Weekend Journal

It's been an extraordinary week for me.  Mike and Nadia arrived safely from California last Saturday, so the entire family has been together for the whole week.  Yes - I'm happy beyond words!  There have been family cookouts and way too much food (but I've enjoyed every calorie!), quiet strolls along the beach, visits to parks, and hours just sitting around reminiscing and laughing.  I really hate to see it come to an end as Mike and Nadia head back to CA tomorrow.

Heather has been making mouth watering desserts for us all week.  My personal favorite - Biscoff Truffles.  Biscoff spread. Cream cheese.  Chocolate.  Speechless goodness.  Heather is amazing with the baked goods and has a wonderful blog: Bake, Run, Live.  If you want to see some great baked goods and sweets and collect some wonderful recipes, this is your ticket!  And the most importantl part - they're "made with love, not calories".  I've been telling myself that all week.

Other family members got in on the sweet action, too.  Mike and Nadia sent Keith this unbelievable box of chocolate covered strawberries from Sheri's Berries for his birthday.  They're deliciously sweet and crazy big!  Sis also contributed awesome chocolate peanut butter brownies to the dessert table.  

And let us not forget Nadia's creamy, luscious homemade flan.  Definitely no calories in this! (Ha!)

Of course, we had to offset all the food (a trip to Melt, breakfast at the 50's Diner, cabbage rolls, chicken curry, etc., etc.....) with some activitiy, and I also had to sneak in some journaling via camera.  Here are some snippets of our trip to the Cleveland Metroparks / North Chagrin Reservation in Willoughby Hills.

Squire's Castle front

Squire's Castle rear right

Looking up through the tower

Crab apple tree blossoms

Red Bud tree

Spring Beauty flowers

Yesterday was all about "the guys" as they washed, polished and "prettied up" the Mustangs.  Four-wheeled Mustangs, that is.  Mike, (videographer extraordinaire), attached his camera to the back window of my car and took video footage of the trip to and from the beach.  I can't wait to see the finished product and I'll be sure to share the link with you.  Here are a couple pictures from yesterday's photo shoot.

Mustang photos:  Keith Thompson

Nick's 99 Saleen, Keith's 69 Coupe and 96 GT Coupe

I have to admit to just a little journaling activity.  Remember the 29 Faces Challenge?  Mike helped me iron out my tech kinks and make a short video of the project.  Here's the finished video.  For the best viewing, watch on YouTube in full screen.

As this week winds down, I hope you are finding ways to not only create, but to celebrate and love this amazing journey we call life.  I hope you're surrounded by loving family and friends, and all the wonderful things that bring you pleasure.

Heather, Nick, Keith, Nadia, Mike

As for me, life just doesn't get any better than this.  I'm an extremely blessed and happy woman.

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

29 Faces: Finale!

Well, quite honestly, I'm going to have to refer to this project as "27 Faces" from this time forward.  I'm afraid 27 faces is all I was able to complete in 29 days!  I have to agree with Stephanie from Dragonfly Design Studios:  " ...it has felt more like 329 faces!"  You heard it here first - Angelia is officially "faced OUT"!  None the less, it was a wonderful challenge that took me "out of the box" and encouraged my muse to try a few new things.  I want to thank Ayala at Ayala Art for hosting this fun, February challenge!

Here are my last three faces.  To view my 29 Faces Gallery, go HERE.

DAY 25

Acrylic 

DAY 26

Acrylic and water soluble charcoal pencils  (more on those later!)

DAY 27

"Faced OUT"

Last, and maybe least, here is my final face.  It's the only one I titled, and I think the expression says it all! It's acrylic, also in my journal as are the rest.   I hope you've enjoyed seeing my faces from the challenge.  To view the other 51 artist's works, go HERE.

Weekend Journal

I'm sure you probably think I fell off the face of the earth, but I'm happy to announce I'm alive and well here on the south shores of Lake Erie!  I'm busy teaching 3 art journaling classes and trying to squeeze in some of my own art journaling as well.  I'm also busy teaching myself piano, researching new, healthy recipes, judging art shows and everything in between.  The key, of course, is BALANCE, but I'm afraid I missed that class.....

FACE 20

Collage and acrylic in journal.  Inspired by a 1978 newspaper add for a local circus.

