Frida and New Eyes

As I've said many times before, one of the things that gives me the most pleasure is my participation in several collaborative art journals. This past week I completed pages for two:  Leanne's Frida Kahlo journal, and Sue's Journal of Dreams.

Leanne asked that we place an image of Frida somewhere she had actually been, so I chose her home in Mexico, Casa Azul.  And as a tribute to Frida's style, I have her riding a reptile.  (Riding a Reptile....good name for an indie band or a porno flick, huh?)

The backgrounds were done with the paper towels I put in the bottom of my spray box, so they have colorwash, glimmer mists, maya mists, perfect pearls mists, and homemade mists.  Waste not, want not (my fifth grade teacher was VERY big on proverbs, and for some reason, I've remembered just about all of them).

Frida herself came from a rubber stamp, stamped on watercolor paper, colored with Portfolios water soluble oil pastels, and then the clothes were pieced together from various leftover papers, fabrics, and ribbons.  She also has a necklace and matching earrings I made from annoyingly tiny beads.

The snake I drew freehand, and decorated with my version of pre-Columbian art, colored with markers, gel pens, and watercolors, and embellished with fabric and crystals.

Casa Azul is a photo I found on the internet.

When I sat down to work on Sue's JOD, I was (literally) up to my eyeballs in....well....eyedrops, having just had cataract surgery in both eyes.  Eyes were most definitely on my mind.  Images, I've always been drawn to (hence the vast number of eye stamps in my stash), and of course, the first three letters of my most oft used screen name.  Eileen, eyeleen, get it?  Not to mention, my mom always greets me with, "hi, ei."  

Not to digress too much; I just wanted to give a little background on where these pages came from.

Front:

The background was done on watercolor paper.  The first layer was a whole lot of spraying with various mists, then some tissue paper, ink, more spraying, rubber stamping, then stamping all the circles with gesso.  When dry, the gesso was colored with distress inks.  I used some vari-colored metallic threads to add some machine stitching.  Then some black crystal accents and a piece of optical glass finish it off.  All the stamps are either from Tim Holtz or Wendy Vecchi collections.

Back:

I sprayed the back page at the same time as I did the front, but left this side pretty much alone at that point (a little gesso, but no layers of tissue paper, ink, stamps, etc).

The eyeglasses came from a copyright free vintage image site, and I was tickled to find the quote, as my eye surgeon has most definitely given me new eyes.  I did the journaling with Sharpie water based poster paint pens (gold and black).

And, since I used machine stitching on the front, I gave this side a border of a zig zag stitch. 

Eye am pretty pleased with these pages.  (Sorry!  Eye couldn't resist!)

Atlantis Lives! (In My Dreams)

One of my favorite collaborative art journal groups is JOD (Journal of Dreams) because it is the least restrictive.  No particular theme or color combination.....just whatever the artist dreams up.  And that dream can be a literal night time dream or a wish, or whatever.
I received Gina's journal a while ago and it has taken me this long to come up with an idea.
I can't even put my finger on why I thought of Atlantis (no, not the resort in the Bahamas; I'm talking about the lost city of mythology).
In my head, however, Atlantis did not sink into oblivion.  Nope, my Atlantis is a thriving city where the people just learned to ADAPT.
So, maybe adaptation has been on my mind.  Who knows?  Like I've said before, I really don't like to spend too much time on interpretation or explanation.  So, without further psychoanalysis, here is my Atlantis:

Sadly, much of the texture and dimension doesn't show up in photographs, and there is a lot of both on the page.  The stylized city on the bottom was done with modeling paste and a cityscape stencil. The upper part of the background received texture with gesso, tissue paper, bubble wrap and some scratch tools.
Color came from some of the new Perfect Pearls mists, distress inks, and of course, my favorite, Portfolio water soluble oil pastels.
Most of the images are courtesy of my pal Val and her amazing collection of graphics.  I did a bit of work on them with pencils.
The cool steampunk looking lady with the binoculars was a freebie from someplace on the internet....sorry I don't remember where.

This is the journaling page: 

What I'd like to share about this page is what I did with a very cheap and (IMO) tacky charm.  That fish.  It was bright.  It was gaudy.  It was cheap and tacky.  First I dabbed some green paint on it, wiped most of it off, and added some white paint, also wiping most of it off.  That toned down the glare but wasn't quite enough.

So, I made some marks on it with an embossing pen and sprinkled some Ranger verdigris embossing powder (from their Antiquities line) on it and heat set.  I'm not sure if it shows up, but there is also a dot of purple embossing in the eye. 

Dreaming of Autumn

What else should I be dreaming of?  It's been 90+ degrees for days and I'm sick of it!  Yesterday it hit 99 and it was humid too.  Yuck.  Anyway....I received Elena's Journal of Dreams last week, and have been thinking about what to do in it.....well, the temperatures inspired my wishful thinking.  It's September.....let's have some autumn!
Here is the two page spread:

Elena made her journal with the fabulous Fabriano watercolor paper, and that stuff is a dream (speaking of dreams) to work on.

