Hundertwasser influence

 

Been having fun playing with spraying backgrounds lately. Lots of spray acrylic paint colours over stencils and masks that were both found ojects and commercial stencils.

The hard part is trying to make some art on the top of the backgrounds. They already look like artworks and you don't know what to put on the top of them or even if you want to cover them up. But I know that you can't have a lovely complex artwork unless you let go a little and just work up the layers!

So I have shown you the stages of this page. I drew with black Pitt Artist pens and white Zigg pen, then coloured with Sharpies in red, yellow, blue and green.

Not sure if you recognise the influence for this piece ... it is Hundertwasser. The art journaling Yahoo Group "Blissfully Art Journaling" suggested the prompt to be influenced by Hundertwasser, and I rose to the challenge.

Enjoy and tell me about your recent art play!

Red Head

I had a lot of fun yesterday making art with some friends for a day. This art journal acrylic painting is the fruit of my pursuits!

Although I love mixed media, I realised when I went to describe this art page that it is actually pure acrylic paint. The background was done by laying objects on the page and spraying with watered down acrylic paint or liquid acrylic. Objects were also printed positively to use up the paint that was sprayed over them. Once the background dried more objects were layed down and sprayed over again. I tried this technique after doing Traci Bautista's Strathmore Art Workshop.

Then I used a pencil to draw a face over the top of the background and painted it in with acrylic paints.

Lots of fun! I was so pleased to finally use a background painting and paint something onto the top of it. I was never sure what to put on the top of these cool backgrounds. But I love the effect of the background texture coming through the foreground painting and giving it more interest.

I know I need to work on my face proportions a little more - I always make the eyes too big for the rest of the face. I also want to work on making the eyes on my faces more indistinct because they end up so clear and harsh looking - but practice makes perfect, so I will keep trying!

Keep making art guys!!!!

dark journal

These journal pages are in my "Dark Journal." This is an old repurposed ex-library book that I picked up in a library sale. The title of the book is "Cruelly Murdered" and it is about a grotesque murder that happened in England in 1860 and an investigation into who could have done it. The book is full of accounts, and photos and maps and plans, and I knew the minute I saw it at the library that it would be a perfect book to use as a "dark journal" for darker art journalling moments. I decided that I didn't really want darker and more personal art pages in my normal journals.

These pages are all mixed media with acrylic paint, collage, black Pitt artist pen, gesso, chalk pastel, souffle pens, sharpies. The eyes are my own drawing and painting.

frida round robin journal

This is the last Frida journal in this round-robin (sniff sniff) - I will miss Frida! I still have pages left in my journal that has come back to me, so I might add some more of my own pages to that book while I am still fascinated by her! I have learned so much about her from the reading I have done in research for the pages.


This journal is Lee's and I have decided to do a spread on Diego and Frida. I made Diego a frog and Frida a dove. The couple were referred to as the elephant and the dove, but Frida made references to Diego being like a frog. The quote on the left page is by Frida and it says "If you see him naked, you immediately think of the frog boy standing on his hind legs."


The background is acrylic paint, the frog and dove bodies are from the internet, as are the heads of Frida and Diego. I added stickers and rubons, and wrote and decorated with black Sharpie and black Pitt artist pens.

frida round robin journal

Still going on the Frida Round Robin. This is my entry in Tracy's Journal. Her theme is a visual diary or a secret diary.

I decided to do a page about Frida's Communist beliefs. The two excerpts are taken from her actual diaries.

The pages were painted with two shades of red acrylic paint. Then smudged with lack ink pad. The image of Frida is taken from a painting she did in honour of Leon Trotsky. I added the hammer and sickle with black pen. The flags are found images from the internet. I drew the line with black pen also. The images are outlined with graphite pencil.

Strathmore Online Workshop

I recently did a free online workshop offered by Strathmore. This workshop was done by Pam Carriker. I enjoyed the workshop and these are the three journal pages that I produced using her techniques.

