Thursday, February 25, 2016

Playtime!

   First I hope everyone has fared well through the massive rain/ thunderstorms, damaging winds and even tornadoes (yikes!) in so many places in the US this past week, including the East coast on Wed. evening. I prepared for a power outage by having candles places about , along with a few flashlights-including one in my pocket. It was a crazy storm but luckily we kept our power and in our area had a few fallen trees and some minor flooding. Glad that's over!

 Recently I started a new art journal and although there are a few pages complete i decided i wanted to play and experiment a bit with backgrounds. Some have been successful and some not . But hey, they can be covered over right?

  Here's a page that began like this:


  Looks like something a preschooler would do right?  What happened was that the circles and doodles were made on the page using reinkers. According to the technique in one of Dina Wakley's books the inks should have spread about. OK, that didn't happen. All the inks did were soak into the page. I wish I would have known that first- watercolor paper is best, and second the paper should be spritzed with water first-neither of which was mentioned for the technique.

 Now I know. I was ready to paint over this "ugly" page when I suddenly saw opportunity! I saw three smiling faces and the word "love" scribbled in purple. So, my inner child came out and I finished the page very simply:



 I scribbled in some facial features with a pen, scribbled in the words and then stamped some musical notes about.  And ya know what? It makes me smile so I'm keeping it! I bet most of you have experienced something similar to this, haven't you? Tell me about it!

 And this is a more serious face I drew using oil pastels in my tiny book I  am using just for face practice:


         One more bit:




 This card is for Moo Mania and More's challenge "my favorite pet" along with the Simon Wednesday challenge of "anything goes".  Now, I have never had a cat -  only dogs, but I do love all animals so you may even see some exotic ones crop up for the Moo challenge :)
Kitty rubber stamp (Camp Stamp), sentiment (Paper candy).

PS-what do you think of the new header? Really got tired of seeing a wintry scene:):)

 Also linking this post to Art Journal Journey (if music be the food of love); Art It Friday- Show Your Face; and Paint Party Friday. See you there!

          " Play is my brain's favorite way of learning."    Diane Ackerman





40 comments:

  1. Glad you made okay with the storm and had some playtime. :)

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  2. I love your header. Warm and welcoming like you.

    Made me smile your art journal page. Serendipitous art is most satisfying of all.

    Thanks for visiting my blog and for the lovely comment.

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  3. Love! Love! Love the header!!!! We had storms too with howling winds that sounded like it was going to flatten the house. Everyone around us got lots of snow but we luckily missed that. I'm done with winter and ready for SPRING!!! Love your art today... your girl is very good and I love the background page. Have an arty weekend ♥

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  4. I love your new header, Linda -It's beautiful and so you! The words are perfect. I like your "experiment" page too, especially the way you finished it! :) lenna

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  5. First of all - glad to hear you are o.k. and this terrible storms are over! ♥

    Moo Mania & More and Art Journal Journey are glad to see this lovely post today ! Thank you dear Linda for all your support for our challenges!
    I know exactly what you mean with this "unsuccessful" experiments ( beneath this I am thinking that your page turned out really super ) -- gosh I had and have so many of ugly attempts ..and to keep them for later projects is the only and best thing to do with such unhappy pages and projects.
    Sometimes it helps me to come back to them on the next day with fresh eyes and something wonderful emerges from it in the end!
    That's and we have to take this as a gift from our muses I think - brings us to new techniques and styles!

    Your oilpastel face is so lovely... and the card and page is beautiful as well!

    HAPPY WEEKEND dear Linda!
    Greetings from a sunny but quite cold day here in my part of the world!
    oxo
    Susi

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  6. A fabulous and fun page.
    xxx Hazel.

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  7. Beautiful art Linda, happy PPF, hugs Valerie

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  8. Your header is the first thing I noticed and it's lovely and so you dear Linda!
    Great way to rescue a technique that didn't go as planned/hoped.
    Sweet serious face...great idea to have a book just for faces.
    That mid week storm was very ominous.
    There was this odd yellowish glow to the sky even after the torrential rain and wicked wind that made me a bit uneasy.
    Glad all is well for you and here too.
    Happy beginning of the weekend oxo

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  9. I can feel the music in your love piece, so happy! Good to know the storm has passed!

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  10. I am so glad you didn't toss the 3 circles. I also saw 3 faces but wasn't creative enough to envision your live, laugh, love. Your header piece is just fantastic. Love, love, love it as well as the gorgeous lady you painted.

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  11. Loving the new header to the page! Gorgeous colours and that great little bird! The circle background that didn't quite go to plan is now just lovely! So glad you didn't reject it! The little face from your face book is lovely too. So sorry to hear of the storms battering the US! It's very cold here in the UK at the moment, but the weather hasn't been quite as wild as where you are. Have a lovely weekend, Linda. I get such pleasure from seeing your art and reading your posts on a Friday. xx

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  12. love the faces... and a new journal is so exciting isn't it... very exciting to have all those pages to fill...

