Maude Fealy Snow Angel

It's been awhile since I've posted because I haven't been in the studio for awhile. But today I felt like playing with some digital art. I was inspired by one of my favorite muses, Maude Fealy. So I created this Snow Angel featuring beautiful Maude to share with you.

I wish you all much peace and happiness in the New Year. Be well, be happy, and by all means, be creative!

Painting with Tissue Paper

This past week Destiny and I were experimenting with Painting with Tissue Paper. I'd seen a post on Pinterest about it and thought it was cool, and it looked like a fun project for Destiny to do. So we gave it a try. I bought some bleeding Tissue Paper from Dick Blick, because there was none to be found in the town where I live. The brand name of it is Spectra, in case you want to try it too.

The technique is simple really: cut out some shapes out of the paper, brush some water on your canvas, and then put the tissue paper on top. Let it dry, then when the tissue comes off it leaves color behind like it was painted. Destiny and I did do this first, but then we decided to add a little more stuff and make it more of a Mixed Media project. These are the results.

Rubber Stamping on Tissue Paper Painting

FLOWERS

 

SNOWFLAKES

Destiny loved this project, and I'm sure we'll be doing it again. It was really fun, and really easy to do. And may I just say, she's got her poses down pat now. :)

The Blue Flower

I was in the mood for something different over the weekend while I was in the studio, so I created this Blue Flower mixed media painting. I like to do flowers from time to time, but not exactly like this. So it was just nice to do something a little different.

It's a combination of scrapbook paper, Neocolor II Crayons, acrylics, stencils, and rubber stamping. :)

Fork Daisy by Destiny

When Destiny and I were painting the other day, she wanted to paint a flower after we finished our Fall Brush Trees. She totally knew what she wanted to do and told me she needed a fork. Since we painted Fork Flowers on Canvas once, I knew she would be a pro with the fork again. So I gave her a fork and she used her tempera paint and created this.

She told me she was going to use the fork to make petals in a circle to make the flower. So she did that, and then she used a paintbrush to paint the center of the flower and the stem with leaves. What I love most about this is that she thought of it all on her own and knew exactly what she wanted to do. All I did was move the paper for her as she was making a "circle" with the fork for the petals. 

I love painting with Destiny. And I see lots more painting in our future. :)

Fall Brush Trees

Destiny and I were inspired by the Fall leaves this week, so we decided that a painting of Fall Trees was in order. I thought it would be fun to use a round brush to make the tree leaves, like we did when we painted our Brush Dandelions. So I gave Destiny the brush, a canvas, some tempera paint, and a wee bit of instruction, and then she got down to painting!

This time I found a better round brush for her to use--it was much easier for her to hold this one than the one with the long handle. It made it easier to dab it on the canvas. Destiny painted the tree trunk first, then used the brush to add the leaves to to the top of the tree and to the ground. She had no help from me at all! And I know I'm biased, but I think it's quite the masterpiece. :)

Angel Princess Mixed Media

I started this Angel painting two weeks ago and just finished in the studio yesterday. I normally like to create fairies, but this time I was feeling like making an angel. So this is my Angel Princess mixed media painting.

She is done mostly with acrylics, but I also used some Neocolor II crayons. There is also some tissue paper (in the wing), and clear rhinestone gems (in her crown)--though they look almost black in this photo. I also added some glitter to her dress to give her a little sparkle. :)

Something Different

Recently my daughter showed me a painting she liked in a local store. She and I have very different tastes, so I didn't really care for the painting. But I knew she liked it and that's all that mattered. But rather than spend $40 on a painting that was probably made in China or somewhere, I decided to do one in a similar style myself as a gift for my daughter. And this be it. :)

The original painting had similar rings, circles and lines, but also a couple of colors my daughter didn't like. She prefers all neutrals most of the time. So I used the same kinds of rings, circles, and lines, and added a few details of my own when I created this for her. And thankfully, she liked it. 

Definitely something different than I usually paint, eh? It's definitely not my style at all, but as long as she likes it, I'm a happy painter.

Outlander Wedding

I'm so excited about the Outlander Wedding of Jaime and Claire tonight that I made some digital art in their honor. Who doesn't love a good love story, eh?

I just finished the Outlander book (#1) last night too. I was so anxious to get it read before I watched any more of the series. I have such a hard time reading a book if I've seen the movie/TV show of it first. I had managed to stay ahead of the series quite a bit, but I just decided to get the whole first book read before the big wedding. Now I'm on to book two! 