We used printouts of our previous artwork and journal pages, altered the sizes and used them in new pages. We layered these images and patterns with colour and texture using charcoal, oil pastel, graphite, acrylic paint and more.

The end result was very different art to the original artwork the pages were made from. I enjoyed it immensely. Below is an image showing the progression of the pages over the four weeks. I forgot to scan week three on the angel page (-_-) sorry.

I was very pleased to do this workshop as it brought me back to my old love of layering and layering and layering!

frida round robin journal

This is my entry in Elena's journal with a theme of anything Frida.

The pages are layered scrapbooking papers, printed image of Frida, acrylic paint, pencil, gesso, stickers and other ephemera. The stick-on letters are really cool! They are puffy and cool colours.
I added texture with punchinella and stencils.

frida round robin journal

This is my entry in Elizabeth's journal with the theme "Self Portrait as Frida"

I kept these pages simple with mainly drawing.

Little bit of mixed media collage, but mainly fine tip felt pen. The patterns on the plaster cast on the second page are actually children's temporary tattoos!

frida round robin journal

This is a spread in one of the Frida Kahlo Round Robin books. It is Maxine's book and the theme is "The Day of The Dead"

Maxine's book is a collection of card and paper held together with two rings. I cut each of the skulls out in various sizes and decorated them with sharpies and sakura gel pens and black Pitt Artist pens. Frida is collaged on from an internet image, but with extra pieces of collage added to her skirt to make it fuller. I also painted over her skin and other areas with Sakura gel pens and outlined everything with black Pitt Artist pen.

frida round robin journal

This is a spread in one of the Frida Kahlo Round Robin books. It is Kate's book and the theme is Frida in San Francisco. I decided to go with her time in San Francisco in the 1930s.

Kate's book is yummy with thick watercolour paper, and it is a decent size to work in as well. I loved working in it. My layout is far from perfect, but time was of the essence, and I am still happy with the result.

It was soon after Frida and Diego's marriage, and Frida desperately wanted children. She lost a child because of her misshapen pelvis from the accident. She suffered much pain with her right leg, and met Dr Leo Eloesser who became a life long friend and medical advisor to her. She painted more as a hobby during this stay in San Francisco, keeping her husband company at his mural painting. She also fell in love with the little children in China Town.

It is mixed media collage with gesso, charcoal, pastels, stamps and ink, fine tip felt pen, Sakura gelly and souffle pens, and pencil. Especially loved playing with the gesso and blue pastel in the sky!

Right, now onto the next journal, the theme is Frida's Blue House. Can't wait to start on it... I am rearing to go!!!!

frida round robin journal

I am involved in a round robin journal project with ten other artists. The theme is Frida Kahlo. This is my journal that I decorated and did a spread and sent to Lee in Australia to do the next spread. Eventually I should get it back with mine and ten other artists take on the theme Frida that I will be able to keep. We each have started a journal so that we all have one to keep at the end.

I used a vintage children's book as my journal. I removed pages to make it the right size and gessoed the pages (MAN that took a ton of gesso and a lot of time!!!!)

The cover was painted with gold acrylic paint then red acrylic paint. I aged it with black and white ink pad. The pages are painted with acrylic paints, collaged with images and scrapbooking paper and decorated with stickers and stamps. LOTS of fun!

This was my spread to kick things off. It is inspired by Frida's description of where the notion of "Two Fridas" came from. She said that when she was young and feeling unhappy, she would go up to the window in their house (La Casa Azul - The Blue House) and look out. She would breathe on the glass of the window and draw a picture of a door onto it with her finger. She said she would then go out through the little door and run through the streets where she would go through the "O" in a store sign "Pinzon". This gate took her to an underworld where her imaginary friend was waiting for her, and the two would play. When she finished playing she would return home and go back through the little door. She would wipe off the door from the window and go about the rest of her day with a smile on her face!

