the week in random journal-y-ness

it was a good week for making fun and funky art, though now that the weather is warm and the grass is green, journaly pursuits are getting a bit more competition with outdoor fun... and outdoor chores, as well. we spent most of yesterday in maryland having an early mother's day celebration with jeff's mom; and most of today out in the yard mowing, trimming and seeding. there's a continuing war to be waged with the ivy that's trying to choke our big pine tree, but i *think* i've got it on the run. so now seems like a good time to blog the random art bits i had fun playing around with this week. the most "finished" page i did was the top one; it features a buddha silhoutte i hand-cut from stencil film, that i surrounded with ink, filled with doodles and made a background using tape, label stickers and paper scraps:

having decided that my "official" sketchbook for the sketchbook project will be about hawaii, i did quite a bit of thinking and doodling this week, both sensible (well, sensible-ISH)... 

...and a bit silly... but then, the food of hawaii was so integral to our enjoyment, that inside my head, it all makes sense, lol!

i've been playing around with some re-discovered jars of gold and silver metal flake, and tried them out on everything from bookpaper cut-outs to photos and inky experiments. my favorite so far is the mixed media lotus flower towards the top of this group. i'm pretty sure you'll see that as the centerpiece of... ummmmm... SOMETHING... pretty soon! :)

i did a couple of watercolor sketches this week, as well. one is of the wonky-but-recognizable front of our house (i'm especially pleased with the stones and of course the shingles of our brand new roof, lol!):

the other is a copy of a photo i took a few years ago of our lambertville neighbors' sunflower field:

...which i liked enough to use it as my blog header for a bit, as you can see. my mom has actually asked if it can be part of her mother's day gift, which is why it's been ripped out of my sketchbook, in preparation for a trip to the frame place.

i hope your week has been awesome and that you are having a happy sunday with enough time to do something fun and creative... just for ♥YOU♥!