and pinks.  So I kept the background mostly black and white to emphasize this carefree spirit.....

 And here the first page with the pop up glued in

I should be getting Tammy's page sometime this week...can't wait to start playing with black, tan and white!

xx

Stephanie

Orange, Pink and Red- my first page for Kim....

So here we go with this round of traveling art journals!  I got Kim of IM Girl's book a couple weeks ago.  It took me a while  to come up with an idea, but I did and I've been busy ever since.  Actually I came up with two ideas and since she gave us plenty of pages to play in, I'm taking the liberty of using both.
Her color theme is Orange, Pink and Red and of course flowers and women are my favorite things to paint so I went with it.  I painted a background a la William Morris with idealized zinnias and chrysanthemums and then painted my "Flower Child".  I'll be glueing her in pop up format after I'm done with the next page, but at least you can an idea of what it will look like.

 So that's where I am in the Round Robin.  I plan to finish up by the middle of next week to get it on it's way to Gemma. 
This is SO much fun!
Hopefully I'll be back soon- I'm trying to get back to regular blogging it's just that things are so, SO crazy these days!
xx
Stephanie

Revisiting the Peacock Lady....

So, I am now at the point where I have NO idea if she's done or not.  I did actually go ahead and sign her, but now (as per usual ;)) I'm second guessing myself!  I changed most of the background (which I am happier with) retouched her neck and adjusted her hand. 

 

So I'm asking you all your opinion- finished...or not?  

Feel free to make any (constructive ;)) suggestions...

xx

Stephanie

Magical Journal Journey- Almost Ready to GO!

Once again, I find myself playing "catch up"!  The kids were out on Winter Break last week, and we took our daughter to visit some colleges at the end of the week, so there was no time for arting OR blogging.  But now I'm back and ready to do both!

Some of you might remember that I was working on making a new art journal to send out in another round robin,  The incredibly clever Lisa Wright came up with a wonderful title for our group, "Magical Journal Journey" and I used it for the cover of my book....

I kept the back of the book simple with just my name, title and date 

with a dragonfly swooping through

BTW, I took numerous pictures of this, but never could get the actual color to come through- it's much less like grape juice that it appears!

The only art I played with last week was for my sign in page, and I kind of went at it knowing I wanted to create some "Muse like" figures and took it from there.  I drew them with my right hand (which in my case is the WRONG hand ;)) to keep them loose and free.  And while I am happy with them now, they gave me one heck of a ride!  I painted them in water color and spray sealed them which caused all the colors to bleed and blend in a NOT good manner....so I went back at them with more water color, but the sealed surface didn't want to accept more water colors except for gold.  SO then, I took out my colored pencils and this helped lay down a new surface that I could paint over...BUT, then I wasn't happy with the way the were laid out and had NO idea how I could make them work as a sign in page....

 So, enter the scissors to the rescue!  I cut them up, first into 2 rows and then into individual figures which I glued down in a foldover/pop up manner. 

 And for what it's worth, the page they are glued in on was meant to be the back inside cover for my friends to write on if they chose....
but I was in too much of a hurry to resolve the figures, so it became their background......

Now, I just have to decide if I am still doing a spread for the back inside cover or do I just let the book end with the last entry....decisions, decisions.......

And if you'd like see what everyone else has been doing for this project, click HERE to see the Pinterest page Lisa Wright so generously created! OOOppps, that should be KIM of IM Girl created the Pinterest page- sorry!

That's all for now,

xx

Stephanie

Almost Done with my Peacock Lady and....Paint Party Friday

Woo hoo- it's Paint Party Friday and I am ready!  I had a few more hours to put in to my Peacock Chica (no idea what her name will be when she's done ;))  and for the most part she's done.  She's at that scary place where I have to approach any changes on tip toe so as to not over do things....

 I need to do a bit more on her hand- I wanted it to be kind of "sketchy" and loose, but now that it's up on the monitor, I see it's a little big...so make it smaller for sure

 Her neck has been giving me fits since I started, and each time I've gone to fix it, I've ruined it and had to start over- so while it still bugs me a little, I'm thinking I might leave it as is......

 

I fixed the facial features and had a blast shading the cheek and peacock feather- so no changes there

 So, what do you think?  I'd like to maybe, maybe play with the border a little more, but again, every time I've tweaked it, I've forced myself to start over.....

In the meantime, no painting for me today.  It's cooking for tomorrow's Farmer's Market (assorted Whoopie Pies and Chicken Turnovers ;)) and visiting all my friends at Paint Party Friday.  Hope to see you there!

xx

Stephanie

A little more on my Work in Progress....

I was able to paint on last Thursday but no time for pictures, so I wasn't able to post it.  

  She had been calling to me to be worked on all weekend, but on the weekends, my desk becomes shared space, so she just sat there all weekend- plus it was my anniversary and I had a DATE!

I did get more done yesterday, I was able to fix the conflicting angles of her eye and mouth, and played more with the background.....but again, no time for pictures- and it's too dark outside right now to get a good one.......

who knows, the next time you see her, she may be DONE!

See you all later!
xx
Stephanie