My Art Featured on Art Group - Bloom Where You Are Planted

      I'm a member of a prompt related art group on Facebook called The Mixed Media Emporium with Nina Ribena & Kylie Coo. 

     The group has over 10,000 members and out of those 10,000 members my art was chosen for a special honor and picked to be the masthead of the group page for the 4th week of April, 2022. 

     Everyone in the group congratulates you and it really helps to inspire you to work hard to continue to create artwork that people love.

 

     I am so honored to have my art featured, here's the art page I did that was chosen. This is a page in my art journal. 

     This is a two page spread that I made for my homemade art journal. The art journal is made out of a recycled Fruit Roll-Ups Box, covered with fabric and the decorated, it's a whole process and I may do a blog post for it another time. 

     What we do in this group is called Mixed Media Art, anything and everything is fair game. In this piece I used leaves cut out from an box of tissue paper, here's a picture I found online of the top of a box. Once I cut out the leaves, I peeled off several layers so the leaves would not be so thick. 

     I took a page out of the art journal (the pages are removal of ease of use). The page I decided to use already had the background on it. It's what we call a "mop up" sheet. As I am doing other projects I have a sheet of paper either underneath to protect my desk or sometimes to the side and I clean off my paint brush, or try paint colors, so eventually it's got a beautiful blend of colors, in this case I felt it had a bit of a jungle look to it. So I started gluing the leaves around the top and bottom of the page to make a border. 

     I added a flower I had made following another YouTube channel and started gluing the sentiment "Bloom Where You Are Planted" and then added butterflies, because I love butterflies!

     And that was it. I was surprised that something so simple to create was worthy of the honor of being the masthead, but hey, I'll take it!

     Not to toot my own horn, but "toot-toot" this is actually the 4th time my artwork has been chosen. You can check out the first time HERE, second time HERE, third time HERE. 

 

My Art Featured on Art Group - The Mixed Media Emporium

 I was honored yet again to have my artwork featured on the masthead of the Facebook group page for The Mixed Media Emporium - with Nina Ribena & Kylie Coo.

This is a prompt related group on Facebook. Every week on Sunday morning there is a YouTube video from Nina Ribena and another from Kylie Coo that features a specific prompt. It's what I look forward to most on Sunday mornings, grabbing a cup of coffee and watching both videos and then visiting Facebook to see what others have done.

This prompt was for the month of June, Week 4 and the prompt was Watercolor Doodles. I started out with a piece of watercolor paper that was 6 inches x 5 inches and I added watercolors in shades of pink and green and grey and a touch of turquoise and yellow to add some brightness. 

I knew that what I wanted to doodle was roses so I left certain spots pink on purpose.

I just finished the 100 Days of Zentangle 2021 with The Tireless Tangler, Cyndee Pulley and the Tangle pattern we did on day 96 was one called Pozer by Beth Snoderly and it's so easy and yet you achieve such a beautiful design that it looks like you spent hours on it. The easiest Roses I've ever drawn!

The leaves are a Tangle pattern called Anuleaf by Lila Holter and the rose buds are a Tangle pattern called Buddy by Dorothy Allison. The little fringy things with dots are just something I like to do, not sure where I saw it, but it's cute.

So I was very happy that my artwork was chosen to be featured for the week! This is my third time to have my art featured. You can find the first time HERE and the second time HERE. I think I'm getting better with age...like a fine wine!

I find it hard to make time to do every weekly prompt, but I try to do as many as I can. It's a great group of super-talented individuals.

I'm going to try to share some of my favorite pieces from The 100 Days of Zentangle 2021 in another post. Stay tuned!

Featured on Art Group.......Again!

Do you remember in September I posted that I had been featured on an art group? In case you don't remember, you can see that post by clicking HERE. 

Well lo and behold...I was featured again!

I'm so thrilled about it!

Never, ever in my life was I ever really interested in Art. All I ever wanted to do was be a writer and write "stuff". I loved my English and Journalism classes. 

But you know what they say; it's never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. I'm not saying I'm old...just older!

I'm loving this Art Journey I'm on!

I'm loving this Facebook group that I'm in, Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and more. I'm loving that other people are loving my art as well.

Nina gives us a weekly prompt. This week she wanted us to get involved in doing at least one piece of art for Inktober.  

