Seren
Being home is wonderful! (By the way, I DO consider home to be where my parents live....old fashioned, but true.)
I hate that I'm here to attend my Grandmother's memorial service, but I am glad to be here. Now that the blueness of the memorial has worn off, I finally have the spirit to get off my duff and create some art. I'm not an artist that creates well when uphappy. Unhappiness is the gateway to depression to me. I am like a visitor at the zoo when it comes to depression. For me, Depression is a big cat in a cage of aluminum bars. As long as I stay away from the cat, don't make her get up and come to the bars to check me out...all is fine. But once the cat realizes the bars are easily bent, whoa...am I in trouble! So I stay away from the Big Cat exhibit as best I can...but when I experience sorrow or sadness...well, that's like me buying a ticket to the zoo. Sometimes its hard to stay away from the Big Cats.
Soooo...the blueness is gone, or at least nicely tucked away...and new colors are calling me. These damn blank books are making me crazy...sooooo much white space...sooooo much free time! I ran to Jo-Ann's to pick up some inxpensive supplies. Of course I brought the basics with me from home, but...you know how that is...no matter what you bring, you want to work with something else! 
I bought some cheap acrylic paint, some patterned scrapbook paper and some other stuff, but the paint is what got me going. I went to Jo Ann's because I wanted cheap stuff...things I can leave here for future use. I have concluded that if I'm moving to California, all my free time will be spent coming home! If I have art supplies waiting for me, that's fewer things I have to carry on the plane!Anyway. I digress. Sorry.
Since the cover of the new series of books are fabic, I figured the best thing to do would be to number the covers with a fabric paint pen...and oh my god...did I find an awesome pen today. Yes, I was only going to JO Ann's...but then the buying bug nipped me and I had to go to Evanston. It's by Marvy and it's awesome. It sets right away...no need for heat and comes in several different tips. I bought the bullet tip and it works wonderfully. I bought black, but the pens come in several different colors. They are $2.19 each and I plan to buy a couple of white ones as well. I stenciled the numbers on the front of the books and then got to playing with the front pages. I finished several, but I only got about half way with the others. I think they came out pretty well considering the limited supply list.
I had a ball working with the acrylic paint I bought at JoAnn's (79 cents/bottle on sale) and tried my hand with the new set of watercolor pencils I finally found at Good's. They are Inktense Pencils by Dewent. They look and feel like a watercolor pencil, but when you wet them they dry into an ink. The colors are FAR more vibrant than the standard watercolor pencils...and they are permanent once dry so fixing them isn't an issue. 
As a matter of fact, when I did spray them with fixative, the color became very muted...looking more like traditional watercolor....so I think I will not fix them in the future. They don't "move" as much as watercolor either...but that's ok. I like them alot so I don't feel bad for paying full price. They come in a 12 pencil set and a 24 pencil set. I took a chance and bought the larger because I've learned that when I play it safe, I end up wanting the bigger set in the end...and that just makes me NUTS. I did that when I bought the watercolor crayons and I STILL daydream about having more colors. At least this time I learned from my mistake, right?
You can see the other books I worked if you click on the 10 DAY JOURNAL PROJECT link to the left. If you think you want to work in a book, now is the time to do so. Since I move next Thursday, I would like to get as many books out as possible and I have several in house right now. If you want one, drop me a note and I'll send you one!
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