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.

Fifty Shades of.....White!

Many years ago, my introduction to collaborative art journals began with the book True Colors.  It chronicled with breathtaking illustrations a collaborative effort between 15 outstanding mixed media artists.  The originator was one of my favorites,
Lynne Perrella.  Each artist chose a color palette for their book, and Lynne chose white.  Ever since then I've wanted to do a primarily white book.  If that seems boring, think again.  As anyone who has ever headed to Home Depot to buy white house paint can tell you, there are at least 50 shades of this color. 

The Kindred Souls group I belong to is just finishing up our first round robin, and for our second we're doing a color theme.  I signed up immediately and chose all the shades of white plus a touch of black.  My first task, to create the journal itself.  Here are my covers.

front:

 

close up:

 

back:

 

inside:

 

 

As you can see, I had a little a whole lot of fabric and lace leftover from my recent vintage lace round robin.

 

 

Next, my own page to get things started.  I recently was fortunate enough to take a class with Anna Dabrowska, AKA  Finnabair, and was happy to use many of the leftover elements from that class.  And her techniques for making all those diverse pieces work together through color.

 

 

 

It began with a grid of scrapbook paper rectangles, most of which was covered with a dry brush application of white gesso.  Then the image of the woman was added.  Ribbon was twisted and adhered for her head scarf, and her clothing was gessoed over so I could decorate it with ink and stamps.  Her sleeve was done with a Michelle Ward stamp, and the body with stamp I carved myself.

 

 

 

I then began adding my assortment of metal, wood, and paper embellishments.  They were all covered with gesso, paint, and sprays.  My last step was to add some stenciling (again, by Michelle Ward) to the background.  I used black paint, then toned it down with a whitewash.

 

 

 

I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out, and I just can't wait to see what everyone else does in my book.  It is packaged and ready to begin its journey.  First stop, Michigan!



 

 









Back to Russia

How Sue Acquired A Russian Ancestor

 

 

Clearly, I still have the desire to incorporate images of Russia into my art.  When I received Sue's Vintage Ancestors book this week, I knew immediately where her next ancestor would come from.

 

Sue structured her book a bit like a mystery (a very cool idea), setting her main character, Alice, off on a world wide journey to locate distant relatives.  Each one had a key (and Sue asked that we all use a key somewhere on our pages), and one of Alice's quests was to find the key that matched the one she herself possessed.

 

So naturally, I sent Alice to Russia, although an additional trip to Paris was necessary.  And I just had to throw in some Russian royalty as well as a rather emphatic nod toward my own Jewish Russian roots.  I knew all those years of reading mysteries would come in handy some day.

 

 

Very much under the infuence of Lynne Perrella, most of the coloring I did was with my Portfolio pastels.  The church which is furthest in the background is a drawing of the New Russian Orthodox Church in Paris.  Overlaid are some drawings of Russian churches as well as a few of the stamps I carved myself.  They have all been embellished with sparkly things, German scrap, and lots of doodling with my glaze pens.

 



The young beauty is Natalia, widow of Alice's distant cousin, Grand Duke Dimitri.  Below her photo is a pocket containing the explanation of all this, and to her left, the key she inherited from the late Duke.

 

 

After taking pictures of my pages, I decided that the litte faux Faberge egg atop the key needed more bling, so I added some.  Much more authentic now, LOL.

 

 

 

And here is the story of Natalia and Dimitri. 

 

 

 

I do love the challenge of inventing ancestors for my friends!









Far Away Places

For the third May in a row I traveled to Connecticut for one of my favorite activities......taking a workshop with the fabulous Lynne Perrella.  This year was better than ever, for two reasons:  co-teaching with Lynne was Michelle Ward, and I was able to share the experience with three of my favorite peeps, Cheryl, Pat, and Teri.  Oh, I should have said there were three reaons this year was the best:  Cheryl drove, so we car-less city folk didn't have to do the Metro-North -(with a train change)-to-Wassaic-then-get-a-cab-to-the-hotel-with-two-tons-of-art-supplies routine.

The theme was Far Away Places, and we spent many hours in the weeks preceding the workshop deciding on our places, doing research, and gathering images and supplies. 

