Art Journal Play

I pulled out my old moleskine sketchbook recently. It was started in 2009 and I never finished it. I figured its time for some play, so I pulled out my favorite gelatos and just added color. Just pure play in my art journal is one of my favorite things to do.

I did the left side first and it felt like a womb to me so I took up the idea of birthing. Birthing new ideas, new directions to go in my art and creative life. I didn't know it was foreshadowing of events. I have something new I will announce in another post.

This one was created with spray ink and a stencil and gelatos.  I sprayed with hair spray but that wasn't enough to be able to write on well. Oh I would love the perfect pen that would write over oil pastel all the time.

I used some of Julie Balzers stencils over a spray inked background. It was all about play once more. When working in your journal do you always have a plan or do you just play and see where it takes you?

What a Weekend

I just spent the last 3 days in an intensive writing workshop called "Bestseller in a Weekend" put on by Beth Barany and Alicia Dunams. I think my brain is a little bit fried, so much information in so little time.  I learned so many things about writing and publishing.  I have a whole new posse of peeps to help me on my own writing journey.  It was fabulous, worth every penny.  Now I have the rest of the week to work on characters and outline so I will be ready to go on November 1st.  Nanowrimo here I come.

In between all that I have been doing more work in the collage journal.  These two ladies came out of the background. That blob of blue on the left was just there and I kept it since I thought it made a great hat or fascinator.

I took the paper doll I made a little while ago and glued her down. I think she accomodates this background really well.

I had this face from a collage sheet from Zorana. It was muted and not distinct at all, so I got out my charcoal pencil and changed her features. It was fun changing her a bit, now she seems more mine.

There are a lot of blue green and gold in this collage.  It needs something on top of it, but I decided to show it anyways.

This was made with a color wheel stencil. I kept some colors in the background and used markers to fill in some of the squares. I am not sure if I will do anything else with it.  I kind a like it just as it is.

This was a page with leftover paint scraps from when I was in Sedona last year.  I added tape and other marks with gelatos.  I think it looks great just as it is. I love the bright yellow in contrast to the purple.

I took some scrapbook paper and sanded it down. I thought I'd add PanPastel to the top layer and so it did not work the way I planned. So then I added more vibrant pinks and purple to the background. I like how it changed the paper.



















This is how the paper looks now, I love how it really made the colors more vibrant. Its always fun to look for new ways to use your supplies.

A New Find - At Last

I have been looking for one of these for years.  Its just a plastic doily but alas so hard to find.  I have a friend who works at a thrift store and she saved this for me.  The best 25 cents I have ever spent.

I used it in this background.  This was one of those pages that I hated so I kept putting things on top.  The last use of spray ink using the plastic canvas made the page look great. I am so excited to be able to use this.

Here is the tag I made for this week.  The theme was weather, so I just used raindrop paper. This was fun to put together.  It was the third tag I tried, sometimes things just don't flow. Art is like that sometimes you just have to keep going.

List Making And Where it Will Take You

I love lists, I like making them and then crossing each item off.  I will even add items later just so I can cross them off the list.  Often I will use different colors to cross things off just cause its fun.

Todays list led me to organizing my studio. No it not an item on the list. I was vacuuming my office/sewing room and looked at a storage container. It was half empty and I thought I would switch it out with some containers from the art room.

Now its in the art room and holds all my paints, spray ink,etc. I think its going to work great having it all in one place. I need to add some labels but its pretty functional right now. I won't show the rest of the room since its still in disaster mode.

I have always loved stencils and am just a bit annoyed that no one around here carries the good ones. So I have taken matters into my own hands and did some online shopping. I bought a whole slew of stencils by Crafters Workshop, Primarily Balzer designs.  Julie Fei fan Balzer has fantastic style and great stencils.  Check some of them out here.  I ordered from Blue Moon Scrapbooking.  They are fabulous to work with and got me my supplies fast. The pic is of a few that I purchased.

This is my first play with the stencils. I am still adding things to this background.   I do love to keep adding layer after layer.

I think this side may be the reverse of the stencil. when using spray ink I turn the stencil over and get the background too.  It gives different and interesting marks.

I am also doing a fairy swap with some friends on line.  This was my first try, I think she is a little chubby for a fairy. I am trying out a few poses to see which one I would like to use. Doing swaps is always a fun thing for me.  Trying to do something you have never done before helps you grow and stretch as an artist.

Have you done anything out of your comfort zone lately?

Painting Papers

During the time I have been sick I spent some time watching videos on Youtube.  I really liked this person's videos. Her channel  is called littlecanvasses. I am sharing two of them today but I recommend all of her videos. I knew I had to try some of the techniques right away.

