BETSY HARTING

More hearts for Michelle

2012-02-26T13:26:00.002-05:00

Here I tried some fingerpaint and doodle hearts. Just for fun-- just for Michelle Ward and her GPP Crusades. We love you!

A great day to doodle

2012-02-20T20:58:00.004-05:00

I spent the day creating "doodle art" inspired by Traci Bautista. My first attempt shows the beginning of the page using stencils and spray paint on the right. The page on left shows the result after painting over the images.

My second attempt at doodling is shown in this second spread. It was fun and I hope to do more!

GPP Street Team - Crusade 60: What do you love?

2012-02-19T14:37:00.013-05:00

I love hearts. So I took Michelle Ward's challenge this month with the idea of playing with heart pages. The first one has no background prep, just colors sprayed on paper. I found the piece of envelope with postage stamps in a box. I didn't remember where it came from until I saw the city postmark -- it must be from my mother! -- and over 5 years old!
The second one has layers of gesso applied to paper before beginning. It adds dimension and a slower process for painting, more gesso, oil pastels and collage. I wanted to create opposites: white background with red heart, and visa-versa. It was fun! Thanks for the inspiration, Michelle.

I encourage you to try it yourself! Read about the challenge at Michelle's site.

2011 TA DA List

2012-01-27T18:27:00.016-05:00

Michelle Ward at Green Pepper Press encouraged us to create a TA DA list - things we accomplished in 2011 - by looking back over the year. It's funny because I actually started this in January 2011!! I created a Milestones Passport with Visa Application - an idea which I borrowed from The Creative Awakenings book, by Sheri Gaynor. I wanted to be more creative, so I made a commitment to a year of creativity and recorded all my creative endeavors each month.

It turns out that at the end of each month I realized I was doing more than I realized to keep the creative juices going. So when you look back and see what you have accomplished, it's pleasantly surprising. You feel a real sense of accomplishment.

Here I share a few pages -- you'll see I completed a spread at the end of each month.

TA DA!

I encourage you to try it yourself! Read about the challenge at Michelle's site.

Inspired by Degas and a walk in the woods

2012-01-02T18:35:00.006-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, I visited a Degas exhibit at the Boston MFA. I was intrigued by his use of oil pastels - the blending and combination of colors. As a took a New Year's Day walk in the woods, I came inside to warm up and play in my journal. I never draw, because I don't consider myself an artist who draws, but took the time to sit and try out some water-soluble oil pastels. I love the creamy texture! I drew a tree from downstairs looking out over the pond and then the view out the kitchen glass doors. I feel very brave sharing something that I've drawn - but here goes!! A new year means you have to embrace change and face your fears, right? And I just read that whatever you create is uniquely yours, no right or wrong. What new challenge do you need to try out?

December Journal page

2011-12-28T10:02:00.007-05:00

Here's a new page inspired by Nancy's wrapping paper and our department's visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The Chihuly art is a color transfer on adhesive tape.

GPP - Girls on Film

2011-12-26T17:51:00.017-05:00

Green Pepper Press, December challenge:

Michelle's challenge to get ourselves on film before the end of the year came at a great time. Here are some photos from a recent business trip to Southboro, Mass. I finally had the opportunity to meet my fellow co-workers who I've been working with since July. I enjoyed meeting them and seeing my old college stomping grounds -- Boston.

We took a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts -- another place I frequently visited in my 20s -- for a Degas collection and a Chihuly Christmas tree!

A perfect opportunity for me to get some photos! Enjoy! And Happy New Year!

Chihuly glass tree at MFA, Jacqui, Aaron and me.

The entire MarCom team: Aaron, Jacqui, Lorna, me, Nancy and Jacki, in front of the 80-foot Faneuil Hall tree.

The entire team at Mike's Pastry, North End, Boston. The best limoncello cannoli you ever tasted!

Jacqui and I work side-by-side everyday. It's truly a joy to work with her!!

I encourage you to get on film! Read about the challenge at Michelle's site.

Green Pepper Press Street Team - All The World's A Stage #57

2011-11-19T11:03:00.024-05:00

This month Michelle challenged us to express the songs that make us Sing It Loud! I started creating a stage -- but switched gears to a disco theme since I am a girl of the 70's! I dedicated the page to all those songs that take me back to when I was singing and dancing in discos. I studied dance in college, and funny as it sounds, we all went out dancing to relax from all the ballet classes, choreography and rehearsals! I also remember going to some of my first discos with my older brother. You'll notice that I used the "Disappearing Act" page backgrounds. The swirls felt perfect for the expression of music and dance.

