Happy Halloween Eve!

The Halloween bug hit early and it hit hard this year!  I have had to use quite a bit of self restraint not to buy tons of new decorations, there are so many cute and fun things out there. Where I did not restrain myself was where some Halloween art was concerned. I've been dying (no pun intended) to share my Vampira page in my Inspiration Journal.

It all started with the background stamp I found at Michael's. I loved the design and that the bats were so subtle. The bats lead my thinking to vampire bats which lead me to Vampira. I planned to use this stamp with Versa Mark ink and black Pan Pastel to create my background. Versa Mark attracts the Pan Pastel to give a darker image where the ink is, really cool!

I wish I new how to rotate this photo but I can not figure it out. Still working on those kind of things, sorry! Arrr

As it turned out one side of the page was smooth and one page was a linen texture. I was afraid  I was not going to be able to get my stamp lined up well enough or stamped well enough using the Versa Mark so I just covered the pages with black Pan Pastel and used black Staz On for the stamp. Basically the same look just more "mistake proof" in the process. I added the red drippage (to use a Donna Downey term) and let the page sit for a few days.

Red and black lace was floating around in my head so I picked up some of that but I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it until I happened upon the grey ruffle with the rhinestones in Archiver's. It was $4.99 but I knew it was going to fit perfectly across my page and provide an anchor for some lace. I also splurged on the package of Halloween rub ons just for the 3 bats on my page.  I didn't know what I might do with the rest in the package but I knew I needed those black bats. I have been a scrapbooker for 15 years and this was my first time using rub ons! Hard to believe, I know, but still true!

I hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween! I think I'll let my kids eat candy until they are sick to their stomachs tomorrow night. I've never let them do that before so they don't really believe too much candy will make them feel yucky. Every kid deserves to be proven wrong by their parents once in a while!

To my friends on the east coast whose Halloween was canceled last year due to the horrific snow storm, I'm hoping Frankenstorm Sandy does not cause a repeat.

Thanks for stopping by! If you feel moved please leave a comment. I appreciate every one!!

Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge 2

My journal page for this challenge turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. This time the three prompts were:

Headline: When did you take a chance or a leap of faith?
Color: What color do you like least? Use it!
Quote: "Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase...that's what wild geese are for." - Anon

I immediately thought "THIS is my leap of faith!" Starting my career as an artist. I have the tiniest bit of training from 15 years ago and so much to learn! There are so many paths for an artist to follow...how will I ever decide which ones I want to travel? Some of those paths I have absolutely no knowledge of what steps to take to get down those paths i.e. book publishing, licensing, product lines...the list goes on. I have so many fears and doubts that I constantly have to push out of my thoughts just to create...some days I lose that mental battle and I do not go down to my studio at all. I could go on but I'm feeling mentally strong today and do not want to sabotage myself...I am inspired and dying to get downstairs today!!

The color prompt was easy too...Brown. Not that I don't like brown, I do when it comes to chocolate and coffee. It's warm and comforting and familiar. I have brown hair and brown eyes. My eyes might be my favorite feature, they're very dark, almost too dark to see the pupils. However, when it comes to my art I like it very bright, colorful and happy. Brown is boring and emotionless, a neutral color.

Since color always seems to be where I start a piece I was going to use brown. I guess that's the reason they call this a challenge...how was I going to use brown and still be happy when it was finished? I decided to go back to one of the brown things I love...coffee. I decided to stain some book text with coffee and then adhere that book text down as my background. Then I had to go get some brown paint...I did not own a single shade! I gave it a wash of brown mixed with gesso because I needed to push the text further into the background and shaded the edges...I was going to leave it and just journal with my brown pen but I couldn't. I pulled out a couple of pinks and finger painted the happy circles. Then I pulled out my favorite coffee mug and one other and stamped the brown rings with more paint. I finally got around to journaling my leap of faith and decided I needed that last reminder that I am an Artist which I stamped in the pink paint.

I am happy to report that I am indeed happy with this brown page!

Thanks for stopping by and if you feel moved please feel free to leave a comment. I appreciate every one!!

Fall Fearless and Fly

I have a joined a challenge at Artist In Blogland called Fall Fearless and Fly. It is hosted by Jessica Sporn and Carolyn Dube. We are given three prompts every two weeks. Last week's headline prompt was Inventing the Future, the color prompt was reds, oranges, yellows and pinks and the quote prompt was "The best thing about the future is it only comes one day at a time" by Abraham Lincoln.

The first thing I think of when you say orange, yellow and pink is a sunset. I grabbed one of my favorite photos and this metal wall art that I picked up at Michael's on clearance for $0.50.

I pounced a coat of gesso on the metal with a cosmetic sponge and then used a white paper bag I had lying around to add more texture. I  crumpled it and smoothed over and over again until I was happy. I adhered the bag with gel medium and this is what I got next...

Then I took to the paints...I am not very good at mixing and blending colors yet but I was determined to be brave and keep moving forward until the result did not look like the stripes I painted as a five year old.

For the most part I am happy, I think I did pretty well going from yellow to orange, orange to pink to the deep plum, not so much but the clock struck 3 and I my forward motion was forced to come to a halt! Although I am mostly happy this is not really what I wanted to submit for the challenge. So I am extremely proud of myself for starting again the next day!

I don't have as many step by step pics of my second attempt but I'll tell you what I did...I started in my Moleskine journal this time. For texture I covered the page with page reinforcements...you know the paper rings you use to repair hole punched paper in a binder? Then I covered the page with a wash of the deep plum paint. Then using my cosmetic sponges again I started with the yellow and pounced paint haphazardly...this is what I ended up with...

Color prompt, check. I really wanted to push myself and write some goals for the future. I am not good at writing goals because I have always been afraid that if I write it down and can not accomplish it that it equates to failure. I must get past that so I forced myself to write down some true measurable goals.

I finished my page by adding some dots with acrylic spray mist through a stencil and India ink circles. Added my goals and the quote and I am happy. Here is the finished page:

Thanks for stopping by and if you feel moved please leave a comment. Your words mean the world to me!!