I only had 2 sheets of white tissue paper on hand so I painted both of them.

I used the same color palette so they could go together in a project if needed.  The color was added using a gelli plate with stencils and then layers of stamping.

With a close up you can see some of the layers of color.

These pages are so big I can get about 4 journal pages out of them, or many cards. The papers turn out really rich. They photos don't do them justice.



This video is by the same woman and is about painting on newspaper.  I loved this technique.

Here are four pages of newspaper, they were made with gesso, spray inks, paint and stamping ink. I used stencils, foam rubber stamps and regular rubber stamps.

A close up shows some of the layers and texture.

This one is really more blue and green than the photo shows.

Here is a  journal page I did with some of the tissue paper.  It says "She was surrounded by grey skies and winter; but she craved color. I loved  both of these techniques and will be using them often.

Day 10

I bought this stencil at Michaels today.  Michaels has a 50% off coupon this week. I went to the store for something else but they did not have what I wanted so I got this.  I think it will be fun to make backgrounds with.

I tried it out in face #10. This page had been gessoed and I used spray inks but most of the color came off, I forgot that gesso is a resist. So instead of reds and oranges I got pinks.  I wanted to do sort of a wonky face today, just something different so I started with this crazy hair and went with it. I think she looks like a 50's housewife. I used a tiny stamp and white ink to make her flowered dress. Maybe she is Donna Reed come back to set us straight.

Here is face  number 11. She was found art from the background.  At first I saw her as Polynesian, her skin colored changed a number of times and now I think she looks Native American. Of course the island floral dress doesn't seem to fit anymore, plus the body is a little small for the head. Oh well its been a fun exercise never the less. I think its time I got some reference photos for native and island woman so I can explore this look a little bit more.

Hanging In There

Still hanging in there, this old body of mine is having a hard time re-adjusting to this new plumbing I have or perhaps I should say lack of plumbing. I have been reading a lot, knitting and doing some beading. These are all things I can do in my chair in the backyard. I haven't really felt like doing any art, although a couple art journal pages have managed to pop out of me.

This face is all gelatos otherwise known as oil pastel. I like the soft look it gives. The only problem with using oil pastels is they are so hard to write over.  Only a copic marker seems to do the trick.

This page I had started before my surgery and decided to work on her this morning. The background is made by layering several colors of acrylic paint, adding a stencil, spraying with an alcohol/water mix and blotting off the excess.  It takes off some colors and not others.  Its a fun way to start a piece or artwork. The figure was found in the background.  I love it when that happens.

Do you find your art often surprises you?

Using the Cricut for Crafts and Art Journaling

As I said previously I have been taking a class on using the Cricut.  Most of it has been basic but I have learned some new things.  My goals have been to find ways to use the machine beyond it original intent which I think is for people making scrapbook pages and greeting cards and other craft items.  Sure I will do a little of that but I wanted  more.  Initially I thought I would use it for mostly words for my art journal pages but I am finding other uses now which I think is pretty neat.










Here is a card and tag that we made in the first class.  Very cutsey for Valentines Day.










I made these two cards, the argyle and cupcake ones.  I have a cartridge called Wild Card which has some really fun cards in it. The little box I made and decorated with hearts.  You could put a small amount of candy inside.










These flowers were made by using an ink cartridge with the Cricuit.  First you draw the flower and then change back to the blade and then cut the flower out.  The result is your image is then outlined in the color of the ink. I think I will use the flowers to embellish a journal page.

The other thing we learned was how to use the Cricut for glass etching.  First you cut out an image on vinyl and place the background left over on your piece of glass.  Its like a stencil. Then you add etching solution, wait 60 seconds and wash it off.  Then you remove the background image and your etched image appears.  You may have to click on the image to see the little vine I had etched on there.

This is the piece I placed on to the glass before adding the etching solution.

I took the cut out vinyl piece and put it on my Cricut to decorate it.










and here is the etched glass.

This is a scroll pattern that I cut out full size I am going to use it as a stencil for spray painting.










and this one is another stencil.










and another one I just couldn't stop the ideas from coming.  I can't wait till the weather is warm and I can try these out.










These are a series of things I have cut out to use as stencils and masks.  Don't they all look fun.  These were cut from a cartridge called Storybook.

Here are the stamps I made. I put them on acrylic blocks to use them. These will also be used on backgrounds.  I found that its hard to cut intricate things with the stamp material but these came out fine.

The one thing I have not tried yet is cutting fabric.  You need to iron it on to a paper backing and then you can put it through the machine. It can then be used to applique on a quilt or tote bag or whatever else you can think of. I am having a lot of fun exploring ways to use this machine.