Something About Nothing

 I like throwing in pages from some atlas' I have laying around.  They don't have any special meaning. I just like maps. Was trying to see what I could do with some washi tape, a polka dot piece of paper, and a black marker. The black out poem and heart illustration belong with the next page of the book. The map is actually the opposite side of the page below.  Went a bit more in depth here. Right side is the atlas with a few of my additions. Left side is my imaginary map. A continuation of the atlas. A bit more color added to add more depth to the land masses, as well as a big ol' splash of water in the upper right hand corner. I like drawing sea creatures coming out of the water. I like this page. And speaking of sea creatures. . . . . .these two sperm whales made their way to the inside cover. They are enjoying a meal of something delicious. Like the inside cover whales, many of my drawings come about from the drips that duplicated themselves within the pages. After dr...

 A number of pages in my sketchbook were filled with flowers.  These drawings are always a way for me to unwind. Not my favorite. Was experimenting with the swirl and didn't like how it came out, but it's just a sketchbook piece. Sketchbooks are for experiments. Laura Kemshall suggested stitching on some pages, and putting oil pastel down as a resist. I wasn't sure where to go next so, flowers behind circles it became. To fill or not to fill, that was the question. Obviously, I didn't go all in. Black and white was good, but . . . . . .sometimes it is fun to experiment with color too. These flowers were inspired by the last of the flowers in my backyard. It was a lovely day in the fall and I took the cat out so he could roam while it was nice. I used an old stool as my table.

 The Copic markers bled through the peony page and created another lighter peony. I spent months contemplating what to do with this lovely.  I finally painted a little bit of background color, and drew some mandalas using Pitt Pens. Another little rose and mandala completed the page. Mandalas showed up on several pages in my sketchbook. Looking at this page now, I think I should have put another mandala or two on it, but instead I filled the open space with lines. I could paint over the lines and draw more, but who has time for that. Not to mention the lines are made with a grease pencil so they would still be there in the background. I even got brave and tried out some writing. "I don't think there's an Artist of any value who doesn't doubt what they're doing." - Francis Ford Coppola "Every Artist was first an amateur."

Last March I joined The Sketchbook Challenge with Laura Kemshall. It has taken me 9 months to complete one of my journals (I started two) and now I'm going to post about it in several parts. The first journal was created using MX Dyes on the edges. I had a lot of fun creating the color on the edges, soaking the pages in an attempt to get a lot more dye to drip on the inside. I didn't use any soda ash for fear it would eventually disintegrate the paper.  The dye stained the pages and was very migrant when rewetted. This was often a problem when I went back in to a page after the pages were completely dry. sometimes I could use it to my advantage and sometimes not so much. Some of the design created by the dye flowing from the edges on the page. The second sketchbook's edges were colored with a lot of very wet watercolor. Once the edges and insides dried, Laura guided us through making marks on some of the pages.  I often went all out. But some of the pages I left alone unti...