January 16th: A prompt and a challenge

Happy New Year!  It's been far too long since I've been here.  😏 I'm hoping to change my ways... to do more art and to share it here. I run the Inspired Mixed-Media Altered-Arts Group on Facebook and decided it was time to do some challenges, once again.  So, I'm putting them out there on Mondays.  The first one should've been Jan. 16th, but I was a couple of days late, so we skipped the 23rd. Next one will go out Jan. 30th.  If you're interested in this kind of art, you're certainly welcome to join us over there!  (Do a search for the aforementioned group name on FB and you'll find us!)  So, since it's a new year and I always feel like the new year gives me a clean slate, the prompt is, "What will I do with a clean slate?" and the challenge is using security envelopes (that have cool designs on the inside) as part of your foundation.  So, here we go!  You can click on any of the following pictures and it'll take you to the original-sized photo, to get a better look.

I'm using Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions Art Journal in the 5 x 8" size.  The first picture shows you what it looks like when you open it... it even has an envelope for storing images, etc.... has a wonderful thick-chipboard cover (ready for your beautiful artwork!) and an elastic band, to hold it together.  

                                                The next picture shows how big the pages are.  My hands aren't very big, but since this type of art is generally done across both pages, it gives you plenty of room to work. 

I used the Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso for this.  The heavier the gesso, the more texture you can get out of it.  If you look closely at the above photo, you can see some of the texture that I created by dabbing my foam brush onto the page, in quick movements. After letting it dry (one of the most difficult things to do (!!) but, you can hit it with a heat-gun if you don't want to wait), I put some dabs of three colors of paint all around on the pages.  Oh!  But, first... put either waxed paper or deli-paper behind the pages that you're working on so you don't make a mess of your other pages!  Trust me, the paint can get everywhere!  :)

Then, with a credit-card (or something similar), I use the edge and start spreading the paint around.  Yes, one color goes into the other.. that's what you want.... but, don't keep going over and over certain spots, or you'll end up with mud.  Not good, unless that's the look you're going for.  :)

I lost a lot of the Patina green and the Vivid Violet, so added a bit more in.  Ended up being too green, so I used a wet-wipe to try to take a bit of paint off.  It wouldn't lift off very well, so I went ahead and added my security envelope pieces.  One of the things to remember with this kind of art - your backgrounds are only backgrounds!  They are not a masterpiece unto themselves.  So, don't worry too much about them.  The trick with mixed-media is layers, layers, layers!!  So, the background is most likely going to be augmented by other things.  Don't get too hung up on the backgrounds.

Unless you're putting your foundation papers right up against the edge of the page, don't lay down papers with straight-cut edges. Tear your papers!  It will give it a more organic, natural feel/look.  I tore up the security envelope in random ways.  I took three pieces and adhered them to my page with Mod-Podge.  Play around with where you'd like them to be before gluing them down.

Now, it's time to add some paint, to cover those up a bit.  You want to almost cover them, but not completely.  (The other way you can do this, of course, is to put these pieces down as part of your foundation, right on top of the gesso, and then add paint.) I put down dabs of Folk Art's Patina and Americana's Melonball and spread them around, once again with my trusty "credit"-card.

                    
                                                                                                            I still didn't have much of the "pink" showing, so I decided to put some down with my finger.  When I do this, I do not put dabs of paint all over the page!  I just put a dab on my finger and apply it that way.  I'm never sure how much it's going to take, so go about it slowly, adding little touches here and there, until it seems right.

For the pink, I used Dylusions "Bubblegum Pink" - spread around with my finger.  I also added the same brand of paint, in "Vibrant Turquoise".  (Love those Dylusions paints!!)

Now, for the real fun!  I used StazOn "Jet Black" ink to apply flourishes onto three of my corners. Remember, as odd as it seems (no pun intended), there is more balance in odd numbers than there is in even numbers.  So, I only put them on three corners.  You don't want it to look all uniform, unless you're doing a piece where that would work.

 Next, I used my favorite piece of bubble-wrap (isn't it gorgeous??); dabbed some Dylusions "Fresh Lime" paint onto a small spot of it and applied that in a few areas on my piece.  Once again, in an odd amount of spots.  I then used Dyan Reaveley's wonderful scallop rubber stamp and StazOn (Jet Black again) and stamped along the side edges.  I will fill those in with paint, later, but I also want to add some painted circles to the piece and I want to use the same colors, so it's more cohesive.....I'm waiting to see what colors I end up using for the circles.  So, the picture below shows the bubble-wrap spots and the scallops on the edges.

