Tap Tap and In My Garden - Art Journal Pages

Hello all!  It's been a while since I had anything to post on my beloved blog, and I have missed it.  Sadly, my dad was diagnosed with cancer in August.  To say that it's been a rollercoaster ride is an understatement.  And even though I know in my head that doing some art would be good therapy for me, I also knew that my heart just wasn't in it.  However, I think I've finally reached the point where I *need* to make some art.

So tonight I went to an "art journal junkie hangout" at a local art studio.  This was not a class, but simply an evening to spend working in your art journal.  Now, I would not say that I am an art journaler.  It's something I aspire to, and I have several different journals that I've started working in (one dating back three years already!), but I just haven't been able to establish a routine and stick with it.  Still, I haven't given up on myself.

I threw that old journal and a bunch of supplies into a tote bag and headed out for a fun evening with 10 other art journal enthusiasts.  One of the main supplies I took was a 12x12 plastic container stuffed full of paper scraps left over from previous projects.  In that container I found this woodpecker illustration and some sheet music with the lyrics "Tap, tap, my sturdy fellow."  I used watercolor pencils to extend the tree to the top of the page. That's some washi tape on the left side.

The other half of the spread features the remnants of a watercolor painting I did a year ago, a butterfly cut out of some Tim Holtz tissue paper, scrapbooking paper and the title of a song.  I actually did this page first.  Oh, and I should tell you that both of these pages already had some green patterned papers glued onto them, that I covered up with a layer of white gesso.

I'm not sure if either page is fully done yet, but for tonight I can't think of anything more I want to add to them, and I'm not going to force the issue.  The main thing is that I enjoyed myself tonight and created two pages that make me happy.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day.

Supplies:
Strathmore 5x8 Visual Journal and other supplies as noted above.

The New Art! Bah! Envelope Mail Art

This is the altered envelope I sent to my September partner.  I thought the quote from an old novel was fun so I built a collage around it using random items from my stash.

The base is a 6x6 red envelope by Bazzill made out of textured cardstock.  I gave it a thin coat of white gesso and then removed some of the gesso by laying a honeycomb stencil on top and wiping with a baby wipe.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend.