DLP #15

April Theme
Color Safari (Exploring Inks and Paints)
April 11
Art Challenge:  Acrylics
Journal Prompt:  Cry Me a River

I went literal with this one.  I have to say that these last couple of prompts have been really tough for me to come up with anything that I liked.  Hoping we get out of the song quotes soon.  

Played with my drawing skills and shading again.

Creative Dice

I saw this idea in a recent Cloth Paper Scissors magazine and finally made some of my own.  My husband cut some blocks for me which I sanded and then glued decorated paper with an instruction for a technique or supply on each side.  There's also a "no" block which tells me which comfort item I'm not allowed to use.

My dice say:
1: Acrylic, Water Color, Pastel or Crayon, Gelatos, Distress Line, Colored Pencil
2: Emboss, Bling, Stickers, Book Page, Gelli Print, Stencils,
3: Draw, Text, Stamp, Transfer, Doodle, (blank side)
4: "Extra" Drawer, "Collage" Drawer, Vellum, Washi Tape, Fibers, Chip Board
5: Mixed Media, Gesso, Twinkling H2O;s, Alcohol Inks, Ink Spray, (blank side)
6: No Handcarved, No ink pads, No Ripped Paper, (3 blank sides)

Martin Ramirez FDC swap

I have been doing art, but not the Documented Life Project.  I've been working on a carving based off a Martin Ramirez drawing for a swap sponsored by the Carving Consortium.  Of course I picked an incredibly intricate design and the carving has taken forever.  I've just finished enough to do a test print.  There's still some cleaning up to do, but I'm liking it.

 Here's a close up.

Here's more info on Martin Ramirez.  Pretty interesting story.

DLP Week 14

April Theme
Color Safari (Exploring Inks and Paints)
April 4
Art Challenge:  Watercolors
Journal Prompt:  It's Water Under the Bridge

I got hit with artist block bit time since my last post.  Part of it was letting life get in the way-- travelling, catching up from being away, travelling again, catching up.  But a big part was resistance to the journal prompt and not knowing where I would go with it.  And not trusting myself to just start.  

Finally, over the weekend I put a watercolor wash down on the page.  But then I had to wait for it to dry and started putting it off again.

So, I bought Steven Pressfield's book "The War of Art," read 2 chapters and decided to stop procrastinating and do something.  I already have his book "Do the Work" which I highly recommend and War of Art promises to be just as good.

Here's what happened when I started to play.

The hands are painted in black gesso and I used a white pen to do the journaling Dina Wakely style-- start writing in one direction and then flip the page 90 degrees and continue writing.  

This page was good for me in so many ways.  Just doing it.  Not judging.  Not caring that the hands aren't even close to right.   Or that I have stray marks.  Trusting that something will come out (although, I had the idea for the hands over the weekend and the journaling idea  came up while I was meditating, still). Getting personal in the journaling.  Moving on.