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Sunny Sunflowers

4/24/2015

I started a new quilt this week. I am painting sunflowers. We had a couple of nice warm days and then it got cold again. I decided not to wait for the summer flowers to show up, but to make my own flowers. I love sunflowers of all kinds and have planted bright sunny yellow ones and also the autumn colored flowers. Maybe I should try planting them again this year, when it finally gets warm.

I am still working in my art journal and have completed a couple new pages. This page was just about playing with a couple of techniques. My journal is getting really full, so the pages are harder to photograph. That's okay with me though because I love having full chunky journals.

This page is from a Lifebook lesson. It was fun playing with gold leaf. It adds a lot of shine to the page and I really like shiny on my art journal pages.

My art quilting group learned about fabric painting this week. I sketched the flowers out on cotton fabric before the meeting. I have been working on painting all week. I still want to add some more details to the flowers and I need to paint the background too. After all the painting is done I will start thread sketching and then quilting. I'll keep sharing my progress.

Have a great weekend and live your life creatively.

Janelle

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Art Journal Groove

4/16/2015

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I have finished a couple more lessons from Lifebook that I wanted to share. This one was all about celebrating your favorite things. It is always good to remember the things that make life good. The background for this page was created with watercolors that feel chalky when they are dry. They do make a nice soft look and were good for this page.

The next three pages were lessons from Lifebook also. They were all quick exercises in intuitive painting without worrying about the end results. The point was to tap into your inner child and have fun with the process. They all has time limits as well. They were painted at 15, 10, & 5 minutes respectively.

This first one was a finger painting with the addition of a few more tools. I used my basic acrylic paints.

This one is painted with Golden acrylics with a brush and a rubber painting tool.

This page was painted wet into wet with Twinkling H2O watercolors. They have a beautiful shimmer that the photo doesn't capture at all. These are my favorite watercolors and are so fun to use.

I created this page using my church bulletin after Divine Mercy Sunday last Sunday. I used a stencil from Artistcellar that went perfectly with the subject. It is done with modeling paste and the colors from the background colored it slightly.

I have been having fun painting in my journal. I am getting close to finishing this one. I'll probably be making a new journal this summer some time. I love filling up these journals, it is so relaxing to have a safe place to practice and process life stuff.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Janelle

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The benefits of happy

4/9/2015

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Hello Everyone,
It is finally starting to get warm here and feel a bit more springlike. The warmth makes me happy, that and my hubby has been home for his spring break this week. Spending a week together while the kids are at school most of the time is always nice. Being a teacher he doesn't get to choose when his vacations are, but at least he has enforced breaks. Life has been feeling good lately. I'm trying to dwell on the happy instead of the rough things that we face. I don't ignore the bad parts, but I'm trying not to worry and just take each day and really see the good parts.

I hope that you too can focus on all the good that comes your way and be happy. Sometimes that isn't easy, but I think that we benefit so many ways when we don't dwell on the negative all the time.

I have been working on some more journal pages lately. I think that they show that my mood has been pretty good. I love using colors and subjects that make me happy. These are all from Lifebook lessons, so I didn't choose the concept. I did choose colors and themes that have meaning to me though. I love taking a lesson and personalizing it.

I gave my happy puppy a nice bright background. I mixed browns, greens, and gold for the ground. Most of the background was finger painted. I still love the feel of finger painting like I did when I was a kid.

This one is all about my inner and outer world. I made a collage that had meaning to me and I used a face that I had painted previously. I made a color copy of a painting. I think that if I would have used a bigger face it would have been easier to paint over it. Next time I will do that.

This is my favorite lesson. It was interesting using more black and white and a less shaded face. I also love the pops of bright color. This one was just fun to do. I still want to work on the 3/4 face, so that I can draw them better. I feel that I am making progress on my faces.

How does your mood affect your creativity?

I hope that you can have a great weekend and be happy.
Janelle

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Art Quilting

4/3/2015

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I made an art quilt using the crayon block that I showed you a couple of weeks ago. I added some of my hand dyed fabric and finished her up earlier this week. This time I used machine free motion stitching to add details. Next time I may use some hand stitching to add even more details, especially to the flowers.

Now I just need a name for her and to add a hanging sleeve to the back.
Enjoy this blessed Easter weekend.
Janelle

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Hands and Harts Blog

Sunny Sunflowers

Art Journal Groove

The benefits of happy

Art Quilting

Serenity Cabin

Janelle Marks

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Check out my husband's website. He is a writer and has written about our life and many other amusing stories.