Week 1, Day 2: Yeah, I couldn't help myself. :)

I promised myself I would stop working at breakfast time. I promised myself I would only work on the week's project--in this case, lots of backgrounds.  I promised myself that I would never let something like art journaling get in the way of dinner being on time.

Yeah, that all went out the window yesterday. :) 

 

It started when the neighbor boy brought a spine over to play with.  Yes, that is a real spine. :) 

I had tried drawing the girls during their TV time a bit earlier.  Lily took the paper from me, and said, "Mommy, that is NOT how you draw a person.  Here, let me show you."  She showed me step-by-step how to draw a stick figure.  "Now, here's how you add the dress," and she gave her little girl clothing.  Then she handed me the pencil and said, "Now you try it." 

Despite the neighbor, and the spine, being such interesting playmates, Eva fell asleep in the toy room....

....and Lily was just acting weird.  She was tired, she was grumpy, and she didn't want to play--but she did manage to give me a smile and a snuggle. 

So, I sent the neighbor boy, and the spine, home for the day, put a movie on for the girls, and proceeded to follow Lily's directions: "Now you try to draw a dress!" Yes, ma'am. :) I had an idea. :)

Several years ago, I read the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," which totally re-vamped the way I see.  I hadn't been able to practice much drawing yet, but I'm always able to see more accurately, "Oh, that baby has his dad's chin, his mom's eyes, and his grandpa's hairline," and so forth.  This is my first ever drawing of a woman. I used Lily's "Hello Kitty" pencil, and a pad of thin, tracing paper.  No, she wasn't traced, lol!

I had a model that would actually stand still for me, unlike trying to draw the girls. :)  This is an Alfred Angelo website. 

Then, I laid the tracing paper over some patterned scrap booking paper, and cut out the individual shapes of her gown.

I frequently use vintage papers from my grandfather's old preaching books for my crafts.  Here, I cut her upper body, arms, and face from a 1930's book on Christianity and politics.  Seriously. :)

I then reassembled the figure, and pasted her temporarily on the journal page to hold her together. 

That's when I went a little nuts with the process.

I'm in this "I heart Misty Mawn" phase of creativity, so I just HAD to add stitching to the page!  Then I thought, "Oh wow, I could practice Nancy Lefko's black and white lettering," so I just HAD to add that....and then "Oh, I should try out the paper punches, and what would happen if I added black pastel outlining and white-out pen for shading and oh my gosh I frikkin' LOVE pitt artist pens and why the heck didn't I do this sooner....?"

Before I knew it, dinner was an hour late, Lily was asleep on the couch, and Eva had completely covered herself with green marker.  And used one of my Pitt artist pens to decorate my table.  Yeah, those things have India ink in them, so it's never, ever coming out.

Yeah, I need to learn a nifty little thing called balance.  

Tomorrow, back to the plan! 

I love this stuff. :)

Housekeeping goal today: menu planning and grocery shopping!