Monday, October 31, 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

Art Journal Pages




More pages from the 
Scrappy Green Journal.
Above, drawing and collage.
The flap with writing opens up
to reveal the drawing of a face.




The notes about drawing a face
tell how I approach the process.
On the left, 'found poetry' from
a book about art of the early middle ages.





Click on any image for
a closer view.






This Scrappy Green Journal was a 
gift from Elizabeth. She sewed two signatures
of pages into a book with a green fabric cover.
The pages are a wonderful assortment
of scrap papers and recycled images.
Flaps and pockets abound.
The yellow Post-It note was a flap,
so naturally I had to add images underneath it.





Quotes and doodles...





Paper and fabric scraps...





The ice cafe package is sewn on
to make a little pocket
that holds a tag.








Notes on 'shading' are written on
a piece of paper from a
vintage-style popcorn bag,
which I glued onto the page, 
along with the fabric scraps.

It has been a lovely journey in this book...
and an incredibly generous gift from
Elizabeth. Only about 5 more pages
are left to go, which is sad in a way.
But I have many more journals
so there will be no lack of opportunity
to keep making art! 

I have signed up for 
Mary Ann Moss' on-line class
"Full Tilt Boogie," so be looking
for the results of my 'studies' here...
I am going to be making more journals
and plan to reveal them here!

What is your favorite  journal?
Did you make it or purchase it, and what
 do you put in it?  I love to receive comments,
so share your insights!
Have a colorful day...


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Color Inspires Me




A quilted art journal cover
made similar to Teesha Moore's technique~
making little 'pillows' and then sewing
them together in an
unplanned composition. 
You can see video of Teesha's
 Fabric Journal Workshop here.
As a traditional quilter, it was hard to
avoid carefully planning it all out,
especially the crazy haphazard non-matchy
stitching to connect the pillows together.
But I do like the colors and the beads
and the texture of the quilting...
Click on any image to see more detail.





The back of the cover is one piece, and I 
just started quilting with the contrasting
colors of floss in circular patterns, 
without marking the pattern ahead of time.
I will put watercolor pages inside, probably
one or two signatures with a pamphlet stitch binding.




Above, a collage in my 9" x 12" art journal.
I am trying to use up scraps I've saved. 
I generally don't use magazine images,
but the intricate scroll work in this gate
was just too good to pass up.
Acrylic on cardstock, collage & magazine images,
white gel pen on black cardstock.

Have a colorful day!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Art Journal Pages



Art Journal pages 
in the 9" x 12" journal.
Above, background of craft acrylics,
phone book pages and
gesso, with watercolor drawing
added last.
Click on any image to
view enlargement.





Above: Random magazine clippings,
painted papers, a map
and collage images combined
to create this page.






Above: The word 'signs' came first.
It was from a poster that I had made
for a talk that I gave.  I tried to think
of as many phrases as I could
with that word in it ...
Craft acrylic background, scrapbook papers,
phone book clippings, watercolor and 
acrylic painted papers, and 
Sharpie pen.  

What signs do you look for?





Sunday, October 9, 2011

Pink, Red and Yellow





Pages in my little pink journal, above:
gesso, craft acrylic paint, Sharpie pen,
and hot pink gel pen on pink paper.
(Click on the image for a larger view)




Beautiful pages received from Jan
for the Color Swap.
The colors I chose were red, pink,
and yellow.  Lovely interpretation!



Relief prints have a unique look
that I love,
and the paintings and collages
are full of texture.









Another great print on the tag,
this one in several colors.
Thank you Jan!



Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Color Swap



Color swap pages for Jan at
The colors she chose were
pink and orange.




Couldn't resist using my stash of
fabrics, and embellishing them
with embroidery for texture.
Photo images are from a 
collage sheet. (unknown source)





 Dresden plate quilt pieces
showed up on this page...





I enjoy the combination of 
fabric and paper, and stitching
through both. Some of the stitching
is drawn on in Sharpie pen.




The tag for the pocket 
used a tag from the office supply store
painted and collaged.
Sharpie pen 'stitching'
around the edges.

I hope your day 
is filled with color!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Collage and Quotes



I realized that my desire to 
fill my journal with complex
two-page spreads was
leaving my art journal a bit empty.





So I've been working backwards
in the journal and doing quick collages
and quotes on the back side
of some of the pages.


















You may remember the monsters
from the Index Card a Day challenge...
I thought of them when I wrote down
this quote and glued the card 
into my art journal.














A piece of art made years ago
when I was trying out 
rubber stamping as a medium.
There are lots of drawings 
and doodles too...
This was torn from a drawing pad/sketchbook
and collaged into my journal.