A LOVELY Holiday Morning!

It's absolutely lovely at the moment! Can't resist sharing a picture of my morning view!  

 During the high summer months, the first light is always reflected on the distant Redwoods first. Now that the sun is slightly lower in the Eastern morning sky, it's illuminating the trees nearest me first! What a spectacular gift!

So, I'm lazing in bed, 8am, way late for me! Thought I'd share some of yesterday's work. (Oh, good news, I sold another painting and an altered journal in the shop yesterday... Yay!)

 So, school started last week and I'm really excited about my classes. Thought I'd start with a beginner's mind and take a basic painting class.  This teacher is amazing, already I've learned the concept of a "double primary" pallet. (duh!) A warm red & cool red, warm blue, cool blue, warm/cool yellows. I challenged him to make an ochre... a color I've never been able to mis (double duh!)... needless to say, he demoed all kinds of hard to mix colors. (So, I'm really excited to forget everything I've always known, and start fresh!)

The second studio art class is a fibers class. We're starting by reconstructing a favorite piece of clothing to create an autobiographical garment. I'm taking apart my favorite painting shirt and plan to add lots of embellishments (Rosemary Eichorn style).

So both classes need a sketch journal for ideas and such. I decided to use one hard cover journal, blank pages, and simply turn it over for each class. Did I describe that right? Painting notes on one side, flip the book over and upside down, and fiber notes on the other.  Here's the basic black journal.

Of course I had to decorate the book for each class....

 Here is the FIBERS side. Lots of aged fabrics and some papers. A cemetery angel pic I took years ago, vintage lace, etc.  I'm not happy with the stamping of the word FIBER... I might go back and lay in some paint.

So this is layers and layers of water color paper that I've stamped on, applied papers to, etc.  It's hard to see, but the mask is actually decorating a library card envelope. Thought I could put some tags in it, with class notes or something.  I started with a piece of watercolor paper and painted that basic double-primary, cools on the left and warms on the right. I think it looks a bit garish at the moment.  Still have work to do, grunge the edges maybe. Any thoughts? (Please comment!)

Here it is with one of the tags I made. The tags are too big though. I can't get all three (double-primaries again) to fit.

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 I liked how Mystele included a piece of graph paper in her adorable little cards. I'm thrilled to own several very small samples of her work!

Check her "Little Glimpses" Etsy shop!

Well, time to get the show on the road.  

Art Studio? I hear you calling! 

Please leave a comment! 

I really appreciate the feedback!