hidden images in the cracks....

Update! - The sidewalk crack prompt comes from Carla Sonheim and can be found here :-)

I had a fantastic day yesterday! I met a dear friend of mine at Barnes and Noble and we had an art date. You really can't beat the combination of: creating art, conversation with a good friend and coffee!

My friend brought a challenge for us, too.  And I do love a good challenge!  She had printed off a photo from a site (I'm desperately trying to find out where so that I can share that here and give her credit), and the challenge was to look at the image and try to find something hidden in it and then create that hidden object on the page.  I have to admit that at first glancing, I immediately saw Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. lol  I surely wasn't going to use that, so I searched for something else and saw a the upper body and head of a person with bun-style hair and definitely a frown upon her face.

Click to see a larger image...I'm curious to hear what you see.  Do you see her and her sad face? Can you see Rudolph if you tilt you head to the right? lol

This is what I had finished at the bookstore.  It was kinda of funny because almost at the same time both me and my friend were suddenly stuck.  We both were wanting our acrylic paints yet neither of us brought any.  I had my watercolor markers, my Stabilo pencil, my gel pens and paint pens and she had several pens and a tin of NeoColor II's.  I wanted to color in my girls face, but was afraid to try it with just my markers and was more comfortable doing something like that with acrylic paints.  She was in the same boat!  So we decided to stop there, take our creations home and finish them there.  

Here she is as I was painting her face....

And here's the finished product....

I added some pieces of tissue paper that had been stamped on that my friend had given me that day, as well as some bleeding tissue paper for the sun....

 I realized the other night that I need to not feel like I have to be acknowledged for what I do.  I tend to let it bother me when it comes to certain things and I need to just realize that those things aren't important to some people, like they are me, and I can't expect kudos from them when I do it.  I need to be happy with myself, with what I do, be proud of that and celebrate that and not depend on what others always think....I was shocked when I opened up my trusty Half Price Book Store $1 clearance book and have the sentence above be the first thing that I read.  It sure did fit what I've been feeling all week quite well....as well as the sad expression.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope to spend the weekend making copious amounts of ICAD's!  

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
Dianne

a work in progress....

Hello everyone!

This have been really wild around here and I haven't had any time to sit and create, so I haven't completed any of my ICAD's this week....I'm hoping to do another marathon creating session and get all caught up.  The rest of this month is going to be so insane and busy, so it's going to be a huge challenge for me to finish ICAD this year with a card for each day.  But, I am determined to do it! lol

I do have an art journal page that I am currently working on to share with you today.  I joined Effy Wild's Book of Day's workshop and I am really, really enjoying every minute of it.  The community is so wonderful and I am truly loving what I am learning about myself and this need to actually do real writing in an art journal.  I usually just add a word here, or a song lyric there, but I've been feeling the pull to document what's going on in my life, my feelings and working on how to deal with them, help me work out how to make positive changes in my life and celebrate the accomplishments that I make.

So here are some photos that I took as I've been working on this page throughout the week....this has also shown me something very important....I do not have to complete a page in one sitting.  Something that I haven't ever done before.  I always sit down with the frame of mind that I am going to do a page and finish it right then and there.  I know that I have this way of thinking because my art time is so limited due to my being a stay-at-home-mom with two little ones.  It's been very peaceful for me to work on this page knowing that I'm going to work on it when I can and enjoy that time as much as I can (even if it's just for a few minutes! lol).

The challenge for this spread was to use a stencil and then alter it in some way.... I did upload a YT video talking about this page and the journal that I created for this workshop......I also show you how I've been storing my ICAD's and one way I'm thinking of displaying them.  ;-)

Flower stencil with yellow and orange color sprays....

But then I decided to add some collage papers in, so added them, plus I brayered on some white paint.  It wasn't colorful enough for me then, so out came my Dr. Ph Martin's Hydrus liquid watercolors.  I painted color on and then added the darker, splotches of color with some color sprays.

Flower stencil with red, acrylic craft paint....

Top flowers have not been altered...bottom flowers are.  They were painted in with some Dr. Ph Martin's Hydrus liquid watercolors and then I used the end of my paint brush to pull some of the black paint to resemble the center of a flower.  I also used an Exacto knife and grated shavings from a charcoal pencil into the wet paint.  You can see the black flecks the best on the large flower at the bottom.

All of the flowers are painted in now....

Before and after :

And that's where it is now...I haven't been able to work on it for the past few days and am anxious to work on it some more.  Next I get to add my intention for this journal and I'm also adding the quote "Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn" - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Dianne

Happy Art Swap ;-)

Today I'm sharing four, mixed media pieces of artwork that I created for the Happy Art Swap.  I am so thrilled with all of the amazing artists that I have met and follow on Instagram and tickled pink to be a part of this on-going swap.  I can't wait to see the art that I receive and am so excited to get to start collecting other artists creations!

Each one of my pieces started on a 5x7 piece of 140 pound cold-press watercolor paper.  You can watch me create these four pieces of art on my YouTube channel here:

Thanks so much for stopping by!
di