Are you and Outlander fan? If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

Fall Fairy Dance

The latest challenge at Lunagirl has Autumn as its theme, so I've created this Fall Fairy Dance digital art for that challenge. (Fairy by by Lorie Davison of scrapbookgraphics.com)

Be sure to check out the Lunagirl.com website if you're in need of wonderful digital images. She has many wonderful images and CD's of images there!

A Rose for Lily

This week's challenge theme at the Three Muses blog is Roses. And since it's been awhile since I've taken part in one of the challenges, I decided to join in. Lily Elsie was my muse, because she was as beautiful as a rose.

I had fun creating this...I never tire of Lily! She always inspires me to get creative. :)

Outlander Art Journal Page

Since I'm getting all wrapped up in the Outlander book AND the TV show, I thought I'd dedicate a page in my art journal to the characters, Claire and Jamie. 

I was only introduced to Outlander a short time ago through an online friend that posted about it on Facebook (thanks, Tracy!). I started reading it and I knew fairly quick I was going to need to watch the series as well. So I ordered Starz just so I could watch it. I'm still reading the book--I'm a few chapters ahead of where the show is right now. It's fun to be able to see how the characters are brought to life on the small screen. I think they're doing a wonderful job of staying true to the book and the characters as well. And I'm absolutely loving the journey that the book is taking me on with Jamie and Claire.

There may be more Outlander journal pages in my future. :)

Fairy by Moonlight

I felt like creating some digital Fairy Art this evening, so I just thought I'd share my creation.

Hope you have a magical weekend...

Sparkle Fairy

It seems that I just can't get away from my Fairy Art girls. I just keep getting inspired to paint more. And I love working with various media and improving my skills with them, and with portraits in general. I love how my Sparkle Fairy came out this weekend.

I used mostly Neocolor II Crayons for this artwork this time. There is some white acrylic paint marker for details, and also some black pen and black rubber stamping as well. And also a wee bit of stenciling with distress ink was done in the background. It was a great, productive day in the studio.

Pink Poppies Mixed Media

I was in the mood to paint some flowers in the studio. I started these Pink Poppies last week but didn't get a chance to finish them. Finally was able to get in the studio for a couple of hours on Sunday--despite fighting a nasty cold and just not feeling well--just so I could finish this up.

Sometimes, a girls just feels like some flowers. I did this on a birch wood panel, just because I wanted to try one out. I kind of liked it and I'm sure I'll use more wood panels in the future. It's a nice change of pace.

She Could Fly Fairy

I finished a new Mixed Media painting in the studio over the weekend. And another little fairy is born. :)

She loved to DREAM

for in her dreams she could FLY

I messed up her hand and had to put a flower on it. LOL. But nobody's perfect, right?

Flutter Fae

Some more Fairy Art was finished in the studio over the weekend. I love how she turned out!

My Flutter Fae was created using Neocolor Crayons and Inktense blocks, a touch of acrylic paint pen and some Pitt Artist pens. She's on watercolor paper instead of canvas this time and 7x10 in size. I think I'm going to frame this one and keep her in the studio. :)

Dream Girl is California Dreaming

My amazing and wonderful friend, Lori, who was the maid of honor at my wedding way back in 1984, asked me recently to paint for her something that could she could use on the cover of her idea journal. She said I could paint whatever I wanted...but that maybe it could have flowers, or fairies, or something. I started with flowers, and almost did a fairy too. But I decided to use a fabulous figure stamp by one of my fave artists, Suzi Blu instead. And I love how it turned out.

I added all the color and embellishments with Inktense Blocks, Neocolor Crayons, a bit of acrylics, and some paint pens. There is also some stenciling in the background. I call her Dream Girl...and to me she is dreaming of flowers in lots of pretty colors. :)

Now she is California Dreaming, because California is her new home. And Lori loves her, which just proves that homemade art from the heart is always the best gift for best friends. ♥

DIY Wands

Destiny and I were busy making DIY Wands this week. Pink was her color of choice, and the sparkle was a must. So we used pink sparkle craft paint and some really pretty pink glitter, and some gems and ribbon to make our own FABULOUS wands.

Destiny also decided to make an extra wand for her best friend. She kept saying, "Best Friends Forever...Best Friends Forever" when we finished making them. :) I'd say these were a hit. And they were so easy to make. 

