Banana juice?

I still think that when you put a banana in a blender you get banana mush, not juice - even thought I've DRANK strawberry banana juice...

When I was at Kelly's, she gave me some paper I asked her to get for me WEEKS ago. It's for a new cartoon journal! Ajae thinks the word "cartooning" is kind of insulting, but I like it.

These are the covers, I took the picture for Kelly because I was super excited that night when I was making it.

Here it is all put together!

This is me, picturing myself trying to make banana juice. (This is what grocery shopping is like for me. I get all confused and wander around thinking about how to juice a banana and then forget what I was there for in the first place.)
I used the pieces for my journal cover! It's pretty damn cute if I do say so myself!! I always wonder about journal covers - is a piece of paper enough to cover it? Should I paint it? But this time I LOVE it!
The inside pages are 90 pound Fabriano Artistico drawing paper. It works so beautifully with my copics.

Sad girls?

They always have a tendency to look sad. I'm not sure why, I don't intend for that to happen!

New journal...

I LOST my awesome Fabriano journal. Lost it. How do I do these things? I'm a complete airhead. But since Tim has worked every single day for the past month and I don't have a car, I can't get to Blick's to get more amazing paper. So I used a coupon at Michael's (walked there, it was 38 degrees) and got some Arches paper.

Broke it in immediately because I've been jonesing for my journal! Just another girl...OK, this pic is cool because that magenta on the left side of her face is Shiva oil paint stick! It was mega fun. Kelly has a few (she has everything) and I played with them. Cool stuff, I gotta get some of my own. Oh, and I colored her face with a whole bunch of colored pencils Kelly has, too. I'm totally a creature of habits - Prismacolor all the way - but Kelly is awesome about trying different stuff. There were Polychromos which turn out to be water soluble even though they say "permanent" on them. I used another kind, too...I forget what they were. (Then why mention it, Goog? Do we need to know these things?) Yes, yes you do.

PS Arches paper cracks when you fold it.

PPS It's pronounced "arsh" but that's too close to "arse" and my BFF lives in London so I can't bring myself to say it like that...

ShamROCK!

I am IN LOVE with this kit. It's technically a St. Patrick's Day kit, but I absolutely don't think it has to be. Usually when I pick out a kit to work with it's because I love the papers and am willing to deal with whatever "stuff" comes with it, mostly making my own frames and things, but I love absolutely everything about this kit!

This one IS a St. Patrick's Day LO, my boys were decked out in green - Tim for work and Liam for school.

The kit is ShamROCK by Piccolina Designs. I had so mch fun playing with it this morning!!

Play date!!

I finally got to go to Kelly's today!!!! Tim was off, so we all headed down to New Brighton. The boys went to a movie but first Liam did a little journaling...with a brush in each hand - he's a very talented child.

And Tim had a little quality time with Ellie...Then it was play time for REALS! Oh, yeah, that's a Suzi Stamp all right!Kelly is a MASTER stamper...
Voila!

We also played with her tear bar (did you know they make special things for you to rip your paper with?), and Shiva paint sticks. Kelly has the best toys!!

God is great, beer is good...

...and people are crazy. I have that song in my head, just thought I'd share. Today me and Mini walked to Michael's for a make-n-take project! It's a plastic Easter egg turned into a chick.

That was kind of the extent of our art adventures today...

You Suck Monday

I've missed blogging, my friends! Gotta get back to doing it everyday now that I have a working computer. It keeps me making art. Here's what I sucked at today. It's a girl I've painted before - there didn't seem to be any reason to "practice" on the bag, especially since it's something people are going to see. (More than just you people, I mean.)

First I drew on it in pencil. Plain old pencil. It worked fine and erased perfectly.

Then I painted! For the face I used titan buff, just like I would for any painting, but it looked REALLY DARK against the white of the bag. Really, horribly dark. I guess I'm not really used to working directly on something white like that. Usually colored pencil comes before paint, so I don't ever start with white.
It's hard to tell in the pictures, but I was able to add some depth with a tan mixed with a teeny bit of dark brown and LOTS of glazing liquid. At least as much glaze as there was paint. Maybe more. It looks way cooler in person!
I went back in with my pencil to redefine her features, and I used a black Glaze pen for her pupils. Oh, and I added some shiny airbrushing paint to her background and iridescent medium to her wing so it's shiny. I'm pretty happy with her so far!
Now I just have to decide if I want to put the words on her that were on the journal page...thoughts?