Nature At Its Finest Journal Page

I have no clue where this will end up but I freaking LOVE the process of one....not knowing, and two...playing along until I get there. This is one of my pages in Juliana Cole's Field Notes online class and as I understand, this page may not be finished, but for now, totally swooning over the colors, the messiness, the energy and feeling of being alive when I see this page. There are things in nature that inspire me more than others, and then, well there is the incredible connection with GROWTH and DECAY that all living things experience. It was with those two concepts in mind that I trotted forth into this journal page. 

As always, started with a page from "The Perspective on the Arts" and let my spirit guide me based on my assignment. 

Next, began sketching and considering things in nature, out my window, things I remember, and sights and sounds that influence me when it comes to 'being and feeling alive.'

I knew I wanted to used birds, and started to sketch small ones, birds flying on the page, and one really large, bodacious bird, because we have one of those on our 42 acre farm. He pretty much knows he is the bees knees when it comes to being a bird. I call him our water turkey....he knows why as well, ;) 

At this stage I starting mixing it up with Crayola Markers, Neo Color II's, Sharpie Markers, and then Golden Fluid Acrylics. 

I love how the Golden's made the colors more intense and transparent, especially when helping the birds come forward and the background recede. 

Finally, I added my juicy tidbits, the layers of white, Molotow markers, the words, oh the words, and I blended in the fence, vegetation, and feathers. This, to me, is what I love about art journaling, the ability to take an ordinary image, transform it based on where your artistic vision leads, and develops your painting style and voice all at the same time. Can't wait to see how this piece eventually turns out. 

Monochromatic Art Journal

I came across this "My Yellow Pages" address book at Goodwill last week and the page color resonated with me that it would make a unique monochromatic art journal. I decided I would keep it by my bed and use it to sketch in with graphite or Sharpie, just seeing where the color, line and pattern would take me. There was one white sheet attached which I used this morning for to practice blind contour drawing as well. I really love the contrast in this book and look forward to seeing the images come to life on the yellow pages. 

This was  a blind contour sketch I made using a red crayon, a blue sharpie, and a blue uniball. 

This was my first blind contour sketch and I love the fact that I decapitated myself and have a floating head, lol. 

This image was a 30 min sketch using just a Sharpie and I have no idea what the inspiration for it was other than mark making and weirdness, total weirdness. 

And this was a 5 minute quick sketch holding the pencil with only two fingers. I wanted to push myself to let go of control and just loosely sketch the contour. It was more challenging than I thought. 

Ok, I saw a photo of this crazy looking cat on Pinterest today but failed to pin it, and now am at a complete loss as to how to locate it, but I just adored the look on the kitten's face because I have seen it so often from my Yodaman. Crazy cats, they rule the world you know!

Art Journal Page - Testing Tools

Juliana Coles, art journal and teacher extraordinaire, teaches an online class called "Field Notes" and I am loving it!One of our exercises was to test out our sketch/journaling tools that we would carry around with us and use, so I dove right in making marks, making notes, and trying out some new combinations. 

Because I am using my newest altered book as one of my journals for this class, I opted for two pages that had pretty basic images of African masks, and then coated both with white and phtalo blue Golden fluid acrylics. I wanted a base of acrylic because I knew I would primarily be writing, drawing, painting over acrylic on most pages. 

After all was said and done, I learned a bit of unexpected insight in to the materials I thought I would love the most, but didn't. My Copics, Micron, and Uniball Vision Needle were great, waterproof, smooth lines, just loved them for pens. My Molotow white paint pen worked the best, but I was also surprised to find the Elmer's Painters Pens (found at Walmart no less) way better than I expected, for half the price and tons of colors. Graphite was a huge disappointment for me, but most likely due to the acrylic paint. I HATE F and H graphite, they are just too hard for me, but I love the B's, especially the 6B and 8B. What that tells me is that I am drawn to dark lines and really love lines that will blend at times. 

I also just got three water soluble graphite sticks in 2,4, and 6B, and when wet the create a wonderful flow of black pigment....totally yummy. My Pentel Gold and Silver pens wrote smoothly, and even a Bic pen didn't disappoint either. My Neocolor II sticks were the best 'crayon' like product, went on creamy, but when wet they took a while to dry and were very runny, so I know they will be better suited for paper, but as a crayon, they were great. Derwent Inktense were about the same, loved the crayon like feel when dry, but when wet they were almost too runny and require a matte medium to coat them or they will lift easily. 

