Back from Oregon...

and not a single bit of blogging from the road, even though I thought I might. Just decided to take a break, posted a few pics on Instagram and in FB but mostly just hung out and enjoyed myself.

Including going to places like Collage in Portland and oogling their wall of washi tape...

I only let myself get a couple of them... ok, maybe 3 or 4. Really! Not going to mention that I had already found a few other new tapes I didn't have and got them when I was in Eugene visiting my sister, nope, not going to mention that at all!

Gotta unpack, continue on my art room revamp that I sort of started before I left but have a bunch more to do, then get back to doing some art! I have 3 more weeks before I will have to think about school (work) again!

Figuring out what art supplies to take...

And WOYWW for this week.

THAT is always the hardest part of a trip for me. The clothes are generally easy but figuring out which art supplies to take often takes a lot more thought and time. Oh, didn't I mention it? I am going to Alaska to visit my friend Evie and her family. Since I will only be gone for a week and want to travel light I won't take too much.

I am starting a Moelskine journal for this trip. Never used one of those before but I have had this journal for years and never used it. It is just the right size for a week's trip to Alaska!

This is how I bring my washi tapes when I travel. Not the big case, that is how I store them here. For traveling I lay out what I think I might want to use (based on the colors in my head the moment I am packing) and then lay them out on a sheet protector, both sides. Light and easy, keeps the sticky going, and I can use the sheet protector for collage scraps on the way.

Then I will take a small bunch of gelli printed deli and other papers so I have some backgrounds and collage fodder. I plan on using the ephemera from the trip as the rest of my collage fodder.

And here are the supplies I narrowed it down to (late last night). You can see I did a pen test in the Moleskine to make sure this time anyway I was taking pens that would not bleed through. The copic and the regular Sharpie bled through so not taking any of those.

All that stuff amazingly fits into this little bag. Not sure where the bag is from either as I have had it a long time. Maybe I got it from Jet Pens, but not sure.

And finally it all closed into this. The bag with the supplies is actually larger than the journal! But it will be just the right amount of stuff to have in my carry on bag for the lay-overs on the trip and when I am there.

Leaving tomorrow and going to test out using Instagram for the trip... this will be a first for me as I am an Instagram newbie! My name there is rhozza. Guess there were too many Rhondas already and my favorite art name rhoz was already taken. Feel free to follow me there!

Linked to:

Ruby Tuesday2
Colorful Gelli Print Party
WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday)

Working on the 21 Secrets class today...

I decided to pick another of the 21 Secrets workshops that had doodling and working a bit outside my normal zone so I picked Roben-Marie Smith's Baby Got Back-to-Back class to do next. I have enjoyed Roben-Marie's work for many years and have taken a class or two from her here and there but have never attempted to do a journal page in her style, which is how this workshop starts out. HERE is a link to her wonderful journal page tutorials!

So the workshop starts out by making a journal page in her style, which actually took me 2 days. Once again I was working on pages I had taken out of the 9" x 12" Canson Montval Field All-Media Journal. I decided last night to start by making 2 pages so it took a little longer, and then part way through I wanted them to dry completely so I left them overnight. I made 2 pages because one of them has to get cut up for the book part of this workshop and then I would have an extra, although now I have to decide which one I want to keep and which to use for the Back-to-Back book part of the workshop!

It starts by adding color to your page (painting and gelli printing):

Then some collage and stamping:

Then lots more inking, painting, doodling...

And finally both finished pages.

What I enjoyed about this part of the workshop was using colors together that I normally do not use much of and making a page much busier than I normally do and having it look nice in the end. What I found difficult was having to constantly go back over things and doodle more or fix doodles that got covered or painted on that I wanted to show, and the general fussiness of working these pages. It sure looks easy when Roben-Marie does it but it takes a lot longer than I thought!

But I gotta admit, these are two of my favorite pages I have done lately! I think I will incorporate some of this working over and over in my art journal pages now and see where it takes me! Thanks for pushing my envelope Roben-Marie!

One last Sunday art journal page...

Found a few old photos of me when I was searching some files on my computer so I decided to print them out and make another journal page. Since I have a busy week ahead these from today might be the last until next weekend.

Still under a slight Sabrina Ward Harrison influence, I added the quill pen (not successful on that paper) and some ink blots. I don't usually do that much collage on my pages but I like it so I think I will try more in the coming days.

New washi storage...

new washi storage, a photo by Cali-rhoz on Flickr.

Works better than the other free-for-all container although... it's already full! And I still have 4 more rolls... and no doubt more in the next year coming, so I will need to start a second container too!

I may need another washi tape container...

Not that I ordered a few more tapes from Amazon this morning... Just sayin' .. storage is getting tight -- time to use them more!