Sketchbook Challenge Blog Hop

I've been away from home so much this year, that I'm really really missing my studio time.  Over on the Sketchbook Challenge Blog, I talked about some of the things about my studio that make me feel cozy and comfortable and allow me to create more freely.  If you want a closer peek, pop on over.

I've been making art in hotel rooms most of this year.  It's been fine, and I've really enjoyed my busy schedule teaching.  But I really really miss my inspiration boards and all my color coordinated stash from home!

I separate everything by color.  Paper, Threads, Markers, Pencils, Paints.  It helps me work faster.  I can just hold a piece up to my ribbon caddy and see what looks good with it, rather than pulling piece after piece and trying it.  Paper too.  I just pull the entire drawer out and put it on the table if I know I need blue.  I can sort thru the blues easily to find just the right shade.

But my inspiration boards are a tumbling rumbling active force in the studio.  No matter what direction I look, I am rewarded by glimpses of friends work, articles or postcards I love.  Mike and I've made my boards ourselves.  Most of them I found antique frames, and painted them to match the color of the walls.  Mike attached chicken wire, or metal to the back to make clip boards and magnetic boards.  I dug out my most treasured antique buttons and hot glued them to magnets, and now I can look at them daily!  I painted clothespins to match the frame color, and they work great with the chicken wire.  Mike also made me floor to ceiling bookshelves, and we wrapped rigid house insulation in muslin.  Attached to either side of the bookcase, I now have 2 floor to ceiling pin boards.

Finally, we found vintage spice racks, and painted them the color of the walls, and filled them with my beads!

So IF you've hung on this long, here's the scoop-

Leave a comment in the comment section of this blog post with your favorite home organization tip for a chance to win a DVD copy of my "Backgrounds to Bindings" Cloth Paper Scissors Video Workshop.

On the 26th, I'll randomly draw the name of the winner and announce it.  Make sure I have your email contact information!

Here's a quick link so you can visit some of my fabulous friends!

Sept 9 - Gina Lee Kim http://ginaleekim.blogspot.com/

Sept 10- Jacqueline Newbold http://djnewbold.blogspot.com/ 

Sept 11 - Sue Bleiweiss http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog  

Sept 12 – Jackie Bowcutt http://stitchworks-jackie.blogspot.com/

Sept 13th - Kristin La Flamme http://kristinlaflamme.com/musings  

Sept 14- Jane Davies http://janedavies-collagejourneys.blogspot.com/

Sept 15- Lyric Kinard http://lyrickinard.com/blog/

Sept 16 - Terry Grant http://www.andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/

Sept 17- Carol Sloan http://www.carolbsloan.blogspot.com/ 

Sept 18- Leslie Tucker Jenison http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/  

Sept 19 - Lesley Riley  http://www.lesleyriley.com/weblog/  

Sept 20 - Traci Bunkers  https://www.tracibunkers.com/blog/  

Sept 21 - Lynn Krawczyk http://smudgedtextilesstudio.com/blog/

Sept 22 Desiree Habicht  http://myclothesline.blogspot.com

Sept 23 – Jamie Fingal http://jamiefingaldesigns.blogspot.com/  

Sept 24 - Mary Beth Shaw http://mbshaw.blogspot.com/ 

Sept 25 –Kari McKnight-Holbrook http://backporchartessa.blogspot.com/  

Sept 26 – Deborah Boschert http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com/  

Sept 27- Susan Brubaker Knapp http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/  

Sept 28- Laura Cater Woods http://www.cater-woods.com/weblog/  

Sept 29- Jane LaFazio http://janeville.blogspot.com/  

Merry Christmas!

I love this time of the year!  I want to make sure I love it for the right reasons, so I've been keeping a journal of the cool Christmas quotes I find over the years.  Adding one a day assures I'll always keep the reason for the season centered in my heart, no matter the hustle and bustle.  Here's a peek of some of my favorites.  You can see a few more pages over on Sketchbook Challenge.

