Art du Jour by Martha Lever

Muse and Romans

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

This spread is more Teesha--ish with the borders from magazines. Again, my words ran out so God's words always fill in for me. I enjoy copying from the Bible...it is an endless supply of text and good for my soul.

Almost about to walk

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 05:16:00 +0000

He's getting so big and growing so fast. Such fun being Nana.

December 26

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:08:00 +0000

Well, I do hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season and Christmas Day was wonderful! We had to leave Greenville today back to Jacksonville because we have other family coming into town tomorrow which will be very fun but I will miss my precious Baby Marc and of course his sweet mama and daddy. We had a wonderful Christmas and I got many wonderful things. Some of my favorites were gift certificates to heaven on earth---HOBBY LOBBY!!!!! WEEEEE!!!! I also got a new Clic T-Mobile phone which is also very awesome. It gets on the internet and email and all sorts of neat stuff. I never took a picture of our tree which is coming down very soon and big bad Bucky sitting and posing with his bad self. For such a precious, sweet. loving and cute dog he really can be very bad. We won't go into that. Anyway, my phone took this picture! Continued blessings to all!!!

Oh---and the presents are fake for effect.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I hope all of you have a "Fruitful" Christmas and that the new year will bring many blessings to you and your family. Love to all! 0x0x0x0

A Babe is Born in Bethlehem

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:41:00 +0000

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season. We will be driving to Greenville, SC, to see baby Marc and his sweet mama and daddy. It will be a blessed Christmas with all the family together. I do hope yours is blessed also.

PS This is suppose to be Bethlehem but I am afraid it looks like something else... but--you get the gist! Be joyful!!!!!

She is Thinking about the REASON

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:00:00 +0000

And what a wonderful REASON it is! I enjoyed doing this more festive page. The window in the background is one of my new stamps that I love. I have had my grand niece, Jane Lowry,5, and nephews , Zachry,9, and Malcolm,7, here this weekend from Peachtree City, GA, and I gave them all one of the covered composition notebooks with their names on it along with some Crayola markers and told them to start journaling! Jane Lowry, caught on immediatedly and she watched me do this page. She even suggested that I put dots on the presents and swirls in the tree. Her journal was getting quite full when she left and it was so adorable. A fun time was had by all! Can't wait until baby Marc can do art!

Transform

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

This page spread has a little pouch in the left corner that I made with a large tag which is covering up some crummy writing. Basically I start several page spreads at once by putting a watercolor wash or acrylic, add some stamps or start buiding a collage border then move on. Then I build the pages by "problem solving" and seeing what the page needs. Sometimes I solve the problems and sometimes not. But never the less, one way or another they come together. I really don't know what to write sometimes so I like to copy Scripture from the Bible when I don't have words. You really meditate on it when you are writing it down.
I wish my pages were more Christmasey seasonal. Maybe next year I will try to do the 12 days of Christmas and make it more festive.

Pray and Watch

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I decided that the little watercolor on the right should probably stand alone without writing. I love to do these little watercolors. They take about 5 minutes or so and are so fun to do. I have thought about doing a little bitty online tuitorial class to teach how to do this. I use magic brushes (really, they are magic) to make the flowers and the pot is just so easy you wouldn't believe it. Maybe after Christmas I will think about doing that. Hope your Christmas season is wonderful!

Time for a New Journal!

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Ok, well, time for a new journal...one of my many that are waiting to be filled. This is a special one. My good buddy, Lori, made this one and it has wonderful Strathmore 400 series paper that is great for watercolor, acrylic, collage or lettering. So, I'm off on another journey and I would love for you to come along. I have a new book called 1000 Journal Pages and I am devouring this book and finding wonderful elements that are added to these journal pages. (One reason the book is so awesome is that it's all pictures---no reading---a right brain bonanza!!!) I think I will really enjoy this journal. It's 6x6 so you have a good spread. I will try all sorts of things I see in my new 1000 Journal Page book and of course a little Teesha too! Love her!

The Very Last Page

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:00:00 +0000

I have come to the last page of this little journal. I accomplished my goal--to finish one! Now I will start on another one with the intention to finish it before starting another. Maybe I can do it. I think I can. Things will start to get really busy very soon with family coming into town tomorrow through the weekend and then traveling up to South Carolina for Christmas. Looking forward to seeing my little baby Marc---and of course his mama and daddy too!

