Rainbows in Ohio

After the thunder, lightening, and

tornado warnings...

 (no enhancements)

click on any image to enlarge.

Visual Journal Pages

Watercolor and Sharpie marker

in my Art Journal.

Images inspired by Vogue magazine

fashion layouts, and

Kandinsky type motifs.

Love and an Editorial

I think that we over use the word "love."

We say that we "love a color," or that we "love

 a piece of art,"  when we really

mean that we take pleasure in it.

It is not a 'strong affection due to kinship'

or 'attraction based on sexual desire.'

It could be affection based on admiration,

benevolence or common interests,

as in "I love the work of

Teesha Moore."  I don't think it's

"warm attachment, enthusiasm or devotion--

as in love of the sea "-- but it could be

I suppose...It's not Godly love or

brotherly love, or a love affair.

Definitely NOT a score of zero in

tennis.  To hold dear, or cherish?

To thrive in?  As in 'a rose thrives

in sunlight?'

~

I thrive as long as I can

make art.

(definitions from Webster's

 collegiate dictionary)

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!

Graffiti Art

Graffiti artists create a 'Tag Name'
for themselves,
a sort of self-invention. Like other artists,
they want their name to be 'out there'~~
to make their name and their art
widely known and recognizable.

'Tag' to fit in a business-sized envelope. (above)

Used graffiti style lettering and images.

Craft acrylic paint, Zig pen,

and white gel pen. Inspired by
a graffiti wall with many layers of paint...

Back of tag.

Origami paper, scrapbook paper,

crayon resist & acrylic,

Zig pen & white gel pen.

The tag is to be removed

from the painted/stenciled

envelope below.

Letters stenciled directly onto

envelope painted with acrylics,

and also onto other pieces of

cardstock, then glued on.

Crayon and pen markings

added to background.

These are all part of the Scrappy Green Journal.

Elizabeth had included the yellow

Police Line tape, and I thought 

"Why not Graffiti?"

I drew the little 'cartoon kid', 

applied watercolor, then inked in.

Copyright Dianne Bishop Carey 2011

Petroglyphs: Journal of Antiquities

Petroglyph: Petro-combined form, meaning rock or stone; Glyphs-a shallow vertical channel or carved fluting. (Greek- glyphein: to carve)

After a recent movie night, where I watched
the DVD of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,
I decided that a Journal of Antiquities
would be a fun project.  Indie's dad, Henry Sr.,
had spent years creating

a research journal of all the clues

to finding the Holy Grail. Of course it was
chased  all the way through the movie
and passes through many hands,
both villain and hero...

cryptic clues, diagrams and

drawings make it pretty cool...

I purchased a small journal with
pages 3 1/2" x 5 1/2 ".

I began my search for treasure in a
reference book in our local library.
Amazing diagrams, photos,

maps and explanations fill the book...

Native Americans taking the time to
carve these in stone with
primitive tools must have been

a labor of love, or perhaps
a search for power...

The author of the book didn't claim to know

what these human figures represented.

I have to say it looks to me like there

is some hanky-panky going on!

Perhaps a fertility drawing?

~~~

My antiquities 'research' will continue as

I am fond of ancient cultures and their art:

Egyptian, Mayan, Native American.

There may be some European religious Icons to

be drawn and admired.

Take the journey with me...

Scrappy Journal

Looking back, moving forward...

Well said, Vincent...

Graffiti Dragon

Highlighter and marker in

visual art journal. Copyright DBC 2011.

Trying out "Graffiti style" lettering

and drawing. I was thinking of

'Puff the Magic Dragon'

but realized there could be

other unintentional connotations...

I'm not a tobacco (or otherwise) smoker,

so just think of this as fire-breathing

dragon smoke.

Very reminiscent of my art work

when I worked for a Tee-shirt

transfer company.

Not exactly like graffiti, but a fun experiment.

I wouldn't be fast enough to actually

paint a 'tag' on anything 

without getting caught...not into

danger, vandalism, or gang signs, 

but definitely intrigued by street art.

I often wonder what it would be like

to put my work over one of those

ugly billboards beside the freeway?

Art Journal Collage

More pages in the 

Scrappy Green Journal created by

Elizabeth of Altered Book Lover.

I enjoy getting to work

on the substrates that she

made as they are often 

unexpected and stretch my

skills in new ways.

The square with bird & Tweet is

a pocket which can hold 

tags or other bits of

ephemera.  I don't "Tweet"

but couldn't resist the 

word and the bird together...

I've never outgrown paper dolls.

These are a couple that I just

did this week. Maybe it's silly

but it's "my party, and I'll make

paper dolls if I want to."

This one has a fashion magazine

face, drawn over with marker.

I drew the face on this one--

it has a watercolor background,

stamping, drawing, and a 

wallpaper scrap glued on.

In other news, I got a small journal in which 

to start making mysterious drawings 

and diagrams, ala Henry Jones.

(Indiana Jones dad)

I am going to start with diagrams of 

Native American glyphs from

the Ohio river area...

who knows what treasures will

be uncovered?