DLP Week 14 and 15

I find if I don't take the time I just don't get around capturing the story for each of my DLP pages! Work has been extremely busy, and distracting, but things are slowing down and there is a light at the end of the tunnel to which I say HURRAH!!!!! I can get back to things I really like to do. AND there are lots of little projects planned for Maple Hill again this summer (more on that later)... 

DLP Week 14 was all about water colours - not something I do much with. 

In fact I think I forced it to work like acrylics - but it worked. 

The prompt was "water under the bridge" - frankly I have found most of the prompts rather "heavy" so I have chosen to reinterpret or just go my own way altogether.... I enlarged an ATC I made a few years back and incorporated it into my page.

Week 15 was acrylics - now that I can get into. I recently took a walk in a nearby park and came across a lovely patch of pussywillows - just love them. 

And they always remind me of one of my favorite Gordon Lightfoot songs. 

So did my own interpretation - and it had no connection with the prompt "cry me a river" lol except to say I am crying tears of joy that Spring is finally here!!! My first daffodil finally bloomed (and yes it's April 18th!!!). Enjoy, Jewels

Liberate Your Art 2015 Recap

I participated in Kat's Liberate your Art 2015 Swap - send her 6 copies of your art in a printed post card format (I used MOO to make mine) and you will get 6 in return - kinda cool...Unfortunately I can only account for where 3 of my landed, oh well....

I decided to use my Mail Art card that I submitted for What's Your View earlier this year. Love how this turned out.

This is what I received in return. From Snap...

From Deanie Houghtaling...

From April Roco...

From Kate Lehman...

And from Charlotte Prado...

And all together including my 6th card from Kat. This is their permanent home for now. I enjoyed the process of getting cards done by MOO and will definitely do that again so I can send my friends "art" (if they want it lol). Thanks to everyone who participated and also to Kat Sloma for organizing. Enjoy. Jewels. 

An InLinkz Link-up

One Staple Collage - Hearts and Tea

Awhile back I posted about an exchange with my pal Mo - we decided to do a One Staple Collage...at the time hers had not arrived across the big pond and we were both quite concerned what happened to it. In fact, Mo decided to send another!

Well the good news - her first piece - after many, many weeks finally arrived albeit in pretty rough shape. The postal service actually put it in one of their "we are sorry we trashed your mail but here it is" envelopes LOL.

How sweet - love the colours....AND

Wee Man, her grandson Logan, also included a piece for me which is now in residence with Mr. Darcy in my office at work...I had some very nice comments from co-workers about it...AND

She added a bunch of lovely bits and pieces for me to use in future projects (heh, how did she know I have a thing for David Tennant - reading The Bride of Lammermoor of all things!!!)...AND

This week her second piece arrived - I collect tea cups so it was very fitting and now is on display on my tea cup shelf...
Thanks so much Mo and Logan! I hope we can do again ( but without another postal incident!!!!). Enjoy. Jewels

DLP 2015 Week 12 and 13

Catching up on my posts for DLP! Both past weeks were new and fun things for me.

Week 12 - Challenge was As a Focal Point and the prompt was Coming into Focus....I started with the back ground not quite sure where I was going with "focus" ( a lot of folks used it for things like glasses, cameras, etc).

I decided to go with focus on "time" - I was actually inspired by a bill board I had driven by on the highway!

Not sure on how to draw a clock so I went over to Graphics Fairy for inspiration and found this lovely image....
... and the last minute decided I needed to add wings to it (seriously I thought I was done!)

Week 13 Challenge was Make a Custom Element and the prompt was the quote "Ride the Energy of your own unique spirit" (Gabrielle Roth).  Well, that was easy because I LIVE with a unique spirit...my little man Mr. Darcy...

...and he reminds me everyday  :) ....I took a photo of him and drew on a piece of dictionary paper (my custom piece) and then just went from there....My Dad always says he sees purple hair in Mr. D's coat which is why I went with that colour...

Wild stuff going with layers in the background but I love the colour.

That's it! On to water colours this week... Enjoy. Jewels

Asemic Writing with Lenna

My second post on my recent Mail Art swap with Jo and Lenna. 

Lenna is a very talented artist who lives in Florida. She sent me this lovely lady with her asemic writing in the background...

It came in a wonderful envelope (I just love opening my mailbox when art arrives - it really makes my day :)  )

Since I had my retro thing going with Jo, I continued it with Lenna....I started using my geli plate to create the background (you can see me practice my writing on my under paper). 

I am still getting the hang of it - I always get challenged with inadvertently getting muddy colours..

The image was from an IBM ad..

With a picture that can be interpreted however you like (I like  "a career girl with attitude").

I carried over to the envelope as well - here is the front.

And here is the back - plane catching pace!!!!

These are all the envelopes from my arting weekend awhile back....Enjoy. Jewels

DLP 2015 Week 11 - Borders

Art Challenge - Borders
Journal Prompt - Borderline feels like I'm going to lose my mind

Well I did last week primarily because of the miserable head cold I had! Fortunately I have pretty much recovered but oh it was difficult to get excited about working in my studio - it happens.
But I persevered and after SEVERAL runs at it finally came up with my pages (it was flub city for a while LOL).

To create my borders I decided to start with a black gesso technique I read about in Cloth, Papers and Scissors Pages Summer 2014.Jacqueline Newbold shared the way she prepped pages for her art journals. One thing about black - it sticks on your hands for a few days  :) After I created the border I stamped and coloured in the flowers - but I still was not sure what I was going to do on the main pages. I actually tried a couple of different things which ended up getting painted over.

I looked around and found this graphic from an old children s book which seemed appropriate for the black background. 

A few weeks back I had experimented with stamping using bleach on black card stock. It turned out neat but it is rather toxic to do (so be careful!). I was inspired by a Carolyn Dube tutorial. Thought it would make a good background (and also cover up flub number 3, or was it 4 ha ha)...

Wrote the poem that accompanied the graphic over the trees - I like how they still peek through. 

So here it is. Lots of blending with black paint. Made my mark with different stars and stencils.

Enjoy. Jewels

Asemic Writing with Jo

The We (heart) Mail Art girls have been at it again. Jo, Lenna and I decided to do an Asemic writing mail art challenge. Everyone's piece has arrived safe and sound so time to share. This post will be my exchange with Jo.....

Jo has such a great sense of humor - here is her card and envelope.She did writing on both...

Pretty sure I know what Lenna received from her! Thinking this may go in my office at work LOL.

 
I had a LOT of fun with her's once I got started. I need to remember to take pics of the graphics that inspire me. This announcement is on the back of the envie  - what the heck is a Micromanipulator?

The front of the envie provides a clue...hmmmmm inventions. The chess graphics were a happy accident - I've been experimenting with combining things that are not necessarily related a lot lately...

The question answered - how bizarre - I found this article in an old Popular Science. The background was a scrap from a postcard I made last year. I just went to town enhancing it with stamping and writing.
Love how it turned out. Off to research Micromanipulator! Enjoy. Jewels