First Pages in My Handmade Australian Piano Hinge Sketchbook

 I made this journal in a Sketchbook Revival class as a sample, with no intentions of using it, so I did the rest of the classes in my Winsor Newton mixed media sketchbook. I used paper from a very large mixed media sketchbook that I had left over from some college classes I took back around 2000, so the paper is pretty old, but it is acid free and seemed sturdy enough for this purpose. The hinges are from the same paper, and I added some gold marker paint to them since I first shared the journal (not shown here). I also added some stenciling to the front. It still needs something to fasten it, but I haven't decided what yet.

Anyway, I had an itch to sketch the other day, and I had paint drying on my W/N page, so I picked up this little gem and started playing in it. I like it, and will definitely be making another one out of better, and newer, paper. (See previous post for more about it)

I used the first page to clean off my palette of acrylics with a brush, just randomly covering the page, then added some Anthraquinone Blue, which I thought was Indigo, around the sides and let it dry while I cut out some of my squiggly artwork that I had printed off previously. When it was dry, I used a UHU glue stick to glue the squiggle art and a word phrase from a printout by Tamara Laporte to the page. I guess I needed that message that day, because it's the one out of a page full that spoke to me. 

If you look closely at the bottom right corner, there is the suggestion of a woman holding a crystal ball. I love when images appear out of chaos! And I love the cat, who looks like she is saying, "Don't you know you're enough?" I sketched her from a vintage Pinterest photo, which she looks nothing like, but I loved that she had two bows on her head. The one line vase/plant is from my imagination.

The next page is an angel with unusual wings. I had MTV videos on and happened to look up while this video was playing. It was the group, The Warning, and they were all dressed like this, in white, with the tri-colored wings, which transitioned from white at the shoulders, to gray, to black. Red heads always draw me, so I paused the TV and quickly sketched her in ink and later added a bit of watercolor. The video song was "Ritual", and although I didn't particularly care for it, it did have some stunning visual images in it.

Then I skipped over the pages to a triple fold out page that I had put in and went crazy with different media and marks to make another wild garden, which was inspired by a Karen Stamper class that I took. There is a stamped cat face on the bottom right and a sun in the top left. I love doing these with no plan or worry about how it's going to come out!

Then I went back to the third page and tried to sketch a ceramic angel, that one of my best friends made for me, in pencil, but it was sitting on the fireplace mantel across the room, and it was pretty dark from my recliner, so I messed it up. Then I re-worked it in ink. It looks nothing like a cherub, but I like it better.

The next day, I sat the same ceramic angel on the table next to my recliner and tried again in pencil. I recently learned that the reason my faces always look long and thin is because I'm trying to sketch them laying flat in front of me. I tried this one with my book standing up in front of me on an easel. Sure enough, I got a much rounder face! This one does look like a cherub to me. I've tried to sketch this numerous times, and this one is the best, so far...

This one was from a painting show on a Prime streaming channel. She was giving tips on quick sketching from life with paint and a large brush, but I found her face fascinating, so I paused the TV and sketched her. Again, I got a much better face sketched by setting my sketchbook on the easel straight up. I don't remember her name, but I actually got a tiny bit of likeness. Not happy with the hard lines on her eyes, but it is what it is, and I learned a lot!

This last one I sketched from a photo of myself. Very little likeness, and it's a much younger version, but that's not what I was after. I think it does look kind of like she's daydreaming though. Again, on the easel instead of laying down. Good practice!

What I want to do is go through mine and my mom's photo albums and sketch from our vintage family photos. I'm just having trouble finding the time and doing it without feeling guilty that I'm not cleaning or something. Guilt over not doing what you're "supposed to be doing", according to other people, is not a fun thing, even at my age. :(

I know it's been a while since my last post, and I do have some more sketches completed. I just haven't scanned them into the computer yet to post. I also have a post started that is waiting for me to finish an abstract to include. It involves horse heads, so it scares me a bit, and I keep procrastinating about tackling it...

My health is not cooperating with me either, so there's that. I'm thankful that hubby and I are doing as well as we are. We are in our late seventies, and life gets challenging sometimes, but we are grateful to still be here and able to help each other, with God's help.

Well, that's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed your visit. When you feel like you're not gaining, and your tempted to quit, don't. You never know what the next minute will bring!

Mastering Mixed Media Challenge 2026 Classes-Part 2

 As I said before, I only chose six of the 38+ free classes in this challenge, so these are the last three I completed. All were challenging, but fun, and though they may not be exactly like I wanted them to turn out, I learned a lot and gained in confidence. The first two are in my 7 x 10" Winsor Newton 135 lb mixed media sketchbook. The dog was painted on a sheet of drawing paper, then glued to a page in the same book. The paper is relatively smooth. I do these classes as small samples to learn from in my sketchbook. I can't wait to try these with my own ideas on different paper, canvas, or board!

