A Documented Life -- Recycled Art

This week's prompt in The Documented Life Project is to collage something you've recycled. I decided what better to do than recycle bits and pieces and leftovers from old art projects, including those I've done and some I've received.

I used a piece of an old magazine cover as my base. As I arranged the elements I tacked them down with Elmer's Extra Strength glue stick (it doesn't muck up the sewing machine needle). 

Some of the circles are fabric, others are paper. 

There are bits of old tags, circles punched from postage stamps and some cut from envelopes. See the piece on the top left with the ribbon? It is the top of a tag that had otherwise gotten damaged. Over on the top right, those animal heads were on postage stamps, I believe from Australia.

The brightly striped circles were cut from paper that was originally an envelope, handmade by a friend who sent me some "stuff." And I do believe that is Queen Elizabeth in the center of one of the circles. (Also from a postage stamp).

I'm sure I've said this before, but I love using things made/sent by my friends in my own art. Even just a scrap of paper or fabric, or a bit of ephemera handed to me at a workshop will make me think of that friend every time I look at the finished piece.

Getting My Tangle On

Several months ago, a discussion of Zentangling began in one of my groups (Blissfully Art Journaling). My friend (and group mom) Teri suggested that those who were interested follow along with the tangles in this book, because many of us already owned it:

I found a nice chunky notebook to work in.

I got into this because I'm a doodler, and just wanted to add some variety to my doodling. You know, something a little more interesting than my usual crosshatching. What I didn't expect, was how relaxed Zentangling made me feel.

Every day Most days Many days I'd practice the tangles, generally first thing in the morning .There are usually three presented each day, with extremely easy stroke by stroke directions. The culminating activity is to use the new tangles in a design, along with any others previously learned.

My first designs are very simple, since I didn't have a whole lot of tangles to work with...yet. I think the designs grew in interest and complexity, and I have found that a few minutes of Zentangling is a much better and more calming way to begin each day than my usual coffee and email. (Oh, those come later, I'm still me).

Here are a few, in chronological order. I'm about 2/3 through the book, by the way.

The chapter I'm working on now deals with adding color. In the first design, I used colored pencils, in the second, watercolors.

A Documented Life....That's How I Fold

A fold by any other name, is.....a tip in. Our Documented Life Planners are full of them, at least one for every week. This week's prompt is to do a fold (AKA, tip in) on a fold. I've been doing that all along, because my book is not an actual planner, and I have to tip in the weekly journaling pages, and they usually wind up on one of my pre-existing tip ins. But, in honor of this being a challenge of sorts, I did more than one fold on a fold.

This is what the page looks like. Just about everything on it is the result of gelli plate printing on deli wrap paper.

On the top of the page a tag had already been tipped in. On it, I attached (AKA tipped in; AKA folded on) a small brown paper bag. Here is what's under the bag.

The bag serves as a pocket, and inside, a small tag. The flower makes it easy to pull the tag out. BTW, the stripes (arrows and banners) that are all over this page were done with the gelli plate transfer technique. I've seen it demonstrated with packing tape, but I used Scotch Magic tape because it has a matte finish, which I prefer to the gloss of the packing tape.

If you lift the tag, the underside is covered with that tape. Shall we call it faux washi? And under the tag a continuation of my I'm-sick-of-winter-gimme-some-spring theme. Flowers and birds, people, flowers and birds.

Moving down to the bottom of the page are two small tags. The bottom one is hinged on the right, the top one on the left. Why? Absolutely no reason other than variety. To find out what I long for, you have to lift the top tag.

Good guess. I need some spring!

If you lift the bottom tag, a short rant on the subject, and another glimpse of what lies beneath the whole shebang.

The three larger birds were cut free hand from some gelli plate prints. The little guy on the bottom is from Prima (I think).

As far as art and folds go, I am finished. But I just may be inspired to add a few more words. We'll see.

