WOYWW #487: A New Project

New projects take time, especially when one is starting from scratch. This one offered a series of challenges, and so it took months for me to design and make everything. I really enjoyed this process. Please forgive me if I am unable to leave many comments. The eyesight issue has its challenges as well, but I'll try and visit as may of you as possible this week regardless.

For anyone new to this fun and perennial Wednesday Blog Hop, please visit Ms Julia Dunnit's blog for more information by following the link HERE. 

The story of this gift I made for a friend may be seen in the pictures in this post. For more on how I made the faux sewing buttons, please follow the link HERE.

Happy WOYWW!

~Rose

WOYWW #442: One Eyed Challenges (#PASC1117)

It's Wednesday, and time for another adventure with my fellow deskers.

For more WOYWW fun, you can head for the hub of the fun over at the blog of our fearless leader, Julia Dunnit HERE.

Some of my fellow deskers already have some idea as to the challenges I've continued to face since the optic nerve to my left eye malfunctioned at the end of summer of this year. Many of you have continued to boost my morale with kind comments. That's really been lovely, and I want to say a fond Thank You now for your recent kindness towards me. As I haven't been able to comment to your posts as much as I used to, such generosity has genuinely touched me.

One thing I keep discovering: my eyesight's strength has had either worse or better days. A better day was when I tried doing a man's face. That was 2 posts ago. I risked the strength of both my eyesight and my morale that time by trying something that I'd never done before: a full color painted sketch of an old portrait. 

Most days have not been as easy for my eyesight as that day was. All of it is tough to get used to in that I need to be constantly vigilant of how my eyes happen to be doing. I'm forgivably clumsy at times when there's delicacy required. Such challenges have often put a damper on my mood. I'm learning how not to lose patience with the whole situation as well as how to content myself with what CAN be done each time that I attempt something. 

Junk Journals offer unique challenges, too, especially in the area of materials used in the building of any junk journal. This one has a tendency to buckle at times, so I've had to use a curly paper clip whilst taking this week's photo. 

This time, I'm trying the November Pick a Stick Challenge, the prompts for which may be found by following the link HERE.  

The challenge calls for making a pocket. I've opted to make a folded paper bag pocket out of a sheet of deli paper to which I added one of the pretty embellished papers which Win Dinn sent me recently for our paper trade. The diagonal phrase I cut from a newspaper, while the other two collaged word bits are both from a magazine, as per the prompts. 

The words mean something on a very deep level to me today. I believe that art can help me keep adjusting even if it is my biggest challenge. As for the advice to not "stress about it," well, that would be another of life's challenges.

WOYWW #439~ One Eyed Art: Learning

Ever since my left eye began to malfunction 2 months ago, I've been too scared to try anything too challenging. That would include learning how to improve my work on faces.

I was afraid of failure. I tend to be, anyway. It can really reduce morale to have something not work out when life's a bit rougher than normal for a while, can't it?  Why try anything difficult that I know I don't have the proper skills to handle during such a difficult time?

For more WOYWW fun, please follow this link HERE to today's blogpost at host Julia Dunnit's blog.

Well, Meri made me do it! I mean, of course, Meri of The Meri Atelier. She didn't know that's what she was doing at the time, though. She has a real talent for doing both people and landscapes as well as mixed media, collage, journaling - you name it! I find it very inspiring to watch her make her art. I always learn when I watch her videos.

But where she really got to me was with her Inktober 2017 Art Journal. I'll include her video at the bottom of this post. In that lovely journal are hand drawn and inked/painted portraits of unknown children from vintage photos. Simply stunning work! I was hooked on portraits again.

I chose something almost at random. It was in a book on my windowsill. The original painting that I attempted to copy is by Dutch artist, van Dyck. The man's name was Cornelis van der Geest.

Despite the many wrinkles, I found that untreated plain brown paper can take gouache paint fairly well as long as it's layered on slowly and without too damp a brush. I began first by using white gouache in the 2 bottom layers, then  tinted more white gouache using watercolors for more layers to keep the paint opaque over the brown paper. I needed to smear and smoosh the gouache so that it would thin in places and not be too heavy at first. I wanted the brown of the wrinkly page to peep through, a bit like underpainting. (I have never tried to do underpainting) The page's wrinkles drove me a bit batty, but really, it's the current problems with my eyesight that challenged me more, especially as to perspective. For the background, I used a wash of Inktense Indian Ink.