I feel great love and happiness and wish you all the Merriest of Christmases, and Happiest of New Years!  May you spend it in the loving embrace of family and friends!

Spices of Life

Today over on the Sketchbook Challenge Blog, it was my turn to pick the theme for the month.  I happily picked The Spice of Life!  I can't wait to see what everyone does with that challenge!

One of my motivating factors for this challenge is the time of year, obviously.  For some it may be wonderful, for some it may be more challenging.  Will their color schemes and images be darker?   It will be interesting to see what spices the other artists lives. Another thing behind this choice was how I spice up my art life, so it won't fall into a routine or rut.  In effort to continually keep learning, I self assign projects or studies.  For this particular sketchbook, I chose Georges Seurat, specifically his Pointillism. If you would like to know a bit more about him, check out the Web museum, Paris.  Finally, I love how spices are good for so many things!

For instance, did you know many people use Nutmeg as a natural sleeping aid?  I've had insomnia for years, and tried most of the prescription and over the counter stuff with little effect.  However, a glass of warm milk that has nutmeg in it really seems to relax me!

My mom makes these wonderful spice "Nerve" cookies.  They had tremendous buzz, as her doctor gave her the recipe originally. Supposedly, they had all the "happy" spices, the ones that release joy endorphins in the brain.  I don't know about the claims, but I DO know I was always happier with a cookie than without one! 

Mom's Nerve Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter

3 cups brown sugar
2 eggs plus 1 tablespoon water, well beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
6 cups flour
1 pinch allspice
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 1/4 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves

Cream butter and sugar until creamed. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated. Sift remaining dry ingredients together. Add to the creamed mixture. Shape into rolls, wrap in waxed paper and chill for 2 hours. Slice thinly and bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes.

Patterns for Sketchbook Challenge

Wow!  Are you all enjoying Sketchbook Challenge?  I know I sure am!  I REALLY loved this months challenge, which was all about patterns!  I did a quick journal recently specifically to practice drawing faces.  Faces are a challenge for me, so I try to practice them.  However being a true ADHD mixed media artist, I get bored JUST sketching.  So enter my patterns!  I created the journal using patterns, and then sketched over the patterns because more is better in my book! 

Step 1  Text as pattern  using Pam Carrriker's Mixed Media Adhesive, I randomly glued down old text.

Step 2  1st layer of patterned printed paper.  I used my line of large 8.5 x 11 stamps and Gelli Arts Geli Printing plate and printed on deli paper with acrylic paint in various colors.

Step 3  2nd layer of patterned printed paper, using a different color and building layer interest.  The deli papers are translucent when created with Fluid Acrylics.  To carry that translucency forward I used pan pastels.  Notice the top picture's arm and face, you can see the text underneath her.

Step 4  Begin drawing.  1st with pencil, then pan pastels and colored pencils.  Outline with Sharpie Twin Tip Marker or Pitt Artist Pens.

Step 5  Lettering begins at this phase.  Heavy on the pattern!  This is just a work in progress.  When finished, probably the majority of the images will only show in glimpses.

Step 6.  Beginning to pattern and decorate the drawings.  Anything can be decorated with pattern.  And patterns can be made by repeating anything over and over.  This girls sweater cabling is made up from the word 'repetition' being written over and over and on top and over again.

Finally after working in this color story for this small sketchbook, I decided I liked it enough to begin working on a canvas.  Here is the beginning, as you can see, I work on canvas the same as I do in my sketchbooks, building layers of patterend color!

Sketchbook Challenge

I am so tickled to tell you all that I have been asked to participate as one of this year's Sketchbook Challenge Hosts!  It's a fabulous group of mixed media artists organized by Sue Bleiweiss.  Every month a challenge is issued, hoping to get people to pick up their sketchbooks and dive in with whatever medium they choose.  There are regular prize opportunities too!   I made a small journal for my contributions this month.  If you want to see all the goodies inside, hop on over to Sketchbook Challenge!