The Book That I Am

Tags

100 Mandalas, art, art journal, found word poetry, gratitude, gratitude journal, iridescent pearl, Mandala, Mixed Media, paper art, poetry, pumice, snowflakes, texture, yoga

Wow. This gratitude journal entry took me quite a while. There are layers of gratitude in this and a lot of textures. I was almost done with my ideas for the page when I came across this challenge:

The snowflake on the left hand page was not attached smoothly. I have been playing with a new way of making mandalas that combines my love of making snowflakes with mandalas. I used a makeup sponge to cover a paper snowflake surrounded by a circle cutout with blue acrylic paint onto watercolor paper.

After carefully lifting up the paint covered snowflake I tried to make a print of it in my gratitude journal. That is the mandala on the right hand page. The blue paint worked as an adhesive on the thin paper, so I decided to try to put the other snowflake in paint-side-up. I put E6000 spray adhesive on the page and what ever part of the sticky painted snowflake touched the adhesive there was no adjustment allowed. So, it became a spiky textured snowflake – quite in keeping with the challenge!

The lovely artwork on the right page was contributed by the daughter of a friend who purchased a set of my coloring pages. The figure’s hand is on the left-hand page – I loved the detail of nail polish and wanted this to stand out. There are layers of writing about things I am grateful for from the last 2 weeks, but the 2 biggest are YOGA and ART. I had the idea of doing the mosaic yoga letters from the first day I was able to get back to doing any yoga – I was that excited. Making these letters took a LONG time.

I wanted the mandalas and the 2 words to really be the focal points of the pages at this point so I was going to make the background a blue wash. It was about that point that I found the texture challenge. I was not having any luck getting the snowflake on the right to do anything I wanted so I covered the page with a combination of pumice gel medium, gesso, water, and blue acrylic paint. The overview photo doesn’t capture the texture of the combination very well. I used a tissue to clean up the blue paint and I decided to add one layer of the tissue to add texture to the right hand page. Here is a slightly better view of the left hand page and also shows the found word poem that became the title of the page spread. After I cut out all the letters for both yoga and art I cut out the words that intrigued me from the leftover bits of the page from a copy of The Pilgrim’s Progress that is over 100 years old!

So here is the poem that left me breathless in its appropriateness.

Willing

Hand

I find

the book

that I am.

   

I am amused that I’m having technical difficulties arranging the photos of my cut out letters for ART. The process also shows my frustration with how they were turning out. I was amazed that the mulberry paper and tissue paper turned out a lot more boring looking than I had hoped. I ended up also adding some silver Liquitex paint marker to them and more gel pen marks after all of these steps. Adding blue acrylic paint to the page helped them pop out more.

I am happy with how the layout turned out as a whole and it works with last week’s Journal 52 prompt of Child’s Play. Between the guest artist and the snowflake base I felt like this and my willingness to play with my materials are thoroughly captured in this page layout. I’m actually happy with the mandala that started out backwards, too. I surrounded it with some Golden Iridescent Pearl mixed with the same blue acrylic paint and I love how that turned out. So here is my 100 Mandalas mandala 59 of 100.

Thanks for taking the time to make it through that whole post! Have a beautiful day!

Completed Collage: Almost Vacant Lot

Tags

acrylic paint, art, city, cityscape, collage, flowers, painting, paper art

Here is the completed collage that I showed the process of a few post ago! It is on exhibit at the Beaver Dam Area Art Association Gallery until October 18th here in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Have a beautiful day!

New Collage in Process

Tags

acrylic paint, art, city, cityscape, collage, flowers, landscape, painting, paper art

Here is the process for a collage I just finished.

Some blues and white for sky and yellows for the background of my vacant lot.

I used a stencil I made to populate the vacant lot with some orange cats. Then I used Crafter’s Workshop Templates 12-Inch by 12-Inch, Flower Frenzy stencil to add some orange and red flowers.

