I finished my second  house project of the year. This was a 10 dollar chair that I bought from a garage sale. It was badly repaired where it had once had arms and was perfect for me to practice on. I sanded it all down and then filled in the holes with wood putty.
I used chalk paint for both layers I put on it.
 I painted it the light teal and then used Vaseline to make a resist in a few of the areas to let the teal paint show through. This was mostly on the edges and the legs where the wear would be heaviest. Then I used  off white chalk paint over.  Then I stained it with a light walnut gel stain and buffed it so in places the stain came out dark in the recesses and light where the wear would be. I then covered the cracked faded leather seat in a cream bird print.
I was going for the rustic "hey look what I just found in the back of grandmas barn" look and I think I nailed it. Maybe a little too rustic but for 10 bucks and 3.25 in paint and fabric it will do.

Altered Book Art journals

I love working on the journals but my books in the past have seemed a bit scattered. I usually just deal with whatever is bugging or pleasing me at the moment. I have tried to keep to a theme in the past without much luck.
I am finding that by working on two or three books at once I have a much better chance of sticking to the subject. I have chosen the themes for the two regular books and the one board book. The board book is the hardest. It is just examining the topic of women.

There has been a lot of discussion on Lampwork Etc. where I go from time to time to socialize about the lack of respect for women in the world right now. Personally I think I am more concerned with the lack of self respect in the world right now. If you respect yourself and demand the same of others a lot of those problems will go away. I am having a hard time since I decided to not use words in the book just images. You would think as an artist that would be a piece of cake. Not so much. It is only 8 pages so I have to condense all that I have to say and without words to that small space. Good luck to me.....
The second book is examining all the fears and monsters from my childhood so I can put them to bed (I hope ) once and for all. That one is easier to do. The pages write themselves and I find myself lying awake at night thinking of the next page.
The third book I am working on is about community. what I feel about people and what we have in common and don't have in common. It is an interesting subject to examine.
I find myself feeling things I did not know I felt and thinking in ways I never imagined before.
So I think I will continue to work with themes from now on. I might add a daily journal to the mix.
Here are a few pages from my journals. I hope you enjoy.