Rich Dark to Shiney

Prompt #55 for Prompt60 (I can't believe it's almost over) was Shine.  I did this last Thursday and it wasn't that great a day - so that's why I have a lot of faces with their eyes blacked out and the dark colours work down to the wonderful gold foil paper from Stampin'Up!  The pictures were also picked to go with the lyrics to the song "Disaster" by the Newsboys which are on the adjacent page.

I used Gelatos for colouring the top of the page and I really like how rich they turned out.  They're a little bit creamier than Neocolour Crayons.

Like I've said before - collages are easy - pick a theme and tear some magazines or catalogues apart.  If you don't have magazines yourself, you can find them easily at second hand stores, Value Village and such.

Create something everyday.

Joan

Three Prompts and a Mandala

This piece (prompt #52) of Prompt60 had three prompts that went with it….Tangerine, Dance, Synonyms.  I found this wonderful tangerine coloured flower as part of the background and covered the rest of the background in orange.  I cut this ballerina from a poster I had and did a gell transfer of the "Little Dancer" by Degas from a photo I took of her when I was in New York.  Then….I got out my humungous thesaurus and found as many words as I could for Dance.  I'm not happy with the way I wrote them on…..but we don't have to like all our work!

This mandala was completed over three sittings.  It's in a book I take with me when I know I'm going to be waiting.  I always carry some sort of doodle book with me and most of the people who know me are now expecting to see it and don't mind if I'm doodling during a conversation.  I'm still paying attention - it just keeps me a bit more relaxed.  The background on this page is a "second print" from a stencil that was being used with Dylusions Spray Inks.  I love the way it sort of melted into the page in a subtle sort of way.

Doodling is relaxing - that's why there's so many books out on it right now!

Create something everyday.

Joan

Music Canvases

I didn't realize I hadn't posted in a week.  I've been busy making some more music canvases to be sold at an Orff workshop this weekend.  The above is a replica of a piece I did in one of my books.  A friend asked if I could do it on a canvas and I said I'd try.

This piece is sort of a replica of one I've done previously.  The idea is the same with the circles and words, but I changed the clefs and of course the backgrounds can never be the same.

I had this pink background handing around for a long time.  I decided to try something new with all the holey tape around the drawn clef.  And of course, give me an open space and I'll probably fill it with some sort of zentangle.

For this final piece, it was a good way to get rid of little bits and pieces of music that I've used on other projects.  One of the music pieces had the key outlined from it - I used it as scrap when I was colouring a key - so I found a quote that had to do with a key and music, covered the key shape with embossing gold embossing powder a number of times and before it cooled off the last time I stamped it with a music stamp.  Each of the little scraps of music has been outlined with gold too.

Create something everyday.

Joan

A Collage sort of Day!

I was busy looking through magazines these past few days!    The "Novel Approach" prompt was to create a collage on one subject - not sure why I picked perfume with a few noses thrown in….but I'm happy with the way it turned out.  I'll be reinforcing the little lid that hangs over the edge.

I'm preparing some canvases for music themed pieces to sell at an upcoming Orff workshop….so one background is filled with music scraps.

Lastly is the first spread in a new book that I will only be using for lyrics of songs that mean something to me.  The title of this song is "Next Five Minutes" by Steven Curtis Chapman.  So….I went through magazines looking for watches and added an insert in the middle (held with watch piece washi tape!) with the lyrics of the song.

Try collaging a colour or a single topic…or even just a page full of words.

Create something everyday.

Joan

Think and Play

I had a pretty busy day yesterday in my craft room!  I finished this collage for Novel Approach - a Grunge background, the word THINK along with other pictures, and a spot to do some writing if I wanted.  Our trees yesterday were completely laden with snow, and with no wind, they stayed that way throughout the day - so I decided to write that on the little photo of a dark bare tree.  The pictures were initially outlined in black that was quite sharp looking, so I decided to smudge the edges.

For the rest of the day I moved back and forth between five other projects as various parts or layers dried.  It was a very productive day!

Create something everyday.