The truth is, I've been much more interested in playing piano.  I can't get enough, and this week I've seemed to hit a new level of understanding.  That coupled with the fact that I'm learning Pink Floyd's "Great Gig in the Sky", ( by my instructor, Mike),  has me absolutely obsessed.  Nevertheless, I do have some art to share with you.

29 FACES UPDATE

Here are the faces 20 (above) through 24 of the 29 FACES project.  This is the last week - and I have to say I'm a little relieved although it's been quite fun.  I'm ready to move on....

DAY 21

This face was composed using only a scrap piece of cardboard and acrylic paint.  It was a lot of fun adding the layers.  I used 7 colors and white.

DAY 22

Enlarged image showing letter "m" detail

I used the same paint colors for this face, but this time I used the  lower case letter "m" stamp from my Words and Crafts Breezy Typeface Letter Stamp Kit.  I really like the blurry finished look, very reminiscent of a stereograph image. (However there's nothing "hidden" to my knowledge :o)

DAY 23

I switched to India ink, quill pen and watercolor wash for this one.  The blurry effect is only my poor photography skills.

DAY 24

Here's the final face done yesterday.  She's done with pastel pencils.  I'm on the fence about finishing her right now, but if I finish it, I'll post the final image.  I haven't started today's face yet.

ART JOURNALING CLASSES

I've been teaching a collage/painting technique in all of my classes.   This technique involves "painting" the background with magazine images in a monochromatic color scheme, adding layers of gesso and more imagery.  Slowly but surely, everyone is finding their way out of their comfort zones and seem to be enjoying the process.  I have three of these spreads in various degrees of "finished".  I'm hoping to work on all of them tomorrow, but here's what I've done so far.

Background in shades of pink and peach

This is probably my favorite of the three.  I found an image that reminded me of Klimt's, "The Kiss", when I flipped it slightly and placed it near the top of the page.

Background in shades of blue and green

I just started this one on Thursday.  I like the way it's shaping up and it's far from my usual color palette!

Background in shades of yellow and orange.
(Blurry image not intended - perhaps a photography class is in order!)

TUESDAY TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

I've gotten really good feedback on this feature, and I'll be back to posting them on Tuesday, March 6th.  In the meantime, enjoy the rest of February and be on the lookout for that lion - March is right around the corner!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

29 Faces: Days 14 and 15

DAY 14

I have to say, I really enjoy playing with The Muse.  You never know what's going to happen!  I tore pieces of an old newspaper for my background, and the first headline I tore read "Spaced Out in Painesville".  Well, I was thinking along the lines of "space cadet", but The Muse had other things in mind.  As I began darkening in the background, I could see a vague outline of my little alien.  I'm sure being extremely tired after a day of having a "hair-a-thon" contributed greatly.

DAY 15

I was still in the mood to add layers upon layers this morning, so I rummaged through some more saved items.  I used magazine images that I've had forever, old receipts, a wine label, doodles, etc.  I thought you would enjoy seeing the process:

I almost always use Mod Podge as my adhesive.  I may need a Mod Podge intervention some day.

I always like to tie everything together with a wash of two or more colors.  Here I've used washes of sienna and light green.

Here's my face for Day 15, completed on the left side of my spread.  As soon as I saw the Red Truck wine label, I knew I wanted to use a man's face on this page.  I used a magazine add as my inspiration for the face.  Tomorrow's face will go on the other side.

Tuesday Tips and Techniques will be back next week.  In the meantime, hope you're getting "over the hump" and having a wonderful Wednesday!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

29 Faces: Day 13

Mixed Media

This is another intuitive face.  I began with a wash of yellow and crimson and stamped the word "transformation".  I also stamped numbers randomly on the page.  I collaged torn images and text from magazines, applied more washes and painted in the facial features with acrylics.  Then I doodled over the whole page with a quill pen and India ink.  I am creating all of these pages in my daily journal.

I'll be back later with "Monday's Mandala".  Have a wonderful day!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

29 Faces: Day 10

Acrylic

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

29 Faces: Day 9

Did someone say "Mardi Gras"?  I think so!  I can't wait to see who else is coming to the party.

29 Faces: Day 8

DAY 8

Acrylic ink, acrylic paint

I was thinking about my mom and how much she loved clowns.  She collected clown figurines, and dressed as clowns on occasions such as Halloween.  I recall that she was particularly fond of Emmet Kelly for as far back as I remember.  So this one's dedicated to Mom's memory - maybe I'll get around to painting her favorite hobo clown, too.

