postcard sets

Just thought I'd let you know that I just posted some postcard sets on my www.teeshamoore.etsy.com site. There are a total of 15 postcard designs in all 3 sets.

ugly journal pages

I don't like either of these journal pages...but decided to show them to you because one of them I showed in a previous post when it was at the collage state. I really hate the way it turned out...I used colored pencil almost exclusively and it just looks muddy to me. But...as always in my journal I learn alot from just doing it and seeing what happens...so that is why I am showing it to you. I guess I do like the color scheme on the black/white/brown one above.

Hey...did anyone notice my new blog header? My oldest daughter, Tiffany is home for thanksgiving so I had her switch out my blog header and put up an etsy banner for me too.

materials of consciousness

I found a quote the other day that I had to use and this spread has been needing something to finish it off...so the two seem to go very good together I think. When I was rewriting this quote, I was fighting off a deep emotion that was rising in me...it was really weird.

Molly Moon's

OK...so were were in Seattle the other day waiting for Molly Moon's to open http://www.mollymoonicecream.com/ since we were craving her Salted Caramel ice cream in her handmade waffle cone. OMG...if you haven't had it, you simply must! It's the stuff you dream about. Anyhoo...we walked down the street and I was struck by the beauty in front of May's (thai restaurant).

my journal bag of pens

Well...for what it's worth...this is my journal bag of pens that I take with me. I found this "harajuku lovers" bag at Ross on sale and it is the perfect size to carry all the pens I care to have. I also like it because you can unzip it and see what's in it pretty easily. The bottle of pop is for perspective.

OH...found my camera...it was in Tracy's bag of lomo cameras...which he assured me it was not in there. argh...

a fun lettering idea

Still haven't found my camera...but cruising around the photos I've downloaded onto my computer I found a shot of my alphabet tray. Since the nights are long now, I thought you might be interested it making one yourself. Basically I bought a multicompartment tray and as you can see, I labeled each space with a letter. Then I go through my magazines while watching tv and cut out letters and plop them into their compartments so when I journal and want to write out words, I have a plethora of odd letters to choose from. It might be considered a little obsessive compulsive but it is a relaxing activity that certainly makes me happy when I am journaling. Here's an example (this is a really old journal page...)

Tracy's new lubitel camera

These shots were taken by Tracy using his newest Lomo camera...the Lubitel. and yes, that stuff on the edges was there when the photos were developed. These are 2 of my kids...my amazingly talented daughter, tiffany and my long lost son who I never knew I had, Theo Ellsworth. They are both too much fun.

tracy's pics of last weekend

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

full weekend

oooh...it thrills me to see your comments and know that people are actually looking at my blog. I know...it doesn't take much to get me excited. LOL. Thanks for those comments...I will try to post more on my own comments section.
Anyhoo...we just got done with a 12 person metal journal making workshop in our studio and the group was fantastic. It was really fun. Tracy did all the teaching...I was simply his lovely assistant (who didn't do a very good job of assisting since I don't make metal journals). Anyhoo...everyone made the coolest journals...not one ugly duckling in the batch.
Am still searching high and low for my camera to take some photos for my blog...it's hiding from me. aaargh. this photo above is the cover of a recent journal (not my favorite cover...but oh well).

Journaling on the road

Since a few people asked me about what I take to journal on the road, I am happy to tell you what I do. But first I have a question...I know this is going to sound stupid...but HOW do I respond to people who post comments on my blog? I can never find their email addresses...am I missing something???

anyway...my journal bag consists of a slew of my favorite sharpie poster paint pens (I sell thes by the way www.teeshamoore.com), a white gel pen, a couple of superfine pitt pens in black, a small collection of colored pencils, all the neon gel pens, a few copic markers, a pencil, eraser, 3 panpastels (black, brown, red) and one tombo double sided adhesive roller. I do all the collage work at home. The one exception was when I went to Tokyo and relied on finding stuff there to journal with. But I still painted my pages before I left home.

Speaking of collage...I keep a giant pile on my desk...it is not sorted and everything goes into it including color copies of past journal pages that I like to deconstruct. For instance...the pieces shown below have been in the pile for a couple years as they never seemed to work on my color backgrounds...when the white pages came along, they were perfect. It is all the odd scraps and bits that I seem to use the most...the part that is left when you cut the main image out.

When we were heading to portland last weekend, I bound up my journal and quickly slapped some collage on 8 of the pages... in fact...I'll scan in some pages that are ready for taking on the road.

These are bits and pieces of collage that I will be reworking with pens, pencils, chalks and maybe even more collage. I think these pages worked better because I was in a hurry and not giving too much thought to what went down...I just knew I wanted something on the page before I left.