I did the page with drawing, collage, acrylic paint and coloured pencil.

partner journal

I am involved in a partner journal with Wendy in Australia. These are the eighth set of layouts that I have done. These layouts are in Wendy's journal.

The theme for these pages was hopes, dreams or aspirations for 2010 or beyond.

They both have gesso backgrounds with water-soluble crayon colour over the top. Both have collage elements. Hand lettering has been done with white Signo Uni-ball pen and Sakura sparkle gelly roll pen in the roses page, and black Pitt artist pen and coloured pencils in the wings page. The wings and flourishes in the second page are stamped with black ink.

I think I will try something a little more vivid in my next two partner journal spreads. Mmmmmmmm! Have to think about that!

book wraps

I was busy before Christmas trying to make as many presents as I could for my family. I managed to make book wraps to give to my Mum and my sister. They are fabric covers to wrap your book up in when you want to take it with you. The wrap protects the book, and it looks good too!!

The idea came from Quilting Arts Magazine Issue 29 page 50, "Textural Book Wraps" by Angie Hughes. Angie's book wraps are just "to die for" and I would love to get my wraps more lacy thin like hers. I have been working on another project of Angie's from another magazine, a decorated bag. That is definitely a U.F.O. at the moment, I will post the finished product when I eventually finish it!!

The fabric of the book wrap is actually woven from strips of varied fabrics. Angie said she was looking for a use for upholstery offcuts, and weaving new fabric from old strips was the result. It is held together by being ironed onto iron-on interfacing. The ironed "fabric" was then decorated with acrylic paint and stamps, pieces of fabric and threads. Then a layer of organza is placed over the top and you take to the whole thing with your sewing machine. I crazy sewed all over the whole thing, folded one end in to be the flap that holds the book in place, added a decorative strip of fabric or ribbon at the end for a flourishy finish, and finally attached strips of recycled silk yarn for the ties to hold the book wrap closed.

partner journal

I am involved in a partner journal with Wendy in Australia. These are the seventh set of layouts that I have done. These layouts are in my journal.

I have had trouble getting back into my art after the hectic Christmas and New Year break, so these are simple layouts.

The theme for these pages was hopes, dreams or aspirations for 2010 or beyond.

The background for the first page is scrapbooking paper, the nest and egg are collaged on, the background is smudged with gesso, the writing is in black Pitt Artist pen and white Signo pen.

The background of the second page was stamped with text, then painted over with acrylic and gesso. The daisies were collaged on, then I drew and wrote over the top. I love Ali Edwards' ideas on taking one little word as a theme for your year!

scott base acrylic painting

A recent painting I did as a gift for my Uncle who spent two terms down at Antarctica's Scott Base. This was my impressionistic and stylistic take on an aerial view of the base. Lots of fun to paint... I learned a lot as I painted it as well.

This was the original aerial photo that I used as inspiration for the artwork.

This was initial sketching using pencil, liquid graphite, white poster paint pen and green highlighter. The list was me trying to sort out the order of the layers in my head.

This was a big sketch of my painting layout to help guide the colours as I laid them down.

First layers were white gesso, then a bright layer of Phthalo Blue acrylic dropped into pools of water on the surface of the canvas. Then I lay on plastic film (glad wrap, cling film) to make patterns.

Next was a layer of white gesso all over the top, once again using the plastic wrap to add texture. I looked at lots of images of snow and ice and I really wanted to try and get that dazzling look of bright blue showing through white ice. I got a big mess in these early stages! Paint all over me!!

Needless to say there was even more mess when I started splattering dark acrylic paint over the top. The colour is a homemade version of Payne's Grey that I love to work with... Mars Black mixed with Phthalo Blue and Phthalo Turquiose. I concentrated the splatter in the are where the buildings would be because the camp appears to sit on a really dark looking gravel.

Of course I forgot to take photos at the next stages, but I used Phthalo Turquiose for the buildings, and my Payne's Grey for the shading and shadows, gesso for the highlights.