Then I painted a layer or 2 of grass over the top. I had cut a serrated edge on an old credit card that I used to spread the paint. It gave a nice grassy look and allowed the colors from underneath to show through. I used some blue, black and mostly white acrylic paint spread with a brayer onto bubble wrap cut into a cloud shape to make some clouds.

I used the city skyline from this book, Stencil Me In to establish the horizon and a background for my cityscape. Then I positioned my “skyscrapers” I had cut out from some pretty papers and some painted book pages. You can see the flowers and the paper I painted to use for leaves are here on the table, too. I also used a white pen to add some Tibetan Buddhist inspired details to add some definition and movement to the clouds.

One of the side effects of always having migraines is that things tend to fall through the cracks. I was getting this collage ready for a show that is opening this coming weekend. In the rush and relief of getting it done a little early I forgot to take a picture of the finished collage! So, I will have to get a picture of it at the art center when I remember to! I call it Almost Vacant Lot. You still see hints of the cats in the lot if you know where to look.

Paper Flowers

Tags

acrylic paint, art journal, collage, flowers, paper art, paper flowers

I’m enjoying arting every day and that works with the Journal 52 prompt for this week. Here is my creative endeavor for today. It includes a lot of gratitude as well. Have a beautiful day.

Building with Paper

Tags

altered art book, Altered books, art journal, cherries, cherries with pits, collage, Elsie de Wolfe, gratitude, hostess gift, Liquitex paint pens, painting, painting workbook, paper art, quotes, simple syrup, Watercolor pencils

I am back in my altered book journal and decided to document the process of this week’s entry as I’m experimenting for a larger piece. I started out with the back of a piece of watercolor paper from last week on the left hand page. I found this quote on the blog Hey It’s Frances To and it really struck a chord with me. I really like what she has done with her lettering portfolio, too. So when I saw that the Journal 52 prompt was Positive Change we had another week with synchronicity! Hooray! My lettering is a little half hazard as I have not been practicing it very much lately, but I do like how the page came out overall. While my vision problems continue, I am finding different things I can do to express my creativity and make my life interesting and hopefully add to the beauty in the world. The flowers were cut out from a scrap of leftover map that I like to use as a metaphor for my intentions for where I am headed. I used marker in the middle and blue watercolor pencil around the outside of each flower.

The right hand page started with a few slaps of the paint that I’m using in our unplanned bathroom remodel. The shade of green is called Peter Pan and my son just finished working as the music director for our children’s theater production of Peter Pan Jr. It was just another funny coincidence that we chose that color – not intentional. The latex wall paint was not adhering well to the page so I used a credit card to spread a little gesso on the page. I added some blue acrylic paint for my sky. My cityscape was inspired by a project in the book The Painting Workbook by Alena Hennessy (now listed in my Reference and Recommendations page.)

I liked how the blue didn’t really cover the top of the page and I really covered the bottom of the page with the green. I used a tip from the Painting Workbook and drew into the wet paint with a watercolor pencil, but it didn’t work very well. I don’t know if that was because it was latex wall paint instead of acrylic paint. I will try again another day. I really did like how the scratched out flowers went through to the original colors on the page. I tried a few different brands of watercolor pencils and the Inktense ones left a little color, but none of the other ones did.

I decided that I wanted to make an Art Deco building in my cityscape so I cut different papers into shapes that were Art Deco inspired and I painted them in colors that made me think of Art Deco. One of the techniques that I used that I was pretty happy with was putting the long thin strips down the center of the band-aid looking pieces to make “windows” on them at regular intervals. I recently got a set of 3 Liquitex paint markers and I am really loving them. They were great for adding details to my “building.” I played around with the different paper shapes until I came up with a building that I found interesting. I did some journaling with a white pen on the blue sky and glued everything in place. I painted the flowers with the orange Inktense watercolor pencil after experimenting with a few other media and I drew some leaves and grass with green markers. I learned a lot in the process of making this page and I hope this has been instructional for you too!