Materials We Used:

1. Wooden Stars
2. Wooden Dowels
3. Craft Gems
4. Pink Glitter
5. 2 Colors of Ribbon
6. Stringed Golden Beads

We painted the stars and the dowels first. It took several coats to cover them and I realized during that process that I probably should have put down a coat of white as the first layer. I think the pink would have looked brighter on the dowels in that case. So if you make these too I'd suggest white paint as the first layer of color. After the final coat of paint on the stars, while the paint was still wet, we sprinkled on the glitter and shook off the excess and let them dry. Then we added the gems to the stars and tied the ribbon and beads to the painted dowels. Then I hot glued the stars to the dowels. 

We had a lot of fun making these. And really, who doesn't need their own magic wand?!

Bumblebee Transformer

I've never painted anything like a Transformer before, but when my grandson, Dylan asks for a painting of Bumblebee, that's what he's going to get. So that is what I created this weekend in the studio.

It's definitely not perfect, and it was more difficult than I thought it would be. But Dylan said, "it is so awesome," and that's all I needed to know it was enough. :)

Star Fairy

I finished another Mixed Media painting in the studio over the weekend. I seem to be in full fairy mode lately, but I'm not complaining. :) I love Fairy Art. 

This little Star Fairy painting was completed in two Sundays in the studio. I had a ball painting her. She's one of my favorites to date. Hope you like her too!

Moon Fairy

I haven't been creating much digital art in awhile so I thought I'd create some this morning. I was inspired by a beautiful photo of Maude Fealy...a favorite digital muse. So I turned her into Fairy Art.

What better way to start your day than with a little fairy and fantasy?!

Brush Dandelions

Last week Destiny and I decided to create some Dandelion paintings. We took a simple round kitchen brush that looked sort of like this:

And we dipped it in white paint and made Dandelions on black paper like this:

It was super easy and super fun! My favorite combination. And Destiny had a ball. :)

Frozen Painting

By special request from my granddaughter, Destiny, I've created a new Acrylic Painting featuring Anna and Elsa from Frozen. I just finished it over the weekend. 

Destiny's new room has a Frozen theme, so this will fit right in. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it overall. And I think Destiny will really like it. She can hang it with her Rapunzel painting I did for recently too. :)

I started another mixed media painting over the weekend as well. So will be working on that some more this week. Then I hope to paint something for my 10 year old grandson, Dylan. I think he wants a Transformer. That should be interesting. :)

Fun with Flowers

The Hubs and I traveled to Hocking Hills, Ohio recently. While there we visited Hocking House and their beautiful garden. I was playing around with a couple of the photos I took in the garden and thought I'd share them with you. :)

This first one shows a butterfly on a flower--it was flying around and let me snap quite a few pictures of her dancing around on this flower. This was my favorite one. I love these flowers!

 I loved these white lilies that were there too. I thought I'd give them a canvas effect just for the fun of it. There were so many beautiful flowers in their garden, and it had just rained so everything had little water droplets on it. So pretty, as you can see in the last photo.

This was one of the biggest lilies I'd ever seen. I should have measured it because really, it was that big. And it looked so pretty with the water droplets all over it. It was like a little spot of sunshine after the rain.

Hope you liked seeing my flower photography. I love flowers, don't you? I wish you could have seen the entire garden, it was really breathtaking there. If you ever get to Hocking Hills, Ohio, be sure to visit Hocking House, which is where this garden is.

Art Chick Studio Society 6 Free Shipping

Just a little note to let you know that FREE SHIPPING worldwide is available in my Society6 shoppe now through July 13 (midnight PDT). Free shipping is a great way to save money on your favorite items with my art on them!

Just click on the image above and that will take you directly to my Society6 shoppe so you can start shopping and saving!!

Michael Jackson Angel - 5 Years Gone

June 25 marks the 5 year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop. So I've created this Michael Jackson Art in tribute to my musical icon. 

What moves through us is a silence, a quiet sadness, a longing for one more day, one more word, one more smile, one more song. We may not understand why you had to leave this earth five years ago, or why you left before we were ready to say goodbye; but little by little, we begin to remember not just that you died, but that you lived. And that your life gave us memories far too beautiful to forget. You were gone too soon, but you will live on in our hearts forever, Michael.

Michael Jackson

August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009 

Dream Angel

I finished a new Mixed Media painting over the weekend. I wanted to do some sort of angel painting, and this is what I created.

