Collage A Day Update

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I am finding this challenge to be … well, challenging!  About 6 or 7 years ago, I did collage almost solely.  I sold my collages and found it very satisfying to create them.  Over the years I quit doing them and was more interested in art journaling, painting and drawing.

In my art journal, I often do a sort of collage effect coupled with painting techniques or stencils and spray ink.  So, I think the way I approached collage must have changed.  I keep wanting to use paint, but I set out on this challenge to do pure collage, using only paper and the results I’m getting are just not satisfying me.

I know the key to getting better at anything is to practice, so I’m going to keep on, but this sure is frustrating!  I’m going to spend some time today looking at the work of collage artists and see if I can find some inspiration.

Two Projects

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First Project

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m participating for the third year in the NaNoJouMo.  Click that link to learn about it.  Want to join in on the fun?  If so, let me know and if you blog about it, I’ll follow along this month!!  So, as I mentioned, I was having trouble deciding what kind of journal I wanted for it, and now….three journals later, I’ve finally made one I like.

The first one I made was 8 1/2 x 11 inch and I bound it with spiral binding using an old Christmas book’s covers.  I used cheap kids’ art pad paper in it.  It was fine really, but something just didn’t feel right.  For one thing the cover was purple and siad something about Christmas, and that’s just wrong!  Especially for a November project!

Well, yesterday at Hobby Lobby I discovered that the company that made my binder, Cinch, now is selling coil binding!!!  It’s much cooler and way easier to use than the pinch kind of spiral binding.  So, of course I had to bind a book to check it out.  I made the cover by gluing the two sides of a file folder together. Then cut out a piece of cardboard from a board game box for the back.  I am completely out of watercolor and sketch paper but I found a package of nice linen resume paper.  So I cut the paper in half making 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in pages.  I bound it with purple coil binding and it rocks!!  I collaged the cover and I’m all ready to go on the first!!

Second Project

An online friend, Ardith Goodwin, is a wonderful, inspiring artist.  I’ve been following her as she’s been doing a collage a day all year.  The more I saw of her work, the more it made me miss the days when I used to do collage.

As usual, I couldn’t just start doing it, I had to worry and futz with where and how and what size.  Ha! I drive myself crazy.  I finally decided I wanted to do it journal style, in a book, but I wanted it in a separate book from my regular journal.

I considered doing them loose then binding it, but that always drives me crazy having the loose pages to keep up with.  And, of course, I considered binding a book for it, but since I’m almost out of any type of paper, I didn’t want to waste good paper that was just going to be collaged over.  So, I went on a search for an old, used book of some sort.

I found an old photography/art text book that I had saved so I could cut some images from it. It has a hard cover which a dog apparently chewed on (I bought it at a garage sale).  So I covered the chewed areas with masking tape, painted it then collaged over it.

Here are the 4 collages I’ve done so far.  It had been a long time since I’d done collage, so it took me a few to get warmed up.  I look forward to trying some different collage styles as I go along.


 

Too Tired to Do Images

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It probably appears that I don’t really want to write blog posts.  That is not true at all.  I keep a list of ideas to write about and I get excited when I think about the topics.  But when it comes to the physical work of posting, it overwhelms me.

I feel like I always need images.  Then I have to find them.  And edit them to make them web-ready.  Then upload them.  Then get them to work right on the page.

Because I have fibromyalgia, I have a limitied amount of energy each day.  Many days, even the thought of doing all the things I mentioned above, saps all I’ve got.

So, today I am writing to tell you that I think of all you readers every day.  I’m working on a way to psych myself into writing more, using less images and really enjoying this blog.

Books to Use for Art Journaling

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NaNoJouMo is approaching. For those of you unfamiliar with it, NaNoJouMo is a challenge to work in your art journal every day of November. Dawn Sokol hosts it on her blog. In fact, here’s a short description from her blog:

Each day during November, I will post a word to get you art journaling. A journal jump of sorts—one word a day to inspire or get you thinking. The goal is to journal SOMETHING in your art journal. DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A FULL PAGE…can be a doodle, maybe painting some backgrounds, doing some collage…just SOMETHING every day in your art journal during November. Even if it’s just moving a pencil across the page in a crooked line…

I have participated in NaNoJouMo for a couple of years and I like knowing that so many other artists are all journaling along with me.  So, I was looking forward to it this year, but for the past couple of weeks I’ve been unusually bored with journaling.  Normally I write 6 – 10 pages daily, but lately I’m not writing much and have even skipped a few days.  So, I wondered if I’d even be up for NaNoJouMo this year.  Then I discovered that the problem has been that I just don’t like the journal I’m using right now.

