Pink Bird Studio

Week in Review

I’m never really sure how much art has been made until I compile this weekly post.  I’m usually pleasantly surprised by how much art I’ve managed to create in my “spare time”, and this week is no exception.  

I started out with two pages in the large format journal I’ve been working in lately.

I’m playing around with a more muted palette this week.  And adding some texture with handmade paper.

I took a similar approach for this painting, which I’ve titled “Bang the Drum”.  It measures 24” x 30” and is on wrapped canvas.

Next are two pages in the kraft journal - as you can see, I’m not yet done with hearts!

Next up is another painting - this one is only 12” square.  I was playing around with masking fluid on this one, and did not start out to make anything that looked like anything, but thought it looked so much like a landscape I had to go with it.

Next are three spreads in three different journals.

First a little chipboard 4” square journal.

Then a spread in the large format journal.

And another page in the kraft journal.  

And last but not least - one more page in the small 4” journal.  

Thanks so much for joining me today!  I’m also hard at work on the tiny sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project.  I will share some of my favourite pages in a future post.

 

Week in Review

First let me say that I toyed with the idea of doing another 365 challenge this year and then thought better of it.  My plan is to keep creating year round, but not with a theme. 

This week, I worked on some larger paintings, most of which are sitting partly finished, but also quite a few journal pages and a couple of small paintings that are completed.  I love working on smaller pieces like journal pages and mail art throughout the week that let me complete something in a single day.  A large painting will be days and often weeks in progress.  These smaller works are great for warming up, playing around, and also they make me feel like I’ve ‘accomplished’ something, which for some reason seems important to me, even in art.

First up I’m sharing quite a few pages from my kraft journal.  I’m going to have to find a new one before I finish this one, or maybe make one (remember the old brown bag journals?).  I just love the bright colours on the brown paper.  You can see here I’m using some of my gelli prints from the holidays.  

In this pair of pages I am using a technique I learned in an online class from Laura Horn, using acrylic inks for making beautiful botanicals.  I also used some masking fluid - one of those supplies I have and kind of forget about until it surfaces or I read something about it.

More gelli prints on these ones, and also general using up of scraps from other projects.  The white dots resulted from a blobbed pen.  There was so much extra ink I pressed the facing pages together and ended up with a perfect mirror image.  I also love that they all turned out different sizes, which they didn’t start out as.  A happy accident.

A piece of sequin waste showed up on my table the other day (emerged from the layers - hahaha) and I had to use it.  More scraps used up here.

More scraps and gelli prints.  Someone on Instagram asked me if this was an apple tree.  I said that it could be, but any resemblance to real objects is a coincidence.  I’m intrigued by our minds’ desire to find something recognizable in the abstract.  

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A bit of actual journalling - something you don’t see every day from me - mostly I like the way written words look on the page, which is why I like asemic writing.  However, these are real words, just my messy handwriting.

These are two of the small paintings I completed this week.  I had them sitting around with backgrounds painted for ages (months I’m sure) and finally decided to do something with them.  They are both 6” square.

And likewise with these two.  But these ones are 12” square.  

Oh what fun.  I hope you’ve enjoyed my week in review.  Thanks for dropping by.

Week in Review

 

Here’s what I’ve been up to in the past week - in addition to gelli printing and Sunday Postcard Art.

First, there are a few pages in my kraft journal - some of these (like this one) incorporate my new gellli prints.

Next a page containing a simple hand-drawn bicycle.  

And a fox.  I drew this cute little fox, but confess he is quite heavily based on a post-it note someone gave me.

As I was working on a green painting, some green paint found its way into my journal.

This lovely butterfly (and text) come from a beautiful roll of tissue from Tim Holtz.  

Next up, a few pages in the large-format journal I’ve been working in recently.

Here you can see a bit of gelli print, as well as various other collage materials.  The red dots were painted on brown paper to be ripped up for collage material.

A spread in the same journal.

And other collaged page.  

The central image in this spread is from a local spa’s brochure.  

And another spread.  The words (Dream-ways) are from a piece of player piano paper!  The playing card is definitely oversized.

Last but not least, my son will be having a birthday later in January.  We’ve been hearing owls around our house lately, including a great horned owl, so I’ve chosen this vintage owl postage stamp as the central point for his card.

Thanks so much for joining me today.  Please join me on New Years Day when I’ll be sharing some of my recent paintings (finally).

Week in Review

Here are a few things I made this week.

First, a page in the kraft journal.  

Another page - since I’ve included a heart, this is 371/365 Somethings.

I just love this page!  The aqua with hot pink on the brown - may be one of my favourite colour combos.

Another heart page - 372/365

I think this would make a fun holiday card.  Next year (if I remember) this might be my card design.

373/365

Another potential holiday card design.

I love this green that reminds me of copper patina.  It started out as a pale blue and was covered with a wash of Nickel Azo Gold.  It was one of those happy accidents.

374 / 365

You can see I’m obsessed by this ‘pod’ shape!

A work on paper.

Another kraft journal page.

Another page in the large journal I brought back from the UK.  The paper is so nice.  I wish the Sketchbook Project had pages like this!