I glued a flap onto the left of this page so that I could write my impression of each tool. 

The most unexpected product I loved was my Crayola marker (to the right of the larger figures face three orange horizontal lines). Went on smoothly, totally transparent, and next to my ChartPak markers which were way more expensive, they worked just as well. Glad to make that comparison. Overall, I know I will use most of these tools in my sketchbook, but I wont be using my F or H pencils anytime soon. 

Tomorrow I shall try a few products on a dry page, no acrylic, and compare and contrast the difference. If you are looking for an online art journal class that pushes you toward creating edgy, messy, fantastic life sketches I strongly recommend her classes. I am just in week two and have about 10 videos left to watch, amazing PDF's, and the fact that she, as the instructor is so involved in our class makes thrilled. I have taken many online classes, some really expensive ones from well known instructors, only to be really disappointed at the 'lack' of personal presence from them. Juliana makes herself part of the class, and I value that in a teacher. 

Looking forward to what the next lessons bring.....on to make marks. 

Art Journal Page - The Freedom of Choice

Another page in my Field Notes dual sketchbook. You can view the previous pages HERE. 

This page was quite interesting to me, especially today when its message seemed to appear out of no where yet resonate so deeply. What first captured me was the image of the girl, and her look of being lost. The artist may not have intended to relate her in that way, but that is how I connected with her. As I began these two pages, I simply wanted to practice sketching the human face or figure in unique stations of life, just like this female, so I began sketch. I also began to read a book on China that I was given and gained much of my inspiration from the images I viewed in that book, beautiful, haunting, and so telling. 




I was also taken by a memory of my family, who are professional clowns, and what importance the concept of putting on a mask does for folks. As I sketched, I also sketched what was around me, my car, the trees in the distance, and the barb wire fence. Over the course of several days, as I continued to layer, I still had no clear message about the meaning of the pages other than a practice, an observation, a record of my viewing a book and choosing to play with my paints and markers. 

When I got the book out again I noticed a pattern.....every image resonated with the concept of freedom, or the lack thereof. From the car, the barb wired, the bird, to the images of people in places, each had a significant relation to our freedom, either of choice or having our choices taken from us. 

I plan to sit with these pages a while and really absorb the process, not only of how I made them, but what I am to learn from them. I live in a country where freedom is taken for granted so easily, and do realize, just how incredibly blessed I am to live here, and not in a place where my body, mind, or spirit is in bondage. Art  journals can give us incredible insight into the life lessons we are meant to learn, today I am most grateful for the freedom of free expression and the freedom to share what I create with a greater audience. So many will never have this. 

The Abstraction of Glass

If you are familiar with my work then you know I am drawn to color, lots and lots of color. After finishing up the painting "Reflections in Creation" see below, I tackled painting number two as part of my entries for the The Watercolor and Graphic Arts Society show. So many ideas of subject matter came to mind but the concepts of abstract, glass, and the use of fluid acrylics just became a combination that was difficult to resist.  

Fluid acrylics, especially Golden's, will perform almost as well as watercolors and create stunning 'bloom' effects when color is floated in wet in wet. This technique was especially important as I worked at keeping the reflections in the piece, "The Abstraction of Glass" flowing and luminous. The composition is minimal, a total juxtaposition between the complexity of reflections, and that is what I loved about it. It reads as an orb to some, an empty glass to others, but totally abstract in nature as well. 

For the background, I glazed about 20 layers of very thin, watery acrylic in Titanium and Pistachio over a base of teal/phtalo green shade using a sponge and for the final layer, used saran wrap. The texture that resulted gives contrast while adding interest as a subtle element as well. 

Two glass paintings, totally different in composition, but equally similar in expressing reflections and color. I learned a lot between these two, such as how challenging  it is to paint large through chronic back pain, how patience and planning can go a long way in the success of a piece, and how working slowly over time actually aids in the strength of the finished piece. Although I do miss my mixed media work, it felt really good to get back to watercolors and fluid acrylic work. If you are in Mobile or live on the Eastern Shore, you can see these two paintings at The Eastern Shore Art Center during Artwalk, and I would love to see you as well. 

You can view my entire Watercolor Gallery on my website too! 

