Colour me Positive 2018

I had good intentions to do another year with the Colour Me Positive challenge in 2018. I started out well but as I had to support my daughter with an extremely serious health battle for the first half of the year my interest in keeping up with the art journaling faded away. I will share the pages I did complete here.

  

Week 1: I stencilled gesso onto my page and when it was dry painted it purple and added copper highlights with metallic paste. It is a simple and fast page. 

 Week 2: I used coloured pencils to draw the eye on a background that had been painted then some wiped off before drying. My journal was made from old scrapbook paper that had a thin layer of gesso spread on it with a credit card.  You can still see some of the printed paper through the blue paint.

Week 3: I used a die cut machine to punch butterflies out of left over scraps of painted papers. After they were glued to the page I outlined them to be more visible. 

Week 4: I wanted this page to be focused on the words so I kept it simple. I used a stencil for the lettering on a previously painted paper that was glued in. I then doodled around the painted areas on the page. I did add some more paint in some areas to make them darker. 

Week 5: I had this picture of a vintage lady that I wanted to use so the rest of the page is done using vintage style papers. A little brown ink around the edge of shapes makes everything look old and work together.  

Week 6: This page was an experiment. I traced the sunflowers from another journal page I had drawn onto tissue paper. I then crumpled the tissue and glued it to this double page. While it was wet I sprayed on the blue and green background. When it was dry I used watercolours to paint the flowers and added the insects. 

Week 8: I don't know why I didn't do week 7. This background was randomly made using a credit card to spread three colours around the page. When it was dry I could see a fox face so I added more paint to enhance the face I could see. It is all done in acrylics. 

 Week 9: I got some new watercolours and decided to test them out on this page. Sometimes simple and quick means you get more done.

 Week 10: I wanted to try a masking technique when stencilling. You can see where I placed a circle of paper before using gesso to stencil a pattern over the whole page. When you remove the stencil the circle lifts away too and there is a smooth area to write in. The page was quickly coloured using dye sprays.

Week 11: I wanted to doodle one evening so this page was made. I used a lot of scrap papers and a few collage pictures to make the squares then doodled and wrote on all of them. I love working with grids because it is easy to make a lot of small things and then put them together to make a large piece.

Week 12: This was the last page I did for the year and the last page in this journal. I used perforated paper for the background. It is meant to be used for cross stitch and was in my stash. I wrote out the quote then added a simple border. It was coloured with standard markers.

 The cover of my hand made journal has a picture that I saved from a Flavia calendar. I love her style of art.

The back cover is a collage of some torn. previously painted, paper strips. When it was dry I added the doodles.

The inside front cover was zentangled. Sometimes I just want to sit and draw or doodle. I find it relaxing.

This zentangled page is the inside back cover of the book. That was the end of this challenge for me. I still journal a lot but now I try ideas from the many art books I own. I have decided to stop looking at them and actually do the exercises from the books. It is a fun way to learn new things.

Doing my own thing

I am continuing with the Colour me positive challenge but doing it my own way. I always seem to get stuck for ideas if I use someone else's quotes so I usually choose my own quote for inspiration. Sometimes I pick my own theme too.

 Week 27 - the one you love. This week I was pressed for time so I kept it super simple.

 Week 28 - Glitter. I was looking at my colored pencils on my desk and thought I hadn't used them for a while so they became the inspiration for this week's page. I used 'Ice Stickles' for my glitter. At least that way it stays on the page and not on me.

 Week 29 - This weeks prompt was not for me so I did this quote that has been on my pin up board for a while. Sometimes I come across a quote that speaks to me and I save it so I can put it on a page. I wanted to add some mixed media tags so I made them and used my die cutting machine to cut out hearts and butterflies for a papercraft style page.

 Week 30 - I love this quote by Walt Disney. When I used my pencils a couple of weeks ago I forgot how nice it is to use them.  I wanted to do more coloring so this week I made a coloring page then colored it in.

This is the page I drew. If you want to download it for yourself just click on the image to make it larger and right click then save the picture to your computer. You can then print it out onto any type of paper you want and color it your own way. 

 Week 31 - No prompt this week so I drew some of the items that were on my sketching table. I usually sketch while watching tv with my husband in the evening. I collaged on the hearts and flowers for added interest. It was a fun page to do. I am still surprised that I can draw things that I thought would have been impossible ten years ago. Practice really does make you a better artist.

Colour me Positive challenge - week 1

I have joined a new challenge this year because Documented Life Project have gone back to planners which is not my thing.