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

29 Faces : Gallery

I was visiting my new journaling friend, Stephanie, over at her blog, Dragonfly Design Studios, and was delighted to learn of a February 29 Faces Challenge -  Create 1 face per day for the month of February.  Well, how could I miss that party?  I've been just a little obsessed with faces lately, so I went over to the host site, Ayala Art, and joined the party.  If you're interested, hop on over - there's plenty of room for you and still time to catch up!

Well, the 29 Faces Challenge has ended with the arrival of March.  There are new artistic endeavors to pursue and I'm sure other challenges await.  Thanks, Ayala, for hosting this really fun, February challenge!

DAY 27

Acrylic

DAY 26

Acrylic and water soluble charcoal pencils

DAY 25

Acrylic

DAY 24

Pastel pencils in journal

Add 

DAY 23

India ink, quill pen and watercolor wash in journal

DAY 22

Acrylic paint applied with letter "m" stamp in journal

DAY 21

Acrylic paint applied with scrap cardboard in journal

DAY 20

Collage and acrylic in journal

Here I am!  Can you say "burned OUT"?  I've been doing my faces daily, but I just could not for the life of me, make a post.  I couldn't even get myself to do the photographs!  I'm feeling a bit more enthusiastic again,  so hopefully I'll be posting regularly this week.  I can't wait to see what all of you have been doing.  Thank you for all the kind comments - I've got some catching up to do!

DAY 19

Charcoal and yellow ochre acrylic in journal

DAY 18

Mixed media in journal (collage/acrylic)

DAY 17

Acrylic in journal

DAY 16

The other half of Day 15 journal spread

DAY 15

Mixed media in journal.  To see the process, go HERE

DAY 14

Mixed media in journal.  To read more about it, go HERE

DAY 13

Mixed Media in my journal

Read more about face number 13 HERE

DAY 12 

Acrylic

DAY 11

Watercolor and Prismacolor pencils

DAY 10

Acrylic

DAY 9

Acrylic

DAY 8

Acrylic

DAY 7

I created this face on a journal page that had blue and pink acrylic paint smeared on it from a previous project.  I began filling in the white areas of the page with torn magazine images.  I thought I was headed in the direction of Matisse by doing paper cut outs, but my muse just wasn't having it!  So, out came the gesso and I roughed in an area for a face.  I began sketching with a charcoal pencil blending it into the gesso.  She's a tad creepy to me, but I was listening to (a really AWFUL) new age instrumental online.  I really thought I was on the path to "fun and cheerful", but somehow entered the twilight zone! LOL

DAY 6

I created both faces yesterday using background pages that I created in my Saturday art journaling class.  I taught this background technique using multiple layers of collage, acrylic washes, and gesso.  My background became predominantly ochre, sienna, and black and had an aged feel.  That was the inspiration for my faces.  The African inspired page includes potato printed paper that I made last year. ( I was surprised that I remembered I had it!)  The Native American inspired page includes words and imagery such as old coins and buffalo.

DAY 5

The First Four Faces

I found out about the party yesterday, so I had some major catching up to do.  I completed the first 3 faces yesterday, and just finished the 4th face just a little while ago. 

DAY 1

This is an intuitive painting.  I tore wrapping paper into pieces and Mod Podged it onto the page for my background.  I could see the shape of the face and shoulders in the torn paper and brought the features out with acrylic paint.

DAY 2

This was another intuitive painting.  I created multiple layers with torn paper, acrylic ink and acrylic washes.  Sooner or later, I always seem to find a face.  He was no exception!

DAY 3

This is an homage to Modigliani.  His portraits of women, with their unpainted eyes and elongated, sensuous necks intrigued me as a junior high school artist.

DAY 4

Another intuitive painting, this seafarer emerged among the layers of torn paper and paint.  Something about him reminded me of VanGogh's work, so I decided to emulate his impressionist style.  

I can't wait to see where day 5 takes me!  I'll be adding all of the faces to this post, so you'll be able to see my family of 29 as they emerge.

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you again on Monday with mandala number 16.  Weekend Journal will be back next week - we've got some catching up to do!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE