Tuesday Tips and Techniques

Playing with Paper - Scribbles Paint, Glue and Craft Acrylics

Is there anything more fun than just letting creativity flow without concern for the outcome?  I think not!  And that's exactly what happens when you play with paper, fabric paint, glue and craft acrylics.   You're going to need a few hours for this activity - that's just how much fun you're going to have!

This is the first technique that Barb Owen and I played with on my play date with her in her Missouri home studio.  If you didn't get to see the UStream of Barb and me in action, here it is!

First batch of completed papers, dried.

The materials you're going to need are simple - paper (I used pastel paper today since my cardstock is traveling in circles via UPS), scribbles paint or other dimensional paint, cheapo school glue (white and/or gel), and craft acrylics.  I had a full sheet of pastel paper that I tore down into 6 sections (approx 9" x 11")

The dimensional paint and glues act as a resist. The first step is to create a design of your choosing with the resist of your choice.  I've used iridescent blue Polymark paint on this page.  (I've had this paint for years, and I'm not sure it will even work.

The next step is to lay a bead of paint along the left edge of the paper (if you're right handed - if you're left handed you'll probably want to place the paint on the right side of the paper).  Choose two or three colors that won't make "mud" when you drag them across the page.  I've used purple and black craft acrylic here.

Next, take an old credit card or one of the "fake" cards that show up in your mailbox, and drag the paint across your page.  I used both a fake card and an old credit card and I preferred the stiffer credit card.  

Places where you didn't have quite enough paint or use just enough pressure may leave white marks.  The temptation is to go back over it again.  Don't do it!  You'll make a muddy mess!  I think the white adds a little "something" to them anyway.  There was quite a bit of paint I missed on the left side, so I took it off to the left of the paper.  Be sure to work with blotter paper beneath.  This is great, messy fun!  (And don't throw that luscious blotter paper into the trash!  It can also be used for backgrounds or collage)

For my next sheet I used Polymark iridescent chartreuse as my resist...

and again tried the purple and black paint.  

I used Elmer's white school glue this time, and I made a pattern of flowers.

I used yellow and bright green craft acrylic this time.  It's still applied to the left edge of my paper ( I just forgot to flip this image)

Oooooo.....I rather like this one!  It reminds me of batik.

I have quite a gluey, painty mess left over.  I take my card and spread the extra around on my blotter paper. I'm working outside on my metal deck table....

Look at this lovely bonus!  I have to switch blotter paper now as I have quite a mess on my hands.  As I spread my paint around on the blotter paper (cheap newsprint), the pattern of the table comes through.  Gee, I really like how that looks!  Don't you love surprises?  

That gets the wheels churning in my brain.  I remember this piece of fencing that Barb gave me for printing.  I'm wondering if I lay it beneath my paper, will the grid show through as a secondary design element?

I take gold glitter glue and apply a random pattern.  Next, I apply a secondary pattern with the Elmer's.

I place the paper on top of the fencing, apply hot pink and black acrylic along the left edge, scrape it across.....

...but no grid pattern shows through.  Oh, well.  On to the next experiment!

I go back to the iridescent blue Polymark.  I wonder if I can actually write with this little tube without my hand cramping up, and I wonder if I'll like the results?  I use hot pink and yellow craft acrylic this time...

...and I'm happily surprised.  Scraping the paint across has picked up some of the shimmery, blue iridescent paint and made the paper green in spots.  The camera (or my photography) just don't do justice to the way the paper shimmers.

Next I try dark purple glitter glue and the iridescent blue Polymark as the resists and I drag purple and black craft acrylic across.  The purple glitter paint is old, and most of it mixes with the paint leaving white beneath.

At this point, I call it quits as I'm running out of clear blotter space and they're laying in the sun to dry.  The blotter paper is more spectacular than the paper I've been playing with!

THE FLIP SIDE

 I let my papers dry overnight although they dried within a half hour or so in the outdoors.  I decided that I'll use these pages in a handmade journal so I need to compete the backside of yesterday's creations.  If I had decided to use them in collage, I would have left them as is.

I went on the hunt to see what other paints I have tucked away.  I found an unopened tube of this Tulip paint.  It has a tiny point for the paint to come through - just about pencil thin. I decided to try writing again.  I've had this paint for years, so I'm not even sure it's still fluid.  To my surprise it's like brand new!

It was grueling to use!  I had to press rather firmly to get the paint out - not because the paint was drying but because it's a tough bottle to squeeze. (For me, anyway.)  I used black craft acrylic and when I was digging around my paints, I found a tube of Liquitex iridescent copper.

Oh, my!  I think I'm in love.  Why haven't I been using this luscious paint before?  It's buttery and shimmery and worked just as well as the craft acrylic!

I had an almost empty gold glitter glue.  It was beginning to dry so I smeared it around the page and used Elmer's a design resit.  I used two shades of blue craft acrylic to drag across the design.

You know me and color - it wasn't long before I decided to paint the background first!  I dropped some red and yellow craft paint unto the paper and scraped it across with my card.  I didn't even let it dry before I added the Elmer's design.

I used black craft acrylic to drag across the paper.  WOW!  This one turned out really cool!

There was quite a lot of black paint/glue mixture scraped across the page, so I flipped over one of the pages and smeared it randomly on the page.  Even though I was still working on the blotter paper, the table pattern showed though.  Yippie!  Another happy surprise!

I dribbled Elmer's across the page Jackson Pollack style....

...and used iridescent copper and raw sienna tube paints to drag across the page.  It looks a lot like snake skin!

These pages are all luscious and shimmery - especially the ones with glitter glue.  Oh, what fun!

The competed and dried flip sides.

