The 4th, journaling, kids, and my feelings about the park

 We are in the thick of it. 

Summer.  Hot. Art. Marriage. Kids.

Life. of it.

Jeanette had a really good point,

 that social media only shows the perfect, 

when clearly everyone's perfect life is not perfect. 

I get that & it's annoying.

But I do like looking back on the little moments throughout week that are kairos, you know?

Because I really do forget all of these little details as soon as they're gone.

I'm exhausted. I'm sure you are too. 

But looking back through our days and weeks makes me happy.

I was so spoiled this week. 

My aunt & cousin came out from Texas and we stayed on Mission Beach.

For a whole night. Without kids. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...

And we sat on the porch and drank wine and ate Trader Joes concoctions

and walked around the beach and rode the rollercoaster and doodled and painted and slept in.

We had a great 4th of July. I loved it, actually. Mellow. 

Barbeque and firework and bubbles, and of course I forgot to take pictures.

Watching fireworks with friends and their cute kids...

I love this picture of Darryl and Josh, 

my mom and Jack watching fireworks.

They were thrilled.

I have been stalking this blog ever since Judy Giusta Facebooked it.
Whatever you do don't read it if you don't want to get on a plane
and fly to Russia and adopt 2 precious little souls with me. Tomorrow.

Don't tell my husband.

I love this book. I think I'm the last person on the planet to read it.

Bit by bit. 

I want to read this book...

Art journaling. My love. 

Makes me happy just thinking about it. 

I made a photo transfer for the first time and it came out amazing.

I kind of can't believe it. It's like magic.

The possibilities are endless. Seriously excited about this.

I scratched too hard, where the arrows are,

but it is seriously so beautiful to me. 

I'll have an art journaling tutorial (Day 19) about photo transfers on Monday.

It's seriously easy. I mean it.

Here are my new canvases...

I've bee making lots and lots of art. 

Don't worry, I will burn out and take a break soon, 

but right now I am on a roll.

Here are some new flowers I've been working on in the middle of the night. 

After 5 years of making art and having littles I cannot even begin to find a balance.

Some times I just fall over at 7:00 after a day with them 

and sometimes I stay up until 3 because I just want to and

 I'm on a roll and I don't want to stop.

What do you do? Seriously, I wanna know. 

What do you do?

I love my kids and I love my art.

 I'm a better, kinder, gentler person when I have art in my life.

both are a necessary.

I love it. It seriously makes me so happy. 

And so tired.  

I have a perfect solution, it just doesn't seem to be working for me. 

If only I didn't have to sleep... 

I know. it's season. 

And a sweet, sweet season at that.

Exhausting and beautiful is what it is.

And the nights. Seriously, the nights.
The nights are cools and quiet and perfect.
I love outdoor summer nights with the littles riding around the backyard.
Happy summer friends. 

American Flag Art Love for you

Here's some American Flag Art love for you today. 

Hope you have a great one.

31 Days of Scripture Art Journaling:: Day 19: Altering Photos

Start here.

Day 19: Altering Photos

There are so many ways to use and alter photos in your art.
Today we are just going to paint over them. That's it! Easy. Fun.
because you don't have to be a great artist and create something from scratch.

You will need:
Color copies or ink jet printed copies of your photo
*Tomorrow we'll be creating transfers which require laser copies,
so if you are already at the kinko and making laser copies, make a few extra.

Everything else you need for all the other days...
paint
paper
gel medium
brushes
etc.

 I keep my photos & copies in folders by subject.
Aren't I so organized? I just impressed myself.
Really, I just made these files, but I keep them in a big heap in a drawer. 

Here are the real pics I took, posterized on picmonkey, and ordered from shutterfly.

Then I took them to Kinkos (I know the name changed, but it will always be kinkos in my book.)

and enlarged them & made color copies.

It's really fun to play with the colors and density and the settings on the copy machine.

***Secret Tip: The people that work there really appreciate it when your 2 year old pulls out all the candy and runs around the store and you take 30 minutes just to put it back and they beg you to leave while they clean it up because they just can't take it any more.

These are my great grandma Dorothy's teacups.

Love them. I really want to do something with them.

This is Quail Gardens.

Love all the succulents.

More flower fields...

Okay. Let's start.
1. Gesso
 I started with gesso and paint and dragged it around the page with a paper towel.

2. Paper
I glued some paper scraps down with gel medium
and then tore up the color copies and glued them on top.
The gel medium is still wet here, so it looks opaque,
but it dries clear.

3. Paint
This picture is horrible in my kitchen lighting in the middle of the night,
but I just painted on top of the copy. That's it.
I also painted around it and added some paint details.

Here it is closer...

4. Sharpie.

And more detail with Sharpie.
i went a little overboard.
Here is the final page.
And I don't like it one bit.

The colors just look harsh & ug to me.
But it's done and it's journaling and it's all about the process, right?
Here are some more details...

Day 20: Photo Transfers

See all 31 Days

31 Days of Scripture Art Journaling:: Day 18: Using Photos in your Art Journal

Start here.

Day 18: Using Photos in Your Art Journal

I love to use photos in my journals.
These are real, old fashioned photos that I ordered from shutterfly.
You'll need real photos for this scratchy technique today,
but tomorrow we'll use color photocopies,
which are really cool to paint over.

Encouraged in heart and united in love 
Colossians 2:2

1. Start with photos.
Go out into your world and take photos of everything.
these are the ranuncula flower fields in Carlsbad this spring.
So beautiful!

I enlarged these flowers and posterized them in PicMonkey
to make them look more impressionistic.

As you can see...
I have a bunch of photos.
I'm constantly taking photos, finding inspiration everywhere.

2. I started this page without gesso, only paint, because I thought the map of Rome was really cool.
I squirted a couple colors right on the paper and smeared them around with a paper towel.

3. Then I added paper scraps.

And more paper...

4. And some paint.

5. I tore some of the photos and glued them down with gel medium, but I was careful 

to only get it on the back because it messes up the photo if you paint over it.

Then I painted some details with different colors.

6. Then I scratched some of the emulsion off to add a little more texture.

I got the part I wanted to scratch wet with a q-tip.

Then I gently scratched off the emulsion with a paper clip.

7. Finally, I added details with white paint on top of the photo
and added more detail with a Sharpie on top of that.

8. I added details with letter stamps and a an extra fine point Sharpie
to finish this one off.

Here's the finished page...

And here are some details...

Okay, have fun with your photo and share them with me.
Either on Facebook or in the comments.
I'd love to see how you use photos in your journal.

See Day 19: Altering Photos

See all 31 Days