Labor Day Weekend is here

After just one week in school, the granddaughters have three days off... and their parents have disappeared into the swamps of Louisiana for a three-day getaway.  So, studio time has to be put on hold a little while yet.  But I can still work on journals.

I just took advantage of a Mixed Media webinar, by the guys at Journal Fodder Junkies, and learned a bunch.  My first art journals are full now, and I am oh, so ready to start new ones with the additional skills I learned from the authors.  The neatest thing (why didn't I think of this?) is to journal with a water-soluble pencil, and then wash a little water over it, to color the page.  Some of the words still show through, then you emphasize one or two of the words with a different colored pen or pencil, embellishing as you wish.  It looks great!  And then transfers on top of that, or stamping.  So journals can therefore be a bit more personal and not so ditto-ish (girly drawing, doodles, one or two words).  I always have had trouble finding just the one or two word headline for a page.  To me, journaling is about writing.  You know, writing words.  This gives the opportunity to do both on the same page the result is both attractive and unique.

I did work on a few paintings last week that have been in the hopper, and have been dying my own fabric pieces for the art quilts.  I guess I still have a lot going on at once.  But I watched yet another tutorial by Daniella Woolf, who does encaustic.

 She seems to have the same ADD issues I have -- wanting to do it ALL RIGHT NOW, so her solution is to give herself assignments, for example for one month she ONLY uses two specific colors in her work.  I can take that and apply it to me, for instance for one week ( a month is too long) I will sew.  Then one week I will paint.  Then one week I will work on albums.  I am going to try this and see if it works for me.