It's sunny and it feels like spring!

A few of weeks ago, I drew these narcissus bulbs growing fast but missed seeing them in full bloom. On my walk today, flowers appeared everywhere.

With the sun out, the bulbs in the ground are blooming. I love the sunny color of the crocus . . .


the the sweet fragrance of the daphne by the front door

and the primroses. Did you see the snow moon lunar eclipse last night and the bright moon early this morning? Check out Michele's eclipse photos. What a blessing it is to witness these events and the renaissance of spring!

Monoprint Rubbings

I wanted to change the appearance of this camouflage-like fabric.
I took a letter texture plate used for polymer clay and did a rubbing with Caran d'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble wax pastels. The effect appears very subtle. If I'd used a more contrasting color, the letters would show up more.

For this rubbing, I used Shiva Artist's Paintstiks- an oil-based fabric paint. It's very messy and harder to rub the lines on the fabric from the texture plate. I like the pastel colors. This sets with heat and becomes permanent.

Mail Art Received Today

What a pleasant surprise to receive this envelope in the mail today all the way from Texas.

Lynn sent one of her journal pages from our PLAY Retreat in Port Townsend. It's wonderful to make new friends and share our artwork. Thank you, Lynn

Happy Valentine's Day

Monotypes with Fabric Sun Printing Paints

The sun came out yesterday for the first time in weeks. I'm taking a Joggles monoprinting class from Susun Sorell. I rushed to paint the muslin with Setacolor Soleil sun printing fabric paint, add the elements for printing and sprinkle with salt.

Here's my printed monotype fabric after six hours of exposure in the not so bright but sunny Northwest.

I like the print made on the foam core and will experiment using this technique with different kinds of papers and fabircs. Thank goodness the sun came out or I might not have completed this lesson.

Board Book Journal

Last May at our Portland Art Collective retreat, I made this 6x6 inch board book inspired by Juju Vail's article in Cloth Paper Scissors. I tore 2 inch squares of different papers on hand, glued them onto the board book pages and gessoed over them.

I wanted more color for the cover so I painted over each square with dilute watercolors.

I added black gaffers tape to reinforce the spine and outlined the edges with a large black Sharpie and added the title.

While at the PLAY retreat, I discovered Jesse Reno. His book Truth Will Measure captured my imagination. Juju drew her images in pencil. Charcoal and pencil are too messy for me. I drew these figures in Reno's style with my Pitt pens, added Neocolor II Caran d'Ache water-soluble wax pastels for vibrant color and Tracy Moore's hand-carved stamps. The new Sharpie paint markers write over the wax pastels with ease.

Here's a page in progress. Gwen carved the wonderful eye stamp and now I need to add color and texture to the face and finish the page. To work on developing my own style, I'm practicing drawing in the styles of artists I like or whose work speaks to me. I'll share more of these pages in the future.

Playing for a Week

Last week, I drove up to Vashon to spend a few days with Marianne and then on to Port Townsend, Washington for a Play Retreat with Teesha and Tracy Moore. Thirty- five of us played all day and part of the night in the Commons making journals and journaling with visual art and writing. We stayed at Fort Worden State Park in the Officer's Quarters (remember the movie An Officer & A Gentleman). The photo above captures a glorious sunset. The best part of the long weekend- making a new art friend, Gwen.

I really like the journal I made with the covers and all the painted pages. One of my 2008 resolutions is to journal regularly and make it a habit.

Here's the first page. It's easier for me to do the art work. The writing takes more effort. I see myself playing in my new journal all year.