Tag: TDL

Knitting

Mixed Media Monday 10/20/14

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MMM

I came up with these late last night – or what is late for me – not sitting down at my little repurposed art desk until sometime around 10:30 p.m. or so. I’m finding that the creative juices seem to flow more freely then.

Artist’s tiles, ATC, pitt pen, Gelly pens, mandela stamp

The Documented Life prompt last week was Stars and although I’m not completely convinced that my page is finished, this is what I have  currently.  I’m in the process of searching out a quote that feels right to add the finishing touch.

Handcut stars, spray inks, ghosting technique

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.  Erich Fromm

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Knitting

Mixed Media Monday

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MOJO

I haven’t posted any mixed media stuff in a while, mostly because I was in sort of a creative slump, totally underwhelmed by all of my efforts to kickstart a new project.  I suppose you could call it “just going through the motions”.  But, I kept on creating and you know what?  It seems I got my mojo back!  I actually did the “fake it til you make it” thing and got my “creative feet” back under me.  If you’re a friend of Jimmy or a friend of Bill, you’re probably familiar with this process and have used it a few times yourself.

WEEK 40 THE DOCUMENTED LIFE

This week’s prompt was to use three colors you don’t normally use. I chose orange, yellow and brown and when I started laying down the first layer, I thought it was the ugliest thing ever.  But I kept on working with it, adding some three dimensional doodads and some stickers that continued the color scheme.  Then, suddenly, my project didn’t seem so ugly to me anymore.  In fact, I kinda liked it, I kinda liked it a lot!

Acrylic paint, spray inks, stencils, stickers, a bit of washi tape, hand drawn flowers that I colored with gel pens and cut out, homemade stickers and a doodled circle fold out

Sorry you have to stand on your head to see them. 😕

 *MOMM

Here’s a look at a project I’m doing on my own.  It’s not quite finished.  I think it needs doodads.

*My own mixed media

To see things in the seed, that is genius.  Lao Tzu

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Mixed Media Art · The Documented Life Project

MOMM, The Documented Life Project

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TDL

My Documented Life art journaling has continued, though I’ve been wrapped up in a couple of huge knitting projects, not to mention awesome family things.  There have been a couple of TDL entries that didn’t melt my butter, but they were OK and I actually started getting into them as I worked.  This week was #36 and the prompt was black and white.  Here’s my take on it –image

This is one I really wasn’t “feeling” while I worked, but I ended up loving the vintage look and the sort of restrained style.

I used black and white gesso, wallpaper look tissue paper, butterfly stamped borders, a large handwriting stamp, white stamp ink and a picture of the Eiffel Tower.  It has a old fashioned travelogue vibe, don’t you think?

MY OWN MIXED MEDIA

I enjoyed the black and white so much, I did one on my own –

Indulge

Black Gesso

White Gelly Roll pen

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been.  You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you’ll discover will be wonderful.  What you’ll discover is yourself.  Alan Alda 

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Knitting

More MOMM, Creative Constipation

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*MOMM

Here’s a look at this week’s mixed media project.  I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either.

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 Old colorwheel

Dylusions spray ink

Assorted stickers, homemade and store bought

Doodles

Stencils, homemade and store bought

Stamps

Acrylic paint

THE DOCUMENTED LIFE UPDATE

The week 31 challenge was to add a pocket to your project.  I decided to draw a one instead of using  the real thing and then adding odds and ends to fill it. What do you think?

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I finally figured out how to produce the intense colors I envied on other people’s projects!  Thanks YouTube!

SLUMP

I feel like I’m a little blocked as far as pottery goes.  I see tons of stuff I want to make, but when I get into the studio, the only things coming off the wheel are bowls and more bowls.  Maybe I need a break or maybe I’m spread a little too thin, with several different projects going at the same time.  I can definitely feel my lack of focus.  Maybe a couple of days of creativity rest, focusing on NOT being busy, would help.  Could I even accomplish it without going nuts?  Do I even want to try?

*My Own Mixed Media

No day in which you learn something is a complete loss.  David Eddings

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Knitting

Finally A FO, New MOMMs, Challenge Completed

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OFF THE NEEDLES

Yay!!!  I finally have a FO!  I finished the Crazy Monkey socks and they turned out to be fabulous!  I haven’t decided whether they will be a gift or whether they will take up residence in MY sock drawer, even though they’re a tad snug.  If you missed the details, you can catch up here.

