Paper Blossoms

Tags

art journal, Art Journal Every Day, flowers, gratitude, paper collage, paper flowers, pink, Zentangles

I have been keeping a gratitude journal for years. About 4 years ago I started doing it in art journal format using altered books. Not long after that I started this blog as a record of that journal and has blossomed into so much more. Recently I started a professional art blog. I will continue to maintain both blogs for as long as possible.

This is my first time using a mixed media sketchbook as my gratitude journal and I’m really enjoying it. I have been exploring acrylic paints and that exploration is reflected in my journal. I also us it to experiment with different media. For example, the flowers in the upper left page were experiments for my Mandala 41 with Rhododendron painting. I didn’t like how they looked with the mandala but I really enjoy them in my art journal and I’m going to use my “plaid” paper in a large mandala I’m currently working on, I think. Stay tuned…

I’m continuing to explore the Zentangle® Method. The tangled squares use a pattern called Paradox that I’m really enjoying. The text and images document what has happened with whom in the last few days and weeks. I had a really long conversation with a dear friend who is fighting cancer. I used a new to me pen to start her drawing and it didn’t work quite how I wanted, but I’m so grateful to include her in my journal. The new pens are from a spiritual doodling class that I’m taking at my Unitarian church.

This week I have been making lots of cards for various people. One of my sons has a birthday coming up and I have a few other friends who are also fighting cancer. All of my cards have had something that uses Zentangle® tiles or inspired art.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

Mandala 41 with Rhododendron

Tags

100 Mandalas, collage, flower collage, Flower of the Day, Mandala, paper collage, paper flowers, Rhododendron, zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art

Here is the metamorphosis of my collage.

I added some layers of paper and paint and was getting happy about it.

I’m not super happy with what happened with the Dr. Ph. Marten’s watercolors, but I’m enjoying the collage. What I have learned from my other attempts is that I need the background to be more monochromatic for the mandala to show up clearly. So I added some white with leaves as a mask.

This is something I quite enjoy so I created my mandala on tissue paper.

I played with different colors on the paper and shading on the tissue paper. I am very happy with the result. Putting them together is always tricky.

I developed some tears in the mandala and I had been thinking about adding some flowers to cover the watercolor blobs, too. So I played around with making different paper flowers. A few rejects ended up in my art journal. I was happy with how my rhododendrons turned out so I put them together. I’m not thrilled with the final product, but I’m really happy with my learning curve and I’m going to put it on Esty and FineArtAmerica. So feel free to buy it or a print of it!

Thank you Cee for your flower photography reference!

I hope you have a beautiful day.

 

Marsh Mandala

Tags

100 Mandalas, acrylic paintings, collage, Horicon, Jersey Street Music Festival, Mandala, mandala collage, painting, paper collage

I just finished an 8×8 canvas board collage for the Horicon Phoenix Program fundraiser for the Jersey Street Music Festival in Horicon, WI. Mike and I greatly enjoyed the free concerts that this organization sponsored during our summers in Wisconsin. Here is the process and the product I donated, mandala 39/100.

Here is a combination of collaged papers and different paint techniques I used to cover the canvas.

I have found that I enjoy drawing mandalas on tissue paper over a basic mandala template for mandala collages. I added some paint on top and here is the finished product.

I sent it out in the mail today. If you would like to purchase this piece it will cost $50, or you can purchase a random piece for $25. The proceeds of the sale support the Jersey Street Music Festival and help a small town stay vibrant. I have to say that I love supporting the Jersey Street Festival from New Jersey. What a funny coincidence.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

 

Celebrating 23 Years

Tags

acrylic paints, art, art journal, collage, paper collage

Last Sunday was our 23rd anniversary! We went out to a play on Saturday and to dinner with friends on Sunday. Also on Sunday people started bringing their pieces of the community mandala back. We got less than half of them back and I’m hoping we get a lot more this week. They used my Celestial Mandala as the cover for the order of worship. That cover is covering up a mandala that I started that was not coming together. I have too much going on this week to wrestle with it, so I added a more relevant layer.

I used some modeling paste on the left hand page and played around with different ways of coloring it. I used part of this Vogue pattern in the background of the community mandala and added it here. It interacted interestingly with the modeling paste. I think in the future I would layer tissue first and then modeling paste, but I do like them together. You may also notice I got a new White Sharpie! I’m working on using black and white for contrast in my pages.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

Community Mandala Prototype

Tags

100 Mandalas, Altered books, collage, community mandala, Gessobord, gratitude, paper collage, torus mandala

I’m coordinating a community mandala project at my new church this Sunday and I’m a little nervous. The mandala will be 36″ x 36″ and I have never made one this big. Here is the prototype.

You can see my boys and my cats peeking out of it. My husband is implied with so many of the meaningful papers. A lot more people and ideas that are important to me are incorporated into this mandala of me. It includes fabric and lots of ephemera. This is my first one on Ampersand Gessobord and I love it! The Gessobord is covered with pages from my Pilgrim’s Progress from 1877. My mother-in-law gave it to me and I’m not sure she believed me when I said it is one of my favorite gifts of all time! This is mandala #32 of 100.