Hobonichi Techo Painting

Unseasonably warm weather for Ohio

in February!  Sharpie pen and watercolor

pasted into my Hobonichi Techo on the left,

ball point pen and watercolor on the right.

Already I can tell that pasting things into

my Techo is going to make it grow

in thickness...maybe too much.

Love doing tiny collages, but don't

want this little journal to get too distorted.

Nice quote on the lower left page...

to paraphrase: "Don't wait for new ideas to 

appear from a nonexistent

 Muse. Don't overthink it, 

just make something with your hands."

~Ryoji Arai

Good advice.

Feels like Spring...but I'm pretty sure

it's just a cruel joke...

I'll take it for as long as it lasts!

Art Journal Faces

Watercolor, pen, and collage in

my mixed media art journal.

Sometimes song lyrics are a 

springboard for creating pages.

A quote from John Powell's book

"Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?"

about insights into personal growth

is featured on this page.

We all have many faces, or

"many hats."  I try to remember that

a person is much more than the role in which

I see them, or  simply their outward appearance.

Some days I feel like I am trying to keep up

with too many roles at once...

A constant source of material

for my artwork is art of ancient civilizations,

and almost every art movement of the past.

Well, probably not minimalist, but most

everything else.  This page features an

Alaskan mask, to which I added wings.

What subject or medium inspires you?

Visual Art Journal Pages

Above

A page in my spiral bound

visual art journal. Watercolor and pen.

A folk-art style drawing.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Pages from the Scrappy Green Journal.

Background inked and written over

in pen. White gel pen on 

magazine illustration.

Bits of ephemera collaged on also.

Fun stitching provided by Elizabeth,

creating spaces to write...

Also in the Scrappy Green Journal:

Count your shoes...

the one with the most, wins!

"Fashion fades, only style

remains the same."  ~Coco Chanel

Draw something today...

as the top page says, don't think about

what the thing that you are drawing is.

Just look at the shapes and spaces

in relationship to each other.

Draw from real life.

Practice. A lot.

It gets easier.

And more fun!

Fifties Fashion Tribute

copyright A. Janet Burggraf Bishop

Drawings by my mother, 

when she was in high school.

Pen and ink on paper,

with crayons or colored pencils.

Another post of my mom's
drawings is shown at right
in Popular Posts sidebar:
"Fifties Fashion."

 

 Drawn from magazines or

dress patterns.

Click on any image to enlarge.

You can see the quality of the

lines. She used a pen nib

dipped in India ink.

Even in the fifties, it appears

that the models were extremely thin.

My mom always supported my desire

to make art.  I drew paper dolls

and 'girls' when I was growing up too.

Thanks Mom!

Inspirations for Art Journaling

Inspiration for these journal pages came

from a fashion magazine, the phrase

"pear-shaped figure," and an affection for

paper dolls and interesting quotes.

I couldn't resist putting the pear-shaped

body beneath the fashion-ad inspired head,

when in the glossy magazines, they

are usually pencil-thin!

The woman's figure was painted in

watercolor on watercolor paper, then cut

out and glued onto the page.

A watercolor background was

shaded with soft pastels after

adding the text in Sharpie marker

and mauve gel pen.

The pose of the figure is not ballet...

I have been in physical therapy for a

frozen shoulder, and this is a

painful reminder of the stretches I

must do to get back my mobility!

Again, a page motivated by a fashion magazine.

I find the graphics, layouts and photography

quite inspiring, though the clothes are 

often just weird.  The turban is inspired

by African styles, and the flowers are

inspired by American folk-art designs.

If you've ever looked at Pennsylvania

Dutch designs or early American

birth and marriage certificates, 

they can provide a wealth of ideas for

art journals and decoration.

Art Journal Pages

Art journal pages inspired by Kandinsky...
ball point pen and watercolor...