The new challenge is hosted by Lulu Art and is called Colour Me Positive. It will be an inspiring experience and they use quotes for prompts so that is exactly the sort of thing I respond to. The link is http://blog.luluart.com.au/challenge/
The prompts are published or emailed weekly on Fridays (Australia time) and it is free to join.

My art goal this year is to finish off a few journals I have started previously so for this first challenge I got out a journal I started during the mermaid circus online class. I didn't like the pages I did with Teesha Moore so I wanted to redo them because the heavy watercolor paper was too good to just throw away.

I removed all of the collaged images from magazines. Some of them came off easily but others ripped the page when removed. I didn't mind because it would give me a textured background to work on. I roughly applied gesso over the top of everything with a credit card. Some of the writing bled through the gesso.

Next I used a stencil and palette knife to spread Molding paste across the page. I tried to go over the areas where the writing was bleeding through so they would not be readable later on.

I used these acrylic paints to cover the gesso when it was dry. It was not an even coat because it would be covered with the sprays I was going to use. I used Lindystampgang Moon Shadow mists in brown and green to spray the page. I like using the sprays to highlight texture because they settle around the raised areas.

I used a few flower stamps along the bottom and some dragonflies. I stamped with StazOn permanent ink in a stone grey color so it wouldn't stand out as much as black would. This was a mistake as it blended into the background too much.

I drew the lady and used acrylic paints to color her in roughly. I added details and shading with colored pencils after the paint had dried for a couple of hours. 

To finish the page I went over the flower stamps with pencils, markers and paint pens. I put tracing paper on top of the page on the right and wrote out my quote. I wanted to make sure it would fit before I wrote onto the page. I used a gel pen for the quote after I worked out where it would fit. The first challenge is now complete and it feels good to do a journal page after not doing any for a couple of months. I am looking forward to the next prompt.

Textured gesso...again

Okay, I know I have shared this technique before but I do like it a lot! The challenge this week for DLP (Documented Life Project) was to use gesso so I went a little crazy with it.

 I started my page with some random book paper glued down with matte medium. Most of it will not be visible so I didn't care which direction the text was in. I use clips to hold my pages down when I am using glue or gesso in journals so it doesn't shrink and curl the page as it dries.

 Next I used my very worn old sea sponge to apply gesso over the book paper. I tried not to cover the whole page because any areas without gesso will stain darker later on. It is a look that appeals to me. I took my book outside and used a heat gun to make the gesso bubble. It adds even more texture than just the sponge.

 I spread gesso through a stencil in a few areas to make even more texture. I was careful when lifting the stencil off so it doesn't smudge.

 Next I used the distress inks to colour the background. I started with the brightest blue and edged the page with the browns.

 The page was a little too bright for me so I decided to spray it with my dye sprays. That was a big mistake. The dyes washed most of the distress ink off and changed the gesso to blue. I quickly wiped the whole lot off with a paper towel. Now I had a mess but I kept going.

I redid the distress inks but I left out the really bright blue this time. In the final image I also added a little green distress ink to tie the images in to the background more.

The final page, almost. I stamped the birds on separate paper, colored them with pencils and cut them out. The are glued to the page with matte medium. I wrote the quote out with a black permanent pen.

 

I thought the writing didn't stand out enough so I colored in the letters with a green pencil. Now it really is done. 

Finally some more art.

I didn't realize it had been so long since I shared some work. I have been busy teaching a little and also helping my daughter with her artwork. https://www.facebook.com/galaxiametal?fref=nf  I am now finished with those so I have a little more time for my own work. I also joined two textile art groups so I will be sharing some of my textile work occasionally.  I do like to vary what I make to stay creative.

I have completed quite a few cards (9 so far) for the 52 card challenge that I had fallen so far behind in. I will share 5 today and some more later on.

 Week 25 - peculiar.  This was a simple card. I painted it white and dribbled on some watercolors. I then turned the blobs into creatures (like Carla Sonheim does) with a pen and some shading, then added a few splatters as well. The technique is easy because the creatures are not realistic.

 Week 26 - around.  A simple acrylic painting and a quote to match.

 Week 27 - minimal.  I painted the card with a thick layer of gesso and while it was wet textured it with a heat gun. When it was bubbled up I painted on golden acrylics and added a scrapbooking definition.

 

 Week 28 - peacock. I was inspired to go with the peacock colors rather than the lovely bird for this card. I used angelina film to make the background and added some skeleton leaves on top. I did take a few step by step photos so if I can find them I will share them tomorrow.