Another kraft journal page.

And lastly, 375 / 365

Thanks so much for joining me today.  

Week in review

Here are a few of the mixed media items I’ve done this week.  I will make a separate post of some of the paintings I’ve completed lately soon.

First, a page in my square kraft journal.

Next, a spread in the large format journal I started in last week.  I love the larger pages that I can work on together or separately.

Next, a random assortnment of things that were on my work surface became this fetching altered bingo card.

This did not start out as a heart, but it showed up so I ran with it.  This is a piece on mixed media paper, suitable for framing.  It’s also 369/365 of 365 Somethings.

Another kraft journal page.  That tree was from the wrapping of some paper I bought last weekend (from the Japanese Paper Place).

Another kraft joural page.

Another spread in the big journal.

And another page in the kraft journal (370/365).  I’ll continue to count hearts until December 31 - after that I’m sure I will still include them in some of my work.  I just wont’ keep track of them! Noteworthy on this page is the hot pink and orange.  Those are new Acrylic Gouace from Liquitex.  Had to try them out.  They go on like acrylic but dry like gouace.  I am excited to do more with them.

Thanks so much for joining me today.  I hope you’ve enjoyed my work.

365 Somethings and other stuff

This week is the first week following my completion of the 365 Somethings project.  I’ve still made a few hearts, so I’m still counting those (e.g. 366/365) until the end of the year.  But as mentioned, I’ll also start sharing some more of the ‘other stuff’ I’ve been working on.

So apparently I can make a journal page without any hearts - who knew?! 

I’ve also started to do a few collages on mixed media paper.  Featuring some wonderful postage stamps.  

Another “heartless” journal entry.  :)

Now we are back to hearts - I can’t leave them for long (366)

367 

368

Back to postage collage.  These are on 9” x 12” paper.

Another fabulous postage stamp!  This one for a mail art call.

That’s it for this week - thanks so much for joining me!

365 Somethings - 360 - 365

The 365 Somethings project has really been a fun one for me.  I’ve learned so much and really enjoyed the process.  This week I formally close off with my 365th entry, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop creating.  I will keep counting hearts to the end of the year, and will start posting some of my other works (like paintings) soon.  Watch this space.  

And remember, you can also find my work on Instagram.

I found this large format journal in my book case and it only had the first page completed, so I decided to start filling it up.  I was using these colours in a big painting on canvas and had fun smearing them around.  This is 360

361 is in my kraft journal.  

As is 362

363

And 364

365 is a scribbly little postcard on watercolour paper with a mister of pens, papers and water soluable crayons.  

That’s the official wrap for this project.  Thanks so much for joining me today, and if you’ve been with me all year I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride half as much as I have.  

365 Somethings - 355 - 359

This week for my 365 Somethings Project, I made four postcards and a journal page.  First up, a most colourful postcard.

And another - I was not as happy with the pencil on this as I was with the black on the previous one.

357 - an altered bingo card.

A journal page (358)

And one more postcard.  That brings us to 359 / 365 - amazing!


Thanks so much for joining me this week!  

 

 

 

 

365 Somethings - 352 - 354

This week I decided to focus on a few other things besides my 365 Somethings project, but still completed three items and am still well ahead of the game.  I’m sharing some of the other things I made as well.

First up are ten postcards for an international postcard swap arranged by ihanna  http://www.ihanna.nu who also made up the 365 Somethings project.  These cards have been mailed to the US, Canada, Israel, the UK and the Netherlands.  Unfortunately our postal workers are on rotating strikes at the moment, so there might be some delays.  

Next is a journal entry, using up some scraps.  This is 352.

No hearts on this page.  The ‘tree’ is cut from a map, and the negative image is on the facing page (shown next).

Here it is.

A bright altered bingo card is 353.

Another journal page is 354.

Lastly, another journal page is NOT part of the 365 Somethings project, but it is the last journal page in this particular journal.  I am down to one of these kraft journals that I bought in the UK.  I think another trip might be necessary!  :)

Thanks so much for joining me today.  

 

 

 

 

 

365 Somethings - 342 - 351

This week I really thought I’d slowed down, but when I uploaded the week’s images for my 365 somethings project I found 10 images!  Looks like I’ll ‘finish’ this project before the end of November, but I’m having so much fun I will continue to post until the end of the year.

First up is a journal page, making use of some scraps on hand and lots of doodling. 342

Next is all drawn with Posca markers on a black background (painted granola box).  343

344 is another journal page that makes use of some leaves I cut out from a map ages ago that just unearthed themselves this week.  :)

345 started as they often do with some paint from another project.

346 saw me continue to play around with that great chartreuse paint I bought in Vancouver from Kroma paints.

347 - defies description.

348 - I’ve got out a bunch of little ARTchix Studio images for another project I’m working on and some of them are winding up in the journal. :)

349 - playing with the crimson paint I bought at Kroma on the same trip.  Such wonderful colours.

350 - more little ARTchix images.

And last but not least, 351.

 

Thanks so much for visiting me today - I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s work!