The Empty Page Journal

 

This was an extra page I did after I had finished the assigned homework and was still a few days away from the March class.

This was a tutorial from The Postman's Knock.  You begin by dropping a blob of color to make a branch and then using a straw, blow the branch into shape. Then add leaves, sitting bluebirds, and flying bluebirds (or dive bombers). 

I also added the quote: the bluebird carries the sky on its back attributed to Henry David Thoreau

The Empty Page Journal

 

This page was a bonus class for this month. One thing that I really like about Lindsay's classes is she shows how to make your own journal fodder without running out to buy rubber stamps or stickers.

For this class, we used circle designs from the January class that Lindsay had for us to download. These were cut out and painted with watercolors. Another sheet of mixed media paper was put down to paint the circles. We didn't have to be careful how we painted, just slapping color down not only on the circles, but on the background paper.

Then the circles were glued to the background and wavy flower shapes cut out. These were glued to the journal and then doodled and decorated to look a bit more like whimsical flowers.

Lindsay had a Spring Blooms saying for us to letter using a dot technique and a line technique. I decided not to use use the lettering for this page. While I like it, it seems to me rather than using my own voice, I'm copying her work. 

Instead, I found some short quotes about flowers and wrote the quotes as stems for my flowers. I also made a photocopy of one of the pages to test coloring in the leaves. I decided I like the spread the way it is and didn't color in the leaves..

I'm enjoying the fact that I don't have to finish a page, but can keep going back and adding detail if I want. That was something that never occurred to me before. Most likely because I worked small, I've always been able to finish in one sitting. It's freeing to know that there's not a completion date/time for the pages. 

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. We enjoyed a new to us series Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol

2. Because I had been sick, we postponed St. Patrick's Day corned beef dinner. I made corned beef, 2 loaves of sweet Irish soda bread, and we watched The Quiet Man.

3. Fun trip to the Dollar Store for Easter goodies for the Great Nieces and Great Nephew

4. I finally sorted a box of scrap and fodder for journaling.

5. I completed another tutorial on painting fun birds

How was your week?

Monet and Me

 

Settling in the watch Lindsay Ostram's The Empty Page class on Facebook

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1.  I ordered some items from Michael's. The shipping box was the perfect size box to send the Young One her Death Doctor's costume in case she has a Halloween event to attend.

2. The Eldest ran an errand and brought me back a bar of fancy soap I used to get.

3. While watching the video of the Rennie Revisited class., the instructor used my name as a practice example

4. I spent the day watching the Rennie class videos and drawing the Glasgow rose

5. On the way home, I saw both sides of a rainbow

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. A delivery was scheduled between 10 AM and 1 PM. They arrived at 10:15 AM so we didn't have to wait around all day.

2. Looking forward to a lettering class. I wasn't able to make the live Zoom so will watch the videos at a later time.

3. My friend, Nan, texted me. She's home from her trip to Ireland. We plan to Skype next week and make plans to get together.

4. Skyped with the Young One. This is now going to be a weekly event.

5. Last of the warm days so Teague and I had lunch outside at George's they day before they close for the season.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Calli and Quill followed me around after giving me the cold shoulder for being away.

2. As I was going to bed, I realized because of the Labor Day holiday, I didn't have to get up early to put the trash out

3. Himself made mashed potatoes so I could make the topping to a Shepherd's pie (made with lamb otherwise if it's made with beef it's a cottage pie)

4. A friend sent me a link to Bring Magic to Your Art & Life with A Free Taster Event!

5. A beautiful day. I had the sunroom all to myself so watched The Beautiful Game while I had lunch.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I heard from my high school friend who is moving from California to Arizona. The renovations to the house haven't been finished yet so they won't be moving until the end of the month. I'm glad I didn't send the new home card yet.

2. The Eldest Door Dashed donuts for breakfast.

3. The first ripe tomato and cucumber when to making a cucumber and tomato sandwich on brioche for lunch. Okay, it was Wonder Bread and still delicious

4. During bookbinding class learned about a jig to make perfect mitered corners. Found a different tool that does that plus has  4 other features for less money!

5. A lady at the hairdresser let me go ahead of her so I could have the hairdresser I like to cut my hair

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. I received a belated birthday floral arrangement from the Eldest

2. An uber productive day rewarded by watching The Great Waldo Pepper and having Five Guys for dinner in the sunroom.

3. I remembered to attend the Doodling class.

4. Door Dash is great

5. We had lunch in Teague's sunroom. I had a beef gyros.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. Saturday was warm enough to wear a tee shirt and shorts

2. Learned something new in the acanthus leaf workshop

3. Instead of lunch, Teague and I went out for breakfast.

4. I saw some flowers on the blueberry bushes. We might get a couple of blueberries this year.

5. I've been enjoying a murder mystery on Netflix called The Residence.

How was your week?

