Stampotique Goes Vintage

Regular readers will know that I really like Stampotique stamps, especially their quirky, snarky girls.  The current challenge at their challenge blog is to create a vintage card with a Stampotique stamp. So, I chose one of their sweeter stamps called "crafter" and paired it with some vintage lace and grunge flowers.  I was happy to be able to play with grunge flowers because it's been the only challenge I've missed so far in Studio L3's Compendium of Curiousities Challenge series.  The current challenge is running for two weeks, so I decided to play catch up. I think I was originally scared away from these because I thought they were going to be the spectacular (but difficult) grunge roses.  These flowers are much easier!  I think this also fits the current color challenge at my other favorite challenge blog - Gingersnap Creative.  The challenge is neutrals, plus one color. So, which do you prefer - snarky or sweet?

September Lessons (part 7)

Wow - after this group, there's only one more set of four lessons left.  I particularly like the visuals on these lessons, which all seem to be clearly based on my activities for these days.  On the 23rd, I had a great day at my office.  Since I taught over the summer, I have an easier load this fall, and it's paying off because I've been able to get my office organized and get some work done on some academic writing projects.  On the 24th, DH Paul and I went to a western themed fundraiser at a ranch.  I've been avoiding these things lately, so I was surprised by how much fun we had.  We got to catch up with a bunch of friends, drink a few margaritas and do a little gambling. The 25th was all about taking the bottled spirits class with DD Clara. It seems like it's been forever since I took a real, in-person class, and it was fun!  The lesson on the 26th followed Shimelle's prompt to look to nature for a lesson.  We enjoyed a sunny, beautiful day here on the coast with a BBQ.  I wonder what my last four lessons will be . . .

Frida's Dream (arches and birds)

The theme at Something Completely Different this month has been arches.  I've peeked at the different subthemes but haven't had a chance to play along.  Until this week, when the subtheme was birds.  Here's an art journal page I made with an arch and a bird.  I made it using a picture of an arch from the glass museum in Muron, Italy as my inspiration.  You can see that picture here. The other inspiration is Frida Kahlo and her style. I learned to use other artists for inspiration in a wonderful class taught by Dina Wakley, and I was thrilled to read that she's got a new art journaling class scheduled to start in late October.  I'll definitely be there for that one!

September Lessons (part 6)

Several new lessons for today.  On the 19th, we went to a lovely wedding, and I found that I really enjoyed being back in Church. I am a faith-filled person, and I love being in church.  But I continue to be unhappy with the Catholic Church.  On the other hand, being Catholic is not something that I can simply cast away. So, I continue to mull things over, and it was nice to simply enjoy being back in Church.
On the 20th & 21st, I considered regrets in accordance with the prompts from LSNE and journaled a simple regret that I wanted to record and a lesson I learned from regretting photos I didn't take. Regrets are funny . . . the big things I regret not doing generally put me in a place where I was really happy.  So, I'm not sure I really regret it.  There's an art journal page simmering around in me about regrets. Stay tuned.
On the 22nd, the prompt was about why you are able to learn in September. I'm feeling very productive these days. I think I've been living a philosophy that Jack London captured in the quote I featured: "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." I'll be art journaling that quote, too!
Just when I thought I was not getting much out of this class, I reread my pages and realized how happy I was to be taking this particular journey and to be preserving these lessons.  The sum is bigger than the parts. Are you sticking with LSNE?

Class Review: Bottled Spirits

On Saturday, Sept. 25, I took a class called "Bottled Spirits" with Connie Andrews at C.Andrews Studio in Half Moon Bay.  We started with clean bottles and then altered them to appear as if they were bottles washed ashore, encrusted by time with amazing texture.  Inside each bottle, we placed a spirit that we imagined had been captured in the bottle.  Can you guess which of the bottles above is mine?  How about which one was made by my amazing 12 year old daughter Clara?  Before I tell you, here's my class review. And don't forget that you can always click on any picture to enlarge it and better see the details.
The class was wonderful!  I left the class not only with a wonderful bottled muse but also a newfound confidence in painting altered objects and assemblage.  This has always been the hardest part of altered art for me, and Connie's technique really helped me to "get" it.  The secret was starting with a single base color and then the introduction of a metallic layer before adding a variety of colors.  Another challenge in assemblage and altered art classes can be the question of the proper adhesive.  Connie has solved that problem through her brilliant, innovative use of diamond glaze.  This class was really fun - the process of decorating/embedding things into the bottle and painting both made me really happy.  In addition, the members of the class were all wonderful artists and the chance to spend an enjoyable, stress-free day with my adolescent daughter made it all the better! I know Connie is offering this class a few more times, and I highly recommend it if you are in the San Francisco bay area.  You can find her class schedule at her blog, Connie's Dream.
Now for the reveal.  This is a close up of my bottle:

And this is the one made by Clara:

It really looks like a moody pre-teen spirit to me! LOL! Here's close ups of the other class participants' bottles.  In order of appearance, Maureen, Connie and Cindy (who is apparently a member ot Team Edward, but I like her anyway).

So, do tell, did you guess correctly?

Bedroom Secrets (altered book spread)

For the altered book round robin in which I'm participating, I'm working in "The Book of Secrets." I decided to use the Tim Holtz Agate on Grunge technique featured in this week's Studio L3  Compendium of Curiosities Challenge to create my pages about bedroom secrets behind locked doors.  I started by painting the pages black.  For the first page, I used gold, eggplant and rust alcohol inks on the grunge.  For the second page, I used brighter colors to show the wilder side of this couple:

Now that I see this in real life, I think I'll go back and paint the dolls a bit and add a little bling to the black background.  I left a few choice words un-gesso'd that are within the spirit of the page!  I was really surprised by how different the grunge board could appear when different colors were applied.  I hope Cindy likes her page!

Who am I copying?

I made these art journal pages based on some stunning art that I cut out of Somerset Studio, but I foolishly didn't write down the artist's name.  Here's her work.  Anyone know who it is?

Anyone?

p.s. Speaking of copying, blog friend Sian mentioned an interesting blog called "copy and paste." Still a little confused by that blog, but it's interesting enough to stay in my reader, and it currently has a very cool post about HAIKUS! You can check it out here.