I have long admired journals I see others make that have lots of found papers in them. So I finally made myself one.  It’s a really cool journal.

I cut the covers off an old hardback children’s book and bound all sorts of papers into it with my cool Cinch binder that Mister bought me last spring.  What I’ve discovered, though, is that when I open a spread to do art, I like both sides to have the same type of paper, which this one doesn’t.  Also I like a big journal, and these pages are approximately 6 x 9 in.

Although I feel a little guilty to not finish using this book when I’m only half way through it, I know that I need a journal I enjoy working in, so I’m trying to decide what I want for NaNoJouMo.  I thought back on all the things I’ve used for journals and realized wow! I’ve used a lot of types of books for journals.

I have used magazines, novels, Time-Life books, children’s board books and bound a lot of my own.  I’ve sewn some and coil bound some.  This is one that I sewed using game boards as covers.

My most favorite is watercolor paper pages, regardless of how it’s bound.  But I don’t have any watercolor paper right now, so I’m going to have to make my new one from some other kind of paper.  A while back I found a pad of paper at Dollar Tree for $1 that I like.  It’s like thick newprint.  I made one journal from it and I liked it.  The only draw back was that the edges of the pages tore easily when they were wet.  But, for the price, you can’t beat it.

I bought a pad of acrylic paper at Walmart the other day.  I’ve never used that.  It might be a nice substitute for watercolor paper, but I’m not willing to make a journal from it when I haven’t played with it yet.  So, I will play with it and see how it takes all the media my journal gets thrown at it. If it works I’ll use that, otherwise I suppose it’s the Dollar Tree scribble pad.

So, what type of books do you use for art journaling?  Will you share with me in the comment section?


 

 

Martha Stewart’s New Line of Craft Paints and More by Plaid

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I want to share with you about the new Martha Stewart craft paints and gesso.   These products are really good quality for such an affordable price!  I was able to get them while Michael’s had them on sale for 40% off, thank goodness.  But even without the discount they are very reasonable.

The two oz. bottles of paint are regularly $1.99.  They have them in glitter, metallic, glossy and satin.  The ones I got are the satin.  They have such lovely colors, too.  They are very creamy, not chalky like a lot of craft paints are.  And it takes a lot less than most craft paints.  I suspect it’s because they have less water than most do.  They are like working with butter…. just so dreamy!!  The colors I got are: Piglet – a perfect baby pink that’s translucent but will cover completely with a couple of coats; Pink Carnation – a hot pink that isn’t gaudy or flourescent; Lake Fog – a lovely taupe. I’ve found so many uses for this color!; Root Beer Float – a nice, medium brown; Porcelain Doll – perfect for flesh tone!; and Wedding Cake – a nice, creamy, translucent white.  I’ve used them quite a bit and find that they blend well with each other, as well as with other crafts paints and with heavy body acrylics.

I also bought the gesso.  In fact, I went home and used and went back and bought two more bottles since it was on sale.  It’s a pure white – so bright!  It, too, is creamy like the paints are.  If you use one coat over text, for example, it’s translucent enough to allow the text to be seen through.  But if you apply a couple of coats, it covers nicely.   It blends perfectly with the craft paints.

The line of Martha Stewart Crafts by Plaid includes lots of other things besides paint, but I didn’t buy any so can’t vouch for the quality.  But they have some neat looking tools and stencils.  They have several times of transfer papers, and I can’t remember what else.  In my Michael’s store it’s a whole section that takes up about half an aisle.

So, check it out.  I am so pleased that those of us who don’t have a lot of money can finally use a nice quality paint and gesso!

GPP Street Team Cursade 55

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Michelle’s Crusade for September is called The Disappearing Act.

“Paint a background using two colors and allow them to blend in
several locations.  Using the same colors, paint onto a large
stamp and press to your background.”

