Day 7 - Art Every Day Month: Even When

Even when it's not easy,



Even when I struggle to find the time,



Even when my mind is elsewhere,



Even when the pen won't glide across the page,



Even when the watercolor won't flow,



Even then . . . I hold to the commitment, keep on with the daily practice.



Knowing it's teaching me so much more than to draw or to paint.



Find other committed artists and their daily practice here.

Day 6-Art Every Day Month: Hidden Images

Another cold and rainy day - the second this week. PERFECT for lazing by the fire with the art journal.



I kind of cheated on this one.
The background is a smear of acrylic paint made from "cleaning" off the palette knife weeks ago.
I hate to waste paint, don't you?



Today, hidden in the murky background, I found hints of the images you see now.
I brought them out of hiding using Inktense pencils and oil pastels.
Spooky, huh?



It's such a surprise what lies in wait . . . tribal and ancient.
Could it mean anything?

Is our subconscious placing these figures there or is purely random?

It happens SO often for me, I find it hard to believe it's chance.
I have filled an art journal and done several paintings this way!
What do you think?



Visit other artists participating in Art Every Day Month by going here.

Heavy Metal Mama

Enough with the paper and canvas already. I needed to get my hands on some metal!

Leighanna Light showed me the way in her Vintage Metal Deck class. I found her class through Cindy O'Leary's An Artful Journey just a couple of days before it was scheduled.

Next thing you know, I'd thrown a few supplies in my saddle bag and made my way up the coast to Northern California.

There, a few Heavy Metal Mamas and I made art in a quaint retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Not bad for a first timer, huh?

Leighanna made it all so easy!

I bought a few more blank metal decks to play with at home . . . so there'll be more to come!

Just Can't Sleep....

Some time ago, I painted a long roll of paper. For what I did not know, but I knew would come in handy one day.



So when a bad case of L.A. heat-induced insomnia struck, I had the making for a little notebook inspired by my online teacher, Traci Bautista!




I ripped the pages into random sizes.....



I photo copied some in black and white.









I folded them in half, so it was painted on both sides, then I bound them together with whatever I had (which was lowly duct tape and wire) inside a collaged manila folder. See....duct tape is good for everything!



Still plan to wire some beading through those eyelet holes....but I need sleep!

When I've recovered....I'll share another project from my time in Northern California. It's there I had my first experience working with metal and found objects. Very cool stuff! The time spent with instructor Leighanna Light, An Artful Journey founder, Cindy O'Leary and some amazingly creative women was such a great escape.

Nighty night. Zzzzzzzz.