Kitty was inspired by a class with Nadyia Duff, called "Stick, Stack, Create", and involved sketching and painting the cat (I used her reference) onto one piece of paper, and while it was drying, cutting out tree shapes, and ground shapes, then gluing them to a separate paper for the background. It also involved sketching a house in ink onto the background, leaving it unpainted, then filling in the rest with whimsical foliage in different markers, Posca pens,  pencils, etc. I also used a bit of stenciling. The cat was glued onto the background, and I added a few more marks and things, such as the gull on his head. The house is actually my gr-grandparents old home place, which I have lived on my whole life, although in a different house. I'm not used to coloring with markers, so Kitty was a challenge, but I'm ok with it! It was a good experience and something different...

This mini double spread was inspired by Tiffany Goff Smith in her class, "The Layered Playground". I turned my sketchbook sideways and folded it in the middle to get the double page effect, and I pretty much followed her ideas for layering. I used a copied page from my Senior school annual, which happened to be my cousin's class that year, for the school pictures, a copied sample of one of my best friend's handwriting torn and glued/stapled down in a couple of places, the fabric from one of my old jackets, and a piece of silk ribbon. The ribbon and ruffle are hand stitched, then I used hot pink staples to staple them to a piece of denim from one of my shirts and the page. The pictures and handwriting are also stapled together (above). The layers are made up of a variety of ephemera and mark making with different media.

The same pages with the fabric flap lifted up on the right. Another great learning experience! I loved it! I have been following this teacher for a long time on Instagram as Southern Gals Design, but didn't know her name, until I took this class. I'm so glad I did it!

The last one is from Tamara Laporte's class, "Let's Play!", and I used her reference to sketch the dog face. It's also done in layers of watercolor, acrylic, markers, etc. Also a challenge, and I didn't quite get the perspective right for the nose to be the focal point. I also didn't get enough pinkish colors on it, and what I did get isn't showing up in the photo, but I'm proud of myself for trying, and I learned some things that might be helpful about finishing the oil portrait of my little dog that I started years ago and didn't know how to finish. We'll see!

As usual with these classes I learned and experienced a lot, both with the teachers and the other students. It's also a lot of fun to learn to be able to just let go and do what I do!

I was planning to not do any more classes right now, except the ones I bought and have waiting from a couple of years ago, but another batch of free lessons (with the option to buy and keep forever) has presented itself for nine days in July, and I couldn't resist signing up, mainly because Toni Burt is one of the teachers. I have taken a few classes with her in these sessions and love her work. These sessions are called "Make, Create, Express 2026-Art is Magic Online", also with 35+ classes/teachers. 

So, I have a month to create what I want on my own! I've already done a collage piece and I have a page where I cleaned off my acrylic paint palette, on which at least three horse heads have appeared. Going to see what I can do with that! Fun stuff! Never mind that the house has been let go until it's a disaster! 

Take care! Thank you for visiting! 

Mastering Mixed Media Challenge 2026 Classes-Part 1

 I took some of the classes offered in the Mastering Mixed Media 2026 free sessions with Tamara Laporte the first couple of weeks in May. There were a ton to choose from, and I opted not to buy the VIP package to keep them all from now on, so I watched the videos and took notes for the ones I was really interested in. I know I could have learned a lot from all the awesome teachers, but didn't have time for all of them, so I concentrated on a handful, some of which I've done twice!

I was originally going to save all the chosen ones and share them in one post, but I decided to go ahead and share what I have finished, so far. These are the first three, and I'm working on the other three.

I love Toni Burt's work, so hers is the first class I took. The class was called "Wing It" and consisted of collage, loose sketching, and mark making. I used some of my gelli plate prints and some magazine prints for the collage, and I used her technique for the face sketch in pencil.

I enjoyed doing the class with Toni so much that I did another one. This time I used one of my gelli plate prints, a print of a decorated face that I had sketched in another class, and I finger painted some black acrylic paint on my mini gelli plate and stamped it on, then I sketched a frame with sumi ink on a stick. I love her! I call it "Poker Face".

The second class I did was Brooke Henry's class on an "Intuitive Art Journal". It's an accordion folded journal, but the sections are stitched together instead of glued. I wanted to learn the stitch, but I wasn't planning on doing a larger one right away, so I made a mini blank journal to get the hang of it. The stitch was tricky, because it's made for the pages to lay flat, but after a few tries I got it. Above open, below closed.

After a few days I tackled the larger journal...

