Illustration Friday: Sneaky

She wasn't being sneaky in the least.

 It was he who was being deceptive and cruel.

So on this crisp November night she kept a promise to herself as she walked away for good under the illuminating guidance of the full moon.

Her conscience was as clear as her big, green eyes.

She never once looked back.

brown paper bag, micron pen, prismacolor pencils

for Illustration Friday

My 600th post!!!!!!

More Journal Pages for :Lynn & Mim

I had two journals in front of me this week so I tackled both of them yesterday.

This is Lynn's page. As you all know she sews, quilts, paints, does fabric assemblage and many other things. I can't keep up with her! My first thought was to paint her under a "Dream Quilt" and to have her wonderful cat Henry V napping with her. The poem came later.

I used watercolors (mistake!) to paint on loose canvas. The paint kept beading up but I worked it in with a lot of patience! It needed some pizazz so I added glitter here and there. It didn't scan well but it sure shines in person.

For the back page I used my greeting card program and chose a quilt background. Then I chose a shape to place the poem in. Just a quick little diddy I wrote in a few minutes.

I'm no Emily Dickinson! Anyway, there you go. A tribute to Lynn and her sewing talents!

Now for Mim's pages...

Mim asked us to make her journal about women. Strong women, magical women, etc.

I went through my archives and found my Wallflowers and Bagladies that some of you may remember. The Wallflowers were named so because of the patterned paper I painted them on which resembled wallpaper. The Bagladies were all drawn and painted on brown paper bags.

I love that there are nine of them and nine of us sharing this journal. Kismet!

It took me a while to scan them and print them the right sizes for the collage but it was fun putting them all together.

The poem on the back is what I came up with after looking at all of 'my girls' together.

Wallflowers and Bagladies,

Strong.

Independent.

Thinkers, dreamers, doers.

Conquering fears,

persuing dreams,

rising to the top

like the sweetest cream.

So there you have it! I hope you ladies like your pages ;)

Illustration Friday: Subtract

The Crow by Abby Kimball

I click my pen.

Click click.

I lick my lips.

Lick lick.

I stare out the window.

The teacher talks

'cross the Y and an X.'

I see a crow outside.

My mind instantly goes back

to the second grade when the teacher

told us that the crow was beautiful once,

but to save mankind

was burned by the sun.

I remember I cried.

I still think crows are beautiful.

I pulled from my thoughts.

'Abby, what do you think?'

I look to you.

You mouth 'subtract 4.'

I say that.

I look at you.

Your chair is leaned back

and you're smiling.

I'm the crow.

I smile.

Here's how I arrived at this. I went to poemhunter.com and looked up poem lyrics that contained 'subtract.' I hated most of them and decided on this one because it had a crow in it and I could imagine the finished art. I liked the feel of it too. Then I went in a different direction and used an image from my greeting card program and I scanned it in sepia tones on a paper bag. I added paint and colored pencil and eventually overworked the hell out of it and called it a night. That's what I get when I don't draw my own image and use my own words, but hey...it works, right?

Happy weekend everyone!

Illustration Friday: Climbing

Not unlike her cherished roses, there were just some days when she felt like she was climbing the walls.

graphite and colored pencil on paper bag for IF prompt: climbing

Click to enlarge...she looks better that way!