Mixed Media journal page FRANCE

You've seen the page on the right before from my mixed media journal. The page of the left is done with spray watercolors, spray gesso and très belle stencils from my pal Mary Beth Shaw's company StencilGirl  (this stencil and this one.)  
Click here to see why I'm dreaming of France.

I'm in Portland Oregon and today is my birthday

Today is my birthday and I'm in Portland, Oregon teaching at Art & Soul. You know, I'd love it if you wished me happy birthday, over on facebook. Or better yet, surprise me in Portland?

Phoenix in August

Mono-print, but you knew that.
I'm teaching a one day workshop in mono-printing on cloth in San Diego on Monday, December 5. They haven't announced registration yet.. I'll keep you posted.

a collection

I love collections of things. And what's better than just buying the collection outright? I found these great faucet handles at an artist faire and just bought them all! My journal page, done straight to pen with my water soluble Tombow pen clearly doesn't do the real thing justice. I'll definitely paint these again, with their lovely patinas...And I'm sure you'll see some hand carved stamps inspired by these too.

New online classes!

I'm writing lessons for my upcoming online class "Sketching and Watercolor in a Mixed Media Journal." You can register now, and the class runs 6 weeks and starts October 6.
I'll be rerunning my most popular online class "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" and it starts October 7. It's the perfect one for total beginners.

Springtime ~ fused sheer collage

I'm traveling and teaching for the next two weeks. Austin, Texas and then Portland, Oregon for Art & Soul. I've got some posts scheduled while up gone, but you can keep up with me on Facebook.

Hey Bra! Bead it like you mean it!

So, the San Diego Susan G. Komen organization ask me to make art from a bra for their upcoming fundraiser on October 1.  At the same time, I was watching my friend Lyric Kinard's brand new DVD "Bead It Like You Mean It."

WELL! the bra went from this (above) to this (photos below) from watching and learning from Lyric's dvd!





Update: You all know my friend Melanie Testa has been battling and surviving breast cancer. Head over to her blog post today. You'll be moved to tears, and maybe to donate.

You can buy Lyric's DVD right now, or you can come back to my blog on October 10 (well, sooner than that I hope!) and read my review of her DVD and enter to win a copy.  

Balinese Sculpture

I bought this wooden sculpture in Bali in the late 80s. It's been in my backyard, on my bathtub and currently resides in the living room. Drawn and watercolor in my mixed media journal.

Art Aprons

Oh, did you know I have an instructional DVD called "From Art to Art Journaling."
and that you can buy the DVD or download? You do now... (!)
 
I printed out the image of my DVD on to fabric prepared for inkjet printing, and then fused and stitched and did a little free motion onto my aprons. (The one on the right is made from my spoonflower fabric.)
 
I'll be wearing one of these aprons and teaching in Pasadena at the Learning and Product Expo on Friday, October 28. Mixed Media collage in the morning and Illustrated Journaling with Strathmore Visual Journals in the afternoon. (and ALL the materials for the class are included!)

Farmer Market ~ Golden Hill

Straight to ink sketches on a page prepared with stencils and color in my Strathmore Visual Journal for Mixed Media.









Some members of our wonderful San Diego SketchCrawl group spent a day at the Farmers Market in Golden Hill.







If sketching & watercolor with friends at San Diego farmers markets are so much fun, can you imagine how fun it will be in my week long workshops in Orvieto, Italy and Nice, France next year!