Use a Photo - Art Journal Journey

For January, the Art Challenge at Art Journal Journey is:  Use a Photo.  I took a photo of a hand-made canvas journal cover I put together last year.  I love the journal, and the cover graphic turned out really well, I thought.  So it's not only a photo, but a photo of a photographer on the cover of a journal!  And I added an old camera in the corner, a theme within the theme?

The journal has three signatures and the pages are made from magazine spreads, different kinds of plain and tea-dyed papers, half pages, pages of different shapes, etc.  Most are decorated and embellished with pockets, envelopes, tags, and other kinds of ephemera.  There's even a piece of canvas in the center of the middle signature upon which I printed a photo spread of the front of my house.  

It's my favorite journal; I've had it for a year now, but so far I haven't wanted to actually journal in it... I just love looking at it. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Snowy Winter - Art Journal Journey

The Challenge this month at Art Journal Journey is, “Snowy Winter.”

I had recently seen a photo of my chicken coop in the backyard, covered with snow from last winter.  Perfect!

So I've put the chickens and my dog Charlie into the shot with some other elements, and ended up with what might be my Christmas Card this year, lol!

I put hats on them all, if you click on the photo you can see the hens' hats, they are really cute!  And of course, Charlie is in top hat and tail(s).  

Happy Winter, everyone!  

Thanks for stopping by.  I'll see you next time!

Friends - Our Midweek Muse

"Friends" is our challenge at Our Midweek Muse this week.  

Thanks for stopping by.  See you next time...

Artist - Sunday Postcard Art

This week's  Challenge at Sunday Postcard Art is, "Artist."

I planned to find a great graphic of a famous artist, one of the Old Masters, but when I saw this man drawing on the street, my search was over.  I love this picture!

So I added a bunch of other graphic elements, and found appropriate text to include.

Originally I made this an 8x10 piece of graphic art, and when it was done and saved, I realized it was for SPA - Sunday Postcard Art!  The requirement is postcard size, 4x6 inches, so I had to change the size of my "canvas" and move all the little elements around - and re-sized - to get them back where they were in the first piece.  

GGGrrrrrr!  I hate it when that happens, and this is the third time I've made my graphic art the wrong size. 

But I'm happy with the results:

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Bee You (Anything Goes) - Tag Tuesday

Tag Tuesday's challenge this week is, "Anything Goes." 

I was looking through some of my computer graphic elements and saw this photo of Katie, my dog who died four years ago.  Katie was a little Deer Chihuahua, my co-pilot for the seven years I full-time RVed, and she was great company.  I used to post about her on my RV blog and include photos.  

One year I used some different graphics and put her head on them to put her "in costume" for different holidays.  When I came across this one today, I decided to find some words that would go with her little picture and put Katie on my tag.

And here we are:  bee you, my little Katie Bee.

I still miss her so much!  

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Vintage - Sunday Postcard Art

Our challenge this week at Sunday Postcard Art is "Vintage."  

I thought this scene of an older couple in their horse-drawn wagon full of what looks like all their belonging was pretty vintage!  Leaving town for a new life?  Arriving in a new town with high hopes for their future?  Whatever...  They look happy, don't they?

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

In Disguise - Our Midweek Muse

Our Midweek Muse has a fun challenge this week, "In Disguise."  There are so many options for this one!

I think this gorgeous white horse has taken a shine to the beautiful Unicorn, and he's come a-calling!  🦄♥️😊

Pretty awesome disguise, don't you think?  How can she resist?  

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Sparkle & Shine - Try it on Tuesday

Our challenge this fortnight at Try it on Tuesday is "Sparkle & Shine."  

 I love the colors and all the sparkly gold elements!

Thanks for stopping by.  See you next time...

The Written Word - Our Midweek Muse

The challenge this week from Our Midweek Muse is "The Written Word."

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Autumn - Try it on Tuesday

Try it on Tuesday's Challenge this week is Autumn.  I took a previous piece of digital art I'd done and reworked parts of it to turn it into a tag on a background.  I like the final piece - maybe more than it's original!

