Journal 52 (January in the bag)

I started this art journal "class" at the start of the new year. I am not sure it is a real class, as I am not really "learning" much, but more of something to look forward to accomplishing each week. It is basically a group of individuals who come together to bounce off one another, and we are able to then share our pages by posting a photo on the Facebook group page. The gal in charge posts a "prompt" at the beginning of the week, and then we can use that as a jumping off point, to creating our journal page. We will have one page for each week of the year, so if I am able to follow through for the whole year, I will have a very full art journal.  I have done year long projects before, but they usually consisted of one page a month, and then I pass the book on to the next person, and so forth, or one page a day in my art journal for a period of 30 days. I have not been "committed" weekly for a whole year before, so we will see how this goes- I am doing this along side my college daughter, so maybe she will keep me on top of it.
I started by folding watercolor paper and making signatures, and sewing them together with the Coptic stitch. Then I dug out my real leather pieces, and cut a cover for my stitched signatures. I glued the chipboard "covers" to the leather, and then wrapped it around and made a flap for the front. I used an elastic headband for a stretchy closure- I set a grommet in the leather, and then stuck the headband through the hole, and tied a tight knot in the head band, so it wouldn't pull through the hole in the grommet. Then I just stretch the loop around the journal, and it holds the flap shut. I made the flap rather big, because as I work in the book, it is going to get quite fat, and I still want the flap to overlap the front cover some.

As part of the prepping of the book, most people decorated their front covers, but because I chose to use real leather, I did not want to alter it in any way, so I did a title page instead, which worked out great, because I had figured it out to have enough double page spreads for each week in the book, so I didn't want to have just a blank first page.

Week one prompt: Up Up and Away

There were so many different takes on this prompt, and seeing them all pop up on the Facebook page was really cool. Mine turned out a little subtle, but I wanted to draw a full body figure, which I have never done before, and to make it look like she had movement was really hard. I suppose the more I draw the better I will get, but for now this is where I am at. 

She was done with only colored pencil.

Week 2 prompt: Somewhere, Some Place Simple

I was so impressed with all the fun places people used as their place to feel inspired. The first thing that came to my mind when I read the prompt was my bed. I know that sounds silly, but I am a severe insomniac, and I usually just lay in my bed while my mind races until I finally get to sleep. Those hours of trying to wind down, usually bring lots of creative ideas. This looks nothing like my actual bed, but oh, well. :)

Week 3 prompt: What Makes Me Smile

This prompt was really very self explanatory- Journal the thing that make you happy or smile. My original idea for this page never materialized- I tried 4 or 5 times to make it work, and it was really a flop... I ended up Gesso-ing over it all and starting from scratch with a totally different idea. It is not what I envisioned, but it is on paper, and I am OK with just letting go of this one.

Week 4 prompt: Building Character

This was fun- self portraits! OK- Not even close to a self portrait, but I am free to journal how ever I want. I was really trying to work with watercolors for this face, but I learned that it is nearly impossible to "build" on watercolors- I am not sure how to shade a face without building colors on top of each other. I would get a good base, let it dry, and then go to add more layers, and when I would try to blend, it would just release the color underneath-- so frustrating. So, I tried mixing with Gesso, to give it more of an opaque nature, but when I would add the wet medium on top, it would reactivate the watercolor below, and I would have a mess again. I set it aside for a day or so, thinking a solution would come to me, but the only solution I could come up with was to Gesso the face again, and start with another medium. When I added the Gesso, it made for a really muddy mess, but I just went with it.  I then used lots of layers of colored pencil, and blender pencils, to achieve some kind of shadowing. It is not the best, but I think I am going to have to walk away from this one too. I am trying to remember that this art journal is for trying new things, for practice- not for masterpieces, but for lots of creative play and lots of failures.

I will try to post monthly with the pages I have done for the previous month- we will see how that all pans out in time. 

NaNoJouMo day 10

Today's word is Liberty. That has to be a good word for me today, because I took the liberty of only applying a bit of gesso and distress ink to my background. Still not feeling extremely creative, but forging through.

Concrete Angel

I am still working on Round Robin Journals- this one is for Susan. Her theme is How Great Thou Art, and is to create a page that showcases our own personal style.

I actually found this a little challenging, because I am not sure that I have a particular style. I think I am kind of "all over the place" with my art, and am inspired by so many different artists and artistic styles.

I have been striving to increase my sketching skills lately, and I have not been very comfortable in sharing them, because I don't feel they are all that "good." Then I realized that I am not doing art to "impress" other people, but to "express" what is in me.

So here is what I created for Susan. It was inspired by the song Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. It is a very sad song about child abuse, and I am not sure what it is about the song that draws me to it, but it has such a powerful and deep message.