Every October, artists all over the world take on the Inktober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day for an entire month. We decided to do just one ink drawing for the month of October.

To make it more interesting, Nina published this YouTube video using a special pen known as the ELEGANT WRITER PEN BY SPEEDBALL. 



The cool thing about the Elegant Writer is that when you draw with it it's just black ink...the magic comes when you activate the ink with water.

I think Nina did a much better job with the water than I did because I was not able to get the beautiful pinks that she got, but I had fun make it regardless. Here's the piece I submitted, done on watercolor paper.

See, more just different shades of green. I may give the Elegant Writer another try to see if I can coax pinks out of the ink this time.

But the group liked it enough that it was the featured art piece for this week! I think that's a pretty cool honor for someone that could never even draw a straight line!

Featured on Art Group!

You guys remember when I started on my Art Journey? It was May of 2016, so it's been more than three years now and I've been pretty consistent in doing art of some type.

Am I getting any better? Well, there's some improvement, especially in my drawing skills. I'll have to share some more artwork in the future.

For now I just want to document an honor that I've been give in one of the art groups I'm in. The Art group is called Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More. Each Sunday we are given an art prompt and then we can run with it. One person's art is chosen to be displayed on the groups masthead. This week it was mine, here it is. I was thrilled when I saw mine was chosen as there are such fabulous artists in this group!

This Sunday the prompt was to Reuse/Recycle/Repurpose. We had to use just scraps and bits of paper and stuff we already had. I have an art journal that I made using a cereal box and scraps of paper, I'll have to post about that later.

So I did this two page spread using acrylic paint for the background, then scraps of a pink paper I had used on a different project to cut out flowers. The leaves are made using what we call "painty paper" a very technical terms which means we just use left over paint and put it on random papers which we keep to use later, nothing goes to waste! I did some doodling on the flowers and leaves and then used a lettering method called "wavy letters" for the quote.

So just wanted to share this little gem so I have it somewhere forever. Maybe this weekend I can find time to photograph the scraps journal, it's so stinking cute! Thanks for reading!

Using Dollar Store items for Art - Art Journal Prompts and Focal Points

I’ve joined a group on Facebook that does weekly Art Journal Prompts. I joined the party late and missed prompts 1 thru 30, but I can go back and do the ones I want or just keep going with the new ones.

The prompt comes out on Sunday and this week’s prompt was “Use 3 Colours”.  We could do anything we wanted, using only three colors.  Nina Ribena is our fearless leader and she announces the prompt and includes a YouTube video with her version of the prompt. Here is her fabulous video.

I love her videos because they are very informative and professionally done. I learn lots of new methods and how to use various products, and also because I love her voice. It's very calming.

She suggests that we choose three colors from the focal point that we are going to use. I had some napkins that I bought at The Dollar Store that had a beautiful stacked cup design on them. I’d seen quite a few people use napkins as a collage and figured it was time to try it.  

I did this page several months ago, experimenting, not knowing what I was doing. The napkin part is the flowers, music and butterflies. As you can see, lots of wrinkles. But using the prompts allows me to grow and get better and I hope when you see my finished product you will see the big difference.

Always remember that Google is your friend and YouTube your best friend! I googled "how to iron a napkin to card stock using plastic wrap" and found several videos. I chose this one as it was very easy to understand. 

It worked beautifully, not a wrinkle to be seen. I then chose my three colors from the napkin, peach, blue and an orangy brown (rust) color. For the background, I used my gelatos which are like a water color crayon. You can color with it and activate it with water and a paintbrush or you can just blend with your fingers. I love using them, always get great results!

Once dry, I used Mod Podge to glue the image to the background.  and then brushed Mod Podge over the whole image and background which lays a clear protective glaze over it all. 

I was so anxious to finish it and post it to the group Facebook page that I decided that instead of printing the quote at the office the next day and then cutting out the quote and pasting it, I would just hand write it. 

I need practice with hand writing as I think I went a little nuts with my curlicues, but all in all I loved it the minute it was finished and I posted it to several art groups on Facebook, including the Art Journal Prompts group.

I received so many comments on this page so I thought I would share it here as well. See how much nicer the cups look? No wrinkles. Love it! Hope you do as well

By the way, here's a fabulous website if you want to learn more about Mod Podge or just pick up fabulous ideas. Mod Podge Rocks

Dead Men Tell No Tales and some Zombie Fish!

