Amber Gibbs - Art Journals, Collage Art & Mixed Media Adventures

Oh my!

I knew I'd been absent from this blog for a while. But wow, seriously, I have not posted since the beginning of April. That's like, um, 3 months, isn't it?? 

I have excuses. Yep.

Let's see:

1) Life/Work/Baby - all of these things take time. Even tho I only work part time (thankfully), it has a way of consuming all non-baby minutes of my life.

2) Baby is actually now a toddler. And since it became nice outside (in um April), we tackled gardening projects and sampled dirt and leaves and some edibles from around the yard. Unlike last year where she wanted to be solely attached to Mama, this year, she is running around free. It's amazing how fast they grow up, but that first year is a hard one to get through. Now we are almost through year 2!!

3) After I finished my last journal (see that April entry), I lost my journal mojo. I started another journal, but floundered. Now I am starting back up, so hopefully I'll have some new posts soon. I realized I kinda need to get some thoughts out on paper to save my sanity and alleviate anxiety.

Here's something completely unrelated to my excuses. This is a drawing I did in the winter when I decided to work on my drawing skills (one of the few good enough to show you). I colored it in crayon and then did an ink wash. Crayons are pretty baby friendly now that she doesn't put EVERYTHING in her mouth.

Suzi Blu explains Moleskine love in one of her youtube videos. Like she said, if you get it, you get it, if not, there's not much we can say. It's not a big deal if you don't and want to journal in something else. That's the beauty of art journaling, you go your own way.

Anyway, gardening season is winding down for me (more my enthusiasm than the actual season), so I hope to post more. But we've got a big trip coming up (international travel with a toddler, weeeeeeeee! but we want to visit relatives and stuff), so I'm still not sure how much I'll post. This is why I recommend getting a blog reader. I like Google Reader. I used to have bloglines, but I prefer Google Reader now, it's far more reliable.

Eye Candy - Online Magazines

Love browsing magazines full of colorful eye candy, but can't afford to splurge at the moment? Try these digital (free) magazines. They are very nifty, even if you can't read them in the bathroom.

Brian Stauffer's Illustrations

Nina Gambone - fashion collages and doodles, reminds me of Teeshe Moore's collages

Art Journal - Utterly awesome art journal, I love this style

Trips to India - photo journal of her trips to India. I think she captures India very well.

Inspiration File - Color

Looking for some color combination ideas - the blog Kris's Color Stripes takes inspiration from sources photos, art, graphic design and gives you intriguing color palettes.

Inspiration File - Cool French Website

La Marelle is a very inspiring French boutique filled with artistic eye candy and stuff you will want to buy. The site has an English version (Top right), but I enjoyed clicking around the French version. It was like a treasure hunt, since I don't speak/read French at all.

Inspiration File - Marimekko

Marimekko is a famous finish textile design company. Each season they post the new fabric designs on their website and you can get great color and design ideas from these samples. And you can also send postcards of the images.

Inspiration File - Background Technique

I made this little bird last year and I used this background tutorial on how to melt acrylic paint with rubbing alcohol.

Inspiration File - Awesome Scrapbooking Paper

Scrapbooking paper is so pretty these days that I don't know how anyone cuts it up to use it.

Birds the Word  Urban Rhapsody Paper (K & Co)

Shimmer Glitter Black & White Floral 12x12 Midnight Kiss Paper (Heidi Grace)

Giardino-Garden 12x12 Al Fresco Paper (Tinkering Ink)

Inspire 12x12 Infuse Collection Paper (Basic Grey)

Inspiration File - Deco Book

I'm drooling over images from this 1925 book Song of Songs by Schmied. I think this is an illustrated version of the Song of Solomon (not sure tho).

The site won't let me save images (which is silly if it's a book that's in the public domain, but *shrug*) so I took some screen shots.

This is only a small sampling of the richness in this book. Have look for yourself.

Inspiration File - Tree

Draw a tree in your journal. Or put a photo of a tree in your journal. Or make an abstract reference to a tree in your journal.

This old illustration of a tree is lovely. Try drawing it.

Inspiration File - Japanese Birds

I don't really know what this Japanese website is about - well, aside from the obvious - birds. I don't know if if it's an illustrator's site or a site for bird lovers or a site for children. But, there are some really cool bird illustrations on there. Check out these cute animated gifs.

And the inspiring part - the simplicity of the birds. By making an image simpler, you can often find a unique style of your own.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years!