Saturday Night art party

Well it has been a crazy busy week at school, and then I had to work all day today at my part-time job. I decided to work on some upcoming atc swaps tonight to wind down. Some are for a "Scavenger Hunt" theme swap on Nervousness.org and a few are for a free expression swap, and I also started working on an "Altered Images" atc swap. I carved the mermaid stamp to use tonight and I'm pretty happy with how she turned out! I really need to get a brayer at home, though, because the paintbrush application just doesn't work as well.

I also made an entry in Beth's journal, my art journal, and started a valentine for a secret valentine swap. I would have liked to accomplish even more, but it does feel good to get a few things checked off my to-do list. Tomorrow I have to go up to school and tackle some annoying jobs, so making art when I get home will be my reward.
Somehow I've managed to keep up with my resolution to make an entry in my art journal every day. Some days this week I really wanted to skip it because I was so dang tired, but I managed to get a little sketch or a little swipe of paint no matter what.
I was planning to post pictures of the books I made for my class last Tuesday, but I forgot to take pics. before I went to class, and darn it - that professor wanted to take them all home! It was so interesting to see everyone's different styles and techniques in the class (there are 10 of us). This Tuesday we're going to the *special collections* at the library and looking at all sorts of Artists' Books. Hopefully I can take my digital camera in and snap a few photos there.

And, soon I'll post a picture of my valentine's gift for Bill - the first *major* art purchase I've made. (I did buy an oil painting from my brother for $75 when he had his senior art show, but that's a little different). Anyway, I have it hidden right now, but it is a wonderful landscape that was painted by a woman that I used to teach art with.