Joan

Release Butterflies

Along with the Inspiration Wednesday projects, there are Guest Artists on Tuesdays.  I didn't have the same materials as the artist did this past week, but I kept the background somewhat the same. I used the Big Shot to cut the three butterflies out of cardboard and attached the different papers to them, using Dylusions Distress ink to colour them, and adding wire antennae.  Because the bottom was so empty, I cut a piece of burlap ribbon and added it for landscape and added a few strands to the butterflies, just for fun.

Yesterday I started a mandala while in a waiting room.  I finished it when I got home and then surrounded it by cross thatching vertically and horizontally.  Fun, fun, fun.

Create something new everyday…improvise with whatever you have on hand.

Joan

Some Past Work...

Prompt #48 for Prompt 60 was Rainbow Spheres.  In my book, I was dealing with two different kinds of paper next to each other:  the left page is regular drawing paper and the right side is watercolour, so I know my spheres would turn out differently.  Acrylic paint was used on the left side after covering the page in Black Gesso.  I left the watercolour paper as it was and painted my spheres.  Adding the opposing dots came at the last minute because I thought the pages looked a bit empty.   This was a good exercise to practice blending both types of paints.

I was just playing around with paint, stencils and chalk pastels for this mixed media piece.  I added some script from a rubber stamp - embossing it with gold; stamped and punched out some circles and cut them in half before attaching them to the page; and I added three little watch faces that I took apart….which is not an easy task!  I like this piece, I think, because I've used colours that I don't usually use - it's quite a soft page.

Go out of your comfort zone and create something everyday.

Joan

Reference Sketch

Prompt #53 for Prompt 60 was to find a picture to use as a reference for a sketch and to only focus on on portion of the picture.  I love old suitcases and this stack caught my eye.  The only complaint I have is when sketching, I didn't make the bottom suitcase deep enough - therefor the size proportion on the rest of them is a bit off.  They all look like little trunks rather than little suitcases.  But Tammy didn't want us to erase any lines - just to go over them, but by the time I realized  my lack of depth, it was too late and I had to continue going.  No problem - everything you create is not going to be perfect.  Practice, Practice!

Create something everyday.

Joan

Masking Rainbows & Leftover Paint

Painted rainbows colours and masking was another assignment in the "Novel Approach" workshop I'm taking from Tammy at DaisyYellow.  We used an index card as a mask on our page and painted the vertical stripes and then removed the index card.  Next we masked all the vertical stripes and painted the horizontal ones.  This project was exceptionally fun because we did the painting with our fingers.

I had a bunch of leftover paint on my table after completing my rainbow - and we never want to waste supplies!  So I opened up on of my art journals that has pictures in it, punched some circular "masks" and finger painted the leftover paint onto the page.  Removing the masks uncovered the images underneath.  I must remember this technique, because there are times when I'm working on a page in a book with images that I may want to keep within my work.

Get messy and create something new everyday.

Joan

Café Collage

This was a prompt from the Novel Approach workshop I'm doing with Tammy Garcia (DaisyYellow)  It took a couple days for me to figure out what I was going to do, but once I got started….and found some furniture I got on a role.  My daughter said the walls should be purple, so I used one of the acrylic paint techniques I learned from Tammy in another workshop I've done with her.  The floor is made from some wonderful packing paper I got….kind of sorry it makes my cup of coffee lumpy - but you don't notice so much in real life. Tons of fun!

Create something everyday.

Joan

Neocolor Rainbow Mandala

Played with some ink and Neocolor watercolour crayons.  I know I didn't end up with much of a rainbow effect - I just grabbed crayons and went with it.

First I drew the circle in the middle using some calligraphy ink and a calligraphy pen.  The ink dried too quickly for me to smudge it right away - I redrew the lines at the end and after each line I drew my finger down the line or wiped the ink to the side before it dried.  It looks much more interesting with the lines smudged than cleanly drawn.

Experiement and create something everyday.

Joan

Mandala Glow

Today I did a bit of catching up on my Prompt 60 pieces from DaisyYellow.  As you can see this is #51 - the prompt was Glow.   I used a heavy black gesso for the background and added some metallic paste. The mandala is done with gold, silver and white sharpies and Gelly Roll pens, with Stampin'Up! Rhinestones added for good measure.