I wanted to add a "Scribbly Bird", using Dina Wakley's cute rubber stamps.  I found some gelli-prints that I'd already done and stamped on those.  I cut out a couple of them, to see how they'd look on the piece.  

Then, I realized that the colors weren't right on either of them, so I started playing with some color.  I brushed on some Melonball, to lighten it up.  Did another one with Dylusions "Fresh Lime" and Folk Art's "Brilliant Blue".  Liked that one better and thought it'd show up better on the page.  

Here's a weird thing... as I said, I did these gelli-prints a long time ago, but as it turns out, the one I chose to add here was done on the exact same security envelope design as what I used here in my background!  How weird is that??  OK, moving right along.  

I thought the bird needed more highlighting, so added a bit of Golden's Fluid Acrylic, permanent, "Violet Dark".. it's Dark Violet, but that's what they call it.  I'm talking about teeny bits of paint at a time, with a #1 brush.  Then, I noticed that light spot on the bird's foot... draws your eye there too much... so I dabbed on some Brilliant Blue to cover it.  Ugh!  That made it too dark!  So, I used a wet-wipe and dabbed over it, to take a bit up.  It just seemed too monotone - all blue - so I dabbed on some Fresh Lime with my finger and softened it with my wet-wipe.  I then noticed that the beak needed some definition - it kind of got lost in there!  My tiniest brush was still wet so I had to use a #4.  It was really too big and the whole thing was too filled in and looked bad!  So, once again, I used my trusty wet-wipe and dabbed it on there, to removed some paint and soften it up.  I used the Brilliant Blue on that so it would tie in with the other Brilliant Blue.

Then, I started adding my circles.  Just free-hand, painted circles, using the colors I'd already used, but not blended; just straight color.  I painted the smaller circles first, then added in the larger ones that look like they're behind the smaller ones.  The bird isn't adhered to the page, yet; still deciding where it should go.  Now, to add highlights and shadows to my circles.  Shadows aren't created with black paint.  Generally speaking, you mix the color of the thing that you're shadowing (in this case Dark Violet) with its complementary color - the color opposite to it on the color wheel; in this case, Fresh Lime.  But, that didn't create a dark enough color, so I added some Burnt Umber and that worked.  For the highlights, I used the color of the circle; for instance, Melonball, and then added some white, to make it a shade or two lighter.  I decided where my shadows should be, first - and made them all the same.  So, my shadows are on the right/bottom'ish of each circle and my highlights are at the left/top'ish.  Imagine where the light is coming from.... if it's the left, then your highlights should be at the left and that would naturally create a shadow on the right.  Anyway, I put the paint down in its respective area and used a dry brush to move it around a bit.  If it dried too quickly, I used my wet-wipe to dampen it so I could move it around and maybe soften the color. 

Note:  When mixing color (two, for instance), you don't want to put both colors down together, in one spot.  You want to put them down in their own spots and then start a new spot with one of them and slowly add bits of the other color to that spot.  See how I put yellow in another spot?  Then, I'm adding the violet to that yellow, bit by bit, until I get the right color.  You might have to add more yellow in!  Don't just throw them together, right off, because you don't know how much of either one it will take to get your desired color. 

I then used a General's water-soluble black pencil around the circles.  I painted in the scallops with the (Folk Art) Brilliant Blue and Patina; Americana brand of Vivid Violet, Golden's Dark Violet and Dylusions Fresh Lime.  I adhered the bird with Mod-Podge.  Used white charcoal around the bird.  I went over the scallops with a black Pitt pen, "S", because some of that had gotten painted over, accidentally.  Added the text with a White, water-based Paint Pen, extra-fine point, Sharpie.  (I use those all the time!!)  Added all the little dots with the same pen.  Did the black text at the bottom with the Pitt pen.  I thought I was done!  Then, when I looked at it this morning, it just hit me that the bird needed a tiara!  I'd just seen one in my stuff, so cut that out, put some Color Box Pigment Brush Pad (Cat's Eye) "Merlot" on the edges and glued it down with Mod-Podge.  So, here is the finished product!  I hope you learned something and had fun doing your own!  

