Journeys in My Art Journal

  Thanks to everyone for the comments last week, and for the insight as to what the special shrub I posted could be. If you missed it, go here and if you know what it is please let me know. Some said it could be a honeysuckle and someone also mentioned it could be abelia. So far none of the photos of either of these looked quite like mine (at least on google). So further research needs to be done.

 For  T Stands For Tuesday with Bleubeard and Elizabeth I have two special things to share. First of all I want to thank Darla who last week posted such a beautiful photo she had taken of wetlands. I commented that it would make a beautiful painting as well. Couldn't get it off my mind so naturally I painted it in my journal. (Click on "Darla" to take you to her photo-and do take a moment to leave her a comment).

 This is the finished page:

                                                                         Wetlands

 I knew I wanted to approach this in the wabi-sabi way as in Serena Barton's fabulous book ( yes, I've referred to her and her book many times since its release:)! So I began my page with textures:

 I gave the pg. a coat of gesso then used a combination of embossing paste and torn bits of handmade textured paper. The colors were all made by using Serena's reinker glaze formula. Before the glazes were dry I used the point of a tiny scissor and incised to mimic the shape of the grasses. Here is a close up of the detail:

  Over the weekend hubby and I took a drive on a gorgeous day. On the way home we stopped in a nearby town to browse thru the Zionsville Antiques mall. It was huge-with lots of booths so it took quite awhile to go through. No, I didn't purchase anything. However, look what I found to share with my "T" friends:

                                                     Teapot Chimes!
 I'd never seen anything like them before-made from vintage sterling silver teapots and silverware. Quite unique but not for me-and they were quite pricey too.

 One final art page from my journal. This time it is another abstract painting. The inspiration came from study 40 practice from the book  "Abstracts 50 Inspirational Projects" by Rolina van Vliet. I find it an excellent source for understanding color, shape, theory,composition, style, etc. etc. It began on this page which already had gelli printed deli paper strips glued on:

 I chose to flip it horizontally, then cut out basic cup and pitcher shapes from more gelli print papers and played with the arrangement on my page:

 Once happy with it I glued down the pieces and lined them with a charcoal pencil. And this is the finished result:

                                                                  Abstract Still Life

 I'm linking to Art Journal Every Day, Inspiration Avenue (theme is "show and tell"), Mix it Monthly (theme is "still life". New theme coming for November so do check it out!) and of course my peeps at Paint Party Friday.

 For those of you celebrating Halloween and Trick Or Treat I wish you nothing but ghoulish fun and lots of treats!

 Leaving you today with a quote about wabi-sabi art. I love this one.

                  " Pare down to the essence, but don't remove the poetry."    Leonard Loren