Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Art Journal Marathon

You know that expression, "when you're hot you're hot.....," well nowhere does that apply more than in what we do in the mixed media world.  Sometimes you stare at blank paper for hours without a bit of inspiration, and sometimes you just can't stop creating.

When I sat down at my work space Saturday afternoon my intention was to work on one of the three asian themed collaborative journals I had in my to-do pile (along with other stuff).  Saturday rolled into Sunday into Monday, and I had finished all three, plus one Artistic Evolution journal as well.  When the muse is so willing, the body just better cooperate.

First up, the pages I did for Sox.








Golden fluid acrylics and Dylusions sprays on text for the background, then lots of stenciling and some stamping.  The fish are from Wendy Vecchi's Art For Men set, and were stamped with black archival ink and colored with distress markers.

The next two pages are for Val's journal.





Some paper collage and stencils over text for the background.  The female figure on the left is a stamp, colored with a variety of things, not all of which I remember.  I know I used watercolors and distress markers.  I also did some stenciling on top of the clothing.

The male figure on the right was cut from a Japanese catalog my pal Kyoko gave me on the last Tim cruise.  I've been using it lots in these journals as it is a treasure trove of beautiful images.  The little pocket sewn onto the page is actually fabric, and it was part of a gift from Naomi, another cruise pal, this one given to me on the New England Tim cruise.  I love being able to incorporate things I've received from one friend in something for another friend.  It just feels good.

Sue's book was created with signatures of four pages.  We were only obliged to work in the center two, but if we wanted, we could do something on the first and last pages of the signature as well.  Sue said she has plenty of beautiful paper to fill in the blank pages, so no worries.  As I was definitely on a roll, I did all four pages.  The first was a no brainer.  Ever since I did this tag I knew it would find its way into someone's asian journal.  All I did for the background was spray some color on a page of text, then stamp the grass with pigment ink and add some embossing powder.


This is the two page spread followed by each page individually.




The stones were created by scraping gesso through a stencil.  When dry they were inked with a variety of brown, gray, and black.  The seated woman is a stamp.  The bamboo was done with a cuttlebug embossing folder, colored with distress inks and carefully cut out.  Other stamping (the foliage) was heat embossed.

The last page in the signature was done with another embossing folder.  On this one I applied broken china ink directly to the folder before running it through my machine to create the water.  The koi were colored with distress markers.  The piece was matted on a piece of decorative paper.



The last journal I worked in was Sue's Artistic Evolution journal.  Her colors are the colors of Provence, green, amber and purple.    I was thinking of fields of flowers, and did a lot of stamping, added texture by applying fiber paste through stencils, sprayed, doodled, and created some flowers with bits of canvas.  The decorative edge on the right was done with Tim's tissue paper,which I first inked with dusty concord and chipped sapphire.






It's good I'm finished, because I just heard that two more asian journals are heading my way!



19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Goodness, an amazing collection of gorgeous journaling.

Anonymous said...

I love how each page is so beautifully unique.

annette said...

Don't ya just love it when you get on a roll? These are really nice. You done good!!

Alicia B said...

WOW is all I can think to say my friend- these are just gorgeous each and every one! *Hugs*

Sandi said...

I wish these were fabric -- I would love to wear some of these. So pretty!

TOPS #839 said...

Wow these are amazing! thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

You were on a roll indeed Eileen...these are all amazing!!!

PetraB said...

This collection of pages is truly amazing.

Dorothy said...

Totally amazing!!

Unknown said...

There is no stopping you once you get going girlfriend,fabulous work on all of these and such variety of techniques and approaches!Clapping loudly!

Art By Wanda said...

These are all fabulous, Eileen!!!

Elena said...

Eileen! I could not even tell u which ones I like best! I have those embossing folders (somewhere)!!! Who knew!!! I absolutely LOVE the fish! I was wondering why the heck I had bought that set!! Now I know! Truly fabulous work my friend.

Lori said...

You are getting a LOT of mileage out of Wendy's fish stamps..I love those. They're just great fish stamps! lol! All your journal work is just AMAZING!!

Unknown said...

You really have a lot of Asian supplies & stamps. Someday, I wish you'd post pics of your craft area & storage. I often wonder since NY apartments are usually very small & space is limited. Your supplies seem endless! lol

craftyM said...

WOWZA! You are on a roll and a very good one, I should say as I think you had my AE done in here somewhere in close proximity as well... LOVE ALL THE PAGES, but Sue's AE is definitely one of my fav... just love how you did the landscape effect and those rocks and the paper in the background! Also your tag is gorgeous!!! I enjoyed her book with the 4 page signature idea....

Also love that creative edge on Sue's AE book...

Now if you just get some more books you can stay on your roll...
Rollin Rollin Rollin... keep them journals rollin! RAWHIDE!!!

inge said...

Hello Eileen,

WOW, you 've been really in a creative roll to create all these journals !

Love, love all your layering on top of each other with the different materials. I think these creations show that the workshops of Lynn Perella are really "absorbed " by you and you do your own thing with it.

The evolution journal is the "max" ! Love the extra texture you added on the page with the gel medium and the fabric in the flowers.

The rocks you did are also perfect !

Hope you muse stays so active !
greetings from belgium
Inge

Marjie Kemper said...

You're not kidding about being on a roll! Love your pages. Enjoy the wave!

Bethan said...

Beautiful work Eileen!

Nancy said...

WOW! These are all so wonderful!!!