This is mostly acrylic paint, but there's also tissue paper in the background for texture, and I used some stencils and rubber stamps as well. I have this thing about pink hair. I just like it. :)

Keep Dreaming!

The Road Less Traveled

I'm a wee bit behind on my Journal52 weekly prompts, but hey, better late than never, eh? So this is last week's prompt, which was "Traveling." I was thinking about butterflies while I was in the studio, and wondering how many pretty things they must see in the travels. So that's why I did butterflies. And the quote was relevant (a paraphrase from Robert Frost), so I used that.

Not sure if you can tell, but the swirly blue-ish accents are full of texture. I created them with a stencil and modeling paste that I added paint to. I like how that turned out. Overall I love the page too! :)

And this was me in the studio as I began another painting this weekend. Right now it's just background...but it's rather likely that a fairy or an angel will appear there soon. 

Fork Flowers on Canvas

Destiny and I decided to have some painting fun today. A couple of times while surfing Pinterest I remember seeing some kids' art made by using forks dipped in paint to make flowers. So that's what Destiny and I decided to do, and we had a ball!

Now the neat part about this, other than the flowers made from forks, is that the background for this canvas was actually created by my grandson, Dylan when he was 3 or 4 years old (he's 10 now). He wasn't all that into the artsy stuff like Destiny is, but I convinced him one day to create something by just using a small foam roller to roll fluorescent paint all over this canvas. He had fun doing that, but I wasn't sure what to do with the canvas, so I just tucked it away. I pulled it out today and decided that Destiny and I would try out the fork flower technique I'd seen. She really loved it!

All you have to do is dip a plastic fork into paint--we used a combination of tempera and craft acrylic paints for this--then set the fork down on the canvas and rock it back and forth a bit to "print" the flowers. Then just add stems and leaves to finish them off. And Destiny and I decided to add some grass too. Destiny is 4 and she did most of this herself. I only did 3 of the flower prints, 2 stems, and 1 leaf--and I showed her how to make grass, but she did almost all of that herself too. :) 

I love that I have this canvas now to keep in the "kids" room. And the best part is that BOTH of my grandkids actually painted this--even if it was 6 years apart. Super fun and really easy to do too, it really was a perfect almost-summer art activity!

Believe Fairy Mixed Media

It was such a busy holiday weekend, but I still managed to find time to finish my little Believe Fairy mixed media painting on Sunday.

This is done on a 6" square canvas. I'm actually finding it more difficult to paint on small canvases than on large. It just makes it more challenging to get the details right when the canvas is small. But I still loved doing this one. Sometimes it's just all about the fairies. :) I'll just add too that the color is a bit off in this photo. It looks much better in person. LOL.

Tree Mandala

This week's prompt for Journal52 is Mandala, so this is my art journal page featuring a Mandala I did of a tree.

All of the color is from Inktense pencils and blocks. The leaves are a clear acrylic stamp. I've also created my name in the tree branches. Can you find it (T I N A)? If you need help...

She Wont Say Goodbye

I missed last week's prompt for Journal52 because of Mother's Day, so I'm playing catch-up a bit. So now I'm also 2 behind on my Documented Life prompts--since I was getting caught up on J52. Oy! But oh well. Last week's challenge was Photography. So for this page I took a photo I tore out of a magazine years ago, of Drew Barrymore and used that for my inspiration.

I think Drew is so beautiful. This was a multi-page photo spread at the time, with Drew basically dressed in various beautiful gowns in lovely settings. In this case she was a version of Beauty, in Beauty in the Beast. I think she looks sort of melancholy in this photo, so I picked a little poem by Lang Leav to go with the image.

A bird who hurt her wing,

now forgotten how to fly.

A song she used to sing,

but can't remember why.

A breath she caught and kept-

that left her in a sigh.

It hurts her so to love you,

but she won't say goodbye.

Da Vinci Code Journal Page

This week's challenge at Journal52 is to create a book-inspired art journal page. One of my favorite books of all time is...can you guess...

Yep, it is the Da Vinci Code. Love that book! So this page was inspired by one of the most fun reads I've had in my adult life. :)

Mothers Day Flower Pots

For Mother's Day, Destiny and I made some wonderful gifts that we had a blast making. We made some Flower Pots, and the "roses" in the pots where made using prints made from celery!

I was cutting up some celery a few weeks ago and remembered seeing a celery-printing project on Pinterest. So I cut the end off of the celery and grabbed some pink paint and paper and had Destiny dip the celery "butt" into the paint and then print it on a paper several times. I told her we were making roses and she had a ball. I let those dry and saved them until last week. At that point I cut out the printed roses and laminated them. 