Looking up to my sister, Jane

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I have come to the end of this little journal. I think there is maybe one page spread left. I have been thinking about my beautiful sister, Jane, who died at a very early age with Alzheimer's 4 years ago this January. She was 8 years older. I was always looking at her and watching her as she put on her adorable matching Villager outfits to go to high school, as she was putting on her white wool cheerleading uniform with the big WP letters on the sweater... and as she grabbed her pom poms and skipped off to the football games. I watched as she teased her hair for the prom, and I watched as Mama zipped up the tight bodice of the most beautiful pale aqua huge lacy prom dress, the zipper breaking and Mama whipping out needle and thread, sewing the dress up right on her back without a blink of the eye. All this as her date was waiting for her in the living room. I always ran and opened the front door when her dates came to pick her up (that was back in the day that they came and sat and waited in the living room with our Daddy.) She was a wonderful sister and I think that who I am today was shaped by her beauty, her humor and her style. I miss her terribly. It's ok though, she has a mind and body now that is healed, whole and new. Don't be sad. I'm sorry if I made you sad.

The Flower Goddess

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

The image above is with a filter from my "Totally Rad" program that really does put totally rad actions on photos and paintings. Pretty cool, huh? I could go on and on with the totally rad filters. The original is below.

She does look rather goddess-like and actually kinda Cher-like with all the flowers in her hair. I am so tired of painting hair the same way over and over so I thought I would try something different. The background is paint and stamps and brayers and more stamps and wax paper mono stamping and script stamps and toilet paper circles. I did add the flower goddess text in a circle in Photoshop just so I wouldn't forget how to do that. She has been enhanced somewhat in PS and just a few butterfly stamps added. I should be Christmas shopping rather than painting a flower goddess. Maybe someone will receive a Flower Goddess as a Christmas present! I probably will add some sort of quote but not sure about that. Have a wonderful day, my friends!

More in the Fabric Journal

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I just have a few more pages in this journal and I will be sad when it's filled up. I have enjoyed this cloth journal and will probably make another one. But I need to start on another of the many journals that I already have and try to keep up with the journaling each day. That is my goal--at least to try and accomplish this in this lifetime! Maybe I will try some bright colors next. These pages need some sort of punch but for now...tout va bien.

Oh, and only the cover is cloth. I used this paper for the pages.

Scratch Journal

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Packing tape transfer.

Just thought I would add some lettering from my files---just for kicks.
When I am using acrylic paint I try not to ever waste any paint so I have this really cheap (from Walgreens) sketch journal that I clean my pallet and empty my brushes with. I scrumble it around and it doesn't matter what the colors are or where they go. Of course this usually turns out better than the thing I was painting-- which was Conglaromara from yesterday's post. On the top image I have used a packing tape transfer of a girl I drew in pencil and since I don't have a printer with toner I had to make a trip to the UPS store for Canon copies. I had a Canon copier but I sold it in our last move and now I am so sorry that I did. :( The bottom image is some lettering. Do you have a cheap scratch journal?? You should--you will be surprised with what happens in that cheap, no pressure journal!

Oh and here is a packing tape YouTube. She uses different paper but if you use images from a printer it has to be laser toner.

Conglomarama!

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

This was a 5x7 canvas board that has been hanging around for quite some time with Tim Holtz White Distress crackle already cracked and just waiting for color. This little thing has so much going on that I called it a conglomarama. The whole piece was just too busy without a focal point so I divided it up into four. It has a magazine transfer, packing tape transfer, stamps, collage from old torn up Bible and lookey there---lavender! That's about as much as I could stand but actually--it's ok. I did this in my closet studio here at home. It's pretty cool looking up close---actually it looks better up close!

Combination of Two images...

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

One of my very VERY favorite things is playing around in Photoshop and combining and manipulating images. This is a combination of images with the Poppies overlaid as a layer and the opacity turned down. I always liked these backgrounds but they needed something I am very excited about finding out how DJ Pettitt does this in her absolutely wonderful images. I thought these turned out pretty well so I decided to blog it and link DJ. I love her art and have always wanted to take a class from her. She will be offering a Photoshop class soon. YAY!! I am very excited about this. I don't know her but maybe someday I will. She seems like a wonderful artist and person. Tulla, her dog, is precious also. I love dogs so I love when she posts things about Tulla. She doesn't know I am linking her---I am a stalker---but in a good way!!!

Sad Day Saturday---Journal Pages

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Yes, it was a sad day on Saturday because the Gators lost to Alabama... but Tebow did his best. We are hoping that he will come and play for the Jaguars! That would be so great. Ok, so much for that, I am really not all that much of a football fan, I am a fan of Tebow, a wonderful Christian young athlete who puts Scriptures on his black under eye patches for every game.

So here is the page spread for these three days. The girl of the left is very sad too. (She also loves Tebow.) I also need to do some Christmas shopping---but I don't have a car yet. Chauncey had a fender bender in my car with a guy who ran the stop sign. No harm to human bodies--only car bodies.

UPDATE! Here is the Youtube site for How to Write like an Architect

I watched it several times and stopped the video at the end and made myself an exemplar. It really easy and FUN!!

