Art Journal Day 25 - Circles

The art journal assignment was to choose a shape and play with it. Time and energy were very limited, so I kept this page simple. I took a magazine page and cut circles with a punch. These were glued to black card stock. Then I embellished with a white galaxy marker that fizzled out, so I came back with a white china marker. Not enough pizazz, so I used a gold metallic paint marker and a template to draw circles on top of the collage. I purposely let some of the paint puddle for interest. Next I punched black circles and punched smaller holes in the circles. These were glued onto the page.
I punched a row of holes on one end of the page and put more of the magazine page behind them. The last step was to add more gold paint. When I mounted this into my journal, I decided to add a title which was stamped and embossed on a strip of card stock.
This isn't my favorite exercise, but I enjoyed the process.

Art Journal Day 24 - Giving

For art journal day 24 we were prompted to create art to give away. Since I need to get some cards done, that's what I focused on. I re-organized some of my stamping supplies before I got started and that helped me work more efficiently.
The background for Thinking of You was created with a Stamping Up set that I've had for many years.I stamped this tulip image on smooth bristol paper. I ran out of time to do any more work on Saturday. Tonight I colored one of the images with my PrismaColor pencils and adhered it to cardstock.
This last image is what I saw out the window as I was wrapping up my card making session. I just had to grab the camera to capture it.

Art Journal Day 23 - Vincent Van Gogh

Misty Mawn prompted us to do a journal entry inspired by a favorite artist. There was little hesitation for me. I went straight to Vincent Van Gogh. In 2003, Hubby & I were invited to a wedding in Germany, but Hubby said we should go somewhere else, too. I didn't think twice when he asked where to go. We spent a few days in the Netherlands so we could go to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It was amazing to be surrounded by his work. I highly recommend this museum if you are ever in Amsterdam.
As moving as that experience was, the painting that stands out in my mind is found at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. When we first visited the museum our time was limited and my only goal was to see the Impressionist galleries. I didn't know there was a Van Gogh until the shimmering colors of "Olive Trees" drew me in.
My interpretation drew on my landscape and Van Gogh's style. I used acrylic paint on heavy paper. It was a thrilling experience to do this exercise. Thank you, Misty, for your prompt!

Something to Think About

Art Journal Day 22 - Crayons

Thursday we got to play with crayons. In my adult life, I've had at least one box of crayons ever since my sweet Hubby bought me coloring books and crayons when I was in the hospital just a few weeks after our wedding. However, the crayons don't come out to play very often. About 10 years or so ago, my sister bought me a package of Twist-Up Crayons because I enjoyed using them while coloring with my nieces. I got them out to do the wild flower that I colored on smooth Bristol. I like the way they lay down color.

This cropped portrait was done with Crayola crayons. While I had more choices of color, I didn't like the way they went down on my paper. I suppose a paper with more tooth would have been better.

Art Journal Day 21 - Altered Image

This journal entry proved to be another exercise to stretch the old grey matter. We were to alter an image that we photographed ourselves. Where to start? I decided I wasn't going to take a lot of time finding a picture, so I just went by impulse. I have several digital files labeled flowers or spring or summer with a descriptive. So I just randomly chose one of those. The tulips caught my eye as I went through the file. It's really not a good photo, but I save such things because I see something that appeals to me and it may inspire a painting.
Just to make this more interesting, I made some quick adjustments with PS Elements (hue, saturation, posterized). Then it was time to go to the office.

After work, I decided to cut out some of the flowers so I could control their composition. Then I had to decide what the background would be. I used Daniel Smith's Sedona Clay watercolor to wash the paper. Then I used ModgePodge to add rectangles of orange mulberry paper. Next I added the tulips and some leaves. The watercolored areas needed to be beefed up, so I added more color. That's all I did. I could have done more, but I was loving the play of the complementary colors and that was enough for me.

Art Journal Day 20 - Word Art

This prompt from Misty's challenge was to create a journal page focused on one word. I have already started a separate journal based on the word hope and considered posting from that journal, but I decided to go another direction. In my mail were offers for artist magazines and there were reply cards in artist magazines I purchased last week. There was my word.
I recently purchased the book "Art and Fear". I started the spread by writing a quote from the book. From there I drew the word and outlined it with a Sharpie. The letters were colored with highlighter markers. I printed definitions from the Internet that I glued onto the pages. Marks were made with colored pencils and chalk pastel pencils. I glued down the ephemera I gleaned from the mailings I mentioned earlier. The painting came from a frame catalog.
The bright colors were just what I needed after the somber tones of the previous post.