I started with two large sheets of printmaking paper (because that's what I had on hand, and it had been here for ages) and started making layers on both sides. Here's what it looked like after layers of sumi ink, watercolor, bubble wrap dots, and mini gelli plate printing.

Once it had about thirteen layers of different media on both sides, I cut both papers in two lengthwise, then folded the four strips into accordion folds, and stitched to ends together. This stitch is kind of like a blanket stitch with a twist, and it hinges the ends together, but still lets them open up and lay flat. It's also supposed to be a bit grungy. Below is what it looks like now.  7 1/2" x 4 1/2"

I wound up with three journals. I am going to add writing to the pages of the larger one at some point. I'm also going to decorate the pages of the mini one, and the one with the flap is from the leftover strip I cut off of the very large sheet of paper I started with, also to be decorated later. 

I may have  overdone it a bit with the mixed media layers, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm proud of myself for making it. I love it!

The third class was with Jenny Grant and "Layers of Play", and it was on layers of transparency, which was very challenging for me, and which I didn't accomplish.

The first layers, which I messed up on right away, because I left out a stenciling layer, which was supposed to come before the colored collage bits, but I kept on with it.

I got the ink and paint layers too thick (nothing was showing through from the other layers), so I used some citrasolve to take some of the paint back off so some of the other layers showed through. Not enough, but some, plus it gave me a lot of texture.

I kept tinkering with it and added a bit of gold stenciling on top, which is not showing up much in the photo, but I'm calling it done. Nothing like the teacher's, but I like it!

I decided to try the Jenny Grant class again. These are the first layers, and this time I used a much thinner white paint layer over those. Then I collaged the colored bits over this, but I messed up again and reversed two of the layers, but I kept on. I used different colors of acrylic inks this time in much thinner layers and let it completely dry before adding another much thinner layer of white paint (below).

I did much better on the layers underneath showing through, but still not enough. 

I took a bit of paint back off on this one, but not much, and tinkered with it until I liked it. My sponge was a bit too wet on the gold stenciling, and it's still not really transparent, but I'm ok with it. It's a learning experience, and I'm thinking about trying another one...

For now, I'm working on a project that includes sketching, collage, and a mixed media cat cutout. It's challenging and different. I have two more waiting in this session of classes.

During my creative play, life goes on. We had our last eye exams with the eye Dr. that I've been seeing for fifty-eight years Friday. He's seventy-nine, and we're happy for him, but we're going to miss him. So now, I'm not only looking for a new dentist, but also a new eye Dr., plus my P.A. found that I'm anemic and wants me to go for more tests. It is sad how much time us old people have to spend sitting in doctors' offices and dealing with doctors, bills, and meds, but it is what it is, I guess.

Anyway, I hope you're all enjoying a safe and happy holiday weekend! Don't forget to squeeze in some creative time!

Prickly Pear Blooms

 My husband has been very busy cleaning up yard damage from the last storm that came through, and a few days ago when he hauled off a load of branches, limbs, etc. down in the field, the prickly pears were blooming, so he brought me back three blooms and set them in a bowl of water for me. They are so gorgeous! Unfortunately the blooms were dead the next morning. Nothing left but the pears full of stickers...

The Last Few Days Art Melange'

 I'm a bit behind on my posting, but these are some "just for fun" pieces that I did before, and during the beginning, of doing the Mastering Mixed Media Challenge with Tamara Laporte during the first two weeks of May. Class photos of work and more about that in a later post. 

All but the girls' faces at the end are in my Winsor Newton 7"x10" 135 lb mixed media sketchbook. The girls are on some random drawing and mixed media papers.

I saw a gorgeous OLD oak tree on a television show that had branches similar to these, and I remarked to hubby how we would have loved to have had one of those in the yard when we were growing up, to climb and play among the branches. The next day I took a brush with sumi ink and tried to re-create it from memory. I liked it in black and white, but decided to add a watercolor background, which I should have done first. Anyway, it was way too bright, so I tried to tone it down by taking some off and adding colored pencils. I also took some of the ink off of the tree to make it more three dimensional, and added more colored pencil marks to it. I should have planned it out better before I started, but it's more fun to just go for it! I'm ok with it...

This abstract is very loosely based on a couple of classes in the Mastering Mixed Media Challenge classes. I collaged three or four pieces from some of my gelli plate prints onto the page, painted some black acrylic paint onto my mini gelli plate and stamped it onto the page randomly, then scribbled on it with a stick and sumi ink (because I couldn't find my India ink). The center stamp reminds me of an old dark barn stable, and I'm just now noticing an eye in the bottom corner one...