I'm really enjoying adding digital ephemera to my recent artwork, and my desk stays clean!!!

Here it is:

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

 

Gargoyles - Our Midweek Muse

The Challenge this week at Our Midweek Muse is "Gargoyles."  

I've never paid much attention to gargoyles and even had to check my spelling, but I sure found a lot of them in the research I did.  I kind of liked this guy, so I grunged up his suroundings and ended up happy with the result. 

I'm really enjoying the "Grungy Look" lately!

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Spells and Magic - Sunday Postcard Art

Sunday Postcard Art's Challenge this week is, "Spells and Magic."  

It's so strange how my original artwork ideas morph into completely different areas of a topic.  For this one, I was thinking more about Magic - a Magician with his Assistant on stage performing a magic trick, or tricks - that kind of scene.  And I ended up with "Wizards, Witches, Black Cats and Bats!"  

I love this piece, it was so much fun to put it together.  I hope you enjoy it, too.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Fairytales, Folklore, & Fables - Tell Me A Story - Art Journal Journey

Our Challenge for October at Art Journal Journey is "Fairytales, Folklore, & Fables - Tell Me A Story."

I thought about some books I read when I was young, and also my first two real "reading" books that were given to me for one of my birthdays in grammar school, and decided to use those books as the base of my artwork for the Fairtales, Folklore, & Fables part of the Challenge.  Then I told the story of these books a little bit.  I was six years old in that photo, so I was in the second grade, and already reading pretty well, I'd guess. 

It's a little hard to read the text, if you're interested in what it says, just click on the piece and it will enlarge for you.  😊

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

What's in Your Sky? - Sunday Postcard Art

Our Challenge this week at Sunday Postcard Art is "What's In Your Sky?"

I found a graphic of an elephant harnessed onto a hot air balloon, and the ideas just flowed from there.

So, here's a dad on a fishing trip with his two little girls, one stayed in the boat to stare at the frog king on the dock, and one wanted to join the Hot Air Balloon Party.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Layer It - Blend It, Our Midweek Muse

I love a good layering project, so the Challenge this week at Our Midweek Muse, Layer It - Blend It, was right up my alley.

I really did and overdid the layers and various blended ephemera, as you can see, and it was a blast!  No apologies here, there isn't a single graphic I'd take out.  😊

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Homophone: Flour and Flower - Sunday Postcard Art

I had so many homophones I wanted to use, and finally settled on Flour and Flower.  I actually did a little research on cake flower, and found out it is different than other flours that are available.  Interesting:

Cake flour is a flour that is very finely milled from soft winter wheat. It has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour, and it is finer, lighter, and softer. It’s also bleached, so the color is paler and the grain is less dense.

Because of the lower protein content, cake flour produces less gluten.  When it comes to cakes, we want them to be light, soft, and tender, with a fine, close crumb. And that is exactly what you will get if you use cake flour!  -- bakingamoment.com

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Emboss It - Try it on Tuesday

Our Challenge this time at Try it on Tuesday was an interesting one:  Emboss It.

I didn't go down any rabbit holes trying to find embossed pieces, once I saw this one of the gold Nobel Peace Prize Medal with Alfr. Nobel on the medal, that was it for me.  It's so rich looking!

It was easy to find information about the Medal.  All medals made before 1980 were struck in 23 carat gold. Since then, they have been struck in 18 carat green gold plated with 24 carat gold. The weight of each medal varies with the value of gold, but the weight is set to 175 g for all medals, except for the Medal for the Prize in Economic Sciences. Its weight is set to 185 g.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Books/Book Pages - Tag Tuesday

Tag Tuesday's Challenge this time is "Books/Book Pages."  

I decided to put a girl in a library with a book, and chose a graphic that had the pages formed into a heart, hence, "Reading love stories in the library."

I used to love going to the library, and when I was young, I read a book-a-day, up until my 30s.  I used to check out ten books, because I read so many books, I forgot which I had read sometimes, and usually each week I got at least seven books that were new to me.  

Libraries aren't held in the high esteem these days as the way we thought about them when I was young, and for many, many years before I was even born.  All you have to do is research old libraries and see the architecture of some of the big ones to know they were important buildings.