Create something everyday.

Joan

Alphabetical Words

I challenged my self to create a couple of sentences with words from my stash - since my stash is in alphabetical order, I decided to try to create the sentences with the words in alphabetical order also.  It turned out not too bad, sounds like I'm preaching or something and the words that are vertical are the "fill in" words, necessary for the sentence to make sense, but not in alphabetical order.

Then - I went and filled my box up again….getting rid of three magazines, but adding more than double the words that I used!  So, I'm going to have to do a few more word pages.

Create something everyday.

Joan

Mixed Media with Glass

This is another canvas piece that I've been keeping under wraps for a while until I gave it to it's new owner.  It's sort of a joke between a friend and I that he gives me assignments to complete - shadow, reflection, and on this occasion he wanted me to "art" the bottles lined up on a bar and lit from below.  It took a long time to come up with what I wanted to do.  When I did the melted glass ornaments at a Nina Haggerty Art Night - I made the little square piece in the middle.  It wasn't quite what I expected but it grew into this piece which I am quite happy with.  I was very thankful that I was able to purchase small pieces of glass from the Nina in order to fill the "counter" of bottles.  

I drew "stones" below and filled them with zentangles and surrounded them with black molding paste.  There's a lot of texture going on.

Is there a piece of art you can create for a friend or family member?

Joan

Mixed Media Hymn

I was following video instructions for a mixed media page, and although I didn't have the stamps or stencils that were used in the video - I think it turned out pretty well.  

I began by using Dylusions spray inks for the background and then adding some design from a stencil using chalk.  The sun, in the right corner, was created using a doily that I cut into pie pieces and glued down leaving a little bit of space between the wedges. Afterwards I used gold and reddish paint and tried highlighting the pieces by drawing lines in-between the wedges…..this needs practice!

The birds are from a Stampin'Up! punch using some pre-embossed paper and sponging colour onto them.  I then outlined them with black watercolour crayon and water in order to create some shadow.

The words are from a hymn which was my favourite as a child.  I printed the words out on the computer and then cut them up and attached them, painting over the papers with a yellow wash and outlining each block of words to create shadow.

If I did this page again I would definitely change how I did some things, but I  am happy with it.

Use the lyrics to one of your songs as an inspiration for your art.

Joan

Special Watercolour

Sorry I didn't get anything posted yesterday -  it was a busy day getting ready for my Grandson's 4th birthday.  It's amazing how time flys.  We had a nice quiet family celebration with some adults of the family and today he was bowling and celebrating with his cousins and friends.

So, I didn't get any arting done yesterday, but I did deliver this piece to a dear friend of mine who has started a new job.  It's done on a canvas and with watercolour.  I found it very relaxing to do this piece.

I brushed on two layers of watercolour in the layers that you see - let them dry for a couple of days and then I took a big wet brush to create the "white" space in the middle to put the words.  Because I wanted it to be "perfect" I actually used a stencil to put down the letters with black marker and then outlined them with white marker.

The flowers and vines were drawn on with pencil, outlined in marker and again, I used a smaller brush to create white space in each petal and leaf in order to get truer colours.  Finally I did a little bit of doodling - just to add that little extra bit.  My friend was very happy with it and put it on her wall right away.

Create a piece of art - large or small - for someone special in your life.

Joan

Texture, Texture, Texture

This page added a lot of weight to this art journal!  I followed an old Donna Downey Inspiration Wednesday video.  I didn't have the same kind of flowers, so I used up the retired Stampin'Up! paper flowers that we used to have, and some fabric brads.    Once the layered  flowers were created, I glued them to the page and covered them with gesso.  When the gesso was dried I applied molding paste in-between the flowers.  Next I added paint that was actually left over from another project I was working on today and I finally covered the page with Versa Mark and Clear Embossing powered.  I may end up having to reinforce the spine of my book after this page!

Be brave - do something new.

Joan

Novel Approach Prisms

The next assignment in our Novel Approach Altered Book - from DaisyYellow - was to paint a prism on two pages while holding an index card in place - this way the space underneath was masked and provides a place to write something - PLUS - those painted index cards will definitely be used this summer for Index Card a Day!