Critiquing the Results

I'm not pleased with the skin tones. I'm too inexperienced to get those right yet. I left my comfort zone on this project. I did not get my copy real enough to suit me, even when I do kinda like parts of how the man's ruff turned out. Fabric's one thing, but faces are much more difficult for me to attempt. All the same, I've decided to try a new face every once in a while, just as a way to keep my hand in. 

My technique needs lots of help along with lots of practice if 

I'm to improve at all. Too late to improve the set of the eyes on this attempt!

Next up? Maybe somebody famous such as Shakespeare. No guts, no glory new messes! 

Please forgive me for not responding to you promptly. This post took a lot longer for me to type than is normal for me. It takes days for me to prepare ahead for each WOYWW these days. I am still too slow to keep up or to have enough time to leave comments at every desker's blog. The eye problem hasn't made things any easier. I do hope to be allowed to at least peep at people's pictures so that I might get an idea as to what they've been up to lately.

Happy WOYWW to all my fellow deskers!

As promised, here is Meri's lovely Inktober 2017 video. 

WOYWW #435: More Messy One-eyed Art

Welcome, fellow deskers! Not many words this time around. It's still difficult for me to read for very long, and this includes most typing too. My apologies in advance for not being able to either read or comment very much today. I'll try and visit as many places as I am able to, yet probably won't do much beyond viewing some photos there. Thank you for understanding about comments here as well, where only short answers will be offered.

For more WOYWW fun, please visit our reigning and creative Queen of the Deskers, Ms Julia Dunnit, by going HERE.

I've finished adding to the page behind last week's 2 pager.

The pain was at its post-operative worst when I began this newest 2 pager, below. It is improving now, thank goodness. Sorry for the gore. The DIY texture paste which frames the gory image transfer (onto Deli paper) is a mixture of unused coffee + Liquitex Heavy Matte Gel Medium + a dab of Mod Podge and a  small amount of water. Everything else is self explanatory.

Here is this week's.

Apologies on going so anatomical.

More medical appointments soon, with a test or two. Will try and join weekly here, regardless. It gives me something nice to think about, knowing I'll be able to visit a few of my fellow deskers, even when I cannot visit all of you each week or write to much in comments.

~Rose

WOYWW #434

As tomorrow will be a big day for me, and with family dropping by later on today, I'm afraid I won't be able to comment much at all today.

But I was able to add 2 new entries to the junque journal I made last month. The first entry may be seen in my previous post by following this link HERE. For more WOYWW fun, you may visit our WOYWW Queen of the Deskers, Julia Dunnit, HERE.

I am scheduled to have a biopsy tomorrow on the side of my face. This will allow a few tissue samples to be tested. They are trying to save the sight in my left eye that became impaired right before Labor Day weekend. If you pray, I would ask that you would please add the whole situation to your prayers. Nobody knows quite what's causing the optic nerve to become inflamed, thus leading to serious visual impairment. The grey veil is still with me this morning.

Meanwhile, there is still art, isn't there? 

The grey veil truly frightened me at first, but now I am a bit used to it. I did cry a good deal that first week. Terror and tears. A terrible week. Steroid treatment seems to keep the veiled look less heavy, sort of like a semi sheer drape with a thin wash of acrylic paint overtop, so that's better than before. The blood draw 2 weeks ago was intense. I'd never had so many vials drawn in one sitting before. My phlebotomist/"vampire" was a nice guy with a trim beard and a smile who made me feel more at ease. He had a kind sense of humor as well. That always helps, doesn't it?

As challenges continue, I won't give up on art entirely.

Art Therapy for one, given by one, from self to self.....

A First Attempt at Making Art One-Eyed

Despite my eyesight issue, I find that I cannot abandon any ideas for creative play. My aim is terrible today. Making little dots go where I wished them to be turned out to be a trying time, yet I refuse to stop altogether. In fact, during this dreadful time of wondering what's causing the problem with the sight in my left orbit, I know that I will have to make art in order to help my mind relax, even if it most certainly is bound to be sloppy and messy.

