Wanderlust 2016: Coming to Closure

My art journal for my Wanderlust 2016 is now completely finished!! YAY! 

And, here is my view from my work area...nothing like playing with paints and stuff on a blustery winter day. I am hearing wind chills tonight of up to -29F, or should I say down to...a good night to snuggle in and stay warm. 

I added in these pages since my previous post. 

Here it is chock full of ideas and my art!

I had to do the cover, of course to finish off my book. When I looked back at the work I did this year, the one thing that really stood out was color, color, color! So, of course I went with some bold colors on my cover. 

Having fun with stencils and colors....

More stenciling,  adding in some stamping with our Everything Art sets, toning it down a bit on the front...

the back...

Tone it down further with black spray and a white shimmer spray, then doodled with the black and white pens. 

I liked the idea from several classes to wrap fiber around the book to hold it closed, and a present from a friend was perfect for this.

Since my Dylusions journal already had an elastic band to close it, I just decided to wrap the elastic with the fabrics and tie on a few. 

Cover is complete!!

And so the adventure begins when I open my book....

2016 is done! In just a couple of weeks 2017 will begin, and I am getting ready for a new Wanderlust adventure!!

Wanderlust 2016: Wrapping up in my Art Journal

I have a few pages left in my Wanderlust 2016 art journal, and wanted to add in a few more journal pages, both from prompts as well as where I am right here, right now so to speak. 

This has been an unbelievable year for me art wise! I've participated in several online courses, and attended an art retreat - all wonderful opportunities. I am so glad I came across Wanderlust and signed up, because it really has been an amazing year long journey with so many fantastic artists from around the world!! Thank you so much Kasia and Jamie for the tremendous work I know you put in behind the scenes!!

So here we go, a few of my final pages....

Sharing part of this page...

This was fun combining stamping, background and gelli print papers from previous play, and cutting out pieces from a magazine. 

I do love this statement "Give yourself one perfect moment, every day, where everything balances out."

Kind of a take on scrabble, but trying to create words that related to the course. Originally I wanted to have a lot of white space, but as you can see, I find that really hard to do! I pulled out several of the Everything Art stamps to use on this, as well as mark making with pens. 

I stamp Art Foamies from Nathalie Kahlbach onto my page and then layered on this gelli plate page I made previously while working on another project. One thing I learned with these is, I really need to just set up play time and make fun background papers that I can pull out to play with! It really makes a page come together quickly when you just don't have a lot of time to work. And...I need to have one drawer to keep them all in so I can find them! 

I have just a few more blank pages to work with, then I want to paint my cover, and I will have a complete year long course and most of the art I have made for the classes between those two covers.   I will be sure to share the grand finale with you...my goal is to complete it by the end of this year, so I will be ready for 2017!

Wanderlust 2016 Thinking of a Song

You know when a song gets stuck in your head, and you wake up in the night and there it is singing away. Well, that is what my art journal page is all about.

I used up some of the papers I had made in several Wanderlust classes. Lots of fun things going on from gelli plate prints, to pastels, to acrylics, to stamping and doodling. Worked on some mark making with my finger too. 

I am also entering this into the December challenge at Creative Carte Blanche. It has been too long since I participated over in that great space! 

Wanderlust 2016: A Tag Travel Journal

I'm in the middle of one of my Wanderlust 2016 classes with Joanna Grant, and just finished up my first mini journal using shipping tags. 

I LOVE Wanderlust 2016! I have learned an amazing amount of "stuff" and been inspired by some very talented artists. I know I have pushed myself beyond my comfort zone and tried techniques I never thought I would. For example, with this project, I headed totally out of my color comfort  zone to see what would happen...and I really like it! I think I tend to get into color "ruts", and it's a lot of fun to escape that. 

My work space is getting smaller, but I am having fun with my gelli plate and these bright colors, including neons! I used a recycled cup and bottle cap to make my circles. Thank you Carolyn Dube (another Wanderlust teacher) for taking me on a journey into the gelli plate! I bought one a few years ago, and it sat...until this year, when I finally learned to use it.

I decided to try my hand at making some matching washi tape, so I laid out strips of Dina Wakley's Media Tape onto my gelli plate, and added paint.

