What's Creating Today - 2015

For the last few months I have been "sew" single minded in the studio.  My focus of late has been working on many of my art quilting projects, and making items for my Etsy store. And while it was nice to take a creative break from doing any art journaling or mixed media art, I didn't realize how much I had missed it until I got the e-mail about iHanna's spring DIY postcard swap.  I always look forward to the swap because it gives me a chance to experiment creatively and share my discoveries with others.  And the best part is that in return I get wonderful postcards from others which always delight and inspire me.  I received so many wonderful cards from all over the world this swap and I am looking forward to sharing those with you in my next post.

First though I thought I would share the postcards I created for the swap.  My approach to this swap, as was to the last swap, was to work on my collage art.  I love collage.  I love combining imagery in layers and how in doing so it can convey hidden in "plain sight" meaning and message.  And what I especially love about collage is the ease in which I can drop in and out of creating one without worrying about being able to pick up where I left off in the creative flow.  Too many times when I am ready to sit down and art journal, my brain gets in the way of the creative process.  Thinking and planning a journaling layout for me often creates a mental and creative block to getting anything done on the page.  With collage there is no thinking or planning, just layering.

So onto the cards:

 

The above was the first card I made.  And after I finished making it I photographed it, which I did after every card I made for the swap.  I learned from quilting that sometimes your perspective is skewed by looking down at something lying on a table.  In quilting when dealing with larger applique pieces that are still in progress and cannot be hung on a design wall, taking a photo of the piece often gives you a different perspective that can be valuable in your layout.  It also helps you to make observations in a general sense on how your work is progressing, or analyze things you have already done.  In looking at the photos of the cards I made I began to see trends in my work.  Here is what I observed (in no particular order):

 

Observation 1 -   I mostly work with images and backgrounds in pastel or brighter colors.

 

Observation 2 - I use a lot of vintage imagery that is thought provoking.

Observation 3 - I usually include a message.

 

 

Observation 4 - I use a lot of little scraps.

 

Observation 5 - I do a lot of detail cutting.

 

Observation 6 - My cards almost always have a very decidedly feminine feel.

 

Observation 7 - I love to use a script stamp on backgrounds or incorporate them on little scraps.

 

Observation 8 - I almost always include flowers, butterflies or birds.

 

I hope you enjoyed looking at my cards.  Feel free to leave your comments, they are always appreciated.  Look for my next blog post coming soon on the cards I received for the postcard swap. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Happy Creating!

 

 

 

What's new at The Loft - Episode 97

It seems like my life had not been my own for the last several weeks thanks to an increased work load at my day job.  It's made me so tired that I've not felt much in the mood to be creative in the way of art.  Instead I have focused a little more attention on doing some sewing in my off time, along with some other things.

And while I haven't been working in it recently I wanted to share some other pages from my art journal. 

For these 2 pages I tried doing a full page image transfer on top of a colored background instead of painting around the transfer.  I like the red tone - it conveys a romantic feeling and I coupled that with a quote from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". 

...and I coupled that with a quote from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice".  This page however started with a watercolor base, but had a liquid acrylic in a pink shimmer lightly applied on top.  The small image of the woman in the corner is a gel skin.

For this two page spread I glued a full page image directly down, hence the bubbles.  No matter how much I brayer it, I still end up with bubbles, but I think the texture of the air bubbles adds a more distressed look to the page, which works in cooperation witht he thought I wanted to convey in my journal.

Different size and style rub-ons is a great way to add journaling and use some of those extra letters left over from other alpha rub-ons sets that you might have laying around.  The combination creates a bit more visual interest.

 For these fonts I used metal letters and traced the outside of them.

For the opposite side I did a full page magazine painting.  I started with watercolor and a charcoal pencil but found that even with a base of absorbent ground, I didn't like the subtleness of the watercolor, in combination with the charcoal pencil so I added pan pastel on top, and found I liked it more. 

I wanted to try something a little different here, so I stared with the yellow pages as a base.  I lightly penciled out the area that I knew I would do a photo transfer on, and put down a watered down absorbent ground in the area around the section I marked off.  I laid down some watercolor and then stamped out the frame, using several border stamps.  I did a straight image transfer in the box and used concentrated watercolor to bring out her eyes and lips.

Stamps, doodling and hand journaling rounded out this spread.

Well that's all I have for today.   Leave me some comments and let me know what you think.  Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.