Landscape

The leaf I used to print with on the post Newspaper Collage created a rather unusual pattern which I thought looked rather like a tree. So I thought I’d have a go at creating a landscape made from leaf prints.

This is the result! I started off with a layer of white gesso to which I added a wash of colour using neocolour crayons.Then I added acrylic paint leaf prints to create my landscape, finishing off with with some tree trunks created using an old credit card. Quite effective I thought!

Budding Potters!

While Bry and I were travelling, we got the chance to do something we had both always wanted to try – make clay pots using a potters wheel. It was great fun and we both got covered in clay despite the t-shirts we were given to cover our clothes with.

After careful instructions from Roy, the potter, we got to have three goes at making pots on the wheel by ourselves. We then had to choose our favourite which Roy fired and glazed ready for our collection a couple of weeks later. I don’t know if other potters offer this kind of service, but if you’re ever near York with an hour or so to spare, making pots at the Stamford Bridge Pottery would be a great way to spend the time!

Newspaper Collage

Newspaper is one of my favourite materials – it is so versatile! You can use it to protect your work areas, you can cut it up and make things with it, you can build things with it, you can use it for papier mache, you can take prints from it, you can use it in collages – and those are just a few of its craft uses!

To create this image I completely covered a sheet of watercolour paper with torn newspaper, then added acrylic paint using a variety of implements including bottle lids, bubble wrap, sequin waste and old credit cards. Next I added some carefully chosen, strategically placed leaf prints and a few stencilled footprints. Finally after scanning the image into the computer, I added a quotation using distressed digital text.

I love the way the newspaper peeps through the layers in places!

Autumn Blues!

I love the autumn when the leaves turn such beautiful colours on the trees. As they fall to the ground it’s the perfect time of year to satisfy the child in me by doing some leaf printing. A few mornings ago, I came back from my early morning walk with a large bag of assorted fallen leaves ready to spend the day playing!

By the end of the day I had paint everywhere, together with a stack of images in a variety of styles and colours. Having scanned them all into the computer, I am now in the process of going through them. Some of them like the one above, immediately suggest something to me, but others may sit neglected for months before I discover a perfect use for them.

Autumn Blues was created using a base coat of black gesso, acrylic paint leaf prints, followed by some digital text and a bit of blending.

The observant among you may have noticed that I’ve just acquired a new badge on my right sidebar. I’ve just signed up for this years Art Every Day Month – the challenge of being creative every day for the month of November. I really enjoyed taking part last year from my Face of Love blog and am looking forward to being part of it again. Why don’t you give it a try – it’s great fun!

Ironing My Images

No … I’ve not gone completely mad … I really have been ironing my images! I’ve been trying out another technique from the Image Transfer Workshop Book. By some magical process (the physicists out there will be able to explain exactly how it happens) heating a magazine page that is next to some cling film (plastic wrap) enables the two to bond. You can then remove most of the paper backing which leaves you with a new very thin, waterproof version of the image. Clever stuff!! This is my first attempt … and I’ve stuck it in my altered fiction book before adding paint to the page.

I’ve been busy completing more pages in my Wreck this Journal as well. This page was done using the Gel Medium method described in my last post. I used last week’s church bulletin (which was printed using an ink jet printer). I love the distressed look this method gives to the transfers!

I’ve been struggling over what to do with this next page for some time. The page was headed “Space for Negative Comments” – not something I thought was very constructive! But then I thought … what if I wrote my negative thoughts in thin black pen and wrote their opposite on top in thick red pen – it would be following the instructions, but putting a positive spin on it. So that’s what I did! Next I painted the opposite page and squidged them together to transfer some of the wet paint. That obscured some of the words, but it was still too legible for for my liking, so I added a blur filter to the right hand page after I scanned it!

… sorry … you don’t get to read my secrets … but I like the way it looks 🙂

Simple Image Transfers!

I’ve been wanting to try out image transfers for such a long time … but every time I’ve found a set of instructions they’ve involved using substances which were either dangerous or else difficult to obtain. So imagine my excitement when I came across this book, Image transfer Workshop by Darlene Olivia McElroy which has a huge variety of very simple step by step instructions for transferring images, many of which use common safe substances! I’m planning on trying them all over time, but I started with the ink jet / gel medium transfers as they were so simple. All you need is a pot of Gel Medium, a paint roller/brayer and an ink jet printed image!

The image on the left-hand page of a rose bud is my very first attempt … pretty impressive I thought. I got so excited with my success that when I did

the next one, after remembering to reverse the image when I printed it, I stuck it to the page upside down!! Luckily it was in my Wreck this Journal Book so I figured it was meant to be!!

This next transfer forms the first completed page in my creative business plan which was inspired by The Right-Brain Business Plan devised by Jennifer Lee. The page is in the middle of

the book I have made and I have written ” Development and growth are vital to my business. I need to experiment, experience, and constantly be trying out new ideas. Having Fun!`’ around the the image. This is much more fun than a traditional business plan 🙂

This last image is my favourite of the lot! Inspired by my Wreck this Journal Book, I have decided to alter one of the many fiction paperback

books I have littered throughout my house waiting to be taken to the charity shop. I love the way the text looks like it’s been aded after, when in fact it’s the only bit of the original page that you can see!

