Need an excuse to play? I mean an idea for a quick gift? While braving the holiday crowds at WalMart, I happened upon these Cool Gear coloring cups…an insulated cup that you can put put any image into. It is sold with coloring pages in it which you can see in the video, but I inserted a gel [...]

Sometimes a few minutes is all you have to play and that’s all I need to make an OOPS, an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly.  Being an adult can take up most of the day, but I have to have a bit of play for my sanity.  Just a few minutes of play with the art supplies keeps me [...]

What can you do with a stack of papers made while gel printing?  One thing is make a fun and fast holiday card. In the video, you’ll see how it was inspired by a sweater and that there was not a thought of measuring.  After all, I’m not a precise type of card maker. https://youtu.be/bj5WQ0Lnzdo Watch [...]

O.O.P.S. was a word said more than once on this art journal page and near the end, that word was coming fast and furious.  O.O.P.S. isn’t a mistake, quite the opposite, since it means an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly. In the video, you’ll see how I get myself into a quandary with the very first step and how that turns [...]

  Ever wonder if the things around your art studio come to life when you aren’t there – like in Toy Story?  I am beginning to think that they really do.  This cluster of stuff all seemed to find each other over the course of several weeks as I worked on a variety of projects [...]

A forgotten piece of play grabbed my attention and before I knew it, a visitor showed up. This bright, and quite silly, character came to life all because of an O.O.P.S. I started by stenciling the word dreams with acrylic paint and my Vintage Typewriter stencil on a canvas board that had been hanging around the studio for [...]

You just have to start. Something.  Anything.  It’s the most important step when it comes to play.  What you start doing doesn’t have to be perfect or magical.  In fact, you’ll see how this starts as simple shapes and becomes a mixed media canvas called Once in a Blue Moon over Venice. I had no [...]

Building an art journal page with PanPastels is instant gratification.   No pesky waiting for the color dry.  But how do I seal PanPastels so they don’t smear and can pass a white glove test?  One way is with a gel printing plate! In the video, you’ll see how I built this steampunk page by combining pieces and [...]

I was completely in my head when I tried to play.  Any idea I had was shot down instantly.  That first step of getting started felt paralyzing.  My muse had left the building.  Play was not going to be happening with this mindset.  But this has happened many times to me and in the video, I am [...]