The Keys 4 Art - Day 2

Up very early, found the coffee maker ready, pressed start, and was shortly joined by Lillian, another early riser. We found some bagels, shared breakfast and nice conversation, and waited for everyone else to make an appearance.  It didn't take long.  I think we were all excited to begin.
I planned to show the group some of the techniques I learned in the Lynne Perrella workshops I took last August.(To learn more about that, go to my August blog posts).   So, first thing to do, was cut up some red rosin paper.   You can find rolls of this stuff in Home Depot, and believe it or not, this paper, which is normally used to protect flooring during construction, makes the very best art paper......once gesso is applied.
We had to do this first, so there would be plenty of time for it to dry completely before we could add color and collage elements.   At this stage, everyone added lots of texture, with stamps, stencils, bits of cardboard, netting, string, sponges, bubble wrap.....you get the picture.

Gina shows me her gessoed fingers

Once everyone was finished, we set the paper aside to dry, and immediately got into Val's wonderful journal project.  This was her gift to us all, and included chipboard covers, coin envelope inserts, and a bag full of fun embellishments.....chipboard pieces, maps of Florida, a tiny bottle full of sand, etc.

Mind you, these are my leftovers!  There was a bag full of goodies.

We all set to work on our journals, decorating the coin envelopes and covers.  Here are some shots of a busy studio:

Linda and Patty working on their journals

Jen, Gina, Marita and Sue take time out for a photo op

Look all the way in the back, right in front of the window.  That's a huge cage, and inside is Pancho, Elena's

blue macaw.  Noisy fellow.

Jen and Juliet, Pancho behind them

Val gathered us together to demonstrate the "drunken scotch" technique, which she used on the frame on the cover of her journal.

 It is a very cool technique, and I've mentioned it here before.  Basically you apply glue to a piece of chipboard or grungeboard, drop some alcohol ink on top, then blast it with the heat gun to get a bubbly, rusty look.  Here's how it looks on my journal cover:

We used the frame to make a shaker box.  There are tiny beads inside.  The shells were contributed by Elena.  The bird is one I made of polymer clay, but that's for another post.

Here are some more pages from my journal (which when completed was bound by Val with Elena's Bind-It-All:

The cover with some mementos hanging from a chain.

Close up of the danglies.  I found the leaf outside Elena's house, and covered it completely with crystal effects.  The key was done with the drunken scotch technique.  The rectangular tile was done in our polymer clay class (more on that tomorrow), the little fish charm I added at home, but the tiny fish hook was done on the spot for everyone by Gina.  The glass bottle full of sand and shells was in the goodie bag Val gave us, and the shells were from Elena.

The inside front cover.  A bit of the map of Florida, with Key Largo highlighted under a clear bauble.  The bird was done with the inlaid embossing technique (more on that later).

Val gave us each a library book card which we used to have everyone sign in:

I decorated the rest of my pages as the mood struck.  Used paper on some, paint on others, some stamping, stenciling, and collaging of some beachy Graphic45 paper.  Here are just a few of the pages:

This is the inside of the back cover:

And the back cover itself:

Jacquie had brought some delicious sweet and savory pastries from a wonderful Miami bakery, and we just kept eating them throughout the morning, right into lunch time.  No one even thought of stopping to go out for food.  Too much to do, too much fun being had.

In the afternoon, Jen shared with us some of what  she's learned taking online face drawing classes.  She is REALLY good at it.  First we sketched faces by looking at pictures from magazines.  Here are my two attempts:

Then we were able to pick a face from a magazine that Jen had covered with a light coat of gesso.  You could still make out the features, so it was a great way to practice.  Wonderful technique, Jen!

 Here is Elena working on one of her sketches:

When it was time for dinner, we drove to a local restaurant, Marlin, where Elena is very well known, and we feasted on a never ending array of Cuban food....not to mention some very good margaritas.  Thanks to Manny, the very generous owner.

And the very best......

Through The Eyes of An Artist

The first collaborative art journal group I joined was Through The Eyes of An Artist, and this wonderful journey is almost at an end.  This weekend I did pages for Tracy, and I am the last in the circle for her book.  So when this beautiful journal leaves NY, it will be heading home.  I know Tracy is excited, and when she sees the pages in person, she will be thrilled.
Here is my contribution:

 

As I've been doing in all my journals lately, I begin by creating a collage background with bits of random scraps of paper, including music sheets, old text, advertising, scrapbook paper, etc.  Then I'll add some paint,  including metallics,the water soluble oil pastels Lynne Perella turned me onto,  stamping, and whatever other embellishments I feel belong.

Although the look is very different, I used the same technique on Sharon's pages.  The color palette is just more vivid.

Here is the two page spread:

Page 1:

And page 2:

My art goddess is a stamp from a Wendy Vecchio set called Art Rules, and I love the image. I just gave her some color and bling, and a rather voluminous cloak.  Are you really an art goddess without a voluminous cloak?  I think I like the word voluminous.  It kind of rolls off the tongue.  And it's not every day you get to use the word cloak in a sentence.