I had purchased some cheap terracotta pots at Michael's and we painted them together in my studio. Destiny loves to paint and she had a ball doing these. We also had some wooden sticks I'd saved from some meals at Captain D's (they had shrimp on them) and I'd washed them up and stuck them away. They would be perfect stems for our flowers. So we stuck those sticks into Styrofoam balls I'd cut in half--to hold them up while we painted them green. 

Once everything was dry, I stuck the Styrofoam balls, with the sticks still in the center of them, into the pots. We covered the foam with Spanish moss, and then I stuck some leaves from some silk flowers I had over the sticks and pushed them down to the bottom. The leaves were attached by some plastic in the center that had holes right in the middle, and they fit perfectly over the sticks (thank goodness). The final step was to attach the laminated roses to the green sticks with some hot glue--which I did myself so that miss Destiny wouldn't be burning her fingers on the glue. 

We made three flower pots: one for her Mommy, one for her Great Grandma, and one for her other Grandma (her Daddy's mom). I kinda wish we'd made one for me too. :) But we had a lot of fun making these and they were perfect gifts for Mother's Day--flowers that never need watering and that will never die!

Art Chick Studio Art for Sale

I just wanted to let all of you know that products from me, the ArtChick, are now available for sale in my Society6 Shoppe, and my new shoppe on Etsy.

THIS IS MY ETSY SHOPPE:

ART CHICK STUDIO ON ETSY 

In my Etsy shoppe you will find primarily art prints--just Giclee Prints at this point--but I may be adding other types of prints as well in the near future. I also plan to list other artsy/creative originals and projects from time to time, so be sure to have a peek at what is available.

AND THIS IS MY SOCIETY6 SHOPPE:

ART CHICK STUDIO ON SOCIETY6

USE THIS LINK (below) UNTIL MAY 11 FOR FREE SHIPPING!

ART CHICK STUDIO FREE SHIPPING PROMO 

In my Society6 shoppe you will find not only a variety of prints available, but also note cards, cell phone covers, mugs, pillows, tote bags, shirts, clocks and more--all with my art on them. Please stop by and have a look around, especially while the FREE SHIPPING promo is still in effect! Buy now and save $$$. These kinds of things make great gifts too--for you, or for someone else. :)

And should you ever lose those links, they are always available on the left side of the blog. You can always email me too, if you like, and I'll be happy to send you the links. Be sure to check us out on Facebook too. I post lots of fun art quotes and inspiration there--so there's always something new to see on the FB page! If you have any questions please feel free to let me know. :)

Art Chick Studio on Facebook

Thanks for continuing to follow and support Art Chick Studio!

Hand and Heart

The theme for this week's Journal52 challenge is "Hands." So we needed to put hands in our artwork somewhere. This is what I did.

This photo looks darker than the actual art journal page, but you get the idea. I did this mostly with some color sprays and ink. The hand with the words in it was made using an online tool I found. And the quote is mine. :)

Random Act of Kindness

This week's challenge at The Documented Life is to illustrate a Random Act of Kindness in some way. It could be a RAK we've witnessed or one we've done for others. I decided to illustrate a RAK I did for a blogger named Joann, whose blog (Laundry Hurts My Feelings) I have followed for some time. She is a wonderful writer and always makes me smile in her posts.

Well one day, a few years ago or so, her blog graphics all disappeared. She posted about it because she was at a loss for what to do; she had no idea how to fix it because her blog had been setup by her designer. And that was the real problem. Her designer hosted all of Joann's blog graphics--and the graphics of all her other clients--on her own PhotoBucket account. The designer closed her PhotoBucket account, and as a result, every client of hers ended up with a blog with no graphics! Joann didn't realize any of this, but I did and let her know what had happened, and offered to fix her blog for her as well. 

I was able to retrieve Joann's graphics from cached web pages, thank goodness. And I had her blog restored in relatively short order. I was happy to help her and expected nothing in return. After all, what good are we if we can't help someone simply because we can...and we WANT to?! But imagine my surprise later when I received a package from her with a lovely art print in it, which now hangs in my studio. I will treasure it always, as a reminder of how kindness can bring people together.

So anyway, this is my journal page spread dedicated to that RAK. It is not very artsy, as I really focused more on documenting it rather than making art this time. And I added a quote that I have always loved as well. 