The second page represents a song that I sing constantly. As you can see, when I sing I dance - they are interrelated for me! Sway - by Dean Martin, Matthew Morrison or Michael Buble (I downloaded all three) - is one of my favorites right now. It plays in my head all day long!

I always play music when I am journaling, so just for fun, I opened my old journals and found this Disco page from 2003! I remember my daughter, much younger then, was watching a movie with a friend when she heard me blasting this song while journaling. She said, "Hey, that's a 70's disco song!" -- Yes, I answered, I used to be young!

I encourage you to try it yourself! Read about the challenge at Michelle's site.

Green Pepper Press Street Team - I'm a Believer #56

2011-11-02T20:22:00.001-04:00

Michelle challenged us this month to journal what art and being creative means to us. I immediately created my believer page -- I'm a believer in art journaling, and those of you who know me, know this is very true. I inspire others to journal and can thank Michelle for introducing me to art journaling.

My second page is my creativity page which shows I've been expressing myself thru many types of art for many years. You may notice that I used the "disappearing act" pages from last month as the background for these pages. I wanted to include (but I ran out of room) that I only wish I had more time to be creative, but life's little necessities get in the way!

The page below was created on one of those days when I questioned who I was, and wondered if I was any good at what I do, and wondered if I was making a difference... (It's a watercolor crayon on gesso background)

I created this next page a few years ago -- but wanted to share: It was created to visualize all the compartments of my life during a time when I was feeling very overwhelmed. It symbolizes how therapeutic art journaling can be.

Thanks, Michelle, for all your talent and energy you put into the challenges. We love them!

Green Pepper Press Street Team - Crusade #55

2011-09-24T11:25:00.007-04:00

Michelle's next challenge included background color and disappearing overstamping of bold stamps. I did some playing here. The second one was completed, but I felt compelled to cover with gesso and spray with more orange -- for more "disappearing"! I plan to play some more - this is very fun!

Stencils found

2011-09-24T11:14:00.005-04:00

Due to the hurricane, storms and saturated ground, my dad's basement flooded. I visited in an attempt to help with some of the cleanup. In the process, I found an old box with my Mom's stencil lesson plans. In a way it was spooky, as I just put together a stencil class three months ago and it was almost identical to what I found in this box that is over 20 years old! Most of the papers were damaged, but I did save two hand-cut stencils and used them on a journal page. My dad and I took a stroll through the yard and went to my favorite apple tree because underneath it four-leaf clovers always grow. We found at least 10!! Even a five-leaf!

Green Pepper Press Street Team - Crusade #54

2011-08-16T19:08:00.023-04:00

This month Michelle challenged us to think of words, phrases, song titles, etc., and then mix a color to match the name. This was an extension of last month, where we mixed colors and then named them. This was really hard for me, but I couldn't figure out why. Then it dawned on me! I never "think" when I journal, I just let my feelings flow onto the page.

Before I actually read the challenge, I felt the need to express "peace" in my journal. This is what happened:

After I read the challenge, I realized this was similar to what Michelle was asking us to do! Not quite the same -- but I was on the same wavelength!!

So, I got to work thinking about songs, words in songs, things around me and came up with this. The first page includes favorite words, phrases and Wind in Bamboo is the name of a song. I recently saw the Glee movie (yes, I'm a Gleek!) so page two features my favorite glee show-stoppers.

This was a fun challenge. Thanks, Michelle, for making me think!

Green Pepper Press Street Team - Crusade #53

2011-07-16T13:34:00.008-04:00

This month's GPP Street Team theme is Mad Scientist - when playing around with paint we often get mixes of color we love. These are old journal pages that started out with a fall color background with leaves stamped on it, but it looked too "cheesy" for me. The page sat there for months, then one hot summer day I covered it all with some red paint and got all these shades of pink, orange and peach! The heart tag was from a Lynn Perrella sheet and I extended the paint onto map pages - one of my favorite techniques. I call this color: summer heat.

A more recent page is shown below. For the background on the right hand page, I used ochre ink and then layered with violet chalk ink and then finally some fresco cream glaze. I love the colors created here - which I would call golden glow and warm violet! I used a watercolor crayon to accent the cut-out heart.

