New Stencil Designs!

Color Wheel Stencils are here!

Have you ever been working on a project and thought, I wish I had _____________? Well that is how my new line of stencils was born!

I was working on samples for workshops and drawing color wheels for the umpteenth time and I thought I really wish I had a stencil of these, not only are they handy for working out color palettes, they are such beautiful design elements to use in art journals and other projects. So after a talk with Mary Beth Shaw from Stencil Girl Products I went to work on some and now they are ready to go!

Just click on any of the stencil images and they will take you right to Stencil Girls website

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Complementary 6 x 6

Here are some journal pages that I used the stencils on. I had a wonderful opportunity to share take them ( and a whole host of new designs) for a test drive with my students at Art Is You…Nashville this past weekend. I will be sharing more new designs in my line over the next few weeks.

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Hue Tint Tone Shade 6 x 6

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Hue Tint Tone Shade Outline 6 x 6

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Primary Secondary Tertiary 6 x 6

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Simple Color Wheels 9 x 12

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Exciting News!

Wow! This morning I looked at my hit counter, and it is at 9,900 since I installed it! I’m feeling a little give away when it hits the 10,000 mark, so stay tuned…

I have some of exciting news to share with you. Gail Schmidt, of Shabby Cottage Studios, and Mind Wide Open, is now going to offer online workshops at Creative Workshops! She has asked me to teach one and I am very excited to do so. I will be teaching ‘Visual Journalism 101‘ starting January 12th. I will post more when it gets a bit closer and registration is open for the class, but you can head over to Creative Workshops and check out Sherry Smyth’s class, ‘Home For The Holidays’ and join the network.

January 2009 will also see two articles and my journal pages from my first two journals published in the inaugural issue of Somerset’s ‘Art Journals’. I am so very happy to be able to share how meaningful keeping a visual journal can be, and what a valuable tool it is in creative pursuits.

The Fruits of My Labors

Labor’ would be an exaggeration. Painting is a labor of love. It is harder not to create, than it is to let it out. I start to get very antsy if I cannot get into my studio for any length of time. Even if I am not inspired, prepping a canvas, tidying up, or writing in my journal helps me to unwind. I have to admit, that I love the ‘smell’ of art supplies-lol! I guess that is an occupational hazard as my DH loves the smell of jet fuel. The smell of gesso, so pristine and white, and full of possibility, reminds me of long ago art rooms of my school days. I am preparing myself at the same time I am preparing a canvas. It is cleansing. It opens my mind. It allows me to leave problems at the door. It is the first step in the process of creating. I never feel like this is a ‘chore’, it is the anticipation of the next step in my artistic journey.
How do you prepare yourself for your next project? Do you have a favorite step in your process of creating art? I would love to hear from you, so if you want to share a bit of your artistic ritual, please do!
These are scans of part of my finished pieces, ‘Bounty’ and ‘Harvest’. You can see the works in their entirety in my etsy shop.

Cover Art

My husband has finished his first novel!!! Much happy dancing going on around here! He is now in search of an agent and had asked me to do a piece of cover art for him, along the lines of ‘A Silver Ring’ which was published in Somerset in May. His novel is loosely based on his Uncle that is portrayed in this heroes inspired work. The book has the same title. He really liked what I came up with and I’m hopeful that it will help his submissions to stand out a bit. It can be long process at this stage, so we will sit with fingers crossed. I also wanted to show you a couple of extreme journal pages that I did. These were done while waiting in an airport and I only used things found there, napkins, ticket stubs, newspaper, drawing things around me, and the background is stained with Starbucks coffee! I always carry, a gluestick, charcoal, black pigma pen, white gel pen, and water soluble crayon with a brush that holds water in the handle. All of these pass through security just fine. This is a great way to challenge yourself to be creative. So my friends, go and stretch your mind for a bit of creative exercise!

A Peek At My Journal

I wanted to share a few pages from my latest journal. The first two are off at Somerset. It was hard to let them go. I started my third journal this summer. I splurged for this one, buying a lovely book with hand torn watercolor paper. I love the feel of the pages, sturdy without being stiff. The paper holds up to all I can dish out. I will share my first pages. It was intimidating to start in this lovely book. What is it about a blank page that is so scary? And this blank page was more expensive and therefore more scary! I figured I’d just plunge right in and I was happy with how it turned out. I wanted to depict a world as Pam would like it to be. Full of possibilities and discovery. As I move along in my journal I am reading a book called ‘Journal Revolution’ by Linda Woods and Karen Dinino I am working on some exercises to help free up my creativity. I will share more on that later. If you don’t keep a journal , I would like to encourage you to start. So many good ideas come from it’s pages. It is a piece of me and a way to create even when I am away from my studio.