More Graphiti.....

My favorite shots......

I have loved graphiti since I was a kid. I especially like train graphiti. I always carry a camera in my
car when I leave the house. You never know. And creative painting, murals, trompe'l.......
The first five below are from the train yards down by the Bellingham Marina. The last 3 are trains that
have been mothballed in a fenced enclosure near the Eureka, California Marina.

"I spy with my little eye"

"A mermaid in the sky"

This is the most recent Art Journal page I created.

The theme was "I spy with my little eye" Not necessarily something

in the sky, but, that's what I chose. It turned out to be a mermaid. When 

I look into the clouds it is usually a face. For some reason, I see faces in everything.

This is the page of clouds I painted the night before 

I started drawing.

I just pondered for awhile and just started drawing. I didn't have anything

definite in mind. In fact my first thought was an older man with a long grey

beard, but what a surprise!

I spy with my little eye

A small mermaid in the sky

Swimming along unaware

I am linking this post to http://hhcampbell.blogspot.com/2012/10/hump-day-haiku-curves.html

Art

Artists are here to

                                Disturb the Peace!

I was waiting for the next art journal challenge and it hasn't come yet. 

Princess Leeah and the Big Pink Castle

10/12/12

Jade and I are going to write a book for Leeah. It will be about her favorite things; fairies and castles. And it will be about her favorite colors Pink and Purple and Blue.

Art Journal pages 20 thru 29

The next two Art Journal pages are done by dipping string or twine in thick paint and dropping 

it on a white sheet and letting it just fall where it will. I filled in the outer edges with light blue

watercolour and the inside areas with dark blue. I blended some areas and enhanced some

of the lines with black ink. I then filled the spaces with thoughts and quotes and poetry.

The next five pages are about travel. Our prompt was to think about a place, real,
imagined or a place that we've always wanted to travel to. We then were asked to
design a journal page that depicted that place. I decided to create a number of
pages about a place I always dreamed about and was interested in all of my life. Sailing
the seas in tall ships during the 16th, 17 and 18th centuries. I've done drawings about it
over the years and even thought that maybe I might have lived in that time in history.
Who knows?
These journal pages tell of a Captain Johathan Chapman and a trip he took on his ship into
the South Seas, Jakarta and Polynesia. He writes a letter to his wife about the trip. One page
shows the journal in it's proper folder on the ship in his desk. Another page is the inside of the
log book showing a couple of entries the Capt. made during the voyage. Another page is the explanation of why I wrote about this subject. The last page is a watercolour of the Capt.
standing on deck looking out to sea with the letter to his wife Abby
super imposed over the watercolour.

This page is also about travel. But this time it is a family reunion and graduation trip 

for Chris (my nephew). It depicts several of the places we traveled. Eugene, Oregon for the
 graduation and spending time with family; over to the Pacific coast to Florence, Coos Bay,
New Port, Canon Beach, Seaside and Astoria and up Highway 101
 into Washington and over to I-5 and home.

The next two journal pages are about the circus.

I am not generally a rabid circus goer, but I have been to the circus four or five times 

when I was young. Enough times to know what it was all about. These pages are the

knowledge I gleaned from sitting under the "Big Top" when I was a young girl.

Precious Girl Angel

Precious girl angel

Were you the beauty I dreamed

or my heart rhythm

I am linking this post to Helen's Hump Day Haiku

Art Journal Pages 6 through 19

These are 9 more pages in my 2012 Art Journal. It's really been fun.

And I've done so much that I've never done before.

This group of art pieces is part of a year long art project I started on March 4th this year.

Every 2 weeks the project and the instructor change. The site is Art Journaling-It's all good. 

There are nearly 5ooo artists from all over the world that participate every day in one of the 

many workshops they offer. Some workshops have a donation fee and some are free. And 

all of them are worth while for any artist new to Art Journaling. I've been an artist in many 

different mediums and I had never tried Art Journaling. I decided that I needed to move 

out of my comfort zone and push myself. I also wanted to push myself to "make art". So, 

many pages later, here are some of the results.

I used a base coat of white gesso, then watercolor and blended it to create a surface 

I could write on. I had sketched the laundry before I started painting. I just picked up the 

bag over my head and turned it over. This is how they fell. I used watercolor and Prisma color pencils and India ink. I painted the lettering with a small brush and white opaque gouche.

The bottom piece is watercolor.

The prompts for these 2 pieces of art: Write about something mundane 

in your life and keep writing until it becomes pleasant or worthy. I chose washday.

The color challenge is deep brick red, indigo blue and sap green. 

I have also been writing haiku for several months now. Here is one for washday.

 It's wash day again

skirts, shirts, pants, towels and skivvies,

coffee sounds good now.

