I’ve been an explorer the last couple months.

Playing around with different ideas, techniques and products in my art journal has proven to be quite the adventure!

With no need to make things picture perfect, or to even make sense, the art journal is perfect for exploring new materials and old, in new and different ways.

I got some pastels for Christmas and have been using them on every page. They are so much fun! And they give some effects that I couldn’t get otherwise.

I ended up loving one of the pages in my journal so much that I decided to make a full size picture based off of it. It is the butterfly in a forest picture. The pastels allowed me to add a misty/fogginess look to it which makes it look more mysterious for the butterflies to fly through as they explore. I also used some iridescent glaze on the trees in the foreground to help them pop out from the background more. The iridescent glaze doesn’t show up very much in the photo but it is quite amazing in real life!

Here is the finished collaged painting:

Butterflies flying through an iridescent forest!

Prints are coming soon!

It was a pretty stressful day when I painted this. An escape seemed like the perfect solution to all the crazy going on.

I decided to paint my escape —or rather, my Maltipoo Boomer’s escape.

There is nothing like a red convertible VW Bug.

I’ve never had one, but it seems like there would be nothing like it. So this car was our method of escape.

In this world Boomer can drive, and flowers are the size of trees and the sun is bright and big and reminiscent of a flower. I’m pretty sure it even smells like a flower! And maybe the flowers smell like strawberries and bubblegum, the road of licorice.

Ephesians 3:20 (The Passion Translation)

“Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for this miraculous power constantly energizes you.”

There is always hope, always a reason to look forward to brighter days.

Shine on with God! ☀