See you next week!  

      ~ Teri

  

Oh, my gosh... how does the time go by so quickly??  Well, it does, whether you're having fun or not, so I say - have fun!!!  I've been dabbling a tiny bit with Zentangles over the last year or so.  Nothing serious, though... just doodling when I'm listening to live music at the coffee shop, mostly.  Until now.  We have friends that were eloping.. sort of.  My husband and I were the witnesses... and the woman who married them was there with her husband.  That's it.  Very private and beautiful.  I decided to try doing a Zentangle for them.  The first one I ended up ditching.... there was an area that was just too busy and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.  So, I started completely over and ended up with this!  Had it framed and I'm pretty happy with it.  The Happy Couple absolutely loved it.  What more can you ask for?

DLP: The Beginning is Always Today

Oh, my gosh.... here it is, just after the 4th of July, and I'm realizing that I haven't posted anything on here since New Year's!  I've been busy with the Documented Life Project.  But, a couple of trips, birthdays, Father's Day, Mother's Day, etc.... have put me behind.  I'm not worried, though; I'll catch up!  I'm fully committed to this and am going to do every prompt!  I have about 22 to post on here, though, so I'm not going to explain how I did every piece.  I'll share what I used and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!  :)

 

The journal challenge for this week was Gesso.  I think the idea was not only to use it to prime your pages, but to also add it into your piece.  I used Gesso over a piece of punchinella (used as a stencil), over at the right.  It's the white, vertical "line" that runs parallel to the red triangle on the right edge.  After I put the background down, I added a couple of map pieces, some random swirly marks and washi-tape.  I used my latin-text rubber stamp with black Staz-On.  Oh, there's some sheet music scrapbook paper on there, too. I went over all the paper pieces with more paint....very lightly, though.  I usually use my finger to do that.  I added the flowers and the text.  I think I used a black Tombow pen for the black, but I'm not sure about that.  (I need to get better at keeping notes on my process!!)  If it's not a Tombow, it's a Pitt or a Pigma Sensei.  I love them all!  I have a feeling it's a Sensei.  For the white, I used the bullet-tipped white Sharpie paint marker.  They're great!  I use that and the ultra-fine tipped one all the time!  The reddish triangle and swirly at the bottom were likely done with a Tombow.  "The Beginning is Always Today" was the journal prompt.  Sometimes, I use the quotes, but I'm not focusing on the "journal" part of the journal.  I'm focusing on the "art" part.  I hope that makes sense.

 

Happy creating!

 

 ~    Teri

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!  I hope your new year is off to a great start!  Mine is.  And, it includes art.  I've joined a (free!!) project called The Documented Life Project - 2015.  It's for Art Journaling.  It's run by four women (Lorraine Bell, Rae Missigman, Sandi Keene and Roben-Marie Smith ) who are accomplished mixed-media artists and they've gathered some other well-known artists to take part in the project this year.  I'm so excited!  There's a monthly theme.  For January, it's "The Blank Page and How to Face It".  Then, there's an art challenge and a prompt.  But, of course, you use what you want from all of that and do it your way!  The first week's prompt was Be Your Own Goalkeeper and the art challenge was Book-Paper.  Using book-papers on your foundation makes for a quick and easy way to get rid of that big, blank page staring up at you!  Book-papers consist of, but are not limited to:  Old letters/envelopes, scrapbook papers, maps, dictionary and encyclopedia pages, other book pages, tissue-papers, security envelopes (they have some great little designs in them!), ledgers, old time-cards/sheets, library cards, etc....

So, with Mod-Podge, I put down my Book-Papers.

Then, I laid down, not too thickly, some of Golden's Gesso, (pronounced JEH-so).  