The Challenge of Drawing Perspective and Perfection

I am just going to say it, drawing the correct perspective and proportions is a pain in the butt! With that said, it is also a vital one to the artist if one is to master the skill of drawing to make things look the way they are. To a painter who works in realism, this is essential, to an abstract painter, not so much. Regardless of genre though, learning to sketch and improve your drawing skills is one of the first and best tools to add to your 'tool box.' 


As a kid, drawing came naturally to me. I didn't become an artist until my mid 30's, but the ability to see shapes and get a 'likeness' was something I at least wasn't afraid of, so going forth into sketching was something I found fun, my only problem was, I taught myself to draw from pictures, not from real life. Place a photo in front of me and I can draw it lickety split. Place an object in front of me and I am dumbfounded, or at least I used to be. 

(This is my version of George Washington when I was in second grade, notice I received a B-! ) 

Seriously, who grades art? 

My brain really sees well in 2-D, but I so wanted to teach myself to use it in 3-D because I knew if I wanted my paintings to improve I needed to practice my drawing skills. A few months ago I drew my first still life, then I painted it, and I LOVED that process. It wasn't that I loved the sketching per se, that was cool, but I loved that I gave myself permission not to seek perfection in the process, just to let the process be what it was, and learn from it. That is so difficult for beginning artists, they want to paint like the pictures they see in books, they want to paint like that NOW, but they struggle to understand that those paintings were birthed from often years of practice, practice, and more practice. 

This morning I began a sketch of the edge of my Golden paint box and one of my 4" by 4" collages. It was a simple sketch for the most part, but as soon as my pencil touched the page that voice in my head started saying, "Your doing it wrong." That voice wasn't the voice I needed to listen to. I needed to listen to the one that gently said, "Look at the line again Ardith, it is shorter and closer to the edge of the bottle. Find a reference point to make a marker, sketch from there." Two voices, but one nudging me to quit and fail, the other nudging me to learn and progress. The artist must learn to silence the negative and turn up the volume of the 'teaching voice.' 

Although there are things I see that I could have changed, improved on, or spaced out differently, I am pleased with the sketch. It is a learning process, it is not perfect and I don't expect that it ever will be. Yes, I could have sketched from the cropped photo you see here and gotten a much more accurate likeness, but I would have missed the point....to train my eye and brain to see things as they are, not as I think them to be. 

If you are new to sketching, new to art, or just learning to draw, be gentle on yourself. Turn off the voice of negativity, don't compare your work to others, and learn to listen to the teacher voice that nudges you forward rather than back. I like to tell my beginning students that we all are on a bus ride together. Some are just getting on the bus at the first stop, others have been on a while, have gotten off a time a two to pick up new skills and gotten back on with 'heavier luggage." Other artists have ridden the journey many times, and picked up so many skills that their luggage got to be too heavy, so they bought themselves their own buses and started to pick up new artists to join them on their journey. Where you are on the journey is important, but the realization that we are all on it together is key!

If you really want to spend some time improving your drawing/sketching skills but don't have access to classes Youtube is where you need to head. There are TONS of videos to teach you, but one of my first and favorites is by artist Larry Gluck, because he explains things so simply and is easy to follow. 

Look forward to seeing some of your sketches! 

Art Journal Page - Walk Into The Light

I am so excited to be taking Juliana Coles 'FieldNotes' workshop!  I chose a 1962 book for my journal practice, "Perspectives on the Arts" which has a marvelous section in it about the Dadaist and their profound impact on art and society. 

Because the book I chose is rather large, 144 pages, I am choosing to fill it with my workshop practice and my daily journal practice and so far, I am loving the thought of combining the two. Today's page has lots of internal meaning for me, is a sketch of my kitchudio, and a few other unexpected life fragments between walking into the light or living in shadows.

There is a combination of collage, photo transfers, markers, acrylic paints, and graphite on today's page. Makes me want to dive right in! 

My next entry was all about Marcel Duchamp and his take on Nothingness. Gave me a lot to consider and I really took my time sketching my view along with thinking through what all he meant by that. His viewpoint has inspired me to study the Dadaists at length. 

