Another Collage

Yesterday I woke up and could hardly move! My lower back is killing me - it might be sciatica. I've never in my life had back problems so this was quite a surprise. I cannot think of anything I did out of the ordinary to cause this. 

So, since I'm pretty much out of commission but can sit comfortably, I made yet another quirky collage. This one was very easy as Joanne posted it on her YouTube channel today and very generously made a free collage sheet of all the elements to share. Click here to get the collage sheet to make your own!

I printed the sheet out once at 100% and then again at 75% because it was a bit large to use in my traveler's notebook journal. I used the larger head, "wings," colorful strip and the word "live;" and the smaller body and words "out" and "loud." 

I glued all the pieces onto a patterned paper that I lightly gessoed to mute the background. I doodled a border and outlined many of the elements and was done. She called it "five-minute collage" but it took me longer to cut, glue and embellish!

I think she turned out pretty cute and I was happy to be able to accomplish at least one thing today! Hopefully my back will improve quickly or I will be going to see the doctor!

More "Quirky" Collage

Back in October I was working through a free online collage project with Joanne (crafty hodges on You Tube) and posted several of those collage pages. I've finally had some time to get back to that and have made more pages to include in my traveler's notebook magazine journal (see this post).

These are so fun to make, taking bits and pieces from various collage sheets (mostly from www.mischiefcircus.com) and magazine images and combining them into quirky collages.

Art Marks Pages 18-21

Four more art marks pages finished - only one more week to go!

Days 18/19

Prompts: tend; balance

Days 20/21

Prompts: learn; grace

On these two pages, I was all about using up some stash. I had just a few leftover glitter alpha stickers which wouldn't spell anything, so I added them to the randomly painted background for day 20. Then I just filled in with black tick marks to blend them into the background and to add pattern.

For day 21, I added some leftover purple reinforcers to a gelli-printed background and embellished with black and white doodles.

DIY Travel Watercolor Kit

I came across a brilliant idea while surfing You Tube last week. Jennifer Charlee Art posted this video with a tutorial for making a travel watercolor kit from a Dollar Tree eyeshadow palette. You could also do this with any brand or an old palette you already have. I have seen other tutorials to make          one with Altoids tins but they were more complicated with having to make little inserts for the paints.

This eyeshadow palette was super cheap and perfect with 12 pans, so I purchased the same palette from Dollar Tree. I forgot to take a "before" photo of the palette but you can see it in Jennifer's video. And I already had a set of tube watercolors that I'd never used. 

Here is my finished palette and supplies.

If you are interested in doing this, do check out Jennifer's video linked above.  Basically you chip out the eyeshadows from the palette and clean it. Then fill each compartment with any liquid watercolors.(I had an old set of Niji watercolors I'd bought years ago but never used.)  Be sure to leave the compact open until the watercolors totally dry out. This may take a day or two.

I cut a small piece of watercolor paper to fit inside the lid for the color chart. At some point I may make a label for the cover to hide the original palette name. I may even cut off the handle of a watercolor brush to fit inside the compact.

This was fun to make and I will definitely use these watercolors now. This is small enough to fit in any purse and will be perfect for traveling! I love it!

Let me know if you make one!

Art Marks Pages 12-17

Pgs 12/13

Prompts: unfold; whittle

Pgs 14/15

Prompts: connect; evolve

Pgs 16/17

Prompts: notice; poise

Again, let me reiterate that the prompts don't have much to do with my pages. But at least I'm creating something every day!

Art Journaling

I've done a few art journal pages these past few weeks. The backgrounds were mainly "done" as they were "mop-up" pages (when I have leftover paint or messy stencils when doing another project, I don't waste the product but clean it off on pages in my art journal so later I don't face a blank page!). I used some of the images and words left over from my Journaling by 5s project so these went very quickly.

Art Marks Pages 8-11

We were out of town this past weekend for a memorial service for a dear family friend so I am now playing catch-up on my art marks pages. I much prefer doing each one daily!

Days 8/9

Prompts: attention; invest

The page for Feb. 9 has a torn edge that I love.

Days 10/11

Prompts: quit; change

Page 11 is half of a tag.  You can see in these photos how each page is a different size. That makes for a cute little journal.

More Art Marks Pages

So far, I've been staying current with the daily art marks challenges. (It helps to have tiny pages to work with!)

Days 2/3

Prompts - decide; leap

Days 4/5

Prompts - think; commit

Days 6/7

Prompts - envision; create

I can't say that these pages have much to do with the prompts, but I am "deciding" what to do, "leaping" into mark making, "thinking" about marks, "committing" to working daily, "envisioning" the process and "creating" something!

Art Marks Challenge - Feb. 2018

Rae Missigman is at it again. She is hosting her fourth "Art Marks Challenge" on Instagram. Check out all the info here.  In a nutshell, she posts one word a day for a month and you create art/art marks for that prompt.  I have participated each time and I will again be taking part during February.

I quickly assembled a tiny journal from scraps on my desk and pieces of gelli prints and bound it together with a simple pamphlet stitch and cotton cord. The pages vary a little in size, but they average 3" x 4" so it's not very big and doesn't take long to make some daily art marks! I used magazine letters for the title on the front cover.

I glued a scrap of gelli-printed paper to the inside cover and cut out a portion of Rae's announcement to add.  The right page is the first day's prompt  - BEGIN.

This started February 1, but you can join in any time. I enjoy this excuse to make me just play a little every day. I hope you will check this out and consider doing it yourself! It's a great exercise to stretch those art muscles!

Online workshop journal page

It's been awhile since I've taken an online class. I always like to see how other artists approach their work and see similarities or differences from mine.  I've followed Cindy Gilstrap for awhile and when her workshops (junqueart.com) were on sale during January, I jumped at the chance to take her Dream Big "mini" workshop. 

In this workshop she takes you through the creation of one double-paged art journal spread using a vintage cabinet card image juxtaposed with bright, playful collage and paint. I loved her page and was happy that mine came out very similar. I did use different papers and stencils than she did but used some of the same paints.

Here is my finished page. I love it and will be trying more of this style incorporating vintage images.

I had so much fun that I signed up for another workshop!