Art Journaling or ... whatever

One of my art journal projects is to create a journal on gardening for my friends as a Christmas present.   It's a bit of a risk because though they love to putz in their garden who knows if they are a fan of the art journal style.  

Some would say my "journal" is not a traditional art journal.  Art journals are most often used for experimentation and recording personal revelations.  However, since I'm a self-proclaimed goddess I get to call it what I please and it pleases me to call it an art journal.

Below are the few pages that I actually completed for this journal.  It's a difficult task knowing when a piece is "complete" and you never know when the mood will strike to just gesso it and start over.  I've learned a lot on just these few pages and will no doubt continue to grow through this process ... just like in a "REAL" journal!

 This page started out with gesso and then applying newspaper all over the page.  I drew the leaves with oil pastels and outlined them with Sharpie Oil Paint markers.  Later, after purchasing these markers, I read that the Sharpie Poster Paint markers are preferable.  The art stores I frequent are discontinuing those so maybe Sharpie isn't going to keep producing them.  I am stuck with all these oil paint markers which aren't that great.  The paper absorbs the color and you have to go over them multiple times.

I had a marker run when trying to write my quote so I had to cover the top part of the page with scrapbook paper to cover my blob.

 On this page I started out with gesso and then stencils and Adirondack Color Dyes (love these!). After the dye dried I used oil pastels to emphasis shapes and create my own.  I added the quote by Georgia O'Keefe and a popped up flower in the left upper corner.

 I started out with the quote on this page.  Normally I start just adding elements and then look for a quote to add.  The flowers are scrapbook paper cut down to shapes and colored some of the flowers red. I typed the the quote "A weed is a plant that has mastered every survivor skill except for learning how to grow in rows".   I don't like the type and will probably stick to hand lettered pages from now on.

This page stared with water colored wavy lines on which I wrote general info about composting.  The heading type was computer generated (BLAH).  The border is scrapbook paper.  Not much going on on this one.

This page started out with gesso.  I dropped very wet acrylic paint drops on the page and took a straw and blew the paint in different directions. I had done a card like this and wanted to reproduce the effect.  On this page I discovered water-based markers can write on gesso.  I'm glad I discovered this because nothing much else was working besides water color and acrylic.  The butterflies are some stickers I had.

On this page I wanted to try image transfer.  I typed the text and reversed it on typing paper.  This was to be my transfer.  I created the journal background with a combination of acrylic paints and stencils.  I stamped the small dot pattern around the page.  Then using acrylic matte medium I covered the text side of the typing paper and laid it on the page.  I rubbed  the back of the typing paper to make sure I had good contact. When it was dry I wet the back of the typing paper and rubbed hard to remove the soft paper.  It worked!  the text stayed on the journal page and the typing paper all (mostly) rubbed off.  After everything was dry I added the flowers with oil pastels.











This was my first journal page attempt.  The flowers are some stickers I had.  The background is acrylic paint that is over stamped in Stazon ink using various stamps.

I had to include a page on Poison Ivy because my friend is forever recovering from it.  The page started out with gesso. I scrapped acrylic paint over the surface of the page and wrote out the "poison ivy' heading with a Sharpie I think.  I stamped the "beware" across the top and added the computer generated text.  Why did I use so much computer generated text - I hate it!  Lastly I stamped over the page with various stamps to grunge it up.

This page started out with acrylic paint scraped over the surface of the page.  Then I sprayed and stamped images to grunge it up a bit.  I stamped some flowers on newspaper and added those around the page.  Lastly I cut out words (computer generated of course) and added those.

Card Examples

I love making greeting cards!  In the 3 years I've been making cards I've made hundreds of cards.  I give them away because I couldn't possibly use as many as I make.  I've included a few of my favorites here as an example of what can be done.  

If you already make cards you may know about the Split Coast Stampers website.  SCS is a stamper community where paper artists can share their work and be inspired.  It's a wonderful community and  free to join. 

           

Card-Making

Today I thought I'd share some thoughts on card-making with you.  Card-making is a great way to relax and just create. No big canvas staring you in the face screaming in blinding white, "Make me perfect".  No huge investment of time and commitment.  Just a little space whispering, "Have fun!".  And you get the added pleasure of sending it to someone and making them happy.

If you get serious about card-making be prepared to empty your bank account.  This craft is the most tool intensive hobby I have but each tool adds needed detail and polish to your card.  There are dry embossing tools and heat embossing tools for adding dimension to your paper.  Die cut machines and many different dies for cutting out specialty shapes from paper.  Stamps and more stamps to add sentiments or images to your card. Of course you'll need the basics:  paper cutter, markers, tape and glue, ribbons, glitter, stamp pads, bling, beautiful scrapbook paper pads and a way to store all this stuff.  You get the picture!  

I needed lots of storage for all the do-dads so I bought a desk unit called the ScrapBox MiniBox.  It is awesome for maximizing a small space.  Take a look at the this ScrapBox link and you'll see how the unit opens with tons of space for storing stuff.  Here are some pictures of my work space on the rare occasion it was clean.

This is the unit closed.

This is the unit open.

This is the top of the desk space.

Time Travel

As a goddess, time travel is no problem so lets jump back to Aug 3, 2013 and see what's cooking in the kitchen.  Of course in my kitchen there is never any cooking going on nor is there housekeeping.  Those activities are better left to mortals and a good maid.  But today join me as we shout out that Sioux battle cry "Nake nula wauŋ welo!"  (english bastardization follows) .... Today is a good day to dye!!  That's right!  Eat, drink, be merry for today we dye. I know, misquotes all over the place but just go with it.  

I and my friend Betsy, Fiber Goddess, played most of the day dyeing cloth.  We mainly played at Deconstructed Screen Printing.  In this process you apply thickened dye in patterns to a blank, stretched silk screen frame.   The dye is allowed to dry.  Now you take print paste which is water mixed with sodium alginate thickener and use it to print off the screen.  The print paste re-wets the dried dye and as you pull the squeegee you get a print. You get beautiful abstract and sometimes unpredictable imagery in this process.   That was the first time we had ever done it and the results were striking.  We also had some left over liquid dye mixed up so we played at tray dyeing.    It was a long day but in the end we dyed happy.

Good Bye Old Friend

Today, as my first act as self-proclaimed Pop Art Goddess,  I destroyed in the name of art.  Well, actually I disassembled a weaving loom for shipping to its new home. It was and will be again an AVL Compu-Dobby Workshop Loom but right now it looks like a pile of scrap lumber.  I have mixed emotions about parting with this loom but hey, even self-proclaimed goddesses need cash.  Live long and prosper, dear friend.