This and That: Tape, Paper, Planners....and Jodi Ohl!

In spite of the promises of snow and my lingering cough wreaking havoc on my plans, I've got lots of little things to share!

First, I am the proud new owner of a set of the bright and beautiful washi tape designed by Aimee of Artsyville.  She has decided to "retire" her washi tape project, and offered a "buy one set, get one set" from her Etsy shop, and my awesome Mom gifted me with my very own set of six.  You are likely to see lots of Artsyville washi on my planner and art journaling pages in the coming months!

Aimee is always generous with her hand-lettered goodies, and included this insert with lots of ideas for using her washi tape.  At the rate my collection is growing, I better be getting some of these projects underway!  I have accumulated a LOT more rolls since I showed you my wooden schoolhouse storage solution.

My mother and I are taking full advantage of living close to one another for the first time in almost twenty years.  We both love art-making and paper, paper, paper, so art and crafts stores are dangerous for us!  But now, when we buy a pack of paper, for example, we split it with one another so we can enjoy even more variety.  My mom picked an autumn-themed collection, and I added the papers above to my stash.  My collection was called Mango Frost...gorgeous!

We used our new paper to work on a project I've been wanting to try since Cloth Paper Scissors published the article, "Folder Journal:  Making Art From Office Supplies," in one of their 2011 issues.

I think I want to add some additional papers to mine--maybe some text pages and vintage images--but for now, here is the booklet I crafted from a common office file folder:

Front

First inside spread

Second inside spread

Back

I am such a HUGE fan of stitched paper, and I love that this project had me stitching front and back sides with no concern for the backsides of the stitching showing.  By using the Mango Frost paper selection, I had guaranteed color cohesiveness...so much easier than digging through my paper collection hoping my colors and patterns don't clash!

Finally, I've been continuing my efforts to perk up my planner pages to add some fun to the mundane task of keeping my time organized.  Remember the empty little planner spread awaiting the beginning of a new week?

Well, this is one example of how the embellishing happens over the course of a week:

The stickers, the tape, the clip art, the quotations, the comments about my day, the sticky notes--they all make it that much more interesting to keep track of my days.

A great simple quotation from MLK, Jr.



As this week draws to a close, here's the spread that has been growing over the past five days:

Since I don't maintain a daily art journal, this is a simple fun way to infuse a little color and creativity into my life when I don't have time for a full-fledged project.

Finally, I wanted to share a link to a post by Jodi Ohl.  Via her eNewsletter, Jodi asked her readers to submit "burning questions" about art-making and the artist's life.  She wrote a post responding to the question I shared with her, and I would love for you to check it out.  Here is what I wrote to her:

Hi Jodi!  I met you at the CREATE Mixed-Media Art Retreat in 2013, and I have a piece of your artwork hanging happily in my art room!  My burning question has to do with balancing artwork created for business versus artwork created for personal pleasure.  Once you become a professional artist, do you still have opportunities to create art simply for personal pleasure, or does it pretty much always have to serve some purpose--for a show, as a demonstration, as a commission, etc.?  And how is your process affected?  Is your process different when you are creating a piece for a specific purpose, versus just messing around, having a fun, trying out a technique, etc.?

You can read her response to me here.  If you have a question for Jodi, she is still accepting "burning questions" to respond to!



It Takes Courage...Oh, the Irony!

"It Takes Courage"
9"x12"

I created this painting this afternoon, trying to make up for a piece I made yesterday that felt like a dismal failure.  I knew I liked my idea, but I was unhappy with yesterday's results, so I bit the bullet and started all over again from scratch. 

My building blocks for this painting were:
1. this favorite quotation from e.e.cummings that I have saved in one of my many notebooks:  "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are,"
2. a butterfly stamp that inspired the ones on my painting,
3. the work of Cindy Wunsch, published in Cloth Paper Scissors in their November/December 2011 issue.  I like her mixed-media background, large undetailed central image, and stamped poetry across the page.

Here is the piece I did yesterday: 

I liked the background, and a few of the small butterflies came out nicely, but the shapes and markings on the large butterflies looked much too artificial and forced.  I am really working on painting and drawing with a lighter hand, and it's not easy for me!

I call "courage" ironic in my blog post title, because I was so sure that I would mess up this second effort, that I took a photo of my background before I began, just in case I completely ruined my painting and had nothing good to show for it!

But I guess I should give myself some "courage credits" for digging in and trying again.  I am much happier with my results this time!  The stylized butterflies look more "clean," simple, and purposeful to me than in yesterday's piece.

Have you grown up and become who you really are?  I like to think I'm on my way...

Success! (Another Pieced Paper Collage)

In my last post, I showed you my first attempt at a pieced paper botanical collage, using the design and technique presented by Susan Black in a 2013 Cloth Paper Scissors article.

I commented that I looked forward to trying the technique again, using my own design, so that my final result will feel less forced and more original.

Success!

I designed my own piece, using drawings of seed heads and dragonflies from 20 Ways to Draw a Tree by Eloise Renouf as reference pieces.

I also chose my papers more carefully for this piece, being certain that they all appealed to me individually and in concert with one another, and that they felt balanced on the page.

Finally, I did not include any handwritten element.  As much as I like to include printed words in my collages, I'm not "there yet" on incorporating my own lettering and enjoying the results.

With those changes from my dress rehearsal attempt, I created a piece that I really enjoy! 

Caatje mentioned in her comment on the last post that "often our opinion of our work is not so much about the work itself, but about how we felt when we made it."  How true!  Making my first piece I was focused on following the instructional steps and using Susan's design, which probably led to my feeling that the final result looks forced.  On this piece, I was excited to create my own design and make the project "my own," and it feels much more natural and original.  

I am encouraged to continue creating these pieced paper collages on coffee-wash backgrounds!