The girl is done with several layers of different weights of pencil. I used my fingers for blending- I am sure there are better techniques, but this is working for me at the moment.

(If you want to see her details-you can click on the picture to see her larger.)

The wings started as a white handmade paper with a silver swirl pattern. I used gesso, and several weights of charcoals, pencils, and lots and lots of blending, to achieve the worn look.

The background paper was also altered with gesso washes, stamped images, distress inks, more color wash and then another coat of distress inks. I printed the words from the song onto tracing paper. I have not done this before, but all the vellum I have, is really heavy weight and I wanted it to be really light, so the images would show through. I had to spray it with fixative, because I used an inkjet printer, but I love the transparentness that it has.

I think it exudes a sense of peace.

More Collage Potpourri (Day 18)

These were pages 5 and 6 of the six pages we did of the collage pages. I have to say at first I HATED these ones. I did all the prompts, and at first I thought it was going along just fine. I got to the point where I was doing the color wash, and everything went down hill in a hurry. I just kept going with the idea that it would work itself out, and I just tried to not think about it.
Well, then I added my stencil of the face. Oh my- things just were not going well- I tried to wipe it off, and it just got worse. I broke out the gesso, and started covering part of it up. I loved my number 5, so I worked around it as best I could. I noticed that the sharpie "things I did today" started bleeding through the gesso, so that was an interesting development.
The whole thing was still ICK. So, I stole my daughters "teeny bopper" magazines and started cutting them up- I found the cutest purfume bottles in an advertisement, and the little doll bottles are awesome so I thought I would just cover up as much of my ugly as I could. I am much happier with it now. I had to put some crowns on them, just 'cause- that's what girls are all about right?

Art Journal Prompt

I am a member of an all womens Yahoo group, and we have been working on some Art Journal Prompts. This is the information on the prompt:

A Spiral - Art Prompt

~the spiral is seen as a universal symbol for growth, movement, and change.

What does the symbol of a Spiral mean to you?

*Paint, Collage, Doodle, Sculpt, Quilt, Journal, Digitize ... a spiral that originates from deep within your heart center and spirals out into your world surrounding you.

This is the spiral I created, it originated with a photograph of my daughter printed on canvas. The spiral is then done with oil pastel, and some white gesso. I also used some gesso and colored pencil to achieve the flow for her hair. I added the gem for a necklace, and the rhinestones, wings, and crown for accents.

Altered Journal - cover

Hi all-

This is the cover to my art journal.

It started out as a baby book. It was printed paper, light blue with darker light blue printed baby words. For one, I don't have babies at home anymore, and I never did have a boy. But I found this little book in the clearance at a shop that was going out of business, and it is the perfect size for me to play with.

SO....I altered it.

First I gave it a going over in streaks up and down and side to side with white gesso.

Let it dry, and then started adding things.

The letters are adhesive rub-ons, (you rub them on, and then when you pull the top paper off, they are sticky) I then glittered them.

I put down the images of the birds, and then the chipboard flowers in the corner.

When that was all dry, I gave it all a wash with pearlescent watercolor.

I did not really like the way it covered up the glitter, so I took a wet paper towel and tried to remove the watercolor from just the glitter letters. It seemed to work out ok.

When that was all good and dry, I added some glitter heart clear backed stickers here and there.

It looks quite pearly in real life, but I realize it is hard to see in the scan.

Because of the rings, it ended up getting a lot of light in on the left side, and the pearl finish doesn't really show.

It was pretty easy to do, but was kind of fun to see it just come together. No planning- just "plopping" as I call it.

Anyway- Hope you like it.

"Owls"

I am posting a couple of pages that I have done lately for a Round Robin Journal swap, for Paper Traders yahoo group. Below is the "Owls" I did for Marion's book Deep Sea of Poetry, and then the "Chooks" I did for Jenene's book Backyard Chook Shed.

I have been busy lately trying to catch up on some Round Robin Art Journals. There was a bit of a mailing mix-up, and the journals got stuck over the Christmas package overload. Anyway, I received three to work on, and to get done quickly. I have finished the second one which is for Marion. (The first was Jenene's chook shed.)
I chose to do the pages with these beautiful pictures from an old childrens educational book. The images are gorgeous, but had absolutely no color. They were just rather flat, so I spent some time chalking them oh so carefully. The eyes are a rich gold color, and the feathers are several tones of browns. The beak is a grey and brown mix, and the branch is a sage and grey mix. It was a lot of fun to see these birds come to life.
The background of the page was also a ton of fun to do. My mom taught me how, by taking white gesso, and brushing it on with a prickly paint brush. It was fun how the bristles make the cool stroke look. Then when it was all done and completely dry, I distress inked the edges, to give it that old look.
Then I added the birds and the fun owl poem.