A Documented Life - Let Me Repeat Myself

I find myself looking forward to Saturdays, when the creative minds behind The Documented Life Project post the prompt for the week. Week 7's suggestion: select a shape and repeat it throughout the page. My immediate thought was to do circles because I love circles, I'm always doing circles, and I have about a million circle stamps and stencils. Hmmm, where's the challenge there? Then I thought about silhouettes, for largely the same reason. Lots of silhouette stamps and stencils in my stash. So, naturally, I ultimately decided on triangles, not a shape I often use, and guess what? Barely a stamp, stencil, or other embellishment in that shape anywhere in my vast collections.

I went to the bag that holds all my gelli plate prints and started cutting triangles. I then used matte medium to adhere them to a page I had previously painted with a wash of turquoise. The triangles were overlapped, and in the spaces where there were none, I drew some in with pens. I created some triangular stencils by masking half of diamond shaped stencils with painter's tape, and stenciled some areas with black paint. I also outlined some of the triangles with black fluid acrylic.

I added some triangles of fabric, decorative napkins, and textured grungeboard. Then some doodling with glaze and souffle pens, and finally, a trip to the sewing machine.

Some of the triangles are lifted up with dimensional adhesive dots. That, along with the stitching, adds some texture and interest without adding a lot of bulk to a journal that is already getting very very big.

While I had the machine opened, I worked on a little top secret project. I'm "auditioning" ideas for an upcoming swap, so I did a little hand-felted heart, which is embellished with some fibers, held in place with machine stitching. 

BTW, the heart is actually about half the size of the photo. Don't know if I'll wind up using this technique in the swap, but I do like the way it looks. 

Better Late Than Never

Over two years ago, we (and by we I mean my collaborative art journal peeps and moi) started a new round robin with an asian theme. I thought I was finished with that ages ago, and in fact, have had my own book back for over a year now. Turns out, due to a glitch in the mailing process, Marita's book skipped me, and it was only recently that I was able to do some pages and mail them to Marita so she could finally have a completed book. I used a stencil technique I learned from the wonderful Lynne Perrella. When you find an image you love, you make a bunch of photocopies of it, and then using a craft knife, cut away only parts on each copy. You also carefully cut out the entire image on one, so you have a silhouette as well. That way you can create (or maybe I should say recreate) the image, but using your own colors, textures, designs, etc.

The two facing pages:

Close-ups:

Most of the color comes from acrylic paint (some are metallic), though there is some embellishment with markers, paint pens, and glaze pens. Lots of stencils were used. You can see how using Lynne's technique allowed me to decorate each part of the image differently. Surely not authentic, but I love how it came out. I have been zendoodling almost daily, so couldn't resist doing some of that on the quote. 

Since I was working on loose pages, and not in the book, I used that opportunity to add some texture with some machine stitching. I don't know how much of that is apparent in the photos, but it's there.

So happy to have finally done this and gotten the pages into the mail. I really do hate being so late with something, even if it wasn't my fault.

A Documented Life - What Inspires You?

Such is the journaling prompt this week in The Documented Life Project. Do a page based on something/someone that is an inspiration. I chose the watercolor sketches of Jane LaFazio, one of my favorite artists. Check out Jane's blog here. I love Jane's style; her sketching and painting is natural and intuitive, and surprisingly easy to follow. I've had the great fortune (and pleasure) of taking classes with Jane. There were several people in one class that had never sketched or used watercolors before, and by the end of the day even they were producing wonderful pieces. If you can't get to one of Jane's classes, she also teaches online. You can even find some short tutorials that are free. Click here for one of those on YouTube.

One of my favorite things to do is sketch everyday objects. I see it as a way to document a moment in life where too many (if any) words are unnecessary.

My page, followed by some closeups.

The process:  sketch with pencil (I used 98lb. bristol paper and a plain old #2 pencil) lightly, then draw over the pencil lines with a thin permanent pen (I used a Micron, tip size 01). Erase the pencil lines, then paint. If you've never done this before and want to try, do watch Jane's video. I have a travel sized Sakura watercolor kit, but you can use any brand you have. According to Jane, even a child's set will work just fine.

This is where I have found my inspiration today. What is inspiring you right now?