This is my frist attempt.  Meh.   It’s okay but I was inspired to try with other colors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here’s the second one.  I love this one!!  (Sorry about the waxed paper that in all the scans.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the last one is my fav!  I used a stamp I carved and it melded into the background in such a beautiful way.  The color on my monitor doesn’t look right in this image.  The medium color is yellow ocher and the dark is black, not gray as it appears here.

 

 

GPP Street Team Crusade Number 54

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This month, Michelle Ward’s GPP Crusade is to select a word or phrase and then invent a color to go with it.  I haven’t participated in the challenges for several months and I’ve really missed it.   This seemed easy when I read about it, but it was actually quite challenging for me.   At first I was caught up in that “what if I don’t do it right” cycle.  Then I realized how ridiculous that was because it’s my colors!  How could it be wrong?  So, I gave myself permission to do it any way I wanted, and had fun with it.


Click on the image to see it larger

  The last color is in honor of Michelle Ward who puts so much work into creating these Crusades each and every month.   I have learned so much from her and I really do appreciate her awesomeness!!

Those Dang Ugly Voices

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The past couple of weeks while Mister has been recuperating from surgery, I’ve had a lot of time to do art.  It is amazing to me that when I have this much time to indulge myself, that I find it more and more challenging.  I’ve done so dang many journal pages, and been really happy doing them.  But there came a point when I felt guilty.  A voice in my head has been telling me “you should do real art”.  I don’t like that voice!  I am doing what I love and where is this crap coming from?  Sometimes I feel like I sabotage every single good thing that comes my way!  Why can’t I just enjoy it?

So, you know what?  I just ignored that ugly voice!  And I’ve had so many creative ideas.  When I just let it flow, it flows.

And here’s some more good news!  I’m getting a Cricut!!  It was shipped yesterday.  I can’t wait for it to arrive!!  I have all sorts of plans for that little machine!  I’m going to make stencils and page borders and to be honest, I dont’ even know what all it can do, so there’s no telling what I’ll get into!!

I’m going to write up a post on my favorite pens for art journaling.  Stay tuned!

Art Journalers – Something Fun For You

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Inspired by some stickers at a scrapbook store, I figured out how to make these for myself.  I think they’re so cool, that I’m sharing them with you.


If you click on these images, each one  will open up the large, original image which is hige resolution on 8 1/2 x 11 inch.  You can save the image and then print them on sticker paper so you’ll have letter stickers.  Or just print them on printer paper and then cut and glue them.    I like cutting them out with an exacto knife but you could use scissors of courseI f

If you are interested in more cool letters for your art journals, I have lots of sets here.

Winnie the Pooh and Regrets

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I finished the Dr. Seuss journal that I won last month.  Yeah, I write that much :)    This time of year when school supplies are out, I always buy at least one comp book.  I love them and they’re so cheap!!  So I decided to use one as my next journal.  I have used them several times in the past, but this one must have been extra cheesy or something because the pages were super flimsy.  Even though I’ve been using layers of paper on my pages, they were still flimsy.  I tried gessoing them first, but still not good.  So, I decided to make a journal with my spiral binding machine.  I didn’t think I had any good paper, but I dug around the studio and came up with 42 pages of all sorts of paper.  Watercolor,  vellum, sketch, etc in all sizes and several colors.  I just stuck them all together and bound them in a cropped record album cover.   Doesn’t it look like a book, rather than a record cover?   It’s about 7 x 12 in. and I’m loving it!!  I never know when I turn the page what sort of paper awaits me.

 

Is it just me or is Christopher Robin wearing a skirt in the snow?

 

 

In my journal right now, I’m dealing with regrets.  Y’all have any of those?  lol     I usually avoid thinking about them.  Ignorng them seems to give them a long life.  Looking at them, finally, I feel like I’m chopping their evil little heads off.    The thing I’m proud of is that I’m looking at my responsibility in why the things I wanted to do, didn’t get done (regret).   It doesn’t serve me to blame, rationalize and excuse myself.   In virtually every case of regret, my self esteem or ego was involved.  Hopefully, by looking at this square on now, I can learn useful things about myself so I have less regrets next year than I have from last year.