Releasing…twice

One of our projects for the Novel Approach workshop was to create a grudgy background using NeocolorII crayons and covering it with bits of acrylic paint - you can see the scribbles in the background.  Release is my word for the year - so I decided to doodle it onto the page.  I ended up misspelling it - but I was able to sneak the A in and incorporate it into the doodle.  Yay.

I quite enjoy doing these grids with the little pictures I am forever cutting out and keeping.  This was an exercise for our Novel Approach workshop, but instead of just leaving the painted background, which was green in this case, I did a favourite zentangle over top and I quite like the effect.

Try something new from time to time when you 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

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

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.

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