Join the crusade at:

http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/

Vacation mini journal

2011-07-09T18:56:00.008-04:00

I never journal on vacation, because I don't know how to travel with my "stuff". This year I was determined to try it. So, I pulled out a mini journal I bought years ago and placed it in a plastic container with a few markers, watercolor pencils, a waterbrush, and some paper scraps from my art table. Then threw in 3 rubber stamps, some "cat's eyes" pigment ink pads and some rub-on letters. I am studying the five principles of Japanese reiki (a scrap on my table)- so these were included as well. I had to use what I had!

Here are a few of my favorite pages on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancingdrgnfly/5919681862/in/set-72157627155178820/

When I returned from vacation, I was inspired to purchase a pink "CRAFTSMAN" bag that I found. I love it - now I can take my journaling anywhere!

Koi in the pond

2011-07-06T21:13:00.006-04:00

For fourth of July, Jay and I visited his family in the Poconos. It's a beautiful location in the woods with a beautiful pond. Many years ago Jay put seven koi in the pond. We've watched them grow over the past seven years - stunning colors of orange, white and black can be seen slowing swimming around the pond. Today, however, the largest, most brilliant orange koi died. We sensed something was wrong with him over the weekend. I started this journal page in the mountains (before I even knew he was sick!) and finished today in his honor.

Green Pepper Press -- Summer colors continues!

2011-06-18T12:05:00.005-04:00

Ok, after all my experimenting with new summer colors, I had to do my favorite summer color - AQUA!! These pages were inspired by having coffee on my deck this morning. The birds were singing and the tree I planted years ago is so big!! Enjoy!

Green Pepper Press Street Team - Crusade #52

2011-06-12T20:05:00.013-04:00

I joined the Green Pepper Press Crusade this month. Michelle challenged us to think about our color palette and if it changed during the seasons. I love all colors, but my summer palette is usually aqua with celadon, lavender and sky blue. If you scroll down and see the mermaids for Cat -- those pages pretty much show my summer palette. However, this challenge inspired me to try something new! I tried a different palette of pale ale (inspired by a new spray ink) combined with celadon and dusty plum. I sprayed the entire page with pale ale, spraying over wildflower masks. Then added the layering of colors, images and paper. There's very little contrast on the pages, but I'm glad I tried some new yummy colors for summer.

Find out more about Michelle's inspiration at:

http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/

Happy summer mermaids

2011-05-29T21:36:00.007-04:00

This is the final set of pages for the skinny book round robin. It look me awhile to find mermaids images, which I normally don't have, for Cat's book! I feel like these kick off the summer for me! The backgrounds were created with some stencils and spray inks we played with in my journaling classes.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-07T18:50:00.004-04:00

My favorite photo of Lauren and my Mom.

Happy Easter

2011-04-18T18:58:00.004-04:00

Time to dye my eggs with onion skins! Here's this year's batch.

Green Pepper Press Street Team - Crusade #50

2011-04-16T11:55:00.010-04:00

I joined Michelle Ward's Crusade this month. The challenge: create journal pages documenting your go-to people. I chose the slide holder page because I wanted to include all my friends I reach out to for encouragement, advice and fun! Many of the tags were dyed with Easter-egg dye -- a trick I learned from Michelle. I wrote my thoughts about each dear friend on the back of each tag. You'll notice I left some empty tags for adding more friends later!

Find out more about Michelle's Crusade at http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/

Poppies

2011-04-07T20:11:00.003-04:00

Inspired by the Somerset Studio Poppy Issue. Paper napkins, pigment ink, watercolor crayons, rice paper and washi paper.

Rande's skinny pages

2011-03-26T18:47:00.005-04:00

I finally finished these pages for Rande. I didn't have anything rusty to add to her pages, so created some rusty looks with color and a grunge tag. I layered the backgrounds with postcards, ledger paper and napkins.

don't worry... be happy - Month 2

2011-02-26T09:05:00.006-05:00

Here's a continuation of my "Balance" Journal. Just wanted to be playful and happy because these winter months have been rough. Gave this a child-like quality with rough brush strokes and a heart balloon. I found a quote for this month's lesson, and while it didn't fit on this page, it's waiting for another journal page: "We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have" - Frederick Keonig. Enjoy what's left of the month! Happy Journaling!