I started with colorwashes in stream and butterscotch, then added some colored paper towel bits.  Stamped some Tim Holtz leaves with different distress inks, sprinkled on some distress embossing powders and heat set them.  There are also some leaves stamped on old dictionary pages, cut out and glued down.  Some fibers were added to the spine as well as on the pages.  

My journaling consists of some words I associate with autumn on the first page, and just repeating the words autumn and fall on the second.

Closer looks at the two pages:

I'm not sure where the woman fits in, but she looks like the spirit of autumn to me (that's my story, anyway).  She is from Stampsmith, and I stamped her on a bit of paper left over from a background experiment.

I hope Elena likes the pages.  I just wish that dream of autumn would come true already.

Of Dreams and Art Angels

Another JOD (Journal of Dreams) arrived  recently, and I finished my pages this week.  Jacquie's journal is a bit larger than most (don't remember the exact measurements, but it was about 9x12).  Dreams of flying are common, and it's a theme I've used many times, though differently in each journal.  I generally prefer to work on a smaller page, but the great thing about one this size, is the ability it gives to use really big images.  

I started with applying inks to the watercolor paper.....I swiped the pads directly on the paper, sprayed water on top, then blended with a paper towel.  I kept doing this until I was happy, and added a torn strip of beautiful paper from the Mariposa stack (DCWV).   That paper suddenly looked a little bright to me, so I toned down some of its glitziness with more ink.  (Don't you love how you can alter patterned paper to suit your needs?)

I drew the bird head on cardstock, cut it out, and covered it with bits of old dress pattern paper (thank you Sherry, for sending my necklace wrapped in this wonderful paper!).  More ink (black and  several browns), and then the whole thing coated with some gel medium to seal it and give it a nice glossy finish.

I had some leftover crayon paper made with a used dryer sheet (click here for a tutorial on that), and tore some wisps of that for the birdie's head feathers.  Since most self-respecting birds in my dreams are regal, I gave this one a nice big crown.

Texture is hard to see in photographs, but the bird and cage on the left have it (texture, that is).

I used the negative left over after cutting Tim's caged bird die as a stencil, and applied some modeling paste.  This left a raised image of  the cage and bird, which dries hard and is firmly attached to the paper.   More ink, some random stamping and doodling, and side one is done.

On the back....the same sort of inking and spraying, and another piece of Mariposa paper, also toned down with ink.   The "fly away home" stamp is ATC-sized, and is from Red Lead.  Dangling from it is a (very distorted) little bird cage, cut from Tim's die on black shrink plastic, shrunk down with my heat tool, and embellished with some beads.  I'll go on record here as saying that the distortion was carefully planned and came out exactly as I wanted.  Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

The journaling was done with my much beloved Sakura glaze pens.

I started making art angels a while back, and have shown you some in the past.  This is one of my favorites, and was sent to my friend Sherry to look over her and protect her while she deals with a serious health issue.  Sherry just blogged about this, so click here to get the info from the source.  Love you, Sherry!

Made with LOVE, a key, a crushed bottlecap, some wings, a stamped image, resistors, and did I say, LOVE? 

Journal of Dreams -- Round and Round We Go

My friend Marita constructed an amazing book for us to use....it is large, and it is round. Marita's pages were all black and white, and many of the artists that came before me kept to that scheme. Sometimes I know ahead of time what I'd like to do in a journal, but I had no plans for this one.
We often discuss where we get inspiration for our projects.   Well, I was listening to music and  heard, for the first time in YEARS, "Legs," by ZZ Top.  And that, boys and girls, is where these pages came from.

Of course I found an excuse to use my new best friend, the sewing machine (for attaching the lace trim).  The background paper is from Stampin' Up, and the legs are from all over the place, but several come from Graphic 45 papers.  There's bling and there's embossing too.

The back of this page continues the theme (and provides some lyrics):

The background paper is Stampin' Up again (inked and distressed a bit), and all the images are Graphic 45.  

This journal is full of amazing pages, and Miz Marita will see it very soon.  It will go to Gina this week, and she will be the last to work in it before it returns home.

Hope you love it as much as I loved working in it my friend!

Journal of Dreams -- Words/Art

I've been thinking a lot lately about the way I journal, wondering if relying mostly on visual images is a cop-out, a way to avoid writing about feelings.  Well, maybe I'm kidding myself, but I've come to the conclusion that the opposite might be true.  I'm actually very comfortable with words and writing and maybe in journals I choose my words a bit too carefully.
When I work in journals, my own or any of the collaborative ones I'm involved with, I don't over think....until it's time to add the words.  My art, I believe, is more emotional and more honest than my words. 
And this little debate I've been having with myself is what has led to the pages I just completed for Tracy's Journal of Dreams. 

Page One:

Page Two:

What I did:   the backgrounds are very layered.  I started with some Adirondack Color Washes (stream and lettuce) on watercolor paper, then bits of color-stained paper towels, ledger paper, old dictionary pages.  More color added with Portfolio water soluble oil pastels and some copper and green glazes.

