My "troll" is from Ike's Art, one of a set of Gnomes available at her store. I chose the plain gnome so that I could color in clothes. After I did that, he looked more like a Troll than a gnome. So of course I added the HAIR! LOL I had some leftover tie-dye fur from a previous project and used it for his "up-do".
Then the page below that swervy line looked awful, so empty and white. So I had to stick in a bit of doodling, which I think improves the overall look.
I have always tried to walk the path of positivity, but it's been a long time since I created something for the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog. After my husband passed, I needed time to grieve and settle in to being mother, houseowner, handy woman, landscaper, snow blower, gardener, carpenter and painter--by myself.
Then Covid hit, and all our lives took a detour along that path. Once I had time to myself, I stretched out into all kinds of crafting and art styles. I created memes, upcycled thrift store finds (my favorite), painted canvas, wood, metal, doors, light switch plates, outlet covers, and walls.
I crocheted, sewed, carved, wired jewelry, along with a number of new techniques and media. And I'm still reaching outward and challenging myself to create positivity with my artistic endeavors. I can't say all my "experiments" were successes, but I learned and practiced.
One of my favorite ways to create has been journaling. Whether I am Zen doodling, collaging or writing, I have filled several journals, some of them over-sized, some small travel books. So when I finally revisited the Path of Positivity's challenge blog, I was inspired by the "twist" to this month's challenge.
I've taken this month's "Fashion" twist in a different direction. I created a journal page of my dream room. I pulled photos from 3 different magazines (Elle, HGTV & Good Housekeeping) and collaged them to hopefully look like a real room. I love the colors I found; teals and aquas are my go-to paints. I like wooden floors but know the value of a good carpet or two. I just wish I had a floor-to-ceiling bookcase in reality, but in this "fashionable" room, the windows were needed to bring light to the space. What do you think?
The challenge over at the Path of Positivity is Anything positive Goes, but they always offer a "twist" for your inspiration. This is the midway point to the challenge, and prizes are offered from Scribbles Designs for winners each month. I hope to see your positive project there! Meanwhile, keep crafting!
Since I drew the doodle in a perfect circle, the the thought of a moon popped into my head. A moon with flowers?? Yes, have you never heard of the Flower Moon, which blooms at the start of Spring? It's a little bigger than a crescent, and using powerful telescope, you can see the outlines of flowers where the "hidden" part of the moo lies in the night sky.
I cut out a crescent shape from some designer paper for the part of the moon that shines down on the Earth. It covered up the imperfect doodles that came out of my pen. To keep both sides of the moon cohesive, I used a yellow colored pencil to fill in between the flowers I drew. Not enough to make a difference, I added a little shading within each flower with same colored pencil.
I cut out a circle from some shimmery dark blue paper and framed my flower moon. I sprinkled this night sky with stars, using my Posca white paint marker. Look, there's s shooting star.
Make a wish!
My cousin set me a pic today and suggested that it would be a great piece to Zen doodle.
Once I drew and colored the flowers and grass. I adhered the flowers onto my pet (again) and then adhered her onto my new background. I found a cute hedgehog quote on Pinterest, but then thought to add the "disclaimer" at the bottom. It reads, "not really. I walked thru the flowers, got scared and came out this way." Those quills are pointy and sticky, aren't they?!
You can find at the Scribbles Design Store HERE. It is actually a FREEBIE at the moment, and is called F#188 Dust Bunny. This artwork is a page in my Art Journal. I really like her, and shall name her Dusty.
Lucy is a digital image from Scribbles Designs (the image is not called Lucy, that's my pet name for her). After printing and coloring the image with my Copics, I dug through my stash of sequins. It's a good thing Lucy and I are friends, because adhering each tiny sequin to her fabulous ensemble was pain-staking work. I even gave her earrings with a few sequins. Her dress was created from paper doilies, and her necklace is a piece of leftover trim.
I wanted her to stand out as well, so I adhered her using dimensional tape. She is walking sliming (?) her way up the path of positivity, which I created with floral stuff and a couple roses. Speaking of the Path of Positivity, their challenge this month is to create something inspired by Fashion. I hope my canvas inspires you to enter their challenge. In the meantime, have fun crafting!
Challenges I am Entering:
So after I titled the books, I doodled around them. Then I wanted to say what I was feeling about the doodling, that I LOVE words in all their forms, shapes and conjugations. To enhance the subject, I created a couple bookmarks and added them to the page, as well as ripping parts of pages from magazines to add even more words LOL
If you want to know more about me, zoom in to the book titles. You may be surprised...
I broke down and bought a new art journal, as my last one was on its last blank pages. And the new one is HUGE, 9x12! Since there are only a few pages I've used, I thought you might want to take a peek. When I get a new journal, I give it a fresh new look. The cover is simply a piece of designer paper, bordered with washi tape and just one artsy quote, "Creative minds are rarely tidy".
I decided to completely cover the inside cover with Art and Creativity quotes from Pinterest. Some of my favorites are adhered to it, along with washi tape borders.
I started the first page at the end of January and decided I would date my pages, and occasionally write a short note on the why, what and how I felt at the time of the crime drawing. I used a small tag as my inspiration and colored it with a teal Copic.
Here I drew intersecting squares and then filled them with various designs, trying some I had not drawn before now.
I'm not that good at creating Mandalas, probably because I don't use rulers, nor do I have a compass. After my two colliding circles were filled in, they looked lonely on the page, so I surrounded them with flowers.
Keep crafting and have fun. That's why we do it, right?!
My fave colors are in the teal/aqua line, so I used both as a base and to add dimension. The wings got a base coat of green, then swiped with the blues. I used a sponge to lightly over the wings and scales with gold paint. His claws, beak, horns and the ridge on his back are pure gold (paint).
Today's project features a raw wood-carved animal that I spied on the bottom shelf of a thrift store. Lord knows why I bought it. I have so many items to use, and projects are always stirring around in my head. But I think she winked at me while I stooped down to pick her up. She was half-price, which is always a bonus for me and my wallet.
After adding Gesso and giving her a gleaming white base, I decided to go whimsical with her. I've had a lot of success selling animal figures that I "renew" with paints and my imagination. I gave her (by the way, after much thought I decided she was a llama) a pastel purple base. From there I used a stencil and gave her designs on the front of her neck.
She's wearing a rug of multi-colors, painted with acrylics and my Posca paint markers. There are patches to give the illusion of a stuffed animal. The rest of her neck displays a colorful rainbow. Her head is raised high, but she is not snooty. She stands tall as a proud woman female animal.
She's not heavy enough to be a doorstop, which is what my other painted animal figures became, but she makes an interesting silhouette in my front windows. I like it, so I'll continue to be on the prowl for other large animals to paint.
I'm in the mood to paint so that's it for today. Happy crafting!
