Paint Party Friday: Art Journaling

"Hide Me"

Strathmore Visual Journal

Happy PPF!

I hope this finds you happy and well. 

I had a go at art journaling this week and wanted to share my progress with you here. Not sure if I'm really done with these pages as I often wonder how much of my art journals are complete without much, um, journaling, but nevertheless, this is what I've come up with:

Vintage Bingo card serves as a hidden flap

Glittered girl underneath

And this page features a fabulous picture of my Grandma (printed on a transparency) back in the day:

"The house the Grandma built"

Thanks for looking! I look forward to seeing all of your pretty pieces at the Party . . . .

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday (Week 8)

"The World Grows Green Again"

It's PPF!

And I thought I'd bring a journal page I've been working on for Mind. Body. Soul. to the party. The last prompt in Leslie's e-course is based upon the words Anxiously Engaged, and after much consideration, a quote I read by Rumi finally determined what I would do with it. . . .

"The world grows green again and runs with gardens. Jewels from the mines glitter in each tree. 

Souls open like suns and link with one another."

-- Rumi

Acrylics, watercolor crayons, decorative papers, stamps and Swarovski crystals.

Elements from the previous pages peeking through

Only one more spread (and okay a front page, back page and cover ;) and I'm done with another journal. Oh happy days . . . 

And speaking of happy days, the next Summer of Color is just around the corner! Only one month to go until SOC 2: Ice Cream Inspirations . . . . Pop over here to read all about it . . . .

Yours,

Kristin xo

Mind. Body. Soul. (Art Journaling)

Okay, so I guess I lied. I thought I was onto the next word in the series of journal prompts from sweet Leslie's Mind. Body. Soul. e-course, but for some reason, it seems that Renew was not done with me. . . 

Here are two more pages in the almost-complete journal:

"Renew"

Scrapbook materials enhanced with glitter gel pen and ink

Martha Stewart Glue pen and glitter on neck and lips

"Gave 'em all away"

Background of decorative paper, stamps and acrylic

Collage using pieces of Kendra's baby clothes

Page tab created with a baby label and accessory

That's it! Now I'm off to create the final pages for Anxiously Engaged . . . whew . . .

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday (Week 7)

"I. Am. Yours."

9 x 12 Watercolor paper

It's PPF!

And I'm on a bit of a roll in that I actually completed the pieces I told myself I would two weeks in a row (she bows excitedly ;)  . . . Remember this one from last week?

"I. Am. Mommy"

(You can view the entire post here)

Well, the daughter version is now ready to be placed beside her. Here is the companion piece in it's entirety:

As you can see, I used the same colors in reverse and attempted to create a similar style and texture. I used a blue foil butterfly (cut in half) to mirror the bird above and created another house (this time only one, placed upside down) to tie the two together. 

Now here's the really interesting part: as most of you know, our daughter was adopted. As a result, most of my work focuses on the theme of adoption and mothering. Well, when I created the first page, I choose to include three houses on the bottom right corner. I do not know why I did that. I think it just felt "right," but at the time even I wondered what it meant, as we have only one daughter. It did not occur to me until I started photographing this second piece today that there was a reason why: we had three adoptions since Kendra was born six years ago that fell through. Each for a valid reason, each just not "meant to be," but each of which - understandably - left a little hole in my heart. However, as I see these two together - Mommy & Daughter - and read the title that I struggled to come up with (and wrote on her neck) it is very clear: 

"I. Am. Yours."

And look at that: it's "True Love!"

Thank you for your time! Check out all the art & inspiration at the party, I know I'll be there . . .

Kristin xo

Mind. Body. Soul. (Art Journaling)

Journal entries for Mind. Body. Soul.

I've been keeping up with my homework for Leslie's art journaling e-course, Mind. Body. Soul., and I have to say, this book is turning out to be entirely different than I originally intended. More on that later, but for now, here are my pages for the second-to-last word to ponder, Renew:

"I found an eyelash"

Black Uni Ball Signo pen enhanced with yellow Stickles glitter

Art papers from the latest issue of Somerset Memories

"Renew": It's in there, under all the scribbling . . .

"Who among you are willing to be dark so that the others can shine?"

Decorative and vintage papers cut into haphazard stars

Caran D'Ache crayons, Stickles, fine glitter, and silver leafing

A vintage teardrop crystal wired onto a punched hole on the top of the page

That's it for now - and almost for good - the class ends soon with the final word(s) for us to contemplate: Anxiously Engaged. Wish me luck . . ..