So...all my pens are in a zippered bag...I'll take a photo of my bag soon but right now I can't find my camera (aaargh!). and that goes into a backpack along with my journal, my ipod, some headphones, and extra black and white sharpie poster paint extra fine pens (just to make sure I always have them on me). Hope that helps you journal more.

my white page journal

So...if you've been reading my blog, I talked about having to do a journal super quick for a spur of the moment trip to portland...anyway...I ALWAYS pre-paint my pages but I didn't have time to do that this time so I journaled on them white....but I am totally LOVING it. I can use colored pencils and stuff without them competing with the background color. anyway...these are 3 of the pages from that journal. OH...and that little doodle on the last one was from Tracy. We were out journaling all day with our daughter tiffany and our artist friend, theo ellsworth and Theo was drawing something in Tracy's journal so I let him draw in mine while I was working on the other page. We got a TON of journaling in that day...the 4 of us. What Fun!

venturing into etsy world

eeeyikes...this old dog has a hard time with new tricks....but...I finally got something up on etsy. I have wanted to do something like this for a long time...My original plan was to do a journal page a day and sell it...but I realized I can't even do a journal page in a day for myself and I don't want to part with my originals....besides...doing a journal page that is really not IN a journal is just not the same. SO...I decided to put up a limited edition of one of my journal pages once a week. If they go, great. If not, I'll move on to something else. YOu can see it on www.teeshamoore.etsy.com .

new journaling mediums

I forgot to mention the 2 new journaling mediums I have been loving lately. The first one is a set of colored pencils by Derwent called coloursoft and I really love how smooth they are. My daughter Tiff, used them recently and fell in love with them too. see them here: Derwent Coloursoft Pencils - BLICK art materials These pencils are really coming in handy in my newest journal I am working in (where I didn't pre-paint the pages). I haven't shown any pages from that journal yet...I will soon. The 2nd product is called Panpastels PanPastel Artists’ Painting Pastels - BLICK art materials. Some folks at our PLAY retreat last january were getting excited about them so when I treated myself to my one new thing after Artfest (a ritual I've had), I went to Daniel Smith and bought a bunch. However, I bought mostly light colors, not knowing what I'd be doing with them. I found that I love the dark colors for creating shadows on everything. The colors I use the most are black, a dark brown, a deep red and a dark blue. They are really cool and do not need to be sealed. They go fabulously onto my fabriano paper but also will tint many different types of collage, color copies, and even most magazine pages. Between these two mediums I think my pages have more depth to them now. Anyway...something to put on your christmas list!

time for new journal pages

Tracy bought me an i-pod touch (2nd generation) when we were in las vegas and I never thought I'd use it much but I use it all the time for lists, calendar, weather, soduko (just learned it and I love it), and various other weird apps. My favorite feature is that you can play Pandora Radio on it. www.pandora.com . Basically, you put in a favorite song or artist and they will come up with a playlist of songs that are similiar to it. I always hear a ton of new artists that I never heard of before...so this last journal page I was listing bands as they came up while I was journaling.

Portland

Just got back from portland. We had to go visit Reed College as we are moving our Artfiberfest retreat there (june 24-28, 2009) and had to check it out first. It was amazing and we can't wait till next june. Also, Theo Ellsworth was having another show at his gallery (he co-owns it with a group of artists), so we got to see the opening night of it. He's got some great pieces in it and a few extra copies of his book also. If you want to check it out, google the Pony Club in portland. We spent the rest of the weekend getting ready for a metal journal making workshop we are having in our studio this weekend. OH...and I set up my easel and paints in the corner of my living room! Yes, I know...I have a giant studio and I put it in my living room. But it is making me want to paint. A little here, a little there...it's fun. Sometimes I wake up and paint for 20 minutes in my jammies before hopping in the shower. I'll try to take some pics of the corner soon.

journal freak out

Here are some more journal pages. I panic'd last night when I heard we have to go to portland on a business trip this afternoon (till saturday) and my journal is FULL! eeeeyikes! I simply can't go without a journal...so I was up at the crack of dawn (come to think of it, it was way before the crack of dawn) frantically binding a new journal to take. The pages won't be painted like they usually are, but oh well. It's paper and I have pens and collage and adhesive. oh that reminds me...that I have some new products I have been loving in my journal...will tell you about them in a few days.

It's a whole new world today

I don't know about you but I sat there last night fighting back the tears all night as I watched people coming together as one and being completeley overjoyed with our new president and the prospect of big change on the horizon. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Obama would win. He simply had to. But what I wasn't expecting was the overwhelming oneness that we saw from everyone. I am super excited about the future now and cannot wait to work together to turn it into a brave new world.

I have a quote that's been hanging around on my desk for awhile now. Someone had written it on the back of an Artfest registration last Sept. and it couldn't be more appropriate now.

"WE EVOLVE AT THE RATE OF THE TRIBE WE ARE PLUGGED INTO" -Carolyn Myers.

Nice to know our tribe has changed leaders and is now on it's way to greatness. Anyhoo...I have a bunch of new journal pages that I will post over the next week or so.

GO GO GO Obama!!!

Lubitel camera

oops...I forgot to mention that the photos below are from Tracy's new Lubitel 166+ Lomo camera and are completely untouched by photoshop. they came from the developer just as you see them. BTW...some guys from Lomo will be at Journalfest next fall. more info soon on our website.

Tracy's shots from artfiberfest at the fort

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.