I found an old number stamp from 1-31 and stamped the tape with this also.

I wanted it to stand out more from the tags, so sprayed and speckled it with white.

I cut out paper rectangles, doodled around the edges, added my washi, and stamped "Journal" onto the cover tag. 

All hooked together, and added some contrasting fibers. Now, this little tag journal is ready to go on a journey. There is space for notes or drawing, and it would be simple to add in some watercolor paper tags to add some sketches, or more journaling sheets - definitely room to expand!

I hope you've enjoyed this project in neon and bright colors! See, I've learned to play with more crayons in the box, so to speak ;)

Wanderlust 2016 - Autumn Trees

I've been playing this afternoon in my Wanderlust class with chalk pastels for the first time. Isn't this a lovely set my hubby helped me pick out, all fresh and ready to use. Yep, that's "me" in my craft space taking my class!

I use these large sheets of drawing paper behind my work when I spray or paint sometimes, and this one was good and filled up with paints and sprays, so I thought I would try the pastels on this.

And...this is what I ended up with after a layer of chalks, white gesso, black gesso and another layer of chalks. Bold and bright! Just fun to let go and play!

Then, I decided to do a page in my art journal by cutting out pieces from the large sheet I made and doing a collage. Doodled at the bottom, shaded, added white and words, and thought I was done....

...but then I decided to add some more white dots. If I had tried to create this on my page from scratch, I don't think I would have ever come up with this. I am learning to create my own papers and use them to collage with like I did here. 

Thanks for the inspiration Kasia!

Wanderlust 2016 October Inspiration

Let's start my inspiration with this beautiful rainbow (actually a double, though faint) last evening, and the autumnal colors illuminated on a gorgeous, misty evening! I am blessed with this view into my backyard, the fields below, and the Adirondack Mountains in the distance. 

I am an adventurer, and I am loving my Wanderlust journey!

I jotted down some of my very favorite tools/supplies on this post it, and thankfully I did not stay too general or get too specific with each one! 

Because I then had to create a page in my art journal without using any of them!!

OK, so I figured I was good with my distress inks and a mister...kind of cool how the water droplets created "stars" in some spots. I had put down some gesso on this page awhile back in a very random fashion.

Stencils weren't on my list, and since I was thinking fall, some leaves fit in to my ideas just perfectly.

Then, probably because I just can't stop, I stenciled in some gears and mica spray. I forgot that when I would put my towel down to catch some of the extra, it would pull color from below, but is is kind of cool where it faded - maybe like leaves under the water.

I thought about some goals for myself for the rest of the year, and broke it down into creative, healthy and social, and jotted some ideas down.

I wasn't quite ready to let it go, so pulled out some papers I had made a long time ago, ripped them into little pieces and glued them in. 

Thanks for stopping by, and happy autumn!

Wanderlust 2016 Inspiration in a Bag!

I just went through a wonderful class with Roben-Marie Smith in my Wanderlust 2016 online course. She taught us how to make this awesome artsy bag from a paper shopping/gift bag. I spent a rainy Sunday working on this and a bit of Monday, and I am so happy with my new bag! Wonder what I will use it for?

I'll share a few photos of how I transformed a gift bag like this into this uber cool pouch!

I started with a neutral bottom layer with old book pages and things, then added paints and images I cut out from papers I had made, or scraps leftover from projects.

This will give you an idea of the early stages...and yes, I did have to clean the paint off of my iPad a few times!

Then, I went in and added some awesome images stamped on book paper. My friend, Andrea at Snapping Monsters designed these stamps, and I just love finding ways to use them! Here is a link to her Etsy shop.

Some stenciling, lots of doodling, and many layers and the sewing machine later....here is my bag! I really like the neutral additions to all that color. I can also see I've sewn a bit uphill just like when I write :) ah well, I say just embrace the imperfections!

Back

Now for the question - what will I use it for? hmmm...not sure yet, but I can't wait to try it out! 

Wow, I really went for the bright colors, and they just make me happy!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I've learned in my Wanderlust class - I have had so much fun and learned a lot from a great array of teachers, so I've already signed up for 2017.

Have a grand day!