New Year resolution - Month 1

2011-02-04T21:31:00.010-05:00

I have been reading "Creative Awakenings" - scroll down and see it on my Shelfari, on the right. I vowed to make a 12-month commitment to live the artful life I desire. As a start, I created these journal pages. It's a large journal, which is out of my comfort zone, but I kept at it until I completed these pages to my satisfaction. I used some magazine clippings for the woman's face and the birds. I also started a "milestones passport"(See "Creative Awakenings") to record my monthly progress. Since January is over, I recorded my progress tonight which included teaching 3 new journaling students, creating and mailing valentine ATCs, creating Frida skinny book pages, registering for a photoshop course in Spring, and making an effort to spend a little time each day in my studio -- to not beat myself up for not having an idea, but to go in there and play around to see if ideas pop up - and they usually do! And if they don't, if I'm tired, I just turn off the light and say, "I'll try tomorrow".

Skinny pages for Trinka

2011-01-29T18:14:00.008-05:00

I completed my skinny pages for this month - my partner, Trinka who likes women's faces, maps and numbers. I chose Frida Kahlo as the face, who inspired the rest of the page. This was a fun collage to create for her book.

Making valentines

2011-01-29T12:35:00.010-05:00

It's time to make my favorite - hearts - for my friends. Here's a sampling.

Tribute to Link and Donna

2011-01-11T21:57:00.006-05:00

My dear friend, Donna, will be celebrating her birthday this Friday! She also just added a new member to her household - a beautiful kitty named Linkovitch. Here's her card - now on its way in the mail. Hope she likes it!!

Connie's Skinny Book

2010-12-19T08:01:00.008-05:00

I've been working on Connie's pages for a while. It seems I have an idea, then no time.... then some time and lost my idea! I think it's all the busy-ness of the holidays. Her theme is vintage children. I never use vintage photos because I find them too lacking in COLOR, so my interpretation of the theme came out as playing dolls, paper dolls, and girly colors. The cutout doll was created using PaperWhimsy art, the rest is mostly rubber stamps. I love using stamps as I feel like I'm "playing". I was having so much fun that I added an opening door,too. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!!

Skinny pages for Trudi

2010-11-14T11:13:00.003-05:00

Finally finished my skinny pages for Trudi! Her theme was artist's choice, but mentioned that she likes complimentary colors, butterflies, and postage stamps. I love using complimentary colors together-- but chose one of my very favorite combinations -- yellow and purple. Then I incorporated the lines from John Lennon, "Imagine all the people living life in peace". I truly loved doing these pages, as I felt free to play with my love of color. I hope Trudi likes them, too!!

Heather's Skinny Book

2010-10-10T20:20:00.004-04:00

My next Skinny book page was created for Heather, whose theme is "Women Who Dared". My first thought was the first modern dancers who created different dance moves that didn't look like ballet. I thought about Martha Graham and Isadora Duncan, but finally chose Twyla Tharp since I recall her influence on my early choreography efforts. I kept the look modern and sleek in black and white with a splash of red, because I felt it represented her. Hope Heather likes it!

dream a little dream of . . .

2010-08-28T14:44:00.006-04:00

Since Caryl's theme inspired me to "dream" a little, I continued using the Mamas and Papas songs, but chose Mama Cass's Song for these pages. I show the before -- gesso, distress ink and calligraphy ink thru a straw. I actually practiced it here before completing Caryl's pages. Then I added collage elements, stamped some of the lyrics, and added a journaling ticket and technique tag. Once, again, my favorite colors, I seem to gravitate toward pinks and golds.

Feelin' groovy

2010-08-22T09:50:00.006-04:00

I recently organized an internal product launch party for our corporate office. The theme was "Feelin' Groovy" which meant I listened to a lot of 60s music to get inspired. After listening to California Dreamin' it dawned on me that my Skinny Book partner, Caryl, had a theme of "Dreaming". So... I spread gesso with a credit card and then when dry, sponged blue and sepia dye ink. I then used a straw and blew around some iridescent brown calligraphy ink, collaged pieces of a California map and a vintage postcard and stamped the lyrics. It was fun to interpret her theme as things were happening in my life -- much the same as journaling!

Love skinny book

2010-08-12T20:21:00.005-04:00

After seeing my journal pages, I thought they would be perfect for Lenna's love book. Hearts mean love to me and Lenna loves quotes -- so perfect fit. Here's how I revised the original design to fit the 4x8 pages! I love working in pinks and oranges.

Hearts, my favorite

2010-07-28T21:23:00.003-04:00

Gesso and crayons

2010-07-11T10:22:00.007-04:00

I have been struggling for a while to bring balance into my life with enough time for my art. The name of my current journal is "BALANCE". I had a promo piece for my daughter's college art gallery show in the back seat of my car since May. It finally made its way into my journal with some fun watercolor crayons! My daughter showed her Honors thesis, DeZign magazine, a mag she created for design students.