This is the second one I did inspired by Toni Burt's class in the MMM classes, only instead of a face drawing in her style, I used one of mine from a Sketchbook Revival class before, and added pieces of paper torn from my gelli plate prints and more stamping with black acrylic paint on my mini gelli plate. I finished it off with a stick and sumi ink frame. I call her "Poker Face". I love her!

Experiments with watercolors, regular and sea salt on damp paper...

More experimenting with watercolor and salt...

Another experiment with sumi ink, watercolor, and regular and sea salts...

I really had fun with this one! I printed out some of my old squiggle girl, and cat, sketches to use in this mixed media page. I started off with a paper that I had cleaned my brushes off on, added some newspaper that I had printed off my photo of trees with a bird nest, a piece of tracing paper, another piece of newsprint, the tag from a teabag, some extensions of branches with my Zig marker, sumi ink, and Micron pens, a bit of colored pencil, and probably something else that I've forgotten...

These are just faces that I practiced in Toni Burt's style, from her class in MMM challenge, on random sheets of scrap paper. I used a Stabilo pencil with a bit of water on the top two and a regular pencil on the bottom three. They might show up in some later projects! My class project is coming up in a later post.

I'm only doing a handful of the many classes in the MMM challenge, and I've done two of the projects twice now, but I have about four other projects, that I've watched the videos and took notes on, to do, so I'm saving them to share in one post later. It may be a few days!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed looking at my art trials. Thank you for visiting, and I hope to see you in the next post! Keep making things. It's good for you!

April 27, 2026 Storm

 So, almost two weeks ago Monday and Tuesday started off with a bang. It began with bad storms moving through everywhere around us Monday night. It was storming when we went to bed, but we didn't think it was that bad, and the weather channel wasn't saying anything about tornado sightings nearby or anything. Not long after we went to sleep, we were awakened by really hard wind, rain, and hail hitting all sides of the house and windows. We jumped up and got dressed and went to our living room, but the worst was over in a few minutes, so we went back to bed.

When we got up the next morning, Tuesday, and looked out, we were in awe, and so grateful, that we, and our house, had been spared! Several trees were down across our driveway, big limbs were strewn all over the yard, leaves and twigs were plastered all over the sides of the house, the phone line was on the ground, and the highest window upstairs had been partially sucked out and was laying on the ground. Other stuff was also blown around out of place, and there will be a few days work of cutting and cleaning up, but that's all minor. God kept us and our home safe again! 

The trees across our driveway are in front of my dad's shop building, and there's one down by my parents' house. There is also a large tree down across the road going out to the farm and a bunch down by the gate opening onto the road. We haven't been out to the homeplace to check the damage. By the way the trees are twisted in two and branches torn out of the top, we are pretty sure a tornado passed over us. The telephone repair man agreed with us!

The day was spent surveying what we needed to do, hubby making a trip out of town for a piece of plywood to block the broken window before the next round of storms, fixing it after multiple trips up and down the stairs and a ladder, a lot of measuring, and me trying to hold the plywood while he sawed into it, plus the phone repair man showed up to put our telephone line back up.

We have next to no cell phone service at our house, so it took me five trys to get hold of the phone company and for the signal to hold long enough for me to tell them the problem. We were without a landline phone and internet all day, but had electricity until late evening when it went out for a couple of hours during more storms. The pictures don't really show the damage, and I don't have any of the trees down behind our house, out toward the old home place, but they are many.

Hubby's cousin picked him up to go with him to get a new weed eater out of town, because we live near a small town, we have to go out of town to the next town to get anything, and saw the damage. He showed up with his chainsaw the next morning and helped hubby cut multiple trees off of our driveway down to the main road. Very grateful he did!

So, hubby has gotten a lot of the trees, branches, etc. cut up and hauled off down in the field, despite everything else going on, but there's still a lot to be cleared, and he refuses to ask for help. I can't help, and I feel so bad, because he's not in good shape either. Just praying that he doesn't get hurt and takes it a little at a time With the Lord's help it'll get done, at least what has to be done so he can mow.

Bless his heart, he had just gotten the debris from the ice storm in February cleared up. Our driveway has taken a beating the last couple of months! But we're so thankful that our house and us were kept safe and sound. It could have been so much worse...

Anyway, that's some of what has been going on around here. I finished the free Sketchbook Revival 2026 classes that I was interested in by the time it ended, then a few days later I stumbled upon Tamara Laporte's taster sessions with thirty-eight plus classes, all free for fourteen days. So far, I've only taken three of those though, and I'm not going to buy the VIP package. I know I could learn a lot more from all the wonderful generous teachers, but I desperately need to do some house cleaning if I can, along with my daily art practice and PT exercises.

I know this was a long post, so I'll stop now and see ya in the next one! Stay safe out there!