On a totally unrelated note…

I made a cherry simple syrup without pitting the cherries. We got 7 pounds of cherries from our CSA and that is a LOT of cherry pits. For the last pound or so I was looking for something to do that would not require removing the pits and I had a hard time finding anything. All the simple syrup recipes I found required pit removal. I decided to try it with them in and it worked beautifully. So here is my version:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

a bunch of cherries without stems but with pits

Simmer everything at a low heat for at least 10 minutes and then squish through a sieve. Keep the syrup in the fridge for as long as it lasts. It is fabulous in lemonade or iced tea. I don’t know what the shelf life is because mine doesn’t last more than 2 weeks. It also makes a lovely housewarming gift or summer party hostess gift.

I hope you have a delicious day!

Playing with Friends and Family, Paper Mandalas, a Ukulele, and Board Games

Tags

100 Mandalas, Altered book, art journal, drawing, gratitude, hummingbirds, Mandala, paper art, Ukulele

Well, here is my 2 page spread upside down for some reason I cannot fathom. Here are the individual mandalas right side up.

I saw a birthday card that had a cut paper flower that I loved and it inspired  this mandala I made of our time and the Kalahari Indoor Water park in Wisconsin Dells. We went there for my younger son’s birthday celebration and met up with friends and relatives. The decor of the hotel and water park has an African theme, but what I really loved was the light fixtures. I made a stencil from a photo of them that is featured in the center of this colorful mandala.  I spent most of my time in the hotel room drawing and talking and kicking back with some great people.

This mandala I’m calling my ukulele mandala. It wasn’t anything conscious, but I’m learning how to play the ukulele and I mentioned that I’m grateful for that in the tiny print on this mandala and then I noticed that the outside part kind of looks like a string instrument. Well, anyway I have plenty of imagination and it made me think of my ukulele. 😉

The hummingbird mandala represents some nice time I spent over the weekend with my mother. I got this hummingbird stamp to use as a metaphor for her in my gratitude journal and it works in a mandala as well! In the center are hearts cut from money used in the game of LIFE! My husband and I like to play games together and we tried a new version of Monopoly over the weekend. I have a few games that I bought at a second hand store for collage so I’m not tempted to use game pieces that we will still need!

How do you play? What do you like to do for fun? Do you like big adventures like the water slides at a theme park or do you prefer a board game with someone you love? Do you like to play with art supplies? That may be what I am most grateful for! I enjoy time with family and friends, but I can get so lost in cutting and arranging paper, drawing a mandala, or painting in a stamped image. I am so fortunate that I don’t have to choose, but I get to enjoy so many different fun activities. I hope you have a beautiful and fun-filled week!

I am now on Pinterest for the 100 Mandalas Challenge.

I didn’t share this week’s journal entry in the current week’s blog post for Journal 52 because this week’s theme there was silhouettes. I submitted last week’s post as that contained a variety of silhouettes.

At least we didn’t die

Tags

altered art, art journal, gratitude, gratitude journal, paper art

The title for this post is a line in a quote from Buddha that cracks me up. Some days it is the act of working in a gratitude journal and the knowledge that I need to count some blessings for each day that is what I am grateful for. This first journal page is a combination of an inspired page that came out of who knows where and a page wherein I counted my blessings in green ink. The inspired page came as a result of my reading the book Push Paper that you can find in my GoodReads widget on the side bar. I LOVE this book. It is so beautiful and inspiring! and look what I put together as my simple homage to all the talented artists featured in the book.

I guess I could have called this post the power of paper. That brings me back to the Buddha quote. I have put this in past journals as well. I collect so many quotes and poems and I love to include them. I have actually gotten a little bit away from that as I have been exploring different art media, but I hope you enjoy this combination of a new technique and a favorite quote.

Yoga and gesso. Need I say more? The facing page is quite a contrast to that simplicity. More of the power of paper!

Speaking of the power of paper, or more accurately the alternatives to paper. I wanted to thank all of you who have paid attention to my blog. I just recently exceeded 1,000 total views and 100 followers. This started off as a conversation with mostly myself and a friend of mine and I have greatly appreciated the community I have discovered!