Obsessions

Admit it!


We all have them.


Obsessions!


Oh yes you do! Those things you just love and have to have but are usually completely impractical. Oh we all justify them, sometimes well too, but really could you live without them, yes but why would you!

I thought I'd show you one of mine.

I love old photographs! I know many of you do too. How often do we pull them out to use as grist in the makings of our art? Quite often these days I think if you look around. I love faces and people. Portraits particularly but I will opt for landscapes and still life as well if the other isn't around. Portraits painted or snapped on film, I'm not fussy, I love them all.


Usually I like to guess at the people in them. Who were they? What are they thinking? What were their lives like? What is their relationship to the others in the picture? I like to make up lives and stories for them.

Recently I came across this little beauty and thought I'd share some of it with you all. It is an old antique Victorian album containing lots of photographs, mostly from around the late 1800's and early 1900's. It is not small as it measures approximately 12"x 9" and is about 2.5" wide. When I saw it I fell for it's charm and the obsession bug kicked in. You know the one that screams mine, mine, mine at you and refuses to let you leave the store without it! Oh, I argued with myself about the price, haggling internally, poo pooed at it and spun tales of how it will feed my artistic inspiration for decades to come etc; but in truth I must admit that it is really just that this is my own personal obsession. I purchased it and took it home and have gazed adoringly at it almost everyday since. LOL! From its covers wonderful textures to the gilt on each and every page to the gaze of those who inhabit the pages, I am lost...


The front cover...



Embossed leather, it feels wonderful. If you're a texture peep it will draw you in right here.



The spine, yumm!

and without even opening a page, I was in love with the back cover...

The most amazing cutting and embossing ever! It feels wonderful!!!


(Told you all I was obsessed, LOL!)


So I suppose I should give you a glimpse at the lives inside the covers too!


Isn't she wonderful!

Don't you love the artwork on the pages and the foxing!

Does it make you wonder who they were too?



No hands touching there, I wonder why?


Another gorgeous decorative page...

and then there's the girls...

I love that one of them is sort of peeping away candidly at the camera from the side.

What was she thinking?


And then there's these lovelies.

Lots more of course but I don't want to bore you all completely.

Think I'll just close it up now or I will be here dreaming all day!

What obsessions do you have?

Journal Chillin

It's been a weekend to relax and catchup on a little journal play. I have been so busy recently it was nice to just sit and play at something without any pressures or expectations for a change. I have been reading art books, magazines and blogs and taking a few lessons from them all. So here's the first one. The first page is a sort of hybrid creation after watching Pam Carriker and Sharon Tomlinson create portraits for their journals. I've never been tempted to do a portrait, always felt I couldn't draw for quids, but, in for a penny... (and you have to learn sometime, right? Yeah... right! LOL). So here she is.


She's a little washed out from the scanner, but you get the drift! I can live with her, so that wasn't a complete failure!
(P.S. Ro, notice your fabulous stamp!!! LOVE it!)

Onto the second page... texture play!!! Woohoo!


Again I wanted to try something completely new, so, I'm gazing into the garden comtemplating the trees and what captures me...
Bark!!! Hmmm, must be able to use it somehow, what about a major texture play. Incorporate as much as I think the journal will hold up to without completely caving in! So off I went. Tissue paper and gel medium. Modelling paste with background and foreground stamping (I told you I love this poppy stamp Ro!!!). Then sheet music and gel again, then layers of acrylics and oils, followed by gel and bark. Add a few words and the piece d' resistance (did I spell that right???) wax!!! Oh yeah baby it sneaks in again! Gotta say I love, love, love the feel of the page, can't stop touching it! (Makes me sound a bit suspect really, but you know how it is with us texture peoples, LOL) Not an earth shattering picture but the texture... drool!




Okay Kim, wipe your drool up and move on!

And finally the outpourings from too much time spent at NASA/JPL's website.
The eye of the universe. Read into this piece what you will, I'm not influencing your take on this one!


The orange is actually copper but once again I succumb to crappy photography skills. Perhaps I should have stuck to reading photography for dummies instead!