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  13. I like your new header as well and of course your creativity is always tops with me.:) Take care.

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  14. To let things just happen is the strength of playing and making art. Love your result with the smiling faces.

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  15. Beautiful new header. Love the faces - and your cursive! It looks like a professional font:-).

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  16. I love your header but did not see the previous one. Love the idea of a tiny book and this sweet drawing!

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  17. I love your new header....it's so pretty and I do try and cherish simple things everyday- so this will be a perfect reminder for me when I come and visit :)

    Well done for sticking with your page.... I quite like the 'ugly stage' because for me thats when I let go of the fear of 'ruining' a page and just begin to let go and relax... after all it is only paper.

    Your happy faces made me smile. I like seeing all your faces Linda.... I like the expression of your serious one.

    Glad you stayed safe in yet more bad weather....

    Hope you have a great weekend

    Karen x

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  18. Lovely!!! happy PPF! Wishing you a lovely weekend!

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  19. Happy to know you are OK and creating happy lovely art. Have a great weekend.

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  20. Sounds (and looks!) like you had fun this week :-) Your header is looking great! All ready for Spring eh!? Happy that the storm didn't get to you!

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  21. A funny thing is I saw three happy faces too!
    It's gorgeous Linda - definitely keeper in my book!
    What fun you are having.
    Happy Sunday
    Shane

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  22. Fantastic projects Linda! Your faces look outstanding! Happy PPF :)

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  23. Love your page I love your header.

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  24. I have never used oil pastels, I will have to give it a try, I love the face you made :) beautiful!

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  25. Gorgeous new header Linda and great imaginative use of the three rings. It sounds like you had fun.
    So glad that the storm passed and all's well. Now you can concentrate on filling all those pristine pages of your new journal. Enjoy!

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  26. Oh I love the scribbled faces.. turned out wonderful with a favorite quote too! In the eighties I bought all my close friend live, love and laugh necklaces!! My daughter used it for years too!! So fun!!

    Hugs Giggles

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  27. I'm almost shy posting my feeble attempts. You are very good!
    (ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!

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  28. Hi! I've just joined Paint Party Friday and having poking around seeing what many are doing. I like your drawing and how you developed it into such a happy work! I'll look forward to seeing more throughout the year! Julene from Oregon

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  29. Love how you used the cat image on both background and as focal point. I love it. Thanks for joining in Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge :)
    Gayatri xx

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  30. Inner child keeps us young and crazy enough to play and try, great!
    Have a creative week!

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  31. Wow Linda, I've been gone from the internet so long you've changed your blog header. It is awesome!

    I saw the faces before you even mentioned them. I knew I could make something with that, because that would be the type of art I'd be capable of. Of course, I wasn't going for a background technique, which proved to be less than successful. I always get frustrated when I try something I've seen on a blog and it's only given partial instructions for a successful completion. I thought you did a great save, though.

    Love the cat and so do my two. They both give your adorable "pet" two paws up!

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  32. Hello Linda. Your three faces piece is so much fun, isn't it good when something "ordinary" turns into something that makes you happy, and really, if we look, the smiles were there all the time.
    That's such a detailed oil pastel painting of a face in a 4 x 4 book.
    Create art, simple things, home - magical and inspiring words, I love your header, it's terrific.

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  33. Love the new header! Reminds me of a fairy tale--maybe Hansel and Gretel. Such happy faces--and I am with you--if it makes me smile--it stays. (I kind of feel that way about people too.) xo

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  34. Linda, just read your comment about the documentary shorts. I agree they were very, very depressing, but so were ALL the shorts they showed. Even the animated shorts were culturally motivated and I only laughed once in the entire seven hours. That was at a sign in Stutterer, which I didn't vote for, but won. I admit it was the most enjoyable of all the shorts, but it didn't seem to fit with the others, which were culturally and religiously based for the most part. It was truly a sad group, but I sat through the entire thing. I fell asleep for a few minutes in the one where the guy kidnapped his daughter. I think it was called "It's all good," but I knew enough of the plot that those few minutes (probably no more than 3 to 5) of sleep did me a world of good. Too bad your friend didn't enjoy the shorts. I actually enjoyed them, even though they were quite depressing. It reflects the state of our world these days, I fear.

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  35. I think you salvaged that ink doodled paged fabulously. How cute is that! Oh man, don't use the word snow. Funny how by March saying snow is just about as bad as a swear word. Happy T Day and enjoy! Hugs.

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  36. Love your journal page even before you finished ~ reminded of Picasso ~ and great portrait sketch and great card too!

    Happy Week to you ~ ^_^

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  37. Dear Linda, I love your creativity and passion for it. Thank you so much sharing and big hugs to you!

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Thank you so much for your comments; it's a pleasure to connect with you!