Now I download audiobooks from my library, not the same as reading a book, but I'm hooked on the audiobooks and I still get a lot of new stories every week.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

That Autumn Feeling - Our Midweek Muse

 The Challenge this week at Our Midweek Muse is "That Autumn Feeling."

There are probably millions of graphics available to use in this fun challenge, and off I went, going down the rabbit hole, or should I say "gnome hole," to find the special ones to use. 

Here is a little girl having a magical evening visiting with her forest friends, the Gnome Family.  (Do gnome children have beards?  😵‍💫 )

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Pyramids - Our Midweek Muse

Pyramids is the Challenge theme this week at Our Midweek Muse.

I loved the colors in this piece, the bright blue was kind of surprising, it worked so well with the pyramids/desert colors.  Hummm, that makes me think of the abundnce of the color turquoise in our Southwestern desert jewelry and artworks here in New Mexico, USA.  The sandy colors and this bright blue must be complimentary on the color wheel.  

Anyway, I loved the effect but it was a bit too pretty, so I grunged it up with a bunch of overlays and I liked the end result, so that's what I went with.

Again, this was a fun Challenge and I enjoyed putting this piece together! 

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Peter Pan - Sunday Postcard Art

Our theme this week at Sunday Postcard Art is "Peter Pan."  

I didn't have any preconcieved ideas on what to do for this Challenge, and I didn't have any graphics on the subject in my files, that I knew of.  But you never know, and as I was working on it, things kind of fell into place.

The text I added explains who Peter Pan was. I had forgotten all these facts for years and years, and enjoyed being reminded about him.

When I had it complete, I wanted to add some stars from Peter Pan's hand to the ship flying in the sky, so I searched through my Star graphics folder, and low and behold, there was one that had Tinkerbell with the tiny stars!  How cool is that?  So I added Tinkerbell to the side of the flying ship and the stars from the ship to Peter's hand and called it "done."  😊

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time... 

Dressform/Sewing - Sunday Postcard Art

This week's theme for our Sunday Postcard Art is Dressform/Sewing.

This one took a while to complete; I started with one idea, and you know how sometimes you're just guided to go in a different direction?  I wanted this one to be really simple, but it didn't end up that way!  😁

So, here's my version of the Seaside Seamstress Shop, with our expert seamstress/proprietress finishing up a new tail while her customers visit with each other.

Love the way this came out - it kind of makes me wish I could be a mermaid once in a while!

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time.

Roses - Tag Tuesday

The challenge for this fortnight's tag is "Roses."

I created this tag from some tea-stained copy paper I made, then added scraps of papers and materials I had on hand.  Just a lot of ephemera!  Everything got inked around the edges and glued down, a hole was punched and I inserted a grommet/washer on the top and pounded it down.  

Then I added the stamp "Appreciate everything" and outlined it.  I also colored in the little black and white picture of the flower on the lower left corner with some colored felt tipped pens.

Next I glued six fabric roses onto the branch.

This tag has a pocket, so I used my felt tipped colored pens to add color to a picture of a flower, glued one of the fabric roses on it, and inserted it into the pocket.

I was happy with the way it turned out.  😊

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Animals - Real or Imaginary - Try it on Tuesday

 Wow, this one was fun!

This week's challenge at Try it on Tuesday is Animals - Real or Imaginary.  

I was looking through my graphic images and came across the cow's head, looking in at the edge of a page, and started with that.  I don't know where the Paint Ball Contest came from, but it eased it's way into the artwork and here we are!

Poor paint-covered cow, she didn't have a chance!  😵‍💫 

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...

Fur and/or Feathers - Art Journal Journey

The Challenge this month at ART JOURNAL JOURNEY is Fur and/or Feathers.

As dusk is coming and the light is fading, on a hill overlooking a small village below, we have three little cats in a tree watching us - representing "fur," and three black hens like my Black Australorps eating corn kernals - to represent "feathers."  

It will be dark soon, time for the cats to go to their bed for a warm night's sleep, and for the chickens to roost in their tree and sleep till dawn.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time...