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday (Week 6)

"I. Am. Mommy" 

9 x 12 Watercolor paper

Happy PPF!

If you saw the Mother / Daughter sketches in my last post, then you may recognize this one: I'm happy to report that "I. Am. Mother" is finally complete:

I have to say, I didn't expect it to come out like this - the blue foil bird and tiny houses in the corner were a last minute addition - but I enjoyed going with my gut and seeing what came of it. The color scheme was inspired by a gorgeous photo I saw on Pinterest (just joined, wicked fun!) that had these bold blues and yellows I couldn't wait to play with. In the end, I hope it captures what I was hoping for: a colorful, whimsical take on a Mother's love and devotion. . .

Blue foil bird with Swarovski crystal eye

Distressed decorative papers, pencils, crayons, glitter gel pen and Stickles glitter

Thank you for your time. Do check out all talent at The Party for a lot of fun, art and inspiration . . .

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday (Week 52)

"A little Something"

WIP

I have no idea where this is headed (a painted paper perhaps?), but I thought I bring my lil' WIP to the Anniversary Party. . .

Congratulations to Kristin & Eva for having hosted a year's worth of beauty and inspiration. Thank you both for your time, energy and efforts in bringing us all together: my Fridays just wouldn't be the same without you! 

"It's Friday night and I'm ready to swing. Pick up my girls and hit the party scene."

- Aaliyah (Back and Forth lyrics)

See you there,

Kristin xo

SPA: My Heart Belongs to You

"Hopelessly Devoted To You"

4 x 6 Postcard

(Image from Retro Cafe Art)

Playing along with Sunday Postcard Art and the very cool Valentine's theme, "My Heart Belongs to You"  . . . .

Thank you for taking the time to visit! I wish for you a day full of love, roses and plenty of chocolate! 

Kristin xo

The Summer of Color - BROWN

"Nodland"

8 x 10 Journal page

{This page was inspired by the vintage sheet music - a lullaby entitled "Bye Bye Land" - which serves as the base of the collage}

Yellow fever!

Another wonderful week was had with Yellow. Although some of us initially expressed concern with the color, we tackled the challenge regardless and succeeded in producing an amazing amount of beautiful, inspirational pieces based upon the signature hue of Summer. Thank you once again for sharing your heart and art with us here and with one another on Flickr and Facebook as we continue our colorful journey together . . .

Did you hear?

The winner of last week's Yellow drawing (pictured in the post below) is . . .

YOU

Please Email your address to kdvanvalkenburghatmsndotcom and I will get your goodies right out.

Now, welcome to BROWN week!

Your color prompt for this week (Monday July 11th to Sunday July 17th) is to create anything your heart desires inspired by color Brown. Your Bonus! challenge is to incorporate a bold shot of color somewhere in your work. As always, please (A) link your work in the widget below so that others can find you, (B) leave one comment if you created a Brown piece and (C) leave two comments in you completed the Bonus! challenge. 

And did you see all those vintage pretties?

This week's Brown giveaway will include a lot of 'em . . .

The Paper Company Flourish rub-ons, several (okay 6 ;) large vintage ledger pages, several pieces of vintage sheet music, Distress Ink in Pumice Stone, one distressed tag, a few sheets of mica, Stickles glitter in Cinnamon and Copper and a sprinkling of bronze Swarovski flat-back crystals

And what is next week's color prompt?

RED

(Monday July 18th - Sunday July 24th)

"Red protects itself. No colour is as territorial. It stakes a claim, is on alert against the spectrum."

- Derek Jarman

Is there a Bonus! challenge with Red?

Yep. Should you decide to take it on, next week's Bonus! challenge is to incorporate something - anything - winged into your work. This can be taken literally or figuratively, the choice is yours.

Have fun . . .

Kristin xo

Willowing & Friends!

Altered Board Book

"Mommy's Waiting for You"

Detail of Whimsy

Detail of "Home"

The second objective for our Altered Book in Willowing's class (week 2, project 2) was to create a scene - using whimsical characters to represent ourselves - that we would have liked to experience in childhood. . . 

I decided to create one character to represent myself and one whimsical birdhouse to represent my home. I was lucky in that although my parents divorced when I was a baby, they both loved and cared for me, and I lived with each of them throughout my childhood. Having said that, they worked hard as single parents and I was often alone. This piece is meant to represent my childhood wish to have (what I perceived to be) a "normal" family where my parents (or Mama Bird in this case) were waiting for me when I returned home from school . . .

Thank you for looking! I look forward to the next project in Willowing's amazing course. xo