http://mcirillo.com . Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:17:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Trying out micron pen & caran d'ache crayons in the Sketchbook. I enjoyed doing a project like this in my 3x5 moleskine, but it was more laborious than fun in this larger size book. Everything I did seemed so much harder in 7x10 format, but now I'm near the end ... http://mcirillo.com/2010/10/30/night-time-stories-cont/ hmm, Hanna was kind enough to link to my sketchbook in her blog and I realized it's been 2 months since I posted the cover to my sketchbook. I'm almost finished with it. I've worked in spurts, sometimes letting the book collect dust for days or weeks, and have ... http://mcirillo.com/2010/10/28/more-night-time-stories/ I started my 6x8 moleskine from the Art House Coop a few weeks ago. It's been a challenge. I usually work in a 3x5 moleskine, so this feels like four times the amount of space to fill. It's hard to just casually start a sketch; I have to think about ... http://mcirillo.com/2010/08/28/nighttime-stories/ I bought a small container of clear gesso to compare with the regular white stuff. This was my first experiment. I brushed the gesso onto tan tissue paper, remembering what great results I had with the GPP Tissue Crusade. I then applied crimson, purple and yellow acrylic. The clear gesso ... http://mcirillo.com/2010/08/10/clear-gesso/ I have been making up stories with clipped type since I was a teenager, so this month's GPP Street Team creative crusade on "Text Messaging" was right up my alley. I usually prefer black and white type, but the last few weeks of hot weather have turned the shrubbery around ... http://mcirillo.com/2010/08/07/handcrafted-cattails-backroads-myths/ It's the third or fourth day in a row we've been under a heat warning. Yesterday it was 103 and up to 80% humidity. How there be so much humidity without at least a few rain drops falling? Oh, yeah, they never make it to the ground. Still, I can ... http://mcirillo.com/2010/07/18/heat-advisory/ When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to main, to whom thou sayst, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" (John Keats) Practicing with my pens, drawing around blobs of paint to see what they make. Kind of like ... http://mcirillo.com/2010/07/15/ode-on-grecian-urn/ I liked the color combination so well I hated to journal over it. Two light coats of Golden acrylic glaze, Sea Foam Green with Violet Earth on top, and then a bit of brown crayola. Rubber stamped borders and my favorite red Gelly Glaze pen for contrast. I do ... http://mcirillo.com/2010/07/06/negative-space/ I think art is better therapy than pharmaceuticals; I hate not being able to ditch medication altogether. http://mcirillo.com/2010/07/04/medication/ Ok, it's been 3 months or so since I updated the blog; maybe I should begin again. I've had brain blight; in other words recurrence of depression. When it happens I usually crawl into my protective shell and live in my own little world until I feel like poking my ... http://mcirillo.com/2010/07/03/blight/