I did a "before" and "after"... I love making a mess of the page after everything is glued down!

Hello, Summer!

2010-07-05T20:51:00.004-04:00

Welcoming Summer, even though it feels like late Summer temperatures! Enjoyed a few days at the beach, and then in the mountains. These pages have been a work in progress. First, background in fall colors with leaves that didn't look right, then layers of red hot paint and white swirls, and finally some alphabet stamping and collage. I had fun adding the painted piece of map. Heart Tag is from Lynn Perrella's collage sheet.

Summer wreath

2010-06-17T20:08:00.004-04:00

You may recall my Spring wreath, well... I got my summer wreath out of the box and it was falling apart! So I stripped all the old silk flowers off and added new ones!

Venice Skinny Pages

2010-06-09T20:04:00.012-04:00

I completed the Venice pages for Frieda in our Skinny book round robin. Since I enjoy watercolors, I thought this page was a perfect match for a watercolor-wash background. I actually used Sparkling H2Os which are watercolors with sparkle built-in, since Frieda likes sparkly things! The images are from Mary Mata sheets from Stampington & Co.

Skinny Book Summer pages

2010-05-08T09:34:00.020-04:00

I completed my next set of pages for the Skinny Book Round Robin. Linda's theme is "Summer", and summer to me means the beach! So I made her shell pages with a map of Delaware (we both visit beaches there) and a repeat theme of a skeleton shell - one stamped, one real! I enjoyed this theme, hope you do, too!

Pansies and violas on the deck

2010-04-25T11:17:00.005-04:00

I enjoy sitting on the deck with pots of purple and yellow flowers - my favorite color combination!

Lisa's Skinny pages

2010-04-11T18:18:00.011-04:00

I completed my pages for Lisa's book. I chose angels as the theme, since it was artist's choice, but I know that angels and Renaissance are some of her favorite things. Since I always work by color, I chose the complementary colors of rust and teal. I continued my challenge of adding pattern pieces, rice paper and atlas maps to the pages. Oh - and I decided to orient her pages horizontally! Enjoy!

Skinny Book Round Robin

2010-03-31T20:30:00.007-04:00

I received two pages already for creating my Halloween-themed skinny book, so it's time to design the covers. I decided to make a trick-or-treat bag as the covers and place the rectangular pages inside. I painted the backgrounds on heavy watercolor paper and cut them to match back-to-back. Added some collage, punched holes, stamped some tissue, added rings, black wire and fiber. I think it will work fine as I fill the pages. More to come as I finish the inside front cover...

Skinny Book

2010-02-13T15:27:00.003-05:00

I'm participating in a Round Robin with 13 other wonderful artists. We are creating "Skinny books" - pages that are 4"x 8". I am without a scanner, but here's an update of the latest pages for Debby, this month's partner. Debby's theme was artist's choice, so I played with color (my favorite) and added botanical images for her vintage book. Everyone has a different theme, but I decided to use pattern pieces, white rice paper and a piece of a map on everyone's pages. It's fun and a challenge to incorporate for everyone.

Journal pages other places

2010-01-31T12:28:00.006-05:00

I often take color copies of my journal pages (usually at reduced sizes) for making personal greeting cards. I found another way to enjoy my pages... I received a cool calendar from a vendor at work. It sits in a cd case and there is a page for every month. I recycled last year's by copying journal pages at a reduced size and adding a new calendar. Here's a sample of January's. These "white pages" were done years ago! Enjoy - and try copying art you've already created and use it somewhere else. It's fun!

Happy New Year

2010-01-24T18:25:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year to all! Jay got me white roses over a week ago and they are still going strong! I had them in a vase for over a week and then the leaves started drying out. So, I thought I would cut them off and put them in my floating bowl. I love them here!

Favorite things

2009-12-15T20:36:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite ways to journal is to prepare the pages for journaling later. And then when I'm ready, I write in the empty spaces. Here's one of my favorite pages created this time of year.

I just painted the background and then glued scraps from my art table!

Are we having fun yet?

2009-10-29T23:51:00.005-04:00

It's been a very busy October at work, so not much downtime for journaling. I was inspired by one of my students, Beth, to get a-crack-a-lackin' and express myself! I was actually working on a "have fun/party" theme, but kept hearing the circus tune from several of my friends and co-workers. When it is so hectic, I tend to tease my co-workers, too, by saying "are we having fun yet?" So all this clicked yesterday and the pages evolved to express what you see here. I love when that happens! Are you having fun yet?

