A Painterly Day in April

Gentle sunshine, a soft breeze, and a free afternoon lured me outside to paint today! I spent a lovely day working on this collaged and painted book cover. It's destined for a coptic stitch book inspired by The Journey of Letting Go workshop with Jeanne Oliver that I'm currently enjoying. A wonderful experience that I highly recommend! {Both the afternoon and the workshop!}

The journal covers began their life as a humble Reader's Digest volume that I picked up for a song at my local library. I love upcycling these discarded books into art journals. They are plentiful, inexpensive, sturdy, and I don't feel guilty about taking them apart and remaking them into something useful and beautiful.

I used creamy colored gesso from Matisse in these luscious shades to cover the book. I especially love the Caromelle. I purchase mine from Jerry's Artarama, and I learned about them from the amazing map artist Mary C. Nasser. Thanks Mary!

I worked on several projects today, including a funky sketch of a girl with surprisingly big hair, and another journal for the Jeanne Oliver workshop. I dabbled in watercolors, and tried out some new mediums including clear gesso, Golden acrylic paints, Derwent Inktense pencils, and Dorland's Wax Medium. I used the latter to cover the painterly bird journal. A lovely afternoon...

All that endeavor made me feel a bit peckish, so I whipped up a scrumptious Naan Bread pizza!

It's so simple, but so delicious! Simply preheat your oven to 450 and spread a piece of Naan Bread with fig preserves or jam and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Top with shredded mozzarella and bake for 7-8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Remove from the oven and immediately top with wafer-thin slices of prosciutto and a sprinkling of peppery arugula. A tasty treat for a painterly day in April!

{The pizza was inspired by this recipe, but I substituted the Naan Bread for the pizza crust}