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| February Calendar (She Art Girl) |
Donna is a good talker. So am I. That is why my name spelled backwards is YAK. I am not sure what she is explaining here, but suffice it to say she is a good talker-teacher! Getting to know Donna was half the fun! 
"Dear God" she prayed, "Let me be something at every minute of every hour of my life. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost." Have you ever worked on a 12x12 canvas? I had worked with 12x12 scrapbook pages in the past, so why not give it a try in the mixed media art world?! (she said to herself) So ... she did. 
And it was both fun and freeing to have the opportunity to fill a lot of extra surface area, all around my little darlin' girl. Now, I could have made little darlin' girl BIG, but maybe next time. For now, I like her full profile. I love the uneven ruffle on her dress, hemmed with pearls. (Be warned: I am brewing up a little idea inside my head to make a big profile using only her face and upper body. I brew ideas, not coffee.) 
And a notebook to matchy matchy. Guess who is typing on a new laptop? And guess who went to see the movie "The Help" yesterday? I live a charmed life, I do!
Now, I must go and "labor" on Labor Day. As in, I have been to 8 states in 2 weeks, and only taken 2 vacation days (in addition to the weekends), all in a car (not in an airplane), and that means the laundry needs done. I just got a telephone call from my High School Math Teaching Son, Keaton, who wanted to know if he would look like a cool High School Math Teacher in a white double pocket dress shirt? The issue was the double pockets, he said. He thought math teachers only wear 1-pocket shirts. So, ultimately, after deep, soul-searching conversation, we decided that he would be a trend-setter. My son, the trend-setter. Yes, I really do live a charmed life, I tell ya!
This was an experiment. On a canvas apron. With a head full of ideas. And no understanding of how certain mediums would "take" to the canvas. But how are ya gonna learn if you don't try? And so try, I did. The worst that could happen would be a donation to the trash can, right? But it ended up pretty cute!
First, a word about Shiva Paint Sticks - which are oil based - and they stink. Oooh boy, do they stink! If anyone has an idea on how to get the smell out of the finished apron, do share! I've heat set it in my dryer and that did seem to help a bit. But now I'm over the smell -- now I'm just into the cuteness factor!
I used stencils and a stipple brush to add the flowers, later highlighting them with white dots of acrylic paint and yes, I actually sewed on the buttons! ME? Sewing? Unbelievable. Using some of the techniques I learned in the online class, She Had Three Hearts Workshop, I added more texture to the back ground by using stamps and staz-on ink - here and there and everywhere.
After stamping the dragon fly images, I went back with white acrylic paint to make them pop. I found a dotted leaf stamp in my stash, which further added definition and texture to my hand-drawn leaves. Mixed media is just that -- mixed. I am loving the journey! Whatever you are doing creativity, I encourage you to go a teensy tiny bit outside your comfort zone ... and just watch how your heart takes flight! Yes, I will get out my stinky Shiva Paint Sticks again. It was just waaay too much fun! 
Here's my traveling buddy Lynn in her new Donna Downey apron! It's a true fashion statement babycakes! Diva -- through and through. Love this girl.
For a quick minute, Sisterpants mistakenly thought she was in a hair salon and was about to give Linda a trim! Look at the look on Linda's face .... priceless! Notice the Welcome Donna sign hanging on the wall? I thought that was such a nice touch. Kudo's to Altered Angel for putting on such a fun event!
Talk about a look on someones face?! Check out Ms. Downey herself! That just cracks me up. It's so Donna. I have no earthly idea what prompted the look, but it absolutely positively most assuredly qualifies as the look doesn't it?! 
Take a looksy at Lynn, peeking through the crowd at Donna's demonstration, looking all cute in her fashionista apron! Someday, we are going to find her on the Advanced Style blog - I just know it!
Here's a shot of me and sisterpants! Smiley Sisterpants are we!
The three musketeers - Kay, Lynn, and Sisterpants Joyce. I was having a decent hair day. Don't you just love life when you have a decent hair day? It's all about the hair.
