Jen Bowles Design

Begin Again

Another day, another art journal page.  I'm sure I won't be keeping up this page a day pace, but I'll create while I'm inclined.
The thought behind this page came to me  as I was walking Jake (in the 43 degrees and misty morning).  About how every day is a new beginning, a fresh start.  No matter how crappy or excellent yesterday was, today is a new day.  Even if all the beds were made, laundry was done, 2 mile walk taken, fun and educational family outing enjoyed  and healthy meals prepared yesterday--today is a new day.  Not that my actual yesterday was like that.  In fact I never made it out of my pajamas.
Uplifting and depressing all at once.

Production notes:  Acrylic paints as the base once again, with a wash of Twinkling H2Os.  Collaged cut up vintage book pages and scrapbook papers.  Hand cut the sun and the rays.  Yellow dots are glossy paint.  Used my white Uniball Signo pen for much of the lettering, along with hot pink and black Sharpies.  Doodled with black and white charcoal pencils.  Used a few different rubber stamps, all with black ink. Even went to the garage and dug out a set of cheap, already packed oil pastels and did a bit of playing on the left margin.  Oh, and the silver is Speedball pigmented acrylic ink--couldn't find my pen nib--that's already packed too.  I never needed any of this stuff. 

Until I packed it up.

So you think you can Art Journal

Sure, why not?
Yesterday afternoon I was browsing around my favorite photo site (cough, flickr , cough) and started looking at art journal pages.  At least I think that's what happened.  I keep thinking that I should start an art journal but yet I never do it.  When I was at my mom's last summer I read all of the Teesha Moore zines she had.  And she had them all.  Very inspiring to say the least.  But still, I never made any progress ordering 140lb. hot press paper from Dick Blick and I let that be enough to stop me.  That and packing up half my studio in order to put the house on the market.  Which by the way, I'm totally ready for it to sell now...Anyway, somehow yesterday I stumbled upon the blog of Suzi Blu .  She's got lots of art posted there, mixed media collage etc. and several highly entertaining videos.  I watched one on art journaling.  Suzi told me to stop making excuses, go to Barnes & Noble, buy a Moleskine notebook and start an art journal.
Who am I to disagree?
So last night after Ebby was dropped off at a slumber party and Will & Cuyler were playing with Pokemon cards in their room, I bid my hubby adieu and headed out.  I think B&N could become my new Saturday night hang out spot.  When I worked at Borders I would usually work on Saturday nights--and frequently there was live music.  No such luck last night but I still managed to spend 3 hours (I had no idea, I didn't look at the time until I was leaving--such a feeling of freedom!) browsing everything from magazines to bargain books to home decorating to finally, Moleskine notebooks.  I ended up getting a 100 page sketchbook, 5"x8 1/4".  I was a bit shocked by the price ($16.95) but since it was the only thing I bought, I figured I was worth it : )
This afternoon I made my first pages. 
I wasn't really sure what my plan was.  I started with squirting craft paint on the pages.  I used spring green and then a bit of blue.  When that was dry I brushed on a few coats of twinkling H2Os.  Then I went into the kitchen to make the boys lunch--and cut up magazines.  The growth chart from eeBoo along with the "Get Ready" words ended up being my inspiration.  I used paper scraps from my stash to recreate the flowers like those on the growth chart.  I also added more letters from cut up magazines and the 'Good Times' tab from K&Co.  I did some doodling with the black and white charcoal pencils and rubbed on a bit of green Pearl X with my finger.  And then, ta-da!  An art journal page.
And I must say, Suzi was right. 
That really wasn't so hard.