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If you’re new to knitting two at a time toe ups or just want to try the technique, this pattern is a good one, well written with easy to understand instructions.

MOMM*/THE DOCUMENTED LIFE PROJECT UPDATES

I have a couple of mixed media projects to share, along with this week’s TDL completed challenge.  The challenge this week was to add a wish list.  My list ended up underneath my project layers, with just a word or two showing.

The bubbles on the facing page just sort of happened when I was trying out new markers and pencils,  I love how it looks!

You can read more about The Documented Life Project here.

Here are some “freestyle” mixed media projects I’ve been working on.

I usually just start out with a color that appeals to me, then the layers of whatever catch my eye just happen.

Watch the Birdie

I’ve been a little fixated on birds for a while, so they show up pretty regularly.  It helps that the bird shape is simple enough for me to sketch freehand.

Drawing flowers is another recent fixation, I found a photo of a gorgeous calla lily on Pinterest and tried to recreate it.

SOON TO BE BIG SISTER

My precious middle granddaughter and soon to be big sister, Babydiva

I hear and I forget.  I see and I remember.  I do and I understand.  Confucius

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*My Own Mixed Media

Knitting

Wednesday! Again??, Booklove and It’s Nice To Be A Diva

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ON THE NEEDLES

Wavy Garden Shawl is presently OTN, but not for long.  (heavy sigh). I saw that somehow, what I call the backbone, where a pattern calls for a yarnover, knit, YO, is wonky, off a couple of stitches.  So I suppose you could say it’s developed scoliosis.  I hope I can take it back a few rows and reknit instead of frogging the whole shebang and restarting.  Dang.

BOOKLOVE

I finished Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny Monday and am just as enamored as I was when I first read it, lo those 45 or so years ago.  So, I’m giving away my age (you do the math), who cares???  In my head I’m 16.  When does a person become a grownup anyway?  OK, back to booklove.  I started an smazing book right on the heels of Mutiny – The Snow Queen.  I don’t have the author’s name right at my fingertips, but I’ll get it in here before I post.  Take a minute check it out here.  Michael Cunningham, that’s the guy’s name.

THE DOCUMENTED LIFE PROJECT

Here are a couple of *MOMMs that I’ve working on:

image Curlicue Tree

imageBecause I Like It #5

TDL Week 26 Challenge

Add a Bible verse or a line from your favorite book that inspires you

Mine is Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

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ONE OF THE GRANDS

Babydiva

I think it was a reward for behaving in the store.  She’s going to be a big sister here in about seven weeks!

Oh my gosh!  That skin!!!!

Linking with Tami, Ginny and Frontier Dreams.

*My Own Mixed Media

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.  Mother Teresa

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Knitting

On a Tuesday

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TUESDAYS

Anyone remember the Seinfeld schtick about how Tuesdays just don’t have a “feel”?  A feel as in “Mondays have a let down feel, just coming off the weekend and all; Wednesdays have a definite, halfway to the weekend feel; Thursdays carry that almost Friday and the end of the work week feel; and then that incredible Friday feel, which needs no explanation.  Poor Tuesday, with no real “feel”, except maybe the “at least it’s not Monday” feel.  This really isn’t going anywhere, just some random thoughts that run through my head, taking up some of the short term memory circuits until another totally random thought moves in and hangs out for a while.

TDL UPDATE

Week 25 Challenge

Cover Your Page with Hearts

One of my favorites so far!

More information on The Documented Life Project can be found here.

*MOMM

Here’s a look at my latest independent mixed media project-

As usual, this one has a bit of everything, paper, buttons, stamps, stencils, just whatever strikes my fancy at that particular moment.  Mixed media has taught me that the concept of art is very, very fluid, with no right or wrong way to create.  I totally LOVE that!

*My Own Mixed Media

PARTING SHOT

The only real valuable thing is intuition.  Albert Einstein


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Knitting

And There You Have It (I Think), Happy Father’s Day and MOMM

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Happy Father’s Day, everyone!  Hug a dad today!  Mr. iknead got a blueberry cake for his special day.