Cone Flower Pages

2009-08-30T11:58:00.012-04:00

I had a week off for vacation, so my creative juices were flowing. I took the layered pages (shown below) and finished them with a cone flower theme. My Mom always had gorgeous cone flowers in her garden and I just loved the color and shape of them. I went to a yard sale yesterday and got one of these cards, so then the rest just came together as shown! Thanks, LuAnn, for the card as my inspiration! For the other page, I used Kelly Rae Roberts' technique of painting on top and letting the paper show thru. I probably applied a bit too much paint, but wanted the bold colors of the flowers. Try it yourself - it's fun!

Enjoying the Summer

2009-07-11T13:00:00.006-04:00

I hope you're enjoying the summer. I've found it challenging to accommodate everyone's availability when setting up workshop dates, so I'm trying something new. Please contact me with a date that will work for you and I will teach the workshop when YOU are available! Thanks -- and enjoy the beautiful summer!

Art Journaling Workshop

2009-06-02T20:02:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Diane and Heather, we had a great art journaling workshop on Saturday, May 30. It was great to see the progress both of them made in their journals and their creative expression. Diane brought along a Kelly Rae Roberts book with a technique for creating a background with writing papers and then using a brayer to add layers of paint. Here's my first layer.. later I'll add to the pages.

Happy Memorial Day

2009-05-25T18:53:00.004-04:00

Holidays make me think of family -- and then I miss my Mom. So.. I scanned a spread from the memory journal I made her. Memorial Day always meant opening up the pool -- so here's a photo of my daughter, who had some help from my Mom to look like "Miss America." The other photo was taken at Inner Harbor with one of my mom's favorite sayings! (Lauren, age 3, with Mom)

Geraniums

2009-05-16T12:01:00.005-04:00

Every May I put geraniums in pots on my hot, sunny deck. Here are my journal pages. I love the simplicity of these! Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T12:31:00.003-04:00

A spread in the memory journal I made for my Mom.

More yellow..inspired by the roses and springtime!

2009-05-05T21:44:00.000-04:00

I was working on some yellow pages before I received the yellow roses, so I guess one inspired the other. Look closely for the journaling I added.

workshop today!

2009-05-02T21:41:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Jami, Skie, Marion, Shelby, Nicole, and Rachel for a great workshop! You were all natural journalers from the beginning! Amazing to see all your pages. Keep up the journaling!

Life overcrowded?

2009-04-23T20:57:00.007-04:00

This is part of my "balance" journal. Although the pages are a bit more "planned" than I usually do, I wanted to high-light this quote. So the pages were inspired by the quote to not do "too much" on these pages. There are lots of layers of thin paper you may not see, but I love the texture and color combinations. I also know that I won't lose this quote - because here it is, in my journal! I felt compelled to use the bee - BE yourself, B for Betsy, busy as a BEE. Still striving to bring a new look and feel to my journaling. In progress...

Hope Yellow Roses

2009-04-13T18:09:00.002-04:00

Jay got me these roses over a week ago and they keep getting more and more beautiful!

Easter Eggs

2009-04-08T22:00:00.005-04:00

It's that time of year! Yeah! I get to dye eggs!! This year I used beets, spinach, oranges and red onion skins to create my own non-toxic, organic egg dyes. You'll see them pictured here. The spinach and orange eggs didn't look colorful enough for me so I cheated and put them in some Paas blue egg dye (oh, well!). The spinach ones turned a wonderful spotted color after I put them in the blue dye! Don't you just love it? Happy Easter!

Round Robin Aqua book completed

2009-04-06T22:46:00.003-04:00

I wanted to share my completed Aqua book- 10 fabulous artists each contributed a page to the book, while I completed a page for each of their books. You'll see the artist's name credited under the page she created. Click on the flickr boxes (Below right) to see the pages I created for them.