Of course I brought my camera; I even brought extra batteries.  Did I take any photos?  Not a one.  With my table full of materials and my hands full of paint and gesso, pulling out the camera was the last thing on my mind.  Luckily, Michelle posted a few nice snaps on her blog.  Check it out.  It also has pictures of both Lynne's and Michelle's sample pieces, a beautiful photo of Lynne and Michelle, and a group shot, which I have swiped here:

 

 

The workshop was held, as usual, at the lovely Interlaken Resort and Conference Center in Lakeville,  where they treat us very well, providing breakfast, lunch, day-long beverages and afternoon snacks.  Here are a few photos of the grounds taken at past workshops:





 

 

 

Actually, the grounds were even more beautiful and full of flowers this year.

 

I decided on Russia as my far away place.  My grandparents came from there, and though their experiences both pre and post revolution were not exactly a day at the beach, it is where they came from, and I wanted to include that in my work.

 

On day one we did a project with Michelle.  She showed us how to make cuts in folded paper to create windows and shapes that either pop out or recede.  I loved it!  Here is that piece (all photos taken at home):

When folded, it looks like a book, and this would be the cover:



 

 

The cover with the windows opened:

 

The back cover:

 





 

The piece opened and standing:

 

Opened and lying flat:

 

Details:

 

The back:

 

 



On the second day, we did a long banner with Lynne.  While Michelle largely uses paint as her color source, Lynne is all about the Portfolio water soluble oil pastels.  I love them too. 

 



 

 

Day three was a project with Lynne and Michelle.  First they each demonstrated the way they approach making a grid design, and then we set out to do our own version.  My grid was made up of two inch squares of various papers, many left over from the previous days.  Although much of the grid wound up being covered by the focal image and stenciling, enough of it is evident and makes an interesting base for what came afterwards.

 

 

 

We were told that Lynne and Michelle are already talking about what they want to do next year.  Sign me up!



 

 



 

 

 

 

 

The Sketchbook Project, 2013 Edition

This is my third year of submitting a book to the Sketchbook Project, and it was a close call. Life really got in the way and I wasn't sure I'd get it in the mail on time, but I did. And I got the confirmation email that it was received and catalogued. I look forward to visiting the library in the spring with my also participating friends to see as many books as possible. I have many online art friends I may never get to meet, but every year I do get to enjoy their sketchbooks.

I had chosen the theme "Travelog" because I envisioned doing sketches and watercolors wherever I went. Trouble is, I really didn't go many places and didn't do too much sketching. However, I did take a lot of classes, go on several retreats, and made a lot of art. So I transformed my book into a travelog of my projects.

My original cover (no picture) was of passport stamps but I covered that with a collage made of scraps from many of the things I did.

 

 

 

The inside of the front cover lists key words in my artistic journey:

 

 

My travels were more mental and emotional than physical (I didn't get much further than NJ and CT), but travels they were.

This was a crayon resist experiment that could have gone better, but it taught me something, so not a failure at all.

 

 

A class with Dina Wakley inspired me to do more bird paintings at home.  (This should really be the last photo, but since blogger has been giving me fits for two days, I'm leaving well enough alone, and it can stay where it landed.)

 

 

 Learning a bit about zentangling was something I very much enjoyed.

 

 Making stamps from a variety of materials, including this foamy type stuff:

 

 I did try to sketch an everyday object now and then:

 

Lettering classes with Joanne Sharpe, both in person and online really did improve my writing: 



I took a wonderful class with Doreen Kassel.  We made animal ornaments by covering plain glass ones with polymer clay, adding features, baking them, then painting them with oils.  Since I couldn't include one in the sketchbook, I did my best to draw one that I did.  I LOVE this little bird!

 

 



 

The workshops I've taken with Lynne Perrella and Ann Bagby have been a great influence.  I am mad for stencils! 

 

What I learned from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is how a very simple hand carved stamp can be used in many ways on different surfaces:

 

 

An example of how I've learned to incorporate scraps from projects into a new piece, and how stenciling is one way to blend them into a cohesive work.

 

These pages are just a sampling of what I've been doing this year, but I didn't have time to include every class, every project, every experiment.  Or every wonderful teacher!  Seth Apter, Laurie Mika, Leighanna Light, Michelle Ward, Michael DeMeng, Sandra Koterba, Dyan Reaveley, Ingrid Dijkers, and Dawn DeVries Sokol all taught me so much, and I wish I had had the time to do pages in my sketchbook to prove that point.