FRONT DOOR PURPLE, CONT.

I think we’ve come to an agreement on just which purple to paint our door – it’s called Deep Violet.

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 Here’s what it looks like in the sunshine

Now in the shade

And in my kitchen

Now to find a painter…….

TDL

This week’s challenge for The Documented Life Project was to cover your pages in hearts.  I’m still  mostly in the planning stage,  but I did get my pages prepped and have an idea of what I want them to look like.  This art journaling project has led to me trying a lot of new things; I’ve started sketching and painting different things on my own, which I enjoy, but what I’m really loving is mixed media.  Think about it, up until a few months ago, I’d never even heard of mixed media art and now I usually have two or three different MM projects going.  Here’s a look at one I just finished –

My Own Mixed Media 1

MOMM* 1

It has a little bit of everything, acrylic paint, stickers, colored pencils, Inktense blocks, marker, stencils, doodles, found objects.  Nothing is sacred, if I see something interesting,  you can bet it will find it’s place in some project.  I really love how this one turned out!

*My Own Mixed Media

Love is never lost.  If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.  Washington Irving

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Knitting

Room, I Need More Room

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MORE ROOM, PLEASE

My idea awhile ago to devote Sunday posts to spinning hasn’t played out, mostly because my spinning/knitting/yarn room has, for the last couple of weeks, been doubling as an art journal room, with a table and a rolling bin taking up what was left of the floor space and very little, if any, spinning has occurred.  Mr. Iknead and I are working on freeing up more space in another room, but moving stuff around creates a domino effect and before we know it, rearranging one room leads to rearranging another, and another, and on and on.

THE DOCUMENTED LIFE PROJECT

TDL is the culprit for the abovementioned difficulty.  My art journal is growing fatter and fatter.  I’m not sure it’s going to make it though the remaining 28 weeks without major surgery or at the very least, a cover transplant.  A small price, I say, since I love working on it so much.  i’ve been practicing drawing faces for the past few days. Up until now, I’ve collaged most of my pages, but after seeing other members’ journal posts, i decided to give it a whirl.  I did this one today-

I sketched her, then painted her using watercolors.

So that’s what I’ve been up to these past few days.  How about you?

PARTING SHOT

Wisdom begins in wonder.  Socrates

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Knitting

With An Umbrella And Everything

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LOVE THIS

It finally stopped raining and we were able to step outside and enjoy our newest patio purchase:

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It was a long time coming and I predict  many, many happy hours.  Next on the purchase list: a glider and a wading pool for the grands.  This will be a perfect spot to work on my art journal and my knitting projects.  I might even bring Violet, the spinning wheel, out for some fresh air every now and then!

PARTING SHOT

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Can I help it if I’m easily entertained??

E=mc2.  Albert Einstein 

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Knitting

Still Documenting

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TDL

Still going strong with The Documented Life art journal.  I started about 12 weeks late, after reading about it on a blog I follow.  I finally got caught up last week and while I’m not working on it as obsessively as I was when I was trying to catch up, I find myself doing page prep and trying out new ideas and techniques off and on during the day.  Honestly, I don’t think “techniques” is the right word for what I do.  It’s more like “I wonder what would happen if……”  I love doing this stuff!  Taking part in this project has shown me my inner artist – the one I didn’t know I had.  Here are some of my pages –

Monochromatic Challenge

This challenge was to ask someone else to start on my drawing, then I was to finish it.  Mr. Iknead started with a drawing of his iPad.  I couldn’t get the image of a theater ticket or the idea of a premier out of my head and this was what developed.

Draw A House Challenge

I saw a pin of some crooked pottery houses and pinned it with the intention of trying the idea out in my pottery class.  Guess the images stayed with me.

PARTING SHOT

If the good people, in their wisdom, shall see fit to keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined.  Abraham Lincoln

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Knitting
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NEW TOY

I downloaded a new app today that was mentioned in a tutorial about one of my newest obsessions hobbies, The Documented Life Project.  It’s called Waterlogue and alters photos to look like watercolors, like this-

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I really like the look of these altered photos, it’s an interesting way to dress up otherwise ordinary pictures and I enjoy trying different ways to change picture effects.

To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.  Mark Twain

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