ZenDoodling A Documented Life

This week's prompt in The Documented Life Project was to create a border of doodles. You could say I got carried away, as I didn't stop at the border. I've been following Beckah Krahula's "One Zentangle A Day" since the fall. By following, I mean attempting to practice a new zentangle daily. So, I've skipped a few days and then did more than one on some days, and I'm about a third through the book. I am by no means a zentangle purist, but I do like the feeling I get when I'm lost in the process. No kidding, it really is a very calming activity. Since my prompt page contains some "official" tangles as well as my own marks, I'm calling it ZenDoodling.

The fish is a stamp I carved ages ago in a Julie Fei-Fan Balzer class. It's just a plain outline of a fish, so lots of empty space to doodle in. For the coloring, I used a variety of pens and markers and some watercolors as well. After last week's prompt (secret messages), which was very emotional for me, this week was just fun. And fun is good.

Speaking of good, and this has nothing to do with the project, I just wanted to share a VERY good tip I received from my good friend Pat. I think she shared this months ago, but I just had a reason to try it out, and it works. Do you have any paintbrushes you forgot to wash and are now totally stiff and unusable? Of course you do. Want to get them nice and soft again? Of course you do. Just soak them overnight in hair conditioner. It doesn't have to be an expensive brand. In fact, this is a good time to use up those little bottles of the stuff that you save every time you stay in a hotel. And this works even if the brush is full of dried up glue.

Secret Message

Prompt #4 in The Documented Life Project is:  "write a secret message and then paint over all but one word."  Sometimes it feels like the universe is reading my mind.  This was one of those times.  I've been discussing secrets with several family members.  One secret in particular.  Part of which we knew something about, but a lot that has been revealed to my brother and I after our mom's recent death.  Intellectually it is interesting; emotionally, it is heartbreaking.  And although I have mostly negative feelings about family secrets, I have to admit, being a very private person myself, there are few details I'm prepared to make public.  But, it was a good experience for me to take the opportunity afforded me by this week's prompt, to turn it into a journal page.

The larger photo is of my mom and dad, taken around the time they married.  The smaller photo.....well, that pretty much illustrates the secret.

To the right of this page is a tip in that I used to journal on; a page only I will ever see.  Well, you'll see a snippet, just enough to show how I did it.

My mom experienced many challenges and a lot of sadness, but this is what I'm taking from all this:  instead of giving in to grief, she chose life, and went on to live a long and good one.  And had she not made that choice, I wouldn't be here.

BTW, the background (much of which is covered) is a wonderful new technique I learned from Wendy Vecchi.  Click here to see Wendy's video.

The Further Adventures of My Documented Life

As I suspected, this has been pretty easy to keep up with.  Every Sunday we get a journaling prompt.  Last week it was to include a selfie.    As I'm determined to simplify my life (have already thrown out countless bags of junk), I did this:

Me, sitting on a mountain of supplies.  To be more accurate I should have shown me buried under that mountain.  I'm trying to keep only what I actually use.  I'm making progress, but although my work space is neater and more organized, I know I still have TOO MUCH STUFF.  I guess there will be a round two of purging in my future.  

This week the prompt is to include an envelope we received in the mail.  I've been in a few mail art exchanges, so that was easy.  In the process of purging, I uncovered a gratitude journal I started in 2000.  I only did it for a couple of months, but I enjoyed reading what I wrote.  

The green pocket was made from part of an envelope I received a couple of years ago from my friend Inge in Belgium.  In it, one of the pages from my gratitude journal that spoke to me in a big way.

Every single thing on this page, except for the paint and the ink, was received in the mail from a friend. 

Under the paint and the stamping are postage stamps, scraps from other envelopes, photos, funny advertisements.....all the things that we artsy folk like to send to one another.  I think you can see some of those layers peeking through here:

Speaking of prompts.....in one of my groups (Blissfully Art Journaling), Teri has started to give a template as a prompt.  Here is the current one:

As you can see, by using it I have killed two prompts with one page.  So to speak.