Then, I started playing around with a brush and Martha Stewart Craft Paints (high-gloss and satin, which I'm just now realizing), in the colors Surf and Granny Smith and Folk Art Acrylic Paint, in Pure Orange.    Those paints are watered-down a bit.  I squeeze out a bit of paint on some deli-paper; I dip my brush into some water, first, then pull a bit of the paint away from the rest of it and mix it around with the water.  This makes the paint more transparent when you put it down.  The idea was that you could see some of my book-paper that I laid down first, but I ended up adding enough paint that you can't really see much of the foundation.  But, that's okay.  I sprayed down some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists, in Chili Pepper Red. Then, I added the rectangular area, on the right, with Golden paint in Titanium White.  The white paint picked up some of the red mist and made it a bit pink.  I used rubber and acrylic stamps with ColorBox's Chalk "Q", in Prussian Blue and Dark Brown.  (I linked to a different color scheme so you could see how luscious they look in their packs, but the color scheme that I used was actually Chocolates and Blueberries.)  I used a Pitt pen for the writing and the "thought bubbles".  I used Washi Tape by K&Company (they're actually calling it "Paper Tape".  (That's the vertical strip on the left, with the polka dots on it and on the "GOALS" tag, on the right.)  I used a General's charcoal pencil and blended it, on the outside of the little scalloped area on the right.  The woman, doing all the thinking, is from some Artists' Papers, from the Stampington Company.  They send you a paper pack when you subscribe to Somerset Studio, which I highly recommend if you're interested in mixed-media art.  A superb publication.  Not one you'll browse through and then toss into the recycling bin!  You'll want to look at them, over and over, and keep them forever and ever.  Oh, and on the woman's hat, I used Prismacolor pencils and Ranger's Stickles, for a little shimmer.

FYI:  I try to find links of the exact product.  If a link goes to a product that's not exactly what I wrote about, it means that I couldn't find the exact product, online.  I use links from some of my favorite, trusted, websites.

This was lots of fun!  Took me far too long, though, so one of my hopes is, besides my art getting better - is that I get faster at it!  Wish me luck!

Happy creating!
Enjoy the day!

     ~ Teri

Time for flowers!

Dahlia, Fountain Grass and Lime Potato Vine.  (Purple
Million Bells in the pot next to it.)


















Here are some beauties from my garden this year!  It was a great year for my Peonies, Hydrangea, Nasturtium and Clematis!  They did better than ever this year!  We're finally getting a break from the "hovering-around-100" stuff we were getting, so maybe I'll get out there and get rid of that awful ryegrass that gets in my beds!!  And, the crab-grass and the blackberries and..... ugh.... I do love living in a place where plants grow with wild abandon, but that means that *weeds* grow with wild abandon, too!!  Barkdust is a flower-gardener's friend!!  But, I've gone too many years without replenishing it.  I have to get these beds weeded and then lay down more BD this fall!  If a weed seeds itself in there, you can just pluck it right out!  And, it really keeps weeds *out*, for the most part.  Plus, it just makes the beds look so nice.  Hopefully, you can get the kind that I can get, locally - the Hemlock barkdust.  It's "splinter-free"; not 100%, but way better than the other types.



Crososmia "Lucifer", with Loosestrifes in back (yellow and
white)

I've tried to grow Delphiniums, with no success...but, I know it's because that dang grass gets in there and crowds them out.  They never come back!  :(  I LOVE Delphiniums!!  Well, it's true for anything that I really love and don't have in my garden.....Foxgloves (I have one, I think)...they should put out babies like nobody's business...but I don't get that lucky.  Lupines?  Something always eats them down to a stub.  Hollyhocks?  (The old-fashioned variety, not the double ones.)  Those should really be planted by seed and when you have cats and there are about 10 million other cats in the neighborhood, well, not a good formula for seeds.

My dream is a cottage garden.  That's what I strive for.  But, you can't really have a cottage garden without Hollyhocks, Foxgloves and Delphinium, in my opinion.  So, I have to work on that!  I've also realized, after poking around on Pinterest this morning, that I need some Allium in the garden!  But, I do enjoy the flowers that I *do* have, don't get me wrong!  I love having flowers, right outside my door, to bring inside, while still getting to enjoy the ones left outside.  I just need to get things cleaned up out there and add more!!  Enjoy your trip through my garden!  And, enjoy the day!

 ~ Teri


Lavender, of course.  Bumblebees were going crazy for it that day!

Buddleja - Butterfly Bush.....honeybees and butterflies love!!

More of the Butterfly Bush... I *love* when this thing blooms!!

Petunia hanging basket, from one of my sons.  :)

Black-eyed Susan Vine

Nasturtiums - they've done wonderfully this year! 