It is true: No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. If you can help someone, you should. It's as simple as that.

Art Planner-Ish

So in case you don't know it, I've become a bit of a planner junkie. It started  in February, and I've just gotten a little crazy about it ever since. I used to use a planner years ago--back when I had tons of appointments and such to keep track of. It was very helpful. It was never an actual Filofax--but those are really cool (and also really expensive). I kind of grew away from using a planner though. And then over this past winter as I was cleaning my office, I was amazed at the number scraps of paper I had all over my desk with notes on them--and post-it's tacked to my computer monitor, and things like that. And it just kind of hit me--I needed to use a planner so I could keep all of this info in one place, and off my desk. 

And so my addiction began. I got a planner--a beautiful mint green one from kikki.K in Australia. It looks like this:

I love that thing! I keep appts in there, track bills and birthdays, list all my contacts, plan meals etc. And I know what you're thinking--I have an iPhone that could do all that stuff. But you know what? I like using my iPhone for many things--but not for that stuff! I don't want to have to rely on a battery, and I like the idea of being able to flip through everything all in one spot--rather than in multiple apps. I use my planner every day and it's been great to get me organized. I also like to decorate the weekly pages with stickers and washi tape. I like to be creative--what can I say. I even joined several Facebook groups for people who like to decorate their planner pages too, so at least I'm not alone. :)

And I have another planner too--which I am really not using as a planner. Instead it's more like a journal. This planner is from Paperchase. I have pages in it where I list my "Gratitudes," journal pages, photos, a section for Poetry (I am known to write the occasional poem), and a section to list favorite quotes. That stuff wouldn't have fit in my other planner, so it's nice to have it in its own binder, separate from everything else. And this journal binder looks like this:

Which then leads me to planner number three. I know. Excessive much, Tina? Yeah, sometimes. But if something works, why not really work it?! I fell in love with a Paperchase planner that has vintage London design on the cover, so I decided to get that and use it for an Art Planner-Ish.

Isn't it pretty? I've never been a fan of purple, but I loved this design. It's so me. So I got it and went to work moving into it. But how am I using this for Art, you might ask? Well, let me show you.

This is the inside cover and "dashboard."

I have a biz card and some clips on the left in the pockets--will add more stuff later. 

And the dashboard is a great place to put a sticky note or to clip things on so I won't forget.

It's got a fairy on it--you know I love fairies. :)

 This shows my Tabs and sections.

Dream, Create, Live, Learn, Plan, Inspire

(and a few have subsections)

This is my Dream section. It has 2 subsections: Ideas, and Wish List

Here I can list project ideas and/or notes, along with making Wish Lists of things

I want for my studio or for a project or something.

This is my Create section.

I use it to add photos and notes about the projects I create.

Since I give a lot of art away, this will be a good way for me to remember all the art I've created.

I'm noting the Project title, Date, Media, and some notes about each project.

This is my Live section.

I have a Week on 2 Pages inserts here.

I'm using them to plan and track blog posts, studio work, and anything else I might want to add.

Next we have my Learn section with 2 subsections: Art Books and Resources

I listed all of my Art Books here that I own, along with resources for where to buy favorite supplies.

Having the Art Books at a glance will be handy when I'm ordering new books--to make sure

that I don't duplicate any that I already have.

Next is my Plan section--my monthly calendar pages.

I'm keeping track of weekly challenge projects here, making notes of little things,

and doing some doodles too.

This is my Inspire section--with 2 subsections: Artists and Quotes

I'll be noting my favorite and most inspiring artists here, along with favorite Art Quotes.

And last but not least, at the back--a place for art-related business cards.

Isn't it all so very left-brained of me to do all of this? It's weird, I know. But I enjoy it. And I like having a place for everything--and more importantly, a way to document my creative life and leave a record of it behind for my family for when I'm gone. I'm really using ALL of my planners for that reason, just as much as for being organized. After having lost my mom, I just know how important her life was, and how important it is to leave something behind that is meaningful. And believe me, it is ALL meaningful. So I'm going to document as much as I can while I have the desire to do it.

As I said, none of these are an actual Filofax, but they are great planners from kikki.K and Paperchase. Much more affordable than a Filofax too, which is nice, because I'd really rather spend my money on art supplies anyway. Which reminds me...my collection of washi tape has grown from 0 to probably 70 rolls since I started using my planners. I use them to decorate the pages. You just can't get the right-brain side of me to quit, no matter what. :)