Rising from the Mud

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"I rose from marsh mud
algae, equisetum, willows,
sweet green, noisy
birds and frogs."
― Lorine Niedecker

You may remember that last week I was struggling in mire, just digging myself deeper and deeper into the ooze.  I love, love, love, the color brown, but I'm discovering that when on paper or canvas it helps to create mud very easily.   Earthenmagic sent me a message about last weeks post and her insight was extremely beneficial.  Walk away and refocus intent.  I set my BOD aside and worked on playing with beautiful faces and copic markers. If you are interested to seeing them, they are on Flickr.  On a side note, my flickr gadget key code, blah, blah, blah quit working so I had to take it down.  *grrr*

I pulled out my Vol. I BOD to finish up that final page spread with tip in.  For some strange reason I started thinking about centerfolds.  I started sketching while watching the movie Due Date, HILARIOUS by the way.  My centerfold is sketched and all I need to do now is add some color!  I was left with a prepped tip in and I moved it forward a page and continued the doodles I had there on to the tip in.  Why didn't I think of that before!?  Doodling fun.  


I finally pulled Vol. II back out and just started removing the images I had attached from the front of the cover.  I really like the images I had chosen, very turn of the century botanical garden-esque.  I then reached for the gesso and had at it.  I even removed the binding tape from the spine and started over with a new piece "dyed" with watercolor.  The left image is the new Book of Days 2012 VOL.II.  The two right images are of the original cover & journal sleeve.  What do you think? What are your thoughts on my journal sleeve? Creepy or cool?

I want to thank Artistcellar for the FANTASTICALLY AWESOME rose window stencils and the Stewart Gill Byzantia paint.  This is my first use of Stewart Gill and the color is so Intense, love it.  Also, the watercolor effect of the window was inspired by Earthenmagic's Magic Tree.

Beautiful Disaster

Pin It Now! What a day! The all day drizzle brings out the need for a great big mug of Caramel Hot Chocolate with marshmallows!  Yumm, yumm... Its a good consoler after all.  I've been feeling a little strung out due to my minions not showing up to work, causing me to spend my days on the production floor and not in my office. There is so much that I want to do and I am finding that I'm sacrificing some things in order to do others.  I want to do it all, dang it!!!  Cue QUEEN:

I'm a man with a one track mind, 
So much to do in one life time (people do you hear me)
Not a man for compromise and where's and why's and living lies
So I'm living it all, yes I'm living it all,

And I'm giving it all, and I'm giving it all,

It ain't much I'm asking, if you want the truth,

Here's to the future, hear the cry of youth,

I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now,

I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now,

The boys were watching crap on YouTube Sunday afternoon.  I'm supposing because they had a hard day filming on Saturday.  It was bad enough that Hanzmo spent more time in at the art desk with me than with them.  We concocted a clever plan, let us go to the MOVIES!!! Worked too... no more listening to crap videos from the other room.  We went to see HUGO!  I found it a pleasant escape for a Sunday afternoon.  Visuals were stunning.  I found it rather Steampunk-ish.  There were steampunk elements to it, such as: clocks and automatons.  It wasn't dark and dank, but light and expectant.  One key shot was of the main character, Hugo, standing looking out the face of a clock tower.  That particular aspect stayed with me and it is the basis for this week's Monday spread. 


I had a horrific disaster at the art desk.  I had painted my background and working on building layers of color.  I was using Eucalyptus Walnut Ink. Makes a fabulous stain.  Not quite sure how I managed to do it, but I knocked over the bottle and 90% of its contents went across the desk.  Luckily for me it missed my Book of Days Journal.  It was a really good thing that I had my craft sheet down too.  After a couple of failed attempts to "clean" it up, I had to holla for the Bink.  Through great team work we managed to get 80% of the liquid back in its bottle.  The rest was everywhere like a thick dark green swamp.  The Bink's solution... Kleenex... 1 Kleenex...  I was going for the roll of paper towels on the desk, but he was back so fast and was already wiping up.  We both had green hands after that fiasco.  The Kleenex held up, but the layers came apart easily.  Bink is going, "It looks like Camo!"  He looks at his hands and goes, "It'll wash off, right?!"  Sure will, at some point.  

beautiful Disaster

Week 5 PROMPT: Affirmation

Challenge: Use an envelope 

Kleenex + eucalyptus walnut ink

After the clean up I was ready to call it a night, but as I stared at the Kleenex wad on my desk I had an idea.  I treated it just like tissue paper and placed it down with Matte Medium.  I let it tear and wrinkle when it wanted too.  I then went to bed to let it dry. 

I removed any excess hanging over the edge and any parts that didn't adhere well.  Shabby, shabby... right on track... It was very dark once it had dried.  I really wanted the texture to stand out, but not to lighten it.  I wanted that gritty Steampunk feel. I decided to fall back on a miniature painting stand by ~ drybrushing.  I hadn't used that technique yet and so I went to it and worked fabulously. 

close up of the texture

My envelope tip in.  I got such a tremendous response to my Pen Pal envelope that I decided to do another.  She looks a little frustrated or disgusted don't she. 

Clock "Face"

 Its missing something...  I'm sure that I'll continue to tweak it.  

Final with Envelope tip-in.  

Check out the rest of my week of journal pages at Flickr, follow the link at the top of the page.  My parting gift of chocolaty goodness.  So Long Art fans, wherever you are...

Mrs.Bink...

Caught in the Matrix...

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Time seems to be running oddly in my house this week.  Last week's blog was yesterday and forever ago, maybe I'm caught in the Matrix and need either a blue pill or the red pill... Anyhoo, I've got a little "time lapse" photography of some of the things I've been working on in this ultra - dimensional time sequence of a week.  