Lily

Sweet Pea, the perennial variety

One of my finds from The Farm Chicks Show (!!) in with those little, annual Daisy-like flowers....can't ever remember their name!!  :(

Hydrangea.... this was its best year, ever!

Yellow Loosestrife

Day-lily

Clematis...this was the best year for this plant, too!

Lewisia, an Oregon native.

Mimulus, "Monkey Flower"

Ah!  A garden visitor!  This is a perennial dianthus - Carnation.

Speedwell with Day-lily in back

Gooseneck Loosestrife

Lost in Twinkling H2o land!

 Greetings!!  Oh, my gosh.... yes, I'm still alive!!  Thank goodness!  ;)  It's not that I haven't been busy creating.... I *have*!  So, this is what I've been focused on, as far as art goes, since last October.  I started taking a class - Mastering Twinkling H2o's, with Dion Dior.  So, last fall was the first class and now I'm taking the second one.  I can't say enough about these classes!  And, the "Twinks"!  Oh, my!!  They're amazing watercolors that have mica and binders in them, so they are shimmery.  It's very difficult to pick up all the shimmer in a photo.....most everything is more shimmery and vibrant in person.  I hadn't done any watercoloring for several years, so it's been good to be doing that again... plus, just drawing.  Dion gives us a drawing lesson each week, which is very cool.  She's so generous with her knowledge; people in the class have said that they've learned more in that first 5-week course than in all the years of taking watercolor classes from other people.  I concur.  I highly recommend her classes.

So, here are a few of the things that I've done.  I'm behind, but that's one of the beauties of her classes.... you can go as you like and you will have access to the online content (the entire class is online) *forever*!!  The first five pieces here are from Twinks 1; the last two are from Twinks 2.  The Peach is done on Yupo paper - it's a completely synthetic paper than has no tooth; it's completely smooth.  Paint or ink or whatever will just sit on the surface for a while, so it can be tricky to paint on!  I was a bit intimidated by the stories that I was hearing about it, but I didn't have any problems, at all.  It was fun to work with.

One of the activities we did was an ATC, which I've talked about before on here.  I love ATC's - they're so small that they're not so intimidating, but you can do everything on an ATC that you'd do on any other painting or mixed-media piece.  So, this ATC had to include frisket or masking fluid.  I had to toss my old masking fluid and actually bought what The Merri Artist recommended which was Pebeo "drawing gum".  Works beautifully.  It's thinner so you can get a pretty fine line.  I bought a Speedball calligraphy pen/handle with a very fine nib and that's what I use for applying the frisket.
   The butterfly was just a lesson on drawing butterflies.  :)

 
 

These next two were lessons on drawing leaves.  Dion has shown us how to make them curl, twist, etc.... and it's been wonderful to practice and play with those techniques!  Very fun!  So, even though the leaves in this first one may not have a flower, in real life, I wanted a bud on there, so I added one!  This wasn't about composition....it was about drawing and getting to know our Twinks better.  :)

 This next one is from Twinks 2.  We started out by working on various papers - this one is black gesso on cold-press watercolor paper.  I have a hard time working on the black substrate.  Yes, the Twinks can show up more vibrantly - but they don't always show up as the color that you expect them to be!  Once you get to know those little tricks that they play on  you, I guess it'd be okay.... you'll know what to expect.  But, I almost gave up on this one, actually.  I let them dry and then I completely changed the color of the upper-right one.  It was frustrating but, in the end, I was happy with it.

 

Peach on Yupo:

 

I think this next one might be my favorite, so far.  This was about tracing.  Lots of fine-art artists trace some of their work onto their paper.  "It's not cheating", our lovely instructor tells us.  :)  When you're working with expensive, high-quality watercolor papers, you don't want to ruin them before you even start painting.  Every time you erase, you're compromising the structure of the surface of that paper.  So, there are cases where you'll want to trace.  I couldn't find my tracing paper, so I opted to do it the cheap way.  Rubbing a pencil over the back of the paper, then laying it down over the "real" paper and drawing over my lines.  I'm working on one right now that I will trace the "correct" way.  ;)

Anyway, this was a Hellebore that I saw in a catalog.  If you're interested at *all* in learning how to watercolor, or learning how to work with Twinkling H2o's, in particular, I highly recommend Dion's courses!

 

 

Enjoy the day!  Happy Spring, by the way!

 

   ~ Teri