You can view my first two pages of the journal HERE

Altering A Book Alters The Soul

There are days and then there are days. For the record I live a tremendously blessed life with gobs of gratitude and a heart for others. With that said, today was one of those days where I just wanted to throw eggs at the "ignorant establishment" (fill in the phrase as you wish, :) 

Without boring you with the details of the idiocy of the mail that was opened, the phone call that was placed, the arguing that ensued, and the total lack of comprehension by someone, let's just say I am frustrated....beyond frustrated, ready to throw rotten eggs....at many targets. Instead, since I am not prone to actual egg throwing, I grabbed my new art journal, a 1962 book called, "Perspectives On The Arts" and took out my frustration on two pages. Then it hit me. 

(I added the collage elements of the eyeball and the skeletal arm)

No matter what happens in my station in life, be it losing every monetary thing I have to an organization or government that wishes to tax or bill the crap out of me, they cannot take my creativity from me. They cannot take the God given ability I posses to look at a blade of grass and see a universe, a raindrop and see within myself, or at a whisper and hear a symphony. That realization was profound today, it helped lift my spirits, it helped change my point of view, and I am sure it helped lower my blood pressure. 

There are so many things each of us must deal with in life, many unpleasant, but the more I connect with the creative placed within my spirit, the more I realize the world will not end and pigs won't fly. Art journaling, the act of altering a book be it blank or printed, with words, marks, images, and paint, alters the soul. It makes me wish it was mandatory for every student in every grade through college to keep an art journal of some sort. The world might be a much more palatable place on days like today if so. 

This page was made with acrylic fluids, heavy body, inks, oil pastels, markers, and graphite. The words on the left, which I simply wrote as a train of consciousness, reads as follows: 

I am torn today by the need, the MUST, to create from my very core. The world bombards us with what must be paid, be surrendered, be handed back without the notion of what impact this has on those doing the giving. Takers, they can suck the life out of the ordinary, but Creatives....they fight back with the power of the pen, the brush, the dance, the random thought that turns a whisper into a symphony within the creative being which cannot, which WILL not be contained. The act of creating is fundamental to sanity, for they cannot take that from us, for a whisper, a thought, a prayer, an idea transforms the soul. 

Watercolor Travel Palette

Watercolors can be really expensive, especially if you use professional grade paints such as Holbein, Daniel Smith, or Windsor Newton. I have palettes at home because I use tube paints and had previously used a Van Gogh travel palette with pans which I had for eons and loved, but I really missed my favorite paints which I had at home. I had priced out travel palettes and to purchase them ready made was way too costly, so I started searching for travel kits I could fill with tube paints and even those were costly. Along comes my stroll through the sewing aisle at a local craft store and low and behold I spied a bobbin thread holder with 25 sections, just deep enough for tube paints for $5. Because I plan to travel and sketch with these a lot I will allow them to dry out a bit but I am really stoked to start using a much more varied palette in my sketchbook! 

The Journey of Painting Glass

I am a collector. There are baskets of doll parts around the house, inside the gumball machine, inside the glass jars on my dining room table to keep the seashells company, and then there are my glass spheres that live within all of my weirdness, each beside a natural light source, and glow with life at unsuspecting moments. These spheres are where my Ardithian imagination gets its ideas, and I could live in them if I was able....they just magically draw me in. 

Painting glass is no small feat, especially with watercolors. In fact, I have only painted 3 glass paintings in the past 10 years, not because I dislike them, but because they are such a challenge that my back and neck scream with rebellion at the mere thought of me thinking about it. That was until a few weeks ago when I had to choose one of two subjects to paint for an upcoming show. The glass called out to me, and I decided it was time to let the paint flow again. 

Oh, the stinky frisket! 

The challenge is exactly what I remember, not painting the glass but painting the reflections in the glass. So far, I am pleased with my progress but the soul in me that loves slinging paint, making marks, and being loose with acrylic is cringing with all of the tight control necessary for this type of painting. I wish I had the physical ability to paint huge pieces, crawling up on a ladder to paint the tops of things, and getting down on the floor to paint low, but for today, I will be content with painting 'fairly large' for me. 

There are still many layers and glazes that will come for this piece, and I look forward to seeing it come to fruition. My mixed media spirit does as well, :) 

The pic above shows the addition of the dark values, or at least some of them. 

Love mixing yellow and deep violet to create darks. 

4/20th added more darks, more glazes, working on capturing the values I am looking for! 

Finally, after weeks of working on this piece with a bad back and all I am done. There are things I would have done differently had I been physically able, but considering how challenging it was with my back, I am thrilled with how it turned out. 

"The Reflections in Creation"

20" by 30" 

Watercolor