Art Journal Catch-up

 

Well, it's been a long time since I last posted anything.  I have been doing a few artsy things here and there, probably more than I realized.  When I uploaded all the photos I saw it was more than I had anticipated, so decided to split the posts into categories.  The first is Art Journal pages...some are finished...some are background pages waiting for inspiration to hit...

 

More Canvas Fun!

These are some more canvases done earlier in the year.  I'm really enjoying trying new things on canvas.  This first one has lots of texture...tissue paper, drywall tape, mesh, molding paste, stamping and lots and lots of sprays and paint.

 

 

This one is actually a bit darker...greyer...than the photo picks up.  I started by embossing watercolour paper with various designs from my stash of embossing folders.  Then I cut them into different sized rectangles and glued them to the canvas.  Paint...sprays...gelatos...gesso...lots of fun.  This wasn't quite what I had in my mind when I started this, but as the paint dripped down it started to look like a water edge city scape so I went with it.

 

 

I always enjoy Christy Thomlinson's tutorials and her She Art style.  I thought I'd give it a try and this is how it turned out.  Quite a departure from my usual earth tone / darker colour style, but I like the lighter colours of this one.  I had some musical note tissue paper which I used as part of the base and quite a bit of that shows through the paint.  Texture was added with molding paste through a stencil, stamps, stickers and rub-ons.

 

Christmas Wrapping!

A co-worker (yes the same one that I've wrapped gifts for before) asked me to wrap his wife's Christmas gift.  I picked up some gorgeous handmade Japanese papers from the Art House Studio in Cambridge.  The first one I picked was all white with circles on it...made me think of snow blowing.  Because it was fairly sheer, I also picked out a sheet of dark blue that had circles on it in lighter shades. 

I made a sleeve around the box with the 12x12 dark blue sheet.  It didn't cover the ends, but the main purpose was to cover the label on the box. 

Then I wrapped the white paper around it. I love how the blue patterned paper shows through!

Then I started added bling...a line of pearl drop trim...silver glitter berries...snowflakes (white and clear)...silver stars and bead trim...and I even had some flatback blue glass stones.

And the final package! 

Canvases for two young girls

I recently had the pleasure of meeting 2 young girls (ages 8 and 10 I think) at a work-related event.  They were so well-behaved and cute and I really enjoyed chatting with them throughout the night.  I often see or think of projects to do that would be really cute for young girls, but not having any in my life at the moment I usually put off doing them.  I decided that this would be a great opportunity to try out an idea that I'd had a while ago and thought they might enjoy this little gift.

I started out with a canvas board and collaged a variety of brightly coloured papers onto it (lots of pinks, purples and oranges!).  I then added a layer of scrunched tissue paper for texture.

 

I toned down the bright colours with a coat of gesso...then wiped some of it off as it was too toned down.

   

 

 

I then added more texture with stencils and modeling paste and some drywall tape.

      

Then out came the sprays.  I sprayed a variety of mists, wiped and sprayed some more.

Next...stamping in black ink...then some white acrylic paint and bubble wrap.

I adhered a bling clothespin to the top of the canvas to hold notes or photos.  I glued chipboard letters to a piece of cardboard and sprayed and inked it, then trimmed it down before adhering it to the canvas.  Then I used one of Prima's Julie Nutting doll stamps to create my girl for the canvas.  Added some Stickles to the dress, headband and shoes for some more girlie bling and some Liquid Pearls to the flowers and it was done!  I hope they like it!

    

29 Faces - #9-14

Well...not the most successful attempt at completing the 29 Faces challenge, but not quite in the category of an epic fail either.  I may continue to do a few more over the next week or so.

I did a few pencil sketches this past week on kraft paper...and then I decided to do some finger-painting on two of them. 

I'll start with the painted ones first...very primitive...but I like the way the first one turned out.

 

and these are the sketches...

 

 

 This one was actually done using just shading and very little outlining

 



 



29 Faces - Face #8

Saturday night was spent at The Art House Studio taking a Watercolor Whimsy class with Donna Downey!  I really wanted to take all of her classes...but decided on this one because she was showing us how to do a gel medium transfer as well as using Gelatos...two things I really wanted to try.

I chose to use the copy of one of Donna's stamps.  After spreading a thin layer of gel medium (Golden Gel Matte) onto the canvas, I laid the ink jet printed copy face down onto the gel medium and burnished it for a few minutes.  Carefully lifted the paper to reveal the print...easy peasy!  If I'd known it was that easy I would have tried it ages ago!

We then added gelatos to the face...then the hair.  Donna used my canvas to demonstrate the hair and the drippage...love drippage!  We then did the background, finished the face, added texture to the hair, and added stamps to the background.  I love it!  Will definitely try more with both techniques. 

Thanks Donna! Great class!!!

29 Faces - Face #7

I could watch Vivian Keh (Contandina K) http://contadinak.wordpress.com/ create all day long.  Her work is so inspiring.  I decided to try my hand at some of her techniques.  While not nearly close to Vivian's level I am pretty pleased with the result. I gessoed a sheet of watercolour paper, then used a feather stencil and modeling paste to add texture to the page. I then sketched in the face. I also used a small circle stencil to add additional texture.  I then used a variety of spray inks to add colour, allowing it to drip over the page and modeling paste.  I added some details to the face with a paintbrush dipped in spray inks.