Prompt: Observe "Writing on the Wall". Graphiti is everywhere and we were

asked to notice all that we could and even to photograph pieces we liked. I happen to 

have an affinity for train graphiti. So I've been taking pictures of train cars ever since.

But, I decided to do the side of a wall instead.

Love is everything

And I'll scream it to the hills

It is all that is!

The prompt for this piece: Ink blots!! Use ink, watered down paint or whatever you have to lay 

down color and then close your journal, open it up and see the goodness. It's always different.

Whatever  you see, go with it. 

The two sides of me

with color, hair and face, 

is still just one me.

This challenge required a mirror, a box of Crayola Crayons, and self discipline enough

 to follow rules. This challenge is a blind,contour-drawing self portrait. Get  comfortable in

front of your mirror and study your face. See it now in shapes and lines. When we were 

ready we had to draw the lines of our faces while looking at the mirror DO NOT LOOK

 AT YOUR PAPER! Let your hand move based on looking at the image of your

face in the mirror. Use your favorite colors.  

Lovely Clematis

Lovely Clematis

On a dear friends garden path

I appeared on time

I am posting this to Helen's Hump Day Haiku

In our heart of hearts

Trees are the great sentinels

Watching over earth

An umbrella wide

With lush greenery hiding
All the young new growth

This is a shot of trees I took on one of our stops
on vacation in Oregon.

I am linking this post to Helen's
Hump Day Haiku

Rex & Maya at Grump and Grammy's

My Nephew Rex and My Niece Maya playing in the sun.

Pictures during vacation trip with Brett & Stephen, to Layne & Susan's

place in Kneeland, California. 2008

Sitting in the sun

Warming our bones from winter

Precious warm sunrays

I'm linking this post to

Helen's Hump Day Haiku

My Aunt Rosie circa 1900

My aunt Rosie standing near the side wall of the

San Fernando Mission in San Fernando, California in the early

1900's. (1901-1905)

Now I know where I get my love of hats. All the women on both

sides of my family loved hats and wore the most elaborate I think they could find. 

More about that in a later post.

I am linking this post to

Cheryl's Writing on the Wall meme

Fields of Lavender

Fields of lavender

Swaying with the gentle breeze

Aroma so sweet

I am linking this post with

Helen's "Hump Day Haiku"

Walls of Spring

This is the fence behind A lot 'o' Flowers in Fairhaven.

This is also a wall of blossoms that usher in their yearly entrance into Spring!!

I am disappointed they had to move their business. I really loved the spot they were in.

I especially loved the back gardens, the hidden gardens.

I am linking this post to 

Cheryl's "Writing on the Wall" meme

Hope for Spring

Each bud a prayer

Each time a blossom answers

And we humbly sigh.....

I am linking this post to

Helen's "Hump Day Haiku" 

More Treasures

Sacred room of Stuff
Which will soon turn to treasures
Of a little girl

Well here we are again. You are looking in to the inner sanctum

of a mind in conflict. I collect art supplies to use just in case and create stuff 

until I can't find a wall to hang it on and still love the feel of a studio crammed with

memorabilia. I just can't help bringing home some colorful object I know will just really

enjoy hanging out near my french mask or my taboret with all my paint brushes

and color pencils. If I were a colorful object that is exactly where I would 

want to be. Soon I will be in the process of purging this sacred spot in

my world to make room for an even more sacred spot. I will start

creating a special space for my great granddaughter Leeah 

to call her "own room". Pink and purple I imagine,

with lots of stuffed animals and pretty pillows 

to lay on. There will be a shelf with cubbies 

to put her treasures and hooks to hang her 

coats and "Pack Backs".

I am linking this post to

Cheryl's "Writing on the Wall" meme

Jade picking up seashells

Sea shells on the beach

Mussels, clams and sand dollars

Which one will I choose

This is a drawing of my granddaughter Jade Marie one day at the beach.

I'm linking this post to
Helen's "Hump Day Haiku"

Walls in Eureka

These are two walls I shot while walking through Eureka, CA.

The top one is of a local forested area. The artwork was beautiful to walk by. It
gives me a good feeling when I see art everywhere. It means others are
feeling it too. It's a good thing!!

This is a giant octopus wrapping its tentacles around the boat
of some very scared fishermen on the Eureka waterfront.

I am linking this post to
Cheryl's "Writing on the Wall" meme

Up with the wind

Here I am up at 4am. I'm up with the wind. It is blowing the trees outside

my bedroom window so hard it made me get up and look out to see if they

were coming down. They are pretty awesome when they blow like crazy. It says

25mph, but I wouldn't believe it from what I'm feeling now. I'm too wide awake now

to go back to bed, so I'm wandering the living room and trying to find something I

can fix or put away before I go back to bed.

See you in the morning.

It's almost sunrise

the wind is howling outside

still awake dreaming

I am linking this to

Helen's "Hump Day Haiku"