Cover by Betsy

Tags from the Artists(L); "Home page" (R)

My page (L); Linda Manning Findley (R)

Linda Manning Findley (L); Linda Kunsman (R)

Linda Kunsman (L); Karen Ouellette (R)

Karen Ouellette (L); CindyMcMath (R)

Cindy McMath (L); Debby Harriettha (R)

Debby Harriettha (L); Christine Shebroe (R)

Christine Shebroe (L); Caryl Hoobler (R)

Caryl Hoobler (L); Pam Barnes (R)

Pam Barnes (L); Sanna Burgess (R)

Sanna Burgess (L); Artists Tags (R)

Yoga Page

2009-03-30T20:42:00.008-04:00

My next journal is based on a "Balance" theme, something that I am working on in my life. I thought I'd share a page completed. These are larger pages, so it takes a bit more time and thought, but it is a nice balance of thinking and non-thinking. Very relaxing and rewarding. Enjoy!

Spring wreath

2009-03-14T15:00:00.001-04:00

Today was the day to clean up old leaves and dead branches in the yard - and bring out my Spring wreath. I pulled the wreath from its box, only to remember that all the decorations had fallen apart, been picked off by our neighborhood bird (that nests in our tree every Spring), or knocked off by people going in and out. Off to Michaels to shop for new decorations! Yeah - I love shopping in craft stores! I bought a handful of picks, foam eggs, birds nests, and a cute bird - and hot glued everything in place. Looks great and spring-y on my red door, don't you think?

My baby is 21 today!

2009-03-11T09:11:00.001-04:00

Birds of a feather

2009-03-07T07:46:00.004-05:00

Yes, I know.. more birds, but it's that time of year. I completed Sanna's pages for our Round Robin. Her theme was vintage sewing and songbirds; colors, red and distressed brown. I made the first page very vintage by sewing paper, lace and vellum, but page 2 I wanted to be fun, since it would be the last page in her book. I will post my completed book featuring 9 wonderful artists shortly.

Today's Journaling Workshop

2009-03-01T18:06:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful Journaling class today at Blick Art Materials. Thank you, RaeAnn, Susan, Rosanne and Alyssa for your enthusiasm and talent! Everyone brought a slightly different style to their journals. It was so wonderful to see. We played with pattern pieces and foreign newspapers, juicy vivid ink pads, prompts, and more. It was a joy to see everyone's individual story come out through the process of journaling. It never ceases to amaze me to see everyone's self-expression come to life.

Altered book - inside front cover

2009-02-08T17:08:00.004-05:00

Open the cover -- and here is the inside front cover.

Altered book - covers

2009-02-08T17:04:00.004-05:00

My altered book for Cedar Crest College is now completed! Here is the front and back cover.

Altered book - last spread

2009-01-11T10:22:00.001-05:00

Here's the last spread of the altered board book I am creating for CCC as part of my artist-in-resident program.

I'm working on the cover and back cover - to come!

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T11:16:00.001-05:00

As it turns out I opened a brand-new moleskin heavy-weight paper journal for 2009. (My journals rarely begin/end with the calendar year) I love these books - smooth, ivory paper that takes ink, markers and the occassional ticket or scrap of paper glued into it, and of course, a rubber stamp or two, my favorite.

The journal has reflections, thoughts, and also a list of wishes/desires for the new year. I'll share two with you: I want to learn more about making my blog more appealing and discover new ways to approach my art. Most of my energy goes into my "paper" journals, so I have to save some time for my "blog journaling". My creative issue: fight that never-ending voice in my head: "is this art appealing? am I moving forward? how do I advance beyond doing the "same thing"?"

Yesterday a student shared her journal with me. It was incredible! She took her first class with me in November and she's filled a journal already-- with her own style and own wishes/dreams/desires. Made me very happy to see her enjoy the process and hope that I helped to inspire a new love of journaling for her! Thanks for the inspiration, Rae Ann.

Ah-oh, it's December 31st

2008-12-31T11:08:00.000-05:00

December 31 is always a day of reflection for me, but as many of us, I tend to look at what I didn't get accomplished in the past year - or look around at what others have done and say, wow! I didn't get to that. I refused to think that way this Dec 31st and got out my journal (the one that has more writing than art, I have many different types of journals, as you know). I decided to write about the things that I was grateful for in 2008 before writing my list of new year's resolutions. As it turned out, I filled 3 journal pages with things I am grateful for that happened in 2008. I won't be listing them here, but will let you know that starting this blog was one of them!

Altered board book - YEARS spread

2008-12-14T18:33:00.000-05:00

Here's the spread on the "YEARS" page. I'm experimenting with the best way to photograph these pages. I prefer to scan my artwork, but this book is too large and too thick. The heart is cut out of the page, so you see me dancing thru the heart window, and when you turn the page you see me in the tree thru the heart window. More to come ...