I really thought that the pages would be brighter because I was using yellow and orange, but when you add black into the mix and you're not washing off your brush, you do end up with interesting mixtures. I'm not altogether disappointed - I just thought it would be brighter.

Here are the pages with the index cards removed.  I have since painted the empty space with white paint and things have brightened up!  I would be fun to use a variety of different shapes for this sort of exercise…circles, hearts, stars.  Fun, fun, fun.

Create something everyday.

Art Journal Page Insert

Last night I worked on a collage and added an insert - just a little extra piece of paper that is adhered to the centre of the page spread with washi tape or any sort of tape you like.  It helps fatten up your book and adds interest as you're going through too.  This spread has oh so many layers of stuff..paint, rub-ons, paper, napkins, paint chips (actual - not the ones you use to decide paint colour, Washi tape, and sewing patterns.  Just a little bit of this and that thrown together.

Try not to become a paper hoarder - but also - keep little things that interest you to add to your collages and help to make them part of you.

Create something everyday.

Joan

Irregular Grid Collage

This is the second page in my "Novel Approach" altered book.  I found some larger sticky letters, but the problem I had this time when I went to take them off was that they pulled some of the paper along with them.  Easy fix - just cover the torn sections with the background paint.  Also, instead of leaving the letters with the original page base, I finger painted them with my co-ordinating colour, outlined them in black paint sharpie and again with white paint sharpie.

I have the little EXIT sign pointing to a hole in the paper where the letter tore off.  So that's my escape hatch for release.

Tammy's instructions didn't include doodling around the edges of the pictures in the grid - the difference between these first two pages is the little bit of paint outlining each picture and overlapping the edges of it a bit to soften it a bit.  I can see now that I failed to outline a little bird that's sitting on top of Michael Jackson.  Guess I'd better go back and include him.

So tears and holes in your work are all workable into some sort of solution.  They are creative opportunities - there is no mistakes in art!

Joan

It's Day One...

This is the first page in my "Novel Approach" altered book.  Before we added any paint to the page we put down a title with sticky letters which were then pealed off once the paint was dry.  I'm glad I have a habit of cutting things out of magazines and stashing them, because Tammy  loves to create grids of pictures or colour.

There's a second section to this "first page", but I have't watched the video yet.  Something to look forward to.

Create something everyday!

Joan

"Novel Approach" workshop

Today I started the first exercises in blending acrylic paints in the workshop I'm taking from Tammy Garcia at Daisy Yellow on Altered books.  I started out using a paint brush but quickly moved to blending the colours with my fingers…..so much more fun!

I've done quite a few altered journals, but I'm looking forward to what I have to learn from Tammy's techniques and style.

Create something everyday.

Joan

Huge Collage

My little box of bits and pieces was overflowing on my desk so I decided the afternoon of New Year's Eve to start working on a collage to hopefully be able to get my box closest.  I did it in my hand bound Found Paper Bag Book.  This particular spread measures 25.5x10".

Here is a close up of the left hand page.  The bird's tail feather is a real feather that I used on a gelli print in the summer so it's painted blue.  There's also a little row of those little paint globs that you get when you open a tube of paint.

Nothing in particular about this page - I did want to use dancers across the spread and I love the dancers in the box!

So, my box is closer to closing now that it was the other day.  Ya want to keep all the little bits and pies that interest you, but you also need to not be afraid to use them.  If you're working in a journal that you are going to keep yourself - then you'll always have them.

I challenge you to make a collage of your own with scraps you have hanging around your desk and post a link to it here so I can see it.

Happy New Year - 2016!

Well, since I have not posted for a very long, and I want to do more with this blog, I thought I'd bring the New Year in right with the first piece of doodling for the year.  I started 4 of these sections New Year's Eve and finished the rest today.  I was listening to one of my playlists and wanted to write some of the lyrics down, so they filled four of the sections.  I'd like to actually do an art page for these songs too.
The background of these altered book pages has been covered in Heavy Gesso and I'ved used Gelly Rolls and a white Sharpie paint pen to do the zentangles.

Make a resolution to do some sort of art every day - big, small - doesn't matter - it's good for the soul.