Workshop: How to Draw A Medieval Animal

These are the sketchnotes I made after taking a free class offered by Julia Bangert, a book illuminator from Mainz, Germany. In the class she talked about looking at images of animals and drawing them by looking for their basic shapes. 

The animal we drew in class was a rabbit. From the sketchnotes, you can see the rabbit was drawn using circles and then details added so it looked more like a bunny instead of circles.

Monet and Me

 

Monet and I are waiting to take another free workshop with Julia Bangert, a book illuminator from Mainz, Germany.

This class is Drawing Leaf Tendrils or acanthus leaves. Acanthus leaves were a common motif in illuminated manuscripts.

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. Great-Grandpa picked up the baby books and was pleased with the work.

2. An uber productive day. I decluttered some stuff to go to charity, washed the kitchen window and changed the kitchen curtain.

3. A package went missing. The company sent another and the missing package arrived the same day.

4. Enjoyed the free class in how to draw a medieval rabbit

5. Teague gave me some frozen bake and eat chocolate chunk cookies to take home.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I enjoyed the Shell Symphony class. 

2. The rest of the art supplies needed for the class arrived

3. I transferred the design and now I'm ready to add color

4.We are still watching Holy movies and enjoy the ones with Finlay Currie who keeps popping up in a bunch of them. Finlay Currie best know for his role as Balthasar in Ben Hur and Cedric, the father of Ivanhoe.

5. The weather was nice enough that Teague and I got to have tea in her sunroom

How was your week?

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away.  Last Monday, the class was cancelled. Bummah.

Last Friday, I signed up to take a Zentangle class. Besides a .pdf for the class, the instructor also sent a .pdf for beginning Zentangles. (If you're not familiar with Zentangles, you can read about the process here.) It's been awhile since I played with Zentangles so I practiced some of the patterns from the instructor's notes along with various "strings" (the pencil pattern to divide the paper called a tile) like the peacock.

Have you tangled with Zentangles?

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. A little late but we celebrated the Boston Red Sox Opening Season with hot dogs, brown bread, and baked beans

2. Sad to hear of the passing of Richard Chamberlain. I called in sick to Filene's (department store) so I could watch the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Hamlet 11/17/1970

3. I signed up for a Zentangle class. I thought Nan might be interested, and she signed up, too

4. I assembled tools needed for class and ordered a few things I did not have

5. For a treat I had some baklava. Not as good as Ma made, but sweet nostalgia

How was your week?

Whatcha Doin?

I am re-doing the last project we did in class with Dan.  I didn't finish it. We didn't have a lot of time to complete this project on the last day.  I work slowly, and I had a hard time floating the Instacoll in the center of the "O" designed by Dan. The letter was 2 1/2 in. square and larger than anything I've gilded. I found the edges were drying before I had the center filled. 

Instacoll is to be applied in a thick-ish layer, but in my haste I had added too much. The paper buckled and the goop pooled at the bottom of the letter. Instacoll takes 45 minutes to dry before you can apply whatever metal is being used. 

The surface of the Instacoll had dried, but underneath was still wet. When I went to tool the gold with the thin, cross-hatched lines, the gold tore revealing the Instacoll. 

Though I called this an epic fail, it really wasn't. I mixed the delicious blue-black background using red, yellow, and blue watercolor.  I learned how the materials reacted. How much time is needed for things to dry. How much time I need to work. All valuable lessons.

Dan told me I could try to salvage the piece by thinning some Instacoll with water, applying it again to the center, let it thoroughly dry, and lay another layer of gold. 

I think I'll add some lettering and re-do the project.

Whatcha doin?

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Had a lovely lunch with the Himself's teaching assistant. We went to La Cantina to see the kitty robots.

2. Errands, lunch at Cracker Barrel, and a haircut

3. Enjoyed part 1 of Kathy Milici's Modern Ornamental Initials class

 

4. Play date with Teague over Skype

5. Met the cutest little girl at Open House. She told me she was 6 3/4 years old.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things A Day Late

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. Paid the deposit for the acanthus leaf workshop on Enders Island in September

2. Sent birthday wishes to my friend, S in California. She called, and we had a nice chat catching up.

3. I brought a birthday party to Teague: Boston Cream Pie, a candle, flowers with a birthday balloon, and a card. She's now the same age I am.

4.  Spent a pleasant afternoon working on a new drawing.

5. Lovely anniversary lunch at new to us Giacomo's in Wayland

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The weather was pouring rain for the Eldest's birthday. She wanted to celebrate at  Red Robin. When we came out of the restaurant there was a beautiful rainbow just for her.

2. I thought I'd be early registering for Valerie Weilmuenster's class on Acanthus leaves at Enders Island in September. The class was already filled. I emailed Valerie asking her if there was a chance that she/Enders would add another class if there were enough people on the wait list. Popular time so all the workshops and retreats are filled. Bummah. Nice email from Valerie and catching up

3. Play day with Teague

4. We took a family trip to Southwick Zoo

5. I got a new pair of walking shoes.

How was your week?