Moving Along Into September

  Hard to believe it's almost time to turn the calendar page again. I certainly hope our summer continues into  September! Monday is a holiday here in the US- Labor Day - and many will have an extra day off. Hope it makes for great outdoor weather wherever you are and whatever you do, whether it's a picnic or one more trip to the beach.

 This is the background I made for my Sept. calendar spread for Kate Crane's 2013 Calendar Project:

     
  Pages were sprayed with Dylusions Lemon Zest, Squeezed Orange and Vibrant Turquoise Ink Sprays. Added some Caran D'Ache water soluble crayons. Black Marble ink spray was used for the black spatters. Some were outlined with a uni-ball Signo white pen. I used an old Magenta foam stamp with white acrylic paint and a bottle cap with black acrylic paint for more mark making.

 Ready to go:

  The month and weekdays were cut from an old calendar. The card stock squares were outlined with Caran D'Ache water soluble crayons. Numbers are stamped and from an old rubber stamp set.

                                                            Wabi-Sabi

  One of the two art technique books I took with me on my beach vacation was Wabi-Sabi Art Workshop by Serena Barton. LOVE this book! First of all I love the wabi-sabi (Japanese) theory of  "an approach to life and art that's in harmony with nature, one that values handmade and rustic and recognizes the impermanence of life." Embracing imperfection. That's a good thing. Serena's many techniques and projects provide great springboards in creating your own art using a wide variety of mediums-including cold wax (which I'd never heard of before). There are detailed step outs and product explanations through out, as well as lots of gallery art showcasing these techniques. Also, Serena has chosen the most beautiful haikus which are sprinkled over 120 some pages for further inspiration. Thumbs up!

  This is the first project/technique I pretty much followed on pg. 74:

                                                    Things Both Ancient and Modern (5" x 7")

  Products used: 5 x 7" canvas board; gesso; soft matte gel med.; Yellow Ochre Fluid Acrylic; water soluble crayons; walnut ink; coffee granules; champagne mica flakes; Distress Vintage Photo and Black Soot inks; white mulberry paper; fiber/yarn strand; found object.
  I found that rusty round object on the ground on a walk recently and immediately knew I wanted to work it into this particular project. Bet you didn't think I was capable of using such a muted palette eh??

  Besides the techniques from this book my next project came about because of this song:

                                         
  I recently played Keith Harkin's CD again and for some reason I could not for the life of me get this particular song " Orange Moon" out of my head! So I had to do something about it :)

                                                     Underneath An Orange Moon (8" x 10")

  Printed out map of the area mentioned in the song and adhered to the canvas. Outlined 'Sparta', 'Dover', and 'New York' with a black Sharpie. I then added many layers of glazes, reinker glazes and stains. An orange tissue paper circle was glued down then a bit of orange water soluble crayon was added to it. Now, my ? to all of you is- does this look finished or not, does it look disconnected because of the floating words, should I add something(s)? I'd SO appreciate your input. In the meantime, I'll just let it be-it did get the song out of my head so I could get to sleep ;)

  Do any of you own Serena's book? Tried any of the techniques? How do you embrace imperfection in your art? I'd really love to hear your thoughts.

  Linking up to Art Journal Every Day, Paint Party Friday, Show and Tell Saturday, Mandarin Orange Monday, Glue It Tuesday, Kate Crane's 2013 Calendar Project. I've got some serious art partying to do the next few days with my blogging artists peeps!

"Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering.

 There is a crack in everything.

That's how the light gets in". 

                                                                                            Leonard Cohen