The head and class picture in the corners of page one are transfers done with stamps and clear contact paper (head) and clear packing tape (class picture).  The head is a Tim Holtz stamp, the class picture is from Red Lead. 

I stamped Wendy Vecchi's artchick head on white tissue paper with black Archival ink (which is what I also did with the kimono), cut it out and attached it to the page with gel medium.  Works a lot like a transfer but minus the heartache transfers often cause (for me).  

Some bling, lots of glaze pen doodling, some more stamping, even a few subtle stencils, and done.  LOL!  That makes it sound like instant art, but actually this was one of the few things I've done that I actually worked on for several days.

With two page spreads, the second page is where my journaling usually goes, and that's when I started thinking the thoughts voiced at the start of this post.  Normally I'll google a theme and search for quotes, or (rarely) just write a few sentences about what I've just created.  

This time, if you read between the (sparse) lines, my journaling is just telling me to shut up and let the art speak for itself.  And that really tickles me.

Journal of Dreams -- Thinking of Days Long Gone

I received Heather's JOD last week and as sometimes happens, had an immediate idea for my pages, so got right to it.  I've been using old family photos in my altered book, and continued that theme on these pages.

This is the front.  The background is watercolor paper with distress inks and colorwash, then stamped with clear ink on a fabulous flourish stamp, embossed with clear EP, then inked some more.

The vintage pens are from a Graphic 45 sheet.

The gate is a die cut I found in my stash; the leaves are also cut from a die.....but this one I can identify.  It's on Tim's Regal Crest die.

The photo is of (in order of appearance), me and two cousins, Jack and Sandi.  It was taken one summer in the yard of my grandmother's beach house, and I have VERY fond memories of those times.  I highlighted the little faces with tiny grommets.  

And, on the flip side:

The background is a used dryer sheet, sprayed with homemade mica spray and glued to a previously colorwashed piece of watercolor paper.  You can see a few sprays of leaves peeking out from behind the journaling tag.....they were made with what was left when I cut the leaves from the TH die.  I used this negative as a stencil and pounced some Vintage Photo distress ink over them.

The strip on the left is made of bits of leftover papers from a page in the TH Lost and Found stack.

The photo is of my father and his two younger brothers.  I get a kick out of it.....they all look so solemn, and I can't help wondering how the photographer got three little guys to stay so still and appear so serious.

Journal of Dreams, Journal of Anything, and an Altered Book Update

I recently received Lori's book from our Journal Of Dreams (let's just call it JOD) collaborative journal project.  Maybe it's the title, but in this group I just can't help getting into my head (oh what a scary place that can be at times) and my pages for these journals are just very different than those I do for the other groups.
Another influence this week:  I was visiting my friend Teri, and met her friend (now mine too!) Rita, who brought along for the show and tell portion of our visit, a book she made in a Lynne Perrella workshop.  Her pages were full of little doors that opened and I knew my next journal pages would use that technique.
My page for Lori with the doors closed:

And opened (just a little -- what's behind them is Lori's surprise).

The background....various papers and some of Tim's wonderful tissue tape....lightly covered with gesso.....textured with cardboard and bubble wrap......colored mostly with Portfolio water soluble oil pastels......more gesso, more pastels.....and the journaling done with Sharpie poster paint markers.  The little houses are all Invoke stamps, inked with black Ranger Archival ink, colored with the Portfolios and further embellished with glaze pens.

For this journal we decided on one page rather than our usual two page spread, but we do some sort of art on the reverse side.  Here's my second side:

The background started out as a leftover page from my altered book project, one that had been sprayed with colorwash.  On to that I glued some pictures from a new PID sheet called photobooth.  Then I dabbed some gesso around and even over the photos and tinted it with some vintage photo distress ink when it dried.  I was trying to make the photos look a bit more organic....less like they were just plopped down on the background....which of course they were....so softened some of the edges with some gel medium.  I really wanted to use some modeling paste but couldn't find it so settled on the gel...which produced a shinier look than I would have liked, but it's OK.  When that finally dried I went over the gelled parts with some coffee Archival ink, then added the journaling around the photos.

When I was at Teri's we decorated journal covers with a collage technique she wanted to share with us.  When I got home I added the focal image, and here is the finished journal cover:

For the background, we covered the book with various papers, collage-style, added some color with Shiva Paintstiks (very cool product), then we used a palette knife to add some texture with gesso (I think it was gesso...all those Golden jars look alike).  When that was dry we brayered some deeper color (paint) over the raised textured areas, then kept brayering until we'd spread what was left of the paint all over.  I love how it turned out.
I added the Tim bird and cage on a chipboard plaque, some Sizzix SU butterflies highlighted with a perfect pearls spray, and a little blue rhinestone bling.


For those following along with my altered book journey, that blog was updated today with some folding techniques.  Here's a little peek:

Oh, and one other thing:   Happy Friday everyone!  This weekend, see some friends, make some art, and have some great food.  Cheers!