Before I digress even further, let me end this now, and as my (new) friend Wendy Vecchio says, "Go Make Art!"

Journal of Dreams

Last month I posted about my latest collaborative art journal project, Journal of Dreams.  The other day I received Daisy's precious book and have been working on it almost non-stop.
Although still heavily influenced by Lynne Perella's work, I realize how much I'm making her collage style my own, and each piece I do seems more authentic.  How's this for bumper sticker philosophy:  "Be Yourself.  No One Else Is More Qualified For The Job."
Anyway, here is the page I did for Daisy:

I began with watercolor paper, gessoed it, added some texture (too much, as it turned out....have to revise my way of doing that....too lumpy), and lots of color with the water soluble oil pastels.  The cityscape was made from some free clipart I downloaded, but mostly random bits of leftover paper from other projects. 

In this journal we decided to do one page, so the reverse side could be whatever we wanted.  Again, gesso, texture, color, images,  and a few words from me!

More of Through The Eyes of an Artist

I just received Elena's journal from Valerie.  It is really quite beautiful.  Everyone who has worked in it so far has done such wonderfully detailed pages.  Elena had requested that a key be included, so most of the pages have a key/door kind of theme.  Mine too.

I'm still really into the collage style, and a funny thing happened.  I thought Elena's pages were 8" square, and that's what I did.  When I went to put them in the journal, I discovered that they should have been 7"!!

I remembered something Lynne Perella said at her workshops.  Some of her favorite elements to add to her collages were the little scraps she'd cut off of other pieces.

So I trimmed my pages down to the proper size, and cut up the trimmings and added most of them to the piece.  And I actually think it looks even better this way.

As with my last pages for Valerie, I used lots of gesso (white, this time), acrylics, those water soluble oil pastels, tissue paper, clipart, many random objects for texturing,  and some actual rusty old keys.

I already posted the pictures on our yahoo group, and got the thumbs up from Elena.

A very good day in the art room!

Through The Eyes of an Artist -- Circle Book

With no appointments, and plenty of food in the house, I was able to spend the day working on pages for Valerie's Through The Eyes of An Artist journal.

Still creating under the influence of Lynne Perella's workshops, I did two very heavily layered and textured pages, using black gesso, water soluble oil pastels, acrylic paints, some clipart, rubber stamps, embroidery floss, stencils......in other words, lots of supplies.

I'm pleased with how these pages turned out, mainly because they came so naturally and easily to me. I do think I'm settling into my art niche, a collage style that really speaks to me.

Hopefully Valerie will feel the same!

Journal of Dreams

I have signed up for yet another collaborative art journal. Elena, my online friend, sister-in-art, and all round instigator of good ideas, is again the driving force behind all this. This time we will be making art and journaling about our dreams....nighttime dreams, daydreams, dreams for the future, any and all dreams.

Many of the same women from the I Dream in Colors and Through The Eyes of An Artist journals are in this group, as well as some new artists.

A week ago I was a real mess.....first I cut my paper wrong, then I had an issue with the cover, then after binding the whole thing I realized the cover wouldn't bend. Oh boy, I was tempted to bow out very ungracefully.

Then I went to the Lynne Perella workshops and suddenly there were no problems. I found an old book downstairs in the trash, altered it, gessoed it, and turned it into my latest journal.

You can see Lynne's influence in all the texturing I did. And I used my new Portfolio oil pastels a lot.

I had been certain I'd never be ready by our September launch date, but I have my covers done, my introductory pages done, and an art page done. Not only will I be ready, I'll be early!

I started my journal with this page, that expresses a dream I've always had of visiting the far east:

Lynne Perella, Part 3

We were working on large sheets of the red rosin paper. We had the choice of whether our finished piece would be a painting or a book. Most of us chose the book. Lynne called it an "easy book" (or was it a "fast book" ---don't remember), but it became a book with one cut and a few folds, so I guess it was both easy and fast.

The interesting thing about this method is that you have absolutely no idea how each page is going to look until the folding is finished. Your images might be right side up or upside down. An image might fold over two surfaces. Or your colors might do something totally unexpected.

My medieval piece was colored with both cool and warm colors. Looking at the full piece they seemed to blend well, though clearly one side was cooler and the other warmer. When the sheet became a book, something wonderful happened....each spread turned out to be either warm or cool, not both. A happy accident for sure. And if I'd wanted it to turn out that way I could never have figured out how to accomplish that. Check it out:

A warm two page spread:

And two very cool spreads:

Here is the book made from my piece for the asian-inspired workshop:

This was a wonderful experience and I already feel invigorated and recharged. I'd been avoiding working on two journals for lack of motivation and inspiration. I've already whipped through both, using much of what I learned, yet not copying Lynne, just integrating her techniques into my own style.

By the way, these workshops were sold out and The Ink Pad convinced Lynne to offer them again. So if you're in NY or can get here, they will be given on October 10 and 11.

Someone asked what I was going to "do" with these books. Well, I don't think I need to do anything, but I could add some journaling. I'm not sure, but honestly, I believe that even without any words they tell quite a story.