Audi and Marc

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:14:00 +0000

Now that's a dog you can trust!

One more background...

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I must say that I am very thrilled with how the Parallel pens work on this rough watercolor paper and I dipped it in two colors of Hydros watercolor. I did lay down a thin coat of clear gesso because calligraphy over watercolor washes have a tendency to bleed so maybe I have solved that with the clear gesso. I have been doing pretty good at filling up this journal and as you see I seem to be using the same colors. Note to self: Jump out of this color box you are in! Maybe use some lavender!

More in my favorite journal...

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I am into the journal thing these days...and I actually do better when I have detached pages and put them in but so far I have enjoyed working in my favorite journal with these pages. In the page spread above I colored the face with copics and painted the flowers with dabs of acrylic. When it dried the face was very flat looking so I painted over her with gloss ModgePodge which, by the way, I LOVE! So now it all looks as if it was all painted with acrylics. And below, as you see I have a bit of Pam Carriker flair. Her journal pages are really nice and I enjoyed her class on Shades of Grey. I turned the writing backwards because I was whining a bit so I did not want to subject you to that. If you are interested feel free to read it backwards! :)

This page below (and above) was sprayed with my copics air compressor sprayer (man, so ever love that toy!) with a stencil and I used stamps for the Scripture. The two girls are transferred with Sheer Heaven which is the transfer that works best for me most of the time. I really have a love- hate relationship with transfers! Apollo Transparency paper with inkjet printer and Golden gel mat medium works pretty well also...sometimes...

The page below has a pocket as you can see with some spray painted tags that I painted in the red shed the other day. The weather is cooler so I can spray again. The tags come in a bundle from Office Depot. I just made a little pocket for the tags. The girl is drawn with copics and the lettering is a calligraphic lettering called Blackletter. I think it can an an interesting element to a journal page. I am thinking about offering a little online class on it in the new year. Surprisingly it is very easy with no prior calligraphy knowledge required. Kids can do it. This page probably needs a little more but I will come back to it.

And below are the tags. Some are better than others but most of all--it was fun. Isn't that the main purpose of our creativity anyway?? I have to keep reminding myself of that. Well, with that in mind, have any of you ever read The War of Art? Our son, Zach, the Renaissance man, had read this book a while back and thought it would be interesting for me---and it was. I am not necessarily recommending this book but I think, at least for me, it held some truths about the resistance we all experience as artists. I had some trouble with the book, the Artist Way. I guess because I was just lazy and wasn't faithful in completing the morning pages but I might try it again because so many people have had their artistic lives changed by this book. I guess for me, and this is just me, if I was going to spend that much time on morning pages I should be reading my Bible and meditating on God's Word as my morning pages. Again, that's just me. And whose to say I can't do both? Lazy again... I know saying that is not PC these days... but actually I am PC... I'm Pursuing Christ.

Mail Art From Lisa Engelbrecht--WOW!

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Oh my goodness, how gorgeous is this??? This cam in the mail yesterday. She was so sweet to do this. I didn't have her book with me Modern Mark Making when I was in Birmingham for her workshop so she sent me this! I feel special!

My Color Obsession

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Do I need medication for my obsession? Yep, I'm pretty sure more color might do it!

I do love color...all colors although I am not that crazy about lavender. Not sure why actually..I think because when I wear it is makes me look washed out and pale but I love it on flowers! I am working in this journal I love the way watercolor has a mind of it's own and spreads and disperses and blends and is yum yum yummy. As you see, I am trying to work in my journals to see if I can make some headway in filling some of them up. That will take two lifetimes I am afraid but I am working on it!

Thankful

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:39:00 +0000

I am so thankful for so many things but this is right up there at the top!

The Birth of Me Page

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

This page spread in the journal is from my baby book and is in my mother's beautiful handwriting of presents I got when I was born. And of course the family tree in Mama's handwriting. I miss her and will see her again someday in a body that is not ravaged and all crippled up with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoporosis. Although my life is blessed in this world I do look forward to the next one. And I am thankful that I know where I will be. How distressing it would be to not know these things!

Chunky Time Art Journal...again!

marthalever@gmail.com (Martha Lever) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:16:00 +0000

I think this is a journal that I made about two weeks ago and posted it on YouTube but forgot to post it to my blog. This journal is definitely chunky gone wild! Again, these are bit and pieces of art that don't need to be framed and probably wouldn't sell in the Etsy shop (wouldn't sell being the definitive emphasis here!) This was made with the Rubicoil (my favorite book maker thingy) and I cut strips of black cardstock, Rubiccoil-ed it and put the coil in. Then I can paste things onto that strip as I gather stuff. It's FUN! Yep, it is!