Wow, it's been a while since I've done a post. I've actually started a couple but they seemed dark and sad with my thoughts on all that is going on in our world and that's not normally me. I like to keep it light and happy, because in all truth, this is my happy place.

When I start writing about things I'm excited or happy about it keeps me in a good mood. So I'm going to put all thoughts aside for a few moments on all that is going on in our world and just share some of my artwork.

I've said before, I'm late to this "art thing" and I wish I had realized earlier how much I would grow to love it because I would have started sooner. But, I'm making the best of it now. This coming Monday I start up with my art classes again and I can't wait! The instructor Alex is awesome at encouraging us to do what we feel in our heart. Last year I was a total newbie, but this year I have a little bit more experience under my belt and with his guidance I hope to grow even further.

Because the weather has been just one degree cooler than the surface of the sun, I have not been painting as much with acrylics. It's just too hot! So I've continued doing my mixed media art journal paintings. I've joined a Facebook group that gives a weekly prompt. The Admin for the group posts the prompt, along with a photo of her page and a YouTube video of her process in creating the page. It's a great way to learn new techniques and she's amazing.

This week the prompt was "The Sea". She did a great page with a Seahorse. She used modeling paste to make the ocean bed and some additional paste in the part that would become the ocean. I followed her direction as far as that and then went off on my own interpretation of the sea, which turned into a pirate with a treasure chest and a pint of ale, some zombie fish and a steam punk seahorse.

This was completed in 3 days as I took my time and you have to when you have that much modeling paste layered on. I really love it. It's hard to see all the shading and details, but the treasure chest coins have been painted gold and then I added glitter, which is not noticeable at all in this photo.

What you can see is the texture the modeling paste created at the bottom of the page. It made all those bumps and waves that make it look like the bottom of a sandy ocean. In the sea part you can see how using texture there made the paint go on in layers of white, light blue, turquoise blue and dark blue. I used those colors in acrylic paints and added them with a simple foam makeup pad that I purchased in a pack from The Dollar Store.

So that's what I've been up to. It's been keeping me sane with all the craziness in the world. What do you do to de-stress? What's your happy place?

Alicia~

Being Chaotically Creative with a Credit Card and Still Staying On Budget!!!

Want to know my secret for using a credit card and not getting into debt? How to use a credit card and still stay within budget? How to use a credit card and not have it affect your credit score? Well stick around because I am about to share my secret with you! The secret to my financial success. Here it is, are you ready for it?

Do you see it? Do you see the secret to my success in staying debt free by using a credit card? That's right! Don't use the credit card to make purchases, use it to paint! 

Righto...that Mixed Media Journal Page above was painted using only a credit card. No brushes, sprays, sponges or salad spinners!!! Just a credit card.

I know, I tricked you! And even now I am tricking you because I didn't use an actual credit card, I used a gift card that no longer had any cash on it. 

Started with a blank multi media page and dotted some paint on it in purple, pink and white and used the credit card like a palette knife and spread the paint around. Not evenly, let some white show, blended the colors, just had fun with it!

Let it dry and then used the credit card to make lines, slashes, rectangles and squares. The only time I did not use a credit card was when I used scissors to cut out the shape of the feathers and I used a small bamboo skewer to glue the feather shapes together. I then painted the feathers, again using the credit card and used scissors to cut the fringed feathery parts. A bit of glue to attach them to the page and then added my page title: CREATIVE

The purpose in doing this? Just to show that you don't need a bunch of fancy art supplies to create beautiful art. This was just simple craft paints which you can purchase at Walmart for 59 cents a bottle and imagination...oh and scissors!

These are great exercises in learning to let go of fear of messing up, or being too precise or too (as I am) obsessive about things having to be perfect. I do plan to get back into my acrylic painting, as soon as the weather cooperates and it gets below 90 degrees, currently as I type this it is 99 degrees. I can't wait for fall already!!!

There are so many other ways to be creative and artistic without spending a lot of money on supplies. One of my favorites that I've seen online is an artist that uses fruits and vegetables to create dresses on the models that he first hand sketches. He also uses other household items. Here's a YouTube video of his art that I hope you will watch and enjoy.



So that's it for now, hope you enjoyed my credit card art and remember the best way to stay out of credit card debt is to use it for art!

Alicia