Part way through I wasn't sure if I was going to be happy enough to give the painting as a gift, and then it just came together, and I am pleased as Punch with the final outcome.

Must paint more! Very exhausting, but also therapeutic!!

art dolls

Meet Frida Kahlo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Tamara De Lempicka and Vincent Van Gogh... reinterpreted in my drawing style! The following photos are of some Artist Art Dolls that I made for a Christmas present for my niece.

That is her waving at us!!

The collection picture above shows all the bits that went into the process to make them.

I searched the internet and books first for images of the artists and their artwork and printed inspiration pages to work from (top left hand corner)

Then I drew their faces first on paper with pencil, because I thought their faces were the most important part (top right hand corner)

When I was happy with the drawing, I went over it more exactly with ball point pen, then reduced it to the size I wanted and printed it at the top of an A4 page on my printer. I then carried on the picture and drew their bodies in pencil till I was happy with those (middle images)
I drew in these lines with ballpoint pen as well, rubbed out the pencil lines, and then scanned them into Abode Photoshop Elements 6 and darkened the lines and cleaned up any messy bits with the Photoshop rubber.

I found images of their artwork that I felt represented their style of art and printed out the images and the doll drawings onto iron-on transfer paper. I then ironed the images onto some fairly fine weave fabric that I found in my stash (bottom right hand images)

I clipped the images of the drawings with bulldog clips over strong pieces of cardboard, then I started painting them in with acrylic paints. When I was happy with all the colours and shading, I repeated over the lines with black Pitt Artist pen. I then carefully reironed the images between greaseproof paper, and it seemed to remelt the paint and lines back into the iron-on transfer again. I gave a small test piece a good scratch and the paint wasn't showing any signs of peeling off (Yay! that was one thing I was worried about!!) (see middle bottom images)

Next I sewed on the few little notions on Frida... the roses in her hair and the earrings. I then stiched the two sides of each doll together on the sewing machine leaving a small gap to turn through the right way. They were difficult to turn through the right way because the paint made the material very stiff and I didn't want to damage the painting either when I did it.
Then I stuffed them with some Dacron and hand stitched the opening at the bottom back together (Voila! bottom left hand corner)

These are the backs of the dolls showing some of their artwork. Didn't get good closeups of the faces of the dolls because the focus was fuzzy.

I hope to make some more artists to add to her collection in the future!

52 prompts - hats

Here is the next week of inspiration in my 52 prompts journal.


This is just aluminium foil framing an image from the movie "Signs", I have laughed many times thinking of this moment in the movie when they made aluminium foil hats to stop the aliens from controlling their minds. The black is Pitt Artist pen.



I enjoyed this movie, saw it recently on TV and so I thought of the Samurai hats as soon as the prompt came up. I would like to thank Lucy Thomsen for making the origami version of the hat for me out of bronze metallic paper. The page at the back is from a book and the images are from the internet. The text was printed with a computer.





This is an image from a vintage children's book. Very simple, just loved the image and the colours, and that fantastic beret! Because it was raspberry I had to quote the song lyrics, which were written with red Sakura souffle pen.




Quick collage with a background from a vintage children's magazine and images from a fancy dress catalogue (courtesy of Dover Publications) The edges of the background were inked and the title was printed on the computer.

Believe it or not this appears to be an ancestor of mine. Scanned from family photos. What a gorgeous hat! Printed text from the computer, scrapbooking paper, scrapbooking layering.

Scanned image from the book, scrapbooking paper and vellum, black Pitt Artist pen.

Please note that these are collections of images and paste-ups for inspiration and creative venting only. They use a mixture of my own photography, art and drawing, but they also use other people's images that I collage in because they inspire me to make art of my own, and I find they capture the feeling that I am looking for perfectly. This journal of inspiration is therefore a mixture of my art and a paste-up of other people's art that I admire.