B E L O N G (Workshop Success!)

I DID IT! I DID IT!!! AND I HAD A BLAST!!! I will never be afraid again. First, the class was small, MY kinda small (7 students, and Kelly-the-Instructor). Second, Kelly is my kinda instructor altogether -- relaxed, humorous, real, not afraid of the occasional expletive or juicy tidbit, and not attempting to rush-rush-rush the group through everything. Lots of fun and informative chatter among us, tales told, experiences, and me with my "HOLY CRAP" (twice I did that) when somebody held up a particularly spectacular page. I signed up for this class mainly because I wanted to learn to make my own journals. Oh yea, mission definitely accomplished! Voila the front of my journal. I had trouble making myself STOP with all the tapes. Am I the only person in mixed media land who wasn't aware there are 9 million of these decorative tapes, of which I have zero, of which Kelly had at least half? This is serious. This is trying to become my next addiction and I am trying not to let it. See the bird tape? Kelly unveiled that roll and seven women lunged for it at the same time -- hilarious!!! Whoever makes that pattern is going to get rich from it, alone! Inside front cover. We folded over the outer edges, taped them down, to create pockets. LOVE that - but you know me and pockets. First paint color combination background. My challenge is always how to actually journal LEGIBLY on a dark background. But discussions of The Best Pens for What Purpose abounded; I learned a lot; I tucked it all into my brain for purchases at a later time. The swirly design came from using a vintage plastic doily as a stencil -- Kelly had a few of those and they were the second item every single woman in the class gravitated toward. Manufacturers Alert!!! BRING BACK THE PLASTIC DOILIES!

Observation: the difference between the Golden Fluid Acrylic paints we used (mixed 50-50 with gloss medium), and that 50-cents-a-bottle shite I've always used heretofore, is NIGHT AND DAY. Now, I've been happy with my pages up until now, and my discretionary income hasn't changed one iota, so I won't be running out to buy every color available in the good stuff, but I will MOST DEFINITELY be adding particular colors to my palette, starting with white. NIGHT AND DAY, I tell ya - way true story!!! The quality of the color, of the paper saturation, of blendability, my goodness. It's a whole new world, made me want to paint with my body parts it was so glossy and silky and color-rich and wondrous!! Ongoing pages with varying paint combinations. I like this; it feels very Monet-esque, just brighter.
Kelly has myriad suggestions for ways to use collage papers and focal images to create layouts over the backgrounds. This was my second one. Given that I have pounds of different papers and equal pounds of sorted-by-subject focal images, this is bliss. A way to use them, to showcase them, piece by piece. I HATED this background until I added the skeleton and the stamped image of the jagged lines. Then suddenly it became kinda sassy -- I want to play some more here!
The spine of the journal. I left my strings long because I want to add some beads and charms to this.
Another play with collage. Another paint combination background. This will be collaged/journaled on later, as will the rest. This is my favorite background of those I did today. Using that good quality acrylic paint (in white) to create the stencils, then going back over them with a darker color? LOVE IT! Inside back cover. Again, the outer edge is folded over to create a pocket. That's the name tag I wore; I wanted to keep it as a souvenir! I also kept my receipt for my lunch (egg salad sandwich, pretty yummy, from a little cafe down the block), and a Phoenix Symphony ticket stub I found on my walk to buy a sandwich, to use in a future journal entry! Journal back. Again, tape crazy. I'm going to dream about decorative tapes tonight, I promise. During lunch, I mosied through the store and did some damage -- including these two awesome rubber stamps. I'd seen the 'Explore & Discover' stamp on someone else's journal and was excited to find it, but HONIES! When I saw this stamp with all the architectural drawing fragments? I'm afraid I did more than just a wee jig; I couldn't help myself! I LOVE this kind of sketch, from my passion for architecture/interior design, and all the years I worked for architects. Perfection!

By 4, when the workshop ended, I pronounced to my partner on my right, "I'm tired. It's official." I've been fighting some stupid bug that's being passed around work, and I realized I was just seriously out of gas. I wanted to go home, slowly sip a beer, and peruse the journal and relive its creation step-by-step in my mind, which is the way I learn, the way I can go forward and duplicate the process.

But first I paid my 'tab' at the shop counter, collected a couple of names and blog addresses, told my group farewell, and especially, gave Kelly a heartfelt hug.

WHAT A GRAND DAY!!! More! I want more!!!