The following is my rendition of BOD's Week 1 spread.

Week 1 PROMPT: Looking Forward

This Week's CHALLENGE: Using a tag in your journal

This prompt and something my husband said recently greatly influenced the main image in this spread.  He asked me why I did not use my background in religion in my work.  I've been stewing on that for a while now.  Way back in the good old college days I studied the philosophy and history of various religions such as: Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and so on...  I was fascinated and still am to a degree by the religion's use of divination.  They've all had at some point a method to discern what the divine was trying to relay to their followers.  Priests and laymen alike would 'read' something: some watched birds in flight, the way smoke wafted from incense, abnormal lumps on animal livers, but most looked to the stars.  We still do, I'll take a wild guess and say 85% if not more of the American population knows what astrological sign they are.  So, I did some digging and found some old research that I still had stashed away on a bookshelf and pulled some images out.  Looking forward is, in a manner, to me a method of divining the future and stepping out onto a path, whether or not we take the first fork that we come to on that path is unseen, but still a viable choice.

Astrological sign:  Libra

Brief Explanation:  The Inner ring is the Path the earth takes around the sun and where the Solstices fall in that path.  The 2nd ring is astrological signs and the 3rd and 4th rings are the months and days in relation to the path of the earth and seasonal solstices. 

Very short Disclaimer:

*I do not profess to be able to accurately read this chart as I am by no means an Astrologer, just a mere dabbler at this point in time.*

My best-est bud in the whole world told me about gouache.  I know what you're thinking, where is she going now, but bare with me.  Gouache is an opaque watercolor.  He convinced me that I should try them, so I got me a little set and its what I used for my background color.  I've been playing with them and I so prefer it and watercolor over the apple barrel paint I also have.  I can manipulate it with much more ease.  And the color comes out very intense with or without water.

Background and tag added to right side.

The image of the Key hole and key is very symbolic for me and just had to add it.  The added tag acts like a door and to look forward into the milky mists of 2012 you must unlock that door and open it.

Full background with tag open.

The central image is a map of the heavens so to speak, so it seemed natural to place map imagery on the tag as well.

Looking Forward 2012

I've been scanning in my journal pages as I can't seem to get the photographs to come out worth a darn.  I'm recruiting my hubby to help me, but I have to move our vacation pictures off of the camera's SD card first.  For some reason that seems like a chore.  *sigh*  BUTTTT... this particular picture was from the digital camera and I've included it because you can kinda see the texture on the right hand side of the page.  I love the way that tissue paper melts into the background when applied with Medium, matte or glossy.  I happened to be doing laundry and was throwing out the dryer sheet, when it occurred to me to use it like tissue and too my surprise it worked awesomely.  It gives some fantastic texture, which you can sort of see.

The following is my rendition of BOD's this week's spread.

Week 4 PROMPT: Surrender

This Week's CHALLENGE: Painted Text

Surrender - taken with my phone :(

I hated this as I was working on it.  I really surrendered to the mess.  I had tattered angels spray coated on my hands.  Wasn't happy, but kept at it.  I used a page torn from an old dictionary and to the left added graph paper on top of that.  *I love graph paper*  Then I added the painted text and thought WOW what an S and then wasn't happy with the rest of the word.  It really wasn't working for me.  I went to bed.  Got up Tuesday Morning, did yoga and finished it.  I love it!  Weird...

I Surrender ~ Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Its past my bed time, sees you later!!! Hope you enjoyed.  There are more pictures on Flickr, follow the link at the top of the page.

So long art fans, where ever you are

~redbirdmuse

Wednesday is Blog Day!!! Bazinga...

Pin It Now! I think I've been pretty productive since my last post.  I made several cards and got them in the mail.  Worked on my art space getting it a bit more organized and pretty.  I'm super excited as I've signed up for the Personal Geographies with Jill Berry Webinar tomorrow and an art class at the William King Art Museum in February.  I've been embracing my inner turtle and working my way through the prompts from Book of Days 2012.  I've completed my inside cover, calendar spread, and I'm almost done with my first two page Monday spread, take a look.  

I created my background with Tim Holtz distress inks and water.

I really love how the Ranger Archival Ink Sap really subtly pops on this envelope.

The Scrap & Stamp magazine has this wonderful section in the back called the Pen Pal Exchange.  I added my name to list a couple of months ago and I've gotten a tremendous response. I've gotten so many beautiful cards and treasures from them.  Here's a sample of some of my post I've sent out.  If you're interested in exchanging letters send me an email.

So long art fans, where ever you are

~redbirdmuse

Book of Days 2012

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   I have joined up with Effy Wild over at WildPreciousLife to develop my journaling practice. I found Miss Effy through chance as I following a bit of advice and was perusing the Art Journal groups over at Flickr.  I was hopping around click, click, clicking away and I found a journal page spread that I really liked (which I now can't find) and the description had a bit about Book of Days 2012 and a link.  I followed the path before me and I was hooked immediately!  I'm totally stoked by this project.  I'm embracing my inner turtle and going full speed ahead.  It's such a coincidence that my husband helped me with my new journal, a 5 X 7 version of Teesha Moore's Amazing Journal, just a couple of days before, synchronicity at its finest.  'Cause there was a blank freshly bound journal just waiting for color.  I spent most of Sunday, January 8th, 2012 working on the cover.  Monday and Tuesday evening I spent finishing the cover and starting on the inside cover.  Yesterday morning and this morning I worked on my first calendar spread page.  Its an ode to our trip on New Year's through the mountains and into North Carolina.  I'm hoping to finish it up tomorrow morning. *fingers crossed*  More pictures soon!!!

Book of Days 2012 ~ MOXIE