Pieced Paper Botanical Collage

I had a dress-rehearsal today for a pieced paper collage technique that I would like to explore further.  I'm not entirely satisfied with the results, but I think that if I try it again with a more original design, the final result will feel less "forced."

I used a tutorial by Susan Black, published in Cloth Paper Scissors back in July/August 2013.  The first step is to brew black coffee to use as a stain for my watercolor paper.  I used a packet of instant coffee that I've had in my craft stash for years for just this purpose.

I used a 2-inch foam brush to lightly apply a wash of the coffee to my 9x12 sheet of cold-press watercolor paper. 

Then I dabbed more coffee onto the paper, and the initial light wash "contained" the pools of coffee within their perimeter (except for a couple renegade dribbles that ran off the side of two of the four papers I stained).

I tilted and turned the paper to let the coffee run around the page, and then used my embossing tool to further spread it around the page.  It looks like a very light wash of neutral color until it dries, and then you can see the varied layers quite well.  There is no way to tell how a given background will turn out, which is part of the fun of creating them.  Here are the four different backgrounds I created:

For the next step, I drew a pencil sketch onto tracing paper, using basically the same design that Susan Black uses in her article.  She advises us to place the tracing paper over top of the coffee-stained background as we draw, which helps with the composition and design.  Next, I held the watercolor paper up to the window with the tracing paper underneath, and copied the design onto the watercolor paper.  In retrospect, I would trace it quite lightly, because the pencil lines are not part of the finished product.

Finally, I painted the stem, and then chose papers from my stash to piece over the drawing to create the collage.  I used my tracing paper drawing again, holding it up to the sunny window under the scrapbook papers I selected.  I drew the shape in pencil, and then cut it out and fit it into its place in the collage.

I used a glue stick to adhere the papers.

I used watercolor paint for the stems--vidrian hue toned down with burnt umber.  Then I used a black pen to add outlines, dots, leaf veins, and accents to the stems.  I used two colored markers, including one with a bit of a metallic quality, to write the word "wonder" in the corner of the collage.

I like it, yes, but I copied Susan Black's design almost directly, and I would like to do a more original piece next time.  I feel as though the piece looks "forced" when it so closely mimics her work.  I enjoyed the process, though, and look forward to trying it again, when I can make the final result more "my own."

A Look Into My Art Journal

After finishing my first Art Journal Round Robin (AJRR) last year, I found myself with empty pages at the back of the book.  I didn't want to retire it to my art room shelves until those final spreads were complete! 

I decided to use that book for my regular art journaling this month.  Even though many, many months have passed since it's been used, I figure that lapse isn't going to look like much when I'm looking back over my art journals when I'm 81!

I sat down and collaged all four spreads in the same sitting.

I had a stack of images that I had clipped mainly from old issues of Somerset Studio.  I don't have enough shelf space to keep too many whole magazines, so I file articles I want to reference again, and add the pretty pictures to my collage fodder drawer.

That means, of course, that the beauty of these pages is due entirely to images that are not of my own creation!

But as many before me have noted, there is great therapy, and I would argue a degree of artistry involved in combining and arranging the images in new and meaningful ways.

I found again, as I have discovered before, that it helps to pull a stack of a large but limited number of pictures, rather than trying to rifle through my whole collection at the same time.

I pulled pictures that were "speaking to me" at that moment, and then as I started going through them, I began regrouping those that seemed to go together by color or theme or style.

From there, the spreads came together, and I went back in the days following the collage process to add some pen work and journaling.

There are still eight spreads left in the book, and while it is expanding as all delicious art journals do, there appears to be plenty of space to allow more collaging on those remaining pages.

I'll be back with more journal peeks when there is more to share!

Feeling Stitchy

My stitched postcard for the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap is due, and this weekend I sat down to give the project some serious consideration.

I was greatly inspired by an article in the Handcrafted publication (Volume 8), entitled, "Quilted Love Notes," by Jen Osborn.  I loved her layered fabrics, rough edges, primitive stitches, vintage photos, attached buttons, and printed ribbons.  My own fabrics, photos, ribbons, and stitches fell into place so naturally that it felt like a project that was definitely meant to happen!

I have a tendency to demand a certain perfection to my projects.  That is not to say that I think I am so great and so perfect; it is to say that I think all edges must line up, and paper must not rumple or tear, and stitches must align perfectly.  And it is to say that I toss things out in frustration that do not fit that standard.  For whatever reason, I felt blissfully freed from those requirements with this project, and I love the overall floppy, off-kilter, primitive feel of what resulted.

Rather than using hand-dyed fabrics, as Jen did, I scrounged around in my fabric stash for some likely candidates for my postcards.  My stash consists of old blue jeans, an old pair of off-white corduroys,  and a huge stash of my kids' outgrown clothes that seemed to have nice patterns or designs.  And rather than using the custom-printed ribbons by Anna Barrow that Jen mentions, I took old seam binding from my grandmother's stash, and used blue Staz-On ink and some rubber stamps to make my own custom messages.

The actual placement of elements felt easy and natural.  The most challenging task was just figuring out which layers to stitch together first so that any hand-stitching of buttons or photos did not require needle-breaking work through too much fabric.

I even got to raid my modest button collection for a few appropriate embellishments for each postcard.

I had so much fun putting stitched postcards together, that I ended up with three possibilities to choose from for the swap.  I have decided to send "Object of My Affection" to my swap partner, because I have found appropriate homes for the other two.

This stitching project kept me reaching into my fabric, binding, and paper stash all weekend, so I have a few more projects to share with you in an upcoming post.  And to all those wonderful people who have sent me mail art over the past few months that has gone woefully un-reciprocated:  I promise that there will be something fun in your mailbox SOON!