Crazy, crazy, crazy week.  Some good crazy. Some necessary crazy. And some completely useless crazy. A normal week.  But I hadn’t had enough art and paint time so it felt so much crazier.  Thankfully, I made it to the studio to play! Of course, I should have been working on the new workshop or the article I need to get done or the proposal that needs to be finished, but that will all be waiting for me after I play!

Started with an old background in a journal.  Made this so long ago and just let it sit because I liked it so much.  Well, I was feeling just crazy enough today to use it knowing most of it would be covered up…the sacrifices I make!

Grabbed a bunch of stamps and randomly stamped.  Stamping on a bumpy gesso’d surface in a thick and bumpy journal made for some perfectly imperfect impressions!  All of the stamps are by Tangie Baxter except the umbrella woman (darned if I can’t remember who that is by- sorry).

I glued on a fun, colorful map from one of my trips somewhere.

Having a stack of Gelli prints is very handy.  I needed a bright color but just plain paper didn’t work with this page.  The Gelli print made with rubber stamps a while back gave me the jolt of bold color on a unique paper.  Perfect for my hand cut 911.

The vintage children’s dictionary gave me the urgent feeling to go with my art 911.  Let that white bus take me to my studio ASAP!

Out came the Stabilo pencil to write over damp paint and the urgent.

I finger painted white paint over the map. The map is still peeking out but it is now another layer in the page.

The plain black art just didn’t feel right so I added streaks of blue on top.  Ahh, that felt so much better.  That crazy feeling is fading into the background.  A little scribble journaling and I feel human again.  The kind of human that my family prefers- happy and calm.  What brings you to that place of calm?

Linking up to Creative Every Day, Mandarin Orange Monday, Simon Says Stamp (transportation- the ambulance), Artful Times (maps), Be Inspired and Be an Inspiration, Inspire Me Monday, Create Daily, Make It Monday, Glue It On Tuesday, Dictionary Challenge (U), Art Journal Every Day and One Little Word(crazy).

Artsy Fartsy is back!  Maria McGuire and I took a break for a while due to scheduling and commitments but we’re playing again. Neither one of us has any less to do now (maybe even more)…She has taken on a wonderful new adventure that will be revealed soon and I am working on new workshops and articles and more soon to be revealed but Artsy Fartsy feeds our souls so we both agreed we had to make time for it.

To those new to Artsy Fartsy, it is how Maria and I art together since we live so far apart.  We pick 3 things we must use in any way in whatever kind of project we want.  The surprise is that we don’t see what each other made until the posts go live.  In honor of the fun and laughs we had with Sue Pelletier at Art Is You in Nashville this spring we picked plaster, any of Sue Pelletier’s stencils, and oil pastels.

You can also see the video directly on YouTube here.

I started with plaster gauze
on the cover of my journal.  It is a very heavy cardboard cover so it survived getting such a wet medium applied to it.  Texture, texture, texture joy!

I had a plan. I knew how I wanted it to look.  But…my handwriting was very unappealing to me (okay it felt really ugly)…My first thought was to pout, like a 3 year old.  Then I remembered it was just an Oops.  Which was followed by another Oops.  Then another.  But then I feel in love with it!

This isn’t how I expected the title to turn out- it was even better!  That is the gift of an Oops (or 2 or 3 or 4).

Have you played with plaster gauze yet?   It  creates such great texture to capture paint, Twinkling H2O’s, Posca Glitter Pens, and Stabilo pencil marks.  I think I could have played all day layering bits of color on the gauze!

I’m off to see what Maria McGuire did for her Artsy Fartsy!  If you want to check out our older Artsy Fartsy posts you can find them all by going to the categories menu on my sidebar then clicking on artsy fartsy.

Supplies Used:

Sue’s Stencil          plaster gauze       Posca Metallic

Portfolio Oil Pastels   Twinkling H2O’s   Stabilo Pencil

Linking to The Summer of Color,  Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day,and  Pink Saturday.