 

 This view shows the leaves better and you can see how the color of the film changes depending on the angle of the light hitting it.

Week 29 - joker.  I went a little crazy with my sketch for this one. It is acrylics with some pencil shading.

Art is stopping the boredom.

When my arm was out of action for so long I couldn't do much. Watching art videos online did make me want to start doing something again so I was really happy when I got to use my right hand again. The following pages were done during that period.

 This lesson about the inner child was created by Sam Kira. It is watercolours, acrylics and pencils. I tried to do the eyes differently than normal but I don't like them as much. I will stick with my own style I think.

The next lesson was done with Tracy Verdugo.  It was meant to be an abstract style painting but I couldn't resist turning it into leaves. Acrylics and markers were used here. The shiny paint is the Luminarte silks paints. They are very cool. 

This whimsy lesson was done with Willowing. I used a scrap of material for the dress. The rest is watercolour and pencil. This is probably the first whimsy drawing that I have done that I really like.

The monochromatic lesson was created by Rhomany. I didn't want to use black because I had done that earlier in the year so I did it all with one blue inktense pencil except for the white highlights in the eyes. The image I used to copy for the pose was a magazine ad. 

Jane Davenport taught this lesson. It was mermaids but because I have done live lessons with Jane where we did a mermaid I chose to do a girl instead. It was one of the most inspired pieces I have done so far for Life Book. Some lessons get the ideas flowing more easily. Acrylics and pencils. 

The Christmas doll was a lesson taught by Adriana Almanza.  It was meant to be a Halloween witch but it was well into December when I did it so I made it a Christmas doll instead. This is another page started with acrylics and finished with pencils. I used a stencil for the border.  

The last page here was a watercolour lesson with Wyanne. We used masking fluid to cover areas we wanted to save while we worked on the background. After removing the masking fluid I used a limited amount of pencil to add some details. I had to put the quote on because I tore the page when I wasn't careful removing the masking fluid. I had a lot of fun doing this lesson. It reminded me how cool watercolours can be.

I may not make it back here before Christmas so I wish you all a very happy Christmas and hope you get to spend quality time with all those you love.

I'm back...

No I haven't abandoned my blog. Sorry I have been away for so long, it wasn't what I intended. My back yard project took a little longer than expected. Once you start a big project sometimes little ones keep popping up that need seeing to first so then you can finish off the big one. It is a little like starting a painting and some sections taking longer than you imagined they would. Eventually it all comes together at the end. I also had a few health issues crop up like a sprained wrist that kept me away from the computer but that is all cleared up now and I am back in the studio again.

I will post my latest Life Book pages today.

This lesson was about a realistic style face. I chose an old photo of myself. The painting looks ok but I don't think it really looks like me. I think I will stick with whimsy style faces for now. This mixed media piece is acrylics, pan pastels, pencils and markers. The butterfly is a stitched on charm.

The lesson for this week was a calendar page and another face page next to it. We were meant to be honoring our present and for me that was the garden I was creating in our back yard. I decided not to do the face and wanted to do the flowers (grevilleas) I was planting for the birds that visit our garden. Then I decided to combine the pages together into one piece. It is probably my favourite page so far. The whole page is watercolour except for the calendar entries that are done with marker and pencil.

The next lesson was a doodling exercise. I am not really a doodler of abstract style images. When I doodle it is really little sketches of realistic images so that is what I did on my page. I started with the quote so I could make sure it fit on the page. Then I started sketching the flowers with pencil on the right hand side and up to the top of the page. I went over the flowers with pen and decided it was taking too long to do it with pencil first so I sketched the rest of the flowers with the pen only. I went around each image twice to give it a sketchy look. I haven't done that before but I like the way it turned out. The colour was added with Twinkling H2O watercolours. It sparkles in the light.

The last lesson I have to share with you was inspired by the artist Audrey Kawasaki. It was with Rhomany and again is about the present. When I looked at the original inspiration I was amazed. Audrey does the most beautiful work and her cut out designs are gorgeous. My finished piece ended up being a combination of Audrey's and Rhomany's work. It is pen with coloured pencils.  I did the name like Rhomany showed us then drew the flowers and grid myself. I added a quote to the border.  The whole page was cut out like Audrey does with her pictures and a few spots of colour were added behind the grid.

I am very happy that Life Book has moved away from only doing faces. I like to explore other subjects for art. I will be back later in the week to share other pieces I have been working on for a different class I am doing with Jane Davenport.