Fun times, fun friends, lots of laughs, good memories, beautiful art, fabulous teacher, very cool scrap book store, lots of learning, reflective thinking, and the presence of peace in my heart. So thankful for it all. 
But it didn't. End there. It ended here. With Donna writing in my book with a nib pen and India ink. In my book. Donna Downey wrote IN MY BOOK! In true Donna teaching style, she said she could not just write any ole' words because it was not HER book, so she asked me what words to write. On the spot - that was me. So I went with my gut. She wrote the words I spoke "Donna said all art is beautiful. She taught me to be brave." And she did. Teach me to be brave in art.
With this brave new art feeling, I colored in the loopy loo parts of the lettering with Faber-Castel markers. So what's the image on the center part of the page? Thank you for asking! It's another technique that Donna demonstrated in my book. Donna Downey demonstrated image transfer IN MY BOOK! You start with an image or picture that you print out on plain ordinary white copy paper and you transfer the image using Golden Regular Gel Matte Medium. Talk about brave! Isn't that just too cool? Next picture is my attempt to write with a nib pen and black India ink.
I wanted to document the day with some art journaling. I like it! I can see myself incorporating my own hand-writing into my art journaling this way. I'll put my brave on as I go, which will more than likely produce some loopy loo lettering! Here's the entire layout, complete with the inclusion page. It's special to me. ... I mean, Donna's page on one side and mine on the other. Melts me.
A close up picture of the inclusion page. All of Donna's inspiration journals come with a variety of inclusion pages - makes it all the more "one-of-a-kind" cool. I thought it quite fitting to add a ruffle made with book paper since Donna had shown us in our earlier class how to gather, oops I mean smish, it into place. The art of smishing! It's brave, baby! Are you beginning to see the YOUnique part of keeping an inspiration journal? Let that sink in.
Donna's Inspiration Journal class is definitely NOT for kit-oriented people. You show up with a gob of your own art supplies, you dump them out in your work space, and you respond artistically to her art prompts which, trust me, are not ordinary. Some people finished pages, others went to a new page each time she grew our mind in a new way. Yours truly is a Type A personality (everything has a place, and there's a place for everything). So, naturally, I would have come down with a major headache if I had tried to skip from page to page. Thus, here's some of my "finished" pages. This layout was the result of some cards Donna handed out - everyone had a different card and we were to take whatever inspiration we wanted from it (shape, size, color). Ironically, at that same moment, my girlfriend sitting next to me handed me a wad of burgundy and olive green felt flowers, stating she didn't like them. My brave kicked in and within 2 nano-seconds I had them glued on the page! Thank you Linda - I love 'em!
Next up, we were to trade places with someone we don't know - and take our inspiration journal. We did. And there we sat, an expectant class. That's when Donna announced we were to create, using someone else's gobs of art supplies! Too Fun!
I got to use water color crayons! And ribbons and flowers and stamps! And I made a new friend at the same time! Here's my finished layout, using my new friend's stuff:
The next layout incorporated some hand-drawing with a charcoal pencil, and using a punch (both the positive and negative). This was actually my first page during the 3-hour class ... and definitely my least brave! LOL 
Visit Donna's blog for her Inspiration Wednesday video's, and I bet you can't help but put on your brave too! After taking this class, one thing on my to-do list is kinda weird ... but meaningful to me. Donna had noticed that all my gobs of art supplies were neatly packaged in plastic baggies, which were inside baggies, which were inside more baggies (did I mention Type A personality?). And we did fly there, for Pete's sake, and it was in my checked baggage! I love justifying! But true to Donna's teaching style, she noticed my Type A baggies, and she came along and did the baggie dump, tumbling art supplies all over my Type A organized work space. I laughed, and suppressed the multi-tasking clean up headache that I envisioned would come my way later. And told her I would stick my hand in those baggies and use it to paint something in my inspiration journal. She loved the idea! I do too. Brave chick. That's me!