How many ideas did you come up with looking at these images?  Give this a try - I guarantee you're going to have a great time!  Just keep asking yourself, "what if....".  I'm thinking, "What if I add mica powder to my craft paint?"  "What if I gesso cardboard as my support?"  "What if I use oil pastel as a resist?"  

As you can see, the "what ifs" are many.  If you give this a try, be sure to let me know how it works out for your and what other techniques you come up with.  Don't be afraid to experiment - it's only paper!

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Creative Journaling - The Method

PART THREE

Prepping Your Pages - Page preparation is key in the Creative Journaling process.  Page preparation addresses several important factors in establishing journaling as a routine, enjoyable experience.  As a life long artist, I know first hand the anxiety that's triggered when facing a plain, white canvas or paper.  In the back of my mind there's always the little voice uttering, "don't mess it up".   Making those first marks on the page are always a little intimidating - until now.  But, before any marks are made, pages need to be torn - No more worry about maintaining a "perfect" book  now!  There are several reasons for tearing pages.  The main reason is to keep your journal from being too bulky to close. Gluing in additional papers without eliminating some of the pages would make your journal too bulky.  Another reason I like tearing pages is that it's symbolically and psychologically freeing.  It removes any feelings of  formality that you may have regarding your journal.  Save your torn pages for doodling or staple them together as a notepad.

Getting Started - Open  the cover of your Composition Notebook  (From now forward known as Journal!) Leave the first page intact and tear out the 2nd page just inside the red margine line.  ( It's important not to tear the page out to the binding - you don't want to destroy the integrity of the remaining  pages by loosening  them at the stitching.)  Now, flip the 3rd page over.  The back of page 3 and the front of page 4 are now the 1st "spread" in your journal.  The back of the first page and page 3 will eventually be glued together, but first, it's time to add some color to the 1st spread!

Using Water Color Pencils - Using water color pencils seems less intimidating to the "non artist" than using watercolor or acrylic paints, but I often prep my pages with paints now.  Using pencils has several advantages that I think are important - especially to those who are just finding their creative voice.  The very act of "coloring" begins to quiet the left brain and the analytical thought process, while at the same time allowing relaxation and the creativity of the right brain to come forward.  You begin to "zone out" and become engulfed in the current moment of applying color.  Secondly, using pencils allows for better control when using water to blend the colors together.  To begin with, I recommend selecting only 2 colors for your first spread, a dark tone and a light tone.  Select 2 colors that you find pleasing together and that appeal to you. For today's demonstration, I've chosen Blue Violet and Pink Madder Lake Loew Cornell water color pencils.  Remember to have your pencil sharpener handy - you're going to need it!  Begin applying color to your pages in random splotches.  This is not the time to make spirals, stars, or flowers.  You are just applying color.  Alternate using the tip of your pencil with the side of your pencil. Use a combination of rough, heavy strokes and light, soft strokes.  Make both jagged strokes and swirly strokes.  Overlap your colors in some  areas and leave some white paper showing in others.  Go "into the zone" and let your hand guide you.  Once you have applied all the color, moisten a paper towel with water and wring out the excess.  With the moist paper towel and  a light stroke, begin blending the colors together.  Play with using circular motions on straight, jagged lines and blending curved lines straight across.  Be sure leave some of your darker strokes  intact for contrast and interest.  Set your journal aside to try for 5 or 10 minutes.

Using Collage Materials - While your spread is drying, pull out a magazine and begin tearing images and words that appeal to you.  Don't analyize or question what you're drawn to.  Just tear it out of the magazine.  If you flip back a page to look at an image, stop questioning yourself and tear it out for your collection.  Try to avoid removing entire pages and take just what you need.  I store my larger images in a pocket folder (a large ziplock bag works nicely,too.)  I keep my smaller words and images in sandwhich bags.

Working With Your Spread  Now take a look at your dried spread.  What images do you see?  Are any of the shapes familiar to you?  Draw an outline around anything recognizable to you.  Begin filling in these shapes with color.  Don't be afraid to introduce new colors into your spread at this point.  Use whatever suits your mood including markers, colored pencils, or additional applications of watercolor pencil.  Think about the images that you see.  What do they mean to you?  Did you tear anything from the magazine that you want to incorporate into your spread?  Now is the time to do so.  I also suggest gluing your pages at this point.  In my example, I found a clown figure on the left side of my spread along with another smaller image of a cartoonish looking male.  On the right side, I found the image of someone with their arms crossed. 

As I completed adding color to my spread, I contemplated the addition of collaged items.  Nothing that I pulled from the magazine fit the mood of the spread so I didn't add anything; however, this is the point at which you may find that you need to add an image or word.  If you don't use what you pulled from the magazine today, save it for future consideration. 

The Anaylyis  This particular spread was easy for me to analyize.  Thursday next week, it will be two years since my mom died and she's been on my mind more so than usual.  She collected clowns and I connect them with her.  On the right side of the spread, I see myself, arms crossed, trying to keep my feelings inside.  As I colored in my clown, I thought of Mom and all the happy memories that made us laugh.  On the right side of the spread, I wrote her a letter and told her how much I miss her and how much a part of my life she still is.  I don't know what's up with that funny looking dude next to the clown!

What did you find in your spread?  Did you gain new insight about yourself or another?  Did it help you express an emotion that you might have kept hidden from yourself?  Did you find the solution to a problem?  Was it just a freeing exercise in creativity? 

This method of journaling will eventually lead you to experience all of the above.  Make a commitment to allow yourself the expression of creativity and self discovery.   Take an hour and prep a week's worth of pages.  This makes it easy to journal on a daily basis and totally eliminates the "white page syndrome" that can block creativity.  Stay tuned for more helpful hints and journaling prompts, and feel free to post any comments or questions you may have regarding Creative Journaling