I can’t wait to get started on trying out some of the other techniques in the book … keep watching this space!

Green Thumb …

Yes … I have a green thumb …. but no – that does not mean I’m good with plants! I just got a little bit too enthusiastic with a spray can of metallic green paint 🙂

It all started last week when I taught leaf printing at one of my craft classes. I get so much inspiration from teaching! … I came away from that class inspired to find as many ways as possible of using leaves.

A few weeks ago I came across several cans of spray paint left over from previous projects … so I decided to try using them with the leaves, and the ‘Sample Various Substances’ page seemed the perfect page in the journal to use for the experiment.

After I’d picked a selection of leaves I used them as both masks and stamps to achieve this effect.

Using leaves for printing, you end up with some beautiful colourful leaves. I took a couple of the ones I brought home from the class, covered them in Gel Medium and used them to create this picture.

Going back to my journal, I decided to do something with the ‘Document Your Dinner’ page. I wasn’t prepared to feed my dinner to it, so I did the next best thing and used a heap of favourite ingredients to splatter over the page. I used Soy Sauce, Spaghetti Sauce, Strawberry Sauce, Lemon Juice and Salt!

I’m quite pleased with the visual effect … and it’s added yet more interesting aromas to the journal – it really is a multi-sensory experience!!

Sleep With The Journal? ….. No Way!!!

Sleep with the Journal? …. No Way!!! It’s much too lumpy and there are far too many sharp bits sticking out!! Instead I altered the instructions and created new ones!!

It now has a series of statements/ instructions:

Sleep is something we all need
Are you happy with Life?
Experiment with the book!
Journal your thoughts …
Descibe how you are feeling …
Play with the art
All experiences are useful
Leave your comments here

I then coloured the pages using a water colour pencil wash, and added an explosion of colour to the left page! I may well add some more comments to the right page as I think of them 🙂

This next page evolved as my doodles are inclined to do!! I had no intention of drawing a face when I started out … it just ended up that way!

The left page evolved after I used it to try out some new rubber stamps I got from the SSP Guild on Saturday morning. It just reminded me of these words from an old Dave Clark Five song called Here comes Summer (Showing my age there!!) Only trouble was … the page got really wet after I wrote the words and they bled everywhere!! So I wrote over the top again. I think it looks even better now!! What was that I was saying about accidents improving artistic content? (see bottom of last post)

Following another set of instructions …

… I coloured the edges of the pages using Perfect Pearls from Ranger. It would have been easier to do at the beginning before the book got so fat!! 🙂

Back to Wrecking My Journal …

I got back to wrecking my journal yesterday. The instructions on this page say “This page is dedicated to internal monologue”. For someone like me who struggles with words, this was a bit of a problem … but when I really thought about it – I knew what to do!

I splattered paint over the pages, squished it between the pages, then combed it with a small makeup comb! I used the colours that are currently a major influence in my life right now – red, yellow, gold and green. The scan really doesn’t do justice to the amazing sheen of the the metallic gold paint and the vibrant tones of the colours peeking through from underneath!

I started this next page a while ago, I drew the castle tower with a soft water soluble graphite stick and washed over it to smudge the lines; but when the ink from the following page (four-letter words) bled through all over my drawing, I couldn’t decide what to do and just left it half finished. Inspiration came the other day! I created a grid of lines with the graphite stick, smudged the lines with water, then filled the gaps with sharpies to give an abstract stained glass effect. I coloured in the letters on the castle page and inked over the bled through words to accentuate them.

It’s one of the main things I have learnt from this journal … things don’t have to be perfect to look good … accidents often improve the artistic content of a piece of work 🙂

Let’s Have Some More Creativity!!

Yes!! … I’ve done it! I’ve linked and transferred all the posts, images and comments from my free WP blog! I couldn’t believe how simple it was 🙂 Any way … enough of my rambling …. let’s have some more creativity!!

Last week, my daughter left home to start her life at Greenwich University. I decided a ‘Welcome to Your New Home’ card was a bit too normal, so to mark the occasion, I made her a Mixed Media Collage picture for her wall.

I started off with an old piece of mount board left over from my own days at Uni not that long ago. I painted it with white gesso to give me a good base to work on then coloured it using a three or four colours of acrylic paint and various techniques. My next step was to arrange the images into an interesting shape which I then covered with more acrylic paint to make them blend in. I mounted the central image onto some corrugated board and stuck it in the middle, then made the frame from old bottle tops.

Delivering the picture, along with a car load of ‘forgotten’ bits, at the weekend gave me the opportunity to take my camera out round the O2 on Saturday night. With my normal penchant for the unusual .. I was quite pleased with these detail shots taken inside the dome.

I love getting out with my camera – it provides me with a wealth of original images that I can turn into artwork for all kinds of uses.