Lucky...pink

Tackling some more pages...

 "You look nice today," was already on the page so I drew a Buddha around it.

I'm not happy with the colors so I'm going back in with the colored pencils

 I took pictures of roses while hitting the yard sales in one of my favorite neighborhood.  I love arts and crafts / mission style houses so I was in heaven.

pink

Pie

     A few months ago the New York Times did a story about a bakery  and I loved the photographs so I reworked them and added my favorite pie sayings.  Today it was amazing and sunny and I took my book outside and just colored in it on the fake grass.

Messing around with collage

        I have an aversion to pre-made backgrounds but I'm trying to get over it so I'm working in a smash* journal.  I like when I see what other people do with the pages they made or pre-printed pages but I feel a bit locked in when I have to connect with the colors in the background.  My mini solution is to work out of order on the pages so I can choose the right colors to fit the bits I'm working with but I tend to work out of page order in a plain white journal.

         The original idea was to take my more labor intensive journal to work and leave this one at home so I can work on something simple when I am dead tired after work.  I flip flop with this idea and pulled it out again on my day off and I'm going to take it to work with just a pen and a few pencils. I just need to do something and include it with packing my bag for the day like packing my lunch.  I'm still working on this page but I like seeing the process and I'll retake all the pictures in natural light when I'm finished. 

Working on a new journal

The green is two shades of pan pastel and sprayed with fix.

The dogwood flowers were painted with white Higgins ink.  I loved the way white looked aged because it sunk into the brown paper.  I added a bit of colored pencil around the edge.  I sprayed fix over the pages in layers so I could work on the whole page without smearing the green pan pastel.

I started making a journal to work in at work on my lunch break and it was pushed aside a bit by life and working on other projects but I'm starting it up again.  I still work much better when I bind the pages after I finish them.  I have always been into story telling in the way of fairytale and myths so it creeps into my artwork in the way the pages are arranged.  If I were to bind the book I would be forced to think a bit more about where I drew each picture.  I'm not one of those people who gets over something that isn't working but at the same time I don't think everything has to be perfect.    So for now it remains a folio until I get to the binding stage.  The pink jacket is still a work in progress since it is way to bright and almost glows in the dark.

The Sketchbook Project.

 The theme was "Travel with me," and I decided to draw pictures of my dreams and a few meditations thrown in for good measure.  I'm sure these themes will pop up in my next journal.

I finally invested in a new computer and some new photo editing software along with a new job that I finally feel settled in.  The good news is I can get back into blogging and posting art quickly.  The sketchbook project was a lot of fun despite that fact that I didn't actually get started until the first of January and it was due the 31st.  I work better under pressure but my next project isn't due till August and I've already started it.  I may use a few of these pictures for inspirations because it's kind of sad to send so many pictures away.