It's kind of handy the way in which I gave myself permission at the turn of the year to be as messy as I want to be for 2017. I say kind of. Once messiness was imposed upon me by this new and serious health problem, however, I began to worry that I might never be allowed to make art in a refined way again. This new worry comes after having been told that nobody's yet certain as to how come the left optic nerve is problematic. In fact, I'd always had pretty darned good eyesight up till now, a thing I long to have restored. I will never, ever be able to take eyesight for granted again. Even typing is more difficult than before - and I am all thumbs at the keyboard usually anyway.

So here is my first entry that is the title page for the new Junque Journal. From now on, it will have to be a no holds barred, wild and messy little book. The blue tape is from the length that a nurse cut for me at the place where they had to give me IV steroid therapy for 3 days in a row (she sent it home with me along with a spare glove so that I could still safely shower even with the IV still in my wrist). At first, that stuff would not glue down so easily. Seems it only likes to stick to skin and itself. I had to apply Gel Matte Medium thickly. I am pleased with the effect, tho', so that's nice to reflect back on. I plan on utilizing every bit of ephemera/junk I find during all of the various clinic and hospital trips I'll be taking. I already have a small stash to get started on.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. The alphabet letters are mainly from a small mixed bag set of typeface letters. Some are made of wood, while the rest are metal and quite heavy. They were a 2nd hand store find from a fun day out shopping long ago. These I stamped using a Colorbox Dragonfly Black Pigment ink pad. I added a thin layer of matte gel with ultramarine blue watercolor for a glaze to pull the blue bits together on the monotype clean-up pull page I chose from my junk stash for the book. The card is from a mixed incomplete deck of playing cards I keep around for collage purposes.

Anyway, that's it for the first try. Expect more in future as I feel my way through this new limited ability, self-made art therapy course I'm set on giving myself. As the famed British Prime Minister, Churchill once said, Never, never, never give up.
Words to live by.

WOYWW #430: Junk Journal Flip-Through

Happy WOYWW #430 and Welcome to the Flip-Through of my August Challenge Junk Journal.

If you'd like to find out more about Julia Dunnit's fun weekly Wednesday blog hop, please visit her excellent blog HERE. I may get behind in responding to comments as well as visiting the whole list early enough. Please forgive any lateness. I should be able to manage it eventually, even if I get behind. I am an irregular, sporadic desker, so you may not see me for a few weeks.

So what is on my particular workdesk this time around? A finished Junk Journal. I'm offering a "tour" of its many pages here. My guests are welcome to view as few or as many as they wish. I actually did not think that there would be enough time to finish it, but once I'd rediscovered the ease and quickness of wrap style bookbinding, I knew that I'd soon have the whole thing done and ready to be played with. This is a long post, so I will leave the rest to the photo "slide show" below. For more on the earliest stages of this project, guests may wish to follow the link HERE.

I can hardly wait to see what my fellow deskers are up to this week!

I've Gone Wacky for Customized Trim!

It is nearing the end of August, and so I have a Junk journal challenge to finish - it's a mad dash!

I am still uncertain whether or not I'll to be able to do everything I've thought of doing for that challenge, one that was issued by Kerry of Kerrymay Makes. Please go HERE for more about that challenge.

I've finished preparing a number of pages for the new journal, but keep needing to make a few changes. For one thing, I dislike overstuffed books, as they do not store easily on my already overcrowded selves.  I mention this due to the fact that I've had to edit out an entire signature. But more on that for the next post when I'll (hopefully) be done binding the book.

Meantime, I wanted to trim things, yet found supplies somewhat lacking in certain areas, especially with the color ways I've chosen for the book. Kerry's challenge mentions using what we have, and so when inspiration finally struck me, I created my own custom trim.

Allow me to introduce you to my weird and wild version of washi tape that I call my "Wacky Tape." Lolz. I've outlined my process using photos with captions below.

My mad dash continues once a few bits of housework get taken care of! I hope to post the finished book for tomorrow's WOYWW.

Wish me luck!