Here's the sign I mentioned working on previously. 

 

It's painted primarily with Golden brand Fluid

Acrylics, which were a nice consistency for 

the flowing lines and small brushwork.  

This brush, which I bought on clearance several years

ago, came in very handy. The store display had it labeled

as a sign painting brush, and it turns out to be just that!

The brush is cut at an angle, so it holds an adequate amount

of paint while coming to a precise and swirlable point.

sign painting preparations

 Over 6 months ago, I bartered design services with 

a friend. My end of the deal was to paint a lettered 

sign. Since I have been frozen solid when it comes 

to painting, I spent the past six months procrastinating

on this project. Today, however, I pulled out my acrylic

paints and went to town, combining colors for a series of 

test swatches. The lettering style is borrowed from 

Donley & Singh's book called Hand Lettering.

I think it will make for a very festive name plaque!

jeremy

...painted to go with
...Karen (married November, 2007).

another perfect system

In spite of the fact that none of you accepted my invitation to show

us your perfect systems, I present to you the second of mine.

Of all the bags, purses, and backpacks I've used over the past few years,

this one tops them all in functionality. Now, it doesn't get top ratings on the

cute factor, but it also doesn't detract from the total look of an outfit

like, say, the pink backpack of 2004 did. The important feature of this

particular bag is that it has 5 pockets, mostly zippered, all just the right

size. This provides distinct locations for the essentials (cell phone, wallet,

lip balm, journal, pens) so I can find them immediately. When I'm in line at

the store or my mobile phone rings, I don't have to go digging around in the huge

abyss of a hobo bag, for example, to find what I'm looking for. Furthermore,

the main compartment is tall enough for a book but skinny enough that it

doesn't permit much more than that (I can cram my big camera in if need be,

but nothing else). This means I can't overload and get weighed down or

lose track of what all's in there.

So there you have it. What's your perfect system?

brick arch

I recently discovered the amazing premier issue

of Art Journaling magazine, put out by Somerset Studio.

It was worth every penny of the (gasp) $14.99 (plus tax)

I spent on it, as it is chock full of images, is printed on heavy

paper (not the standard flimsy magazine page), and also

gets down to the nitty gritty on technique and supplies.

So there you have it. I am feeling inspired to take my

visually-charged journaling on some adventures. Today's

image is a work in progress. It's the background painting

of a page-to-be. I post this because a)I like the way it turned

out, b)I think it's fun to see things in different stages

of their creation, and c)it may likely get to looking worse

instead of better, in which case I'll be able to look back and

remember that I don't always like every brick outlined in

black (see tomorrow's post) and maybe learn from my mistakes.

Or vice versa.