What's Been Going On

Whew! I feel like I'm finally getting my head above water. Or should I say above the piles of stuff. Since returning home from vacation two and a half weeks ago it seems that all my husband and I have been doing is moving furniture and stuff. My sister in law decided it was time to tag and remove desired items from my in-laws house. It is wonderful to have these household items from my husband's past in our home, but the timing has been less than ideal. Anyway, it is done enough for now and I won't bore you with the details of all we still need to do.

Last week I did get to squeeze in a watercolor workshop with Linda Anderson Miller. That was offered by the CT Natural Science Illustrators. It was wonderful! Linda held the workshop even though I was the only one enrolled. We got to know each other pretty well as a result and I am very thankful for that.

The weather has finally cooled down too. Ahhh. (That is a sigh of relief.)

Tomorrow I plan to work outside cleaning up the gardens. We are hosting a garden party on Saturday evening which should be fun!

Next week I will be preparing for the weekend Arts Marketplace to be held during the Festival Stratford 2013 Midsummer Night's Dream Presentation. This will be my first outdoor show. I am very excited! We have invested in a tent, walls for hanging my work, tables for displaying my handmade papers and journals. On Monday, which is when my mobile phone contract is eligible for an upgrade, I am going to get a "smart phone" so that I can accept credit card payments! Time to go all-in with this.

The week after that I plan to start making some paper. And I need to get back to my 52 Flower Drawings Project!!

Home, Sweet, Home

My husband, Bob, and I are back from our ten day road trip. We had a great time, met some wonderful people and learned lots of things. When we left Connecticut on June 27th, the weather was cool and rainy. Back home now it is in the lower 90s. The house is really warm from being closed up and the lawn and flower beds are overgrown! Lots to do over the next few days. I hope I will take the time to write and blog about our experiences. It was difficult to keep up with it on the road. We were living each day to its fullest potential which left no time to record it. If I don't have some sort of documentation, whether written or photographic, in time I forget and I don't want that to happen.

Assembling an Art Travel Kit

My husband and I will be taking a road trip this summer. He will be doing the driving, as he doesn’t like being a passenger.  That is fine with me – I get to read, write, nap and create art! I plan to keep this kit assembled for the summer.  I’ll take it into the yard or onto the front porch, or…

My first consideration was choosing a container to hold the supplies and also serve as a lap desk. I chose a plastic carrying case designed to hold 12x12 inch scrapbook paper. I am also limiting myself to what will fit in the box.

Next came deciding what to include in the kit. I would like to work on my visual journals so decided what I could bring for that. I tested each item to make sure I could work with it on my lap.

I want to add collage elements but don’t want to use a glue stick. It took a while to figure out what would work, but did find a solution. My preference for collage adhesive is matte Mod Podge. I filled a large syringe with it. While testing, I discovered that the cover of the box works well as a palette too.

Paint would be impractical, but my Derwent Inktense Blocks and Niji water brushes would be ideal. 

 

Here is what I’ve packed:

Spiral bound journal

Unbound journal pages

Mini circle journal

Scissors

Papers pre-cut and torn, for collages

Derwent Inktense Color Blocks and Tinted Charcoal Pencils

Markers, Micron Pens and Pencil

Stencils

Niji water brushes in 3 sizes

                                                      Mod Podge in syringe & brushes

                                                     Paper towels & Deli paper

 

I made this mini journal out of old map pages as a sample for the Etsy World Craft Party. I plan to record the towns we pass through on the pages. Unfortunately the map pages do not coincide with the areas we will be visiting.

Photos 8-10

   

       

Challenge: pack your own Art Travel Kit and take it on your vacation, to the beach, park, front porch, even to work (a mini art retreat during lunch!)

NOTE: This article was written for 12 Months In View.