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Lovely Lemon

Cousin (and Easter dinner guest) Laura went home to California to visit her family last weekend.  Never one to be shy, I asked her if she could bring me back a lemon or two from their backyard lemon tree.
When she arrived for egg crafting on Saturday she had with her not one or two lemons, but a gift bag full of 7 beautiful Ponderosa lemons.  While I used 3 of them as ingredients in Easter dinner (including a Lemon Yogurt Cake ), I saved this particular one for photographing.
I love the way the leaf curls around the stem.  I love the color of the rind.  I love the odd, full shape of the fruit.
And the smell,  mmmm, the smell.
Just lovely.

{click on pictures to enlarge, even better full size}

It's Spring

Back to blogging after a jam-packed few days here.  My mom came to visit for Easter.  After decorating eggs (2 ways) on Saturday & hunting for them on Sunday, we kept up our frantic pace with a visit to the Lazy 5 Ranch on Monday (lots of baby animals!) and then Biltmore yesterday.  Phew!
Our Saturday afternoon egg decorating featured 2 methods.  The first was paper mache over plastic eggs, Amy of the ever wonderful and oh so lovely Inspire Company  posted a tutorial with very enticing photos of her creations--so of course we had to try it. The girls (me, mom, Ebby, cousin Laura) were in charge of the actual paper-mache-ing while Will and Cuyler assisted with ripping a thrift store book into small to tiny pieces.  Everyone helped out with the glittering : ).  They didn't take too long to dry (3-4 hours) and we were able to embellish them that night.  Originally I had the boys put pennies and nickels inside these eggs and I figured we'd hide them along with the other plastic eggs.  Unfortunately (for them) they turned out way too cute and there was no way I could let them smash them open.  And now I have a head start on my Easter decorations for next year.
For whatever reason (perhaps because I only have 2 hands...) I didn't take any pictures of us coloring and decorating the hard boiled eggs.  Suffice to say 1 box of Paas dye plus a deluxe set of fine tip Sharpies = 46 very festive Easter eggs.  We had simple (one chicken on a spring green egg by Cuyler), ornate (Happy Easter to you and you and you by Bubbe), clever (the 'Eye' egg by Laura) and everything in between.  More multi-generational holiday crafting goodness.

On Easter I did present my mom and Laura with  an original  mixed media bird collage,  both variations on the 'Have Faith' collage I created a couple of weeks ago.   Both of the ones I made for Easter said 'Welcome Spring'.  They both loved them--good thing, after all, we're family!   

As to why everyone looks so odd in the photos I took, I have no idea.

Happy Wednesday.

Happy Easter weekend!

to you and you and you!

Sneakers After School

Just how Cuyler left them.  Frayed laces and all.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Or as my boys like to say, Happy Leprechaun's Day!

{once started, I couldn't stop making stuff  yesterday : ) }

Have Faith

That spring will come, birds will sing, the sun will shine...

This is my second creation from this weekend.  And  my favorite thing I've made in a long time.  Started with another 7x9 canvas, used more painted canvas paper, vintage book pages and sheet music, punched pink flowers, and the charcoal pencil.  Oh--and fixative : )

Just have to keep glancing over at this piece and reading the message.  And smiling at the cheerfulness.

Who Lives Here?

These days it seems I spend more time searching around online for inspiration than I spend actually creating something with the inspiration.  Yesterday afternoon was a different story however. 
I took out my supplies and began to play.  Here's the result of my first effort:
Recognize the ATCs from last weekend?  Yep, I cut them up and turned them into houses!  The base of the piece is a 7x9 canvas I had painted pink months ago. I also used scrapbook paper, a polka dot border sticker, paint, old book pages, buttons, and a charcoal pencil.  It was my first time using the charcoal, I've had it for about 6 months but never had the nerve to try it out, afraid of messing it up.  Which of course I did, a little bit.  I experimented on scrap paper and could tell that I needed some sort of fixative on the charcoal before applying Mod Podge over the whole thing.  However I thought I'd already packed my can of fixative--or trashed it.  Being impatient, I just coated it anyway.  I don't mind the charcoal smudges too much.  Turns out the workable fixative is right in the garage where I left it.  Live and learn.