Altered board book - YEARS page

2008-12-13T15:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a sneak peek of the next completed page for CCC's altered board book. The photo can be seen thru the cut heart-window...to come! By-the-way, my dad took this photo of me sitting in a tree on the Cedar Crest College campus over 30 years ago!

Bird pages for Caryl

2008-12-07T19:10:00.000-05:00

I had to interrupt the making of the altered book - and switch to completing pages for my round robin project. Caryl's theme is birds/nests. I still had the theme of the altered book in my head, so this idea spilled onto Caryl's pages, as well. Try it. Take a theme and create as many different looks as you can!

CCC - Altered book "wonder" page

2008-11-27T12:19:00.000-05:00

Still working backwards: the first spread of the CCC Altered Book, "I hope you dance". (Recognize the bubblewrap printing?) The egg nest is a transparency - hard to photograph well.

Altered board book - OCEAN page

2008-11-16T08:27:00.000-05:00

The background pages for the altered board book for Cedar Crest College are now painted. I decided to dedicate the book to the women of CCC by using inspiring phrases from the song "I hope you dance". When I studied at CCC, I was hoping to dance, so this theme felt right to me. Don't ask me why I decided to start in the middle of the book, but I did. Here is the transformation from painted pages to completed. I inserted a vellum page on this spread to make it more interesting to read.

Artist-In-Residence

2008-11-07T19:36:00.001-05:00

I am honored to say that I have been invited as an Artist-In-Residence at Cedar Crest College, Allentown. Sharing ideas with students from the Book Arts class, I find my time there very inspiring. Their current project is an altered board book (children's book) so we are busy sanding and covering pages with gesso. I will share the progress of my altered board book -- one which I will dedicate to the women of CCC and then donate to their art gallery. One of the pages: already painted. . .

ROUND ROBIN FAERIES

2008-10-23T21:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm rather proud of these! Here's why: My partner in the Round Robin this month, Christine, requested vintage children faeries with birds in forest colors. (Oh my, I don't do vintage, nor faeries. ) I needed some inspiration, so I ordered collage sheets from Paper Whimsy - where the faeries come in pieces (like paper dolls) and you cut and paste them together. I made the dress from a floral paper and added the wings from my own stash of butterfly prints. Of course, my favorite part was adding all the background color and dimension with paint, tissue paper and rubber stamps. Those are real feathers on page two - in her butterfly hat and in her hand. Hope you enjoy these and try your own little challenge as I did here! Let me know what you're up to in your journaling pages!

TODAY'S JOURNALING

2008-10-04T21:29:00.000-04:00

I recently created two house pages for Linda, my partner in a Round Robin this past summer. (Linda's peach Victorian house page, front and back, below. I actually added a "roof" to the pages) After doing her pages, I noticed a lot of house art and house books, even collage sheets with tiny house collages. This inspired me to make my own house art! So.. today I made a "Home Page" in my journal. Try making your own houses. I learned a trick to make them fast: Cut roof and house piece the same width. Glue together and then cut the roof shape at any height, but with the point at the center, now, decorate! Have fun! You'll notice that I used tickets, transparencies, vellum, actually - whatever scrap of paper was on my table, got added to the tiny collages.

ART JOURNALING PAGES

2008-10-04T17:22:00.001-04:00

Another one of my favorite pages. My typical free style of journaling - layers and layers of paint, images and stamping - then adding my thoughts.

ART JOURNALING

2008-09-25T21:24:00.000-04:00

I love teaching art journaling workshops. Everyone has a unique way of journaling and it's inspiring to see everyone get so excited and add his/her own personal flair. At times when I'm alone in my studio I feel as though I'm experiencing a creative block, and then I go teach - and bam! -- all these ideas come flowing out. It's cool for me and cool for my students!

ROUND ROBIN

2008-09-25T21:18:00.001-04:00

I joined a Round Robin this summer. 10 artists are creating themed artbooks where we each complete a page for our monthly partner. I recently created these pages for Debby's black-and-white Vintage Women book. There are layers of lace, rubber stamping, mulberry paper, tissue paper, buttons, fibers and brads. The windows of the shrine open and close, too.

FAVORITE MUSE

2008-09-25T20:53:00.001-04:00

This is one of my favorite pieces. Canvas with washi paper, rubber stamping and buttons. The best part is that it's covered with wax! Features Lynne Perrella's Puccini's Muse rubber stamp image on decorative paper. Was published in Inspirations, Winter 2007 issue.