Tuesday Tips and Techniques

Formula Two

Here's another step-by-step on creating a journal page.  I hope you find it helpful as a way to break out of your usual methods.

First of all, concentrate on just one page (assuming you typically work across two pages as a spread).  This allows you to both work faster, and work in a vertical format instead of horizontally.

Write your thoughts.  Don't think about what you're writing.  Just let the words flow.  Don't worry about spelling or punctuation.  This is about spewing whatever's on your mind in the moment.  Write in multiple directions.  Overlap your words.  Just GET IT OUT!

Now take out your favorite watersoluble pastels and scribble to your heart's content.  Pretend it's kindergarten.  Use ALL the crayons in your box if you want.  Just enjoy the pleasure of applying color to paper.

Tone all that scribbling down with gesso or white acrylic and a little water.  I use my fingers for this.  Leave some areas more white than others.  

Add more texture with random scribbles and words or phrases that come to mind.  Here, I've used a charcoal pencil, but I typically use a black brush pen (which I couldn't find and didn't want to look for).

Add more color and brighten some of the areas.  You might see the beginnings of something unidentifiable taking shape.

Add some contrasting colors with acrylic paint.  Use your fingers.  Use a paintbrush.  Use an old credit card.  PLAY!  Hold your journal upright.  What images do you see taking shape?

Sketch around some of the basic shapes that you see.  Here, I could see a figure with a headdress.  I added the heart and wings - Voila!  I think I've found an angel.

Add gesso or white acrylic around the image and concentrate on that.  You can add more color to the background later.  Add details and shading to your figure, Then you can concentrate on the background.

Add little details to both your image and background.  Use symbols and doodles.  As a final touch, journal a few last thoughts that come to you as you're working.  Most of all - have FUN.  This isn't about quality, gallery art - it's about YOU, expressing yourself creatively.

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE

Ideas

I completed another spread in my moleskin.  This time, I decided I wanted to begin with collage, so I flipped through my picture file and these patterns caught my attention.  I put them on the pages with what else - Mod Podge.

I didn't really know where I wanted to go with it, but I through it would be fun to try my newly learned scribbling techniques.  I wanted to see if I could duplicate the gray background.

I began on the left page using red scribbles.  I also wanted to duplicate one of the "light bulb" shapes from the collaged paper and I wanted to leave a space white for writing something.

I used different colors to build up the gray tone.  After using red, I went to cloud blue

I continued adding layers of colors, all the while thinking about what the light bulb reminded me of.  As I added each layer, I began thinking about the light bulb as a representation of an idea, and I thought about each little scribble as an idea that crosses my mind during any given day.

I added a third layer of a dark, cool gray

And then I added a fourth layer of olive green.

I finished the light bulb shape and I wrote this quote by Anais Nin: "My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living."  How true is that?  I thought about all the different places I'm in when ideas come to me.  Rarely do they come when I'm at the desk in front of my materials.

I completed the right side of the page with a quote from Picasso: "You have to have an idea of what you're going to do, but it should be a vague idea."  That just about sums up the way that I approach my own art endeavors.  I'm happy to discover that I have something in common with one of the artists who influenced me early in my art career!

Here's my finished spread.  I didn't quite capture the gray in the collage paper, but it works for me.  I thought about the light bulb shape on the left and how it represents the way we have millions of ideas everyday and how we come to isolate one and try to bring it to it's full potential.  I hope that in the midst of your day, you isolate one of your great ideas and bring it to life as you "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

PHOTO OF THE DAY

"Horsing Around"

If my the horse seems a little stiff, it's because he's in the wax museum at Niagra  Falls in Canada.  Keith took this  photo when were on a holiday in 2007.  I had way more fun than the horse! 

Tuesday Tips and Techniques: Take A Workshop!

SAME MATERIALS - NEW TECHNIQUES


We all have our favorite "go to" art supplies, and no matter what your's is, there's someone using it in a way that you've probably never dreamed of before!  Taking a workshop whether online or in person, is an excellent opportunity to view your materials in a fresh, exciting way.

WORKSHOP WITH JOHN SMOLKO

"The Kiss" by John Smolko

I had such an opportunity this past Saturday when I attended a colored pencil workshop with John Smolko. (View more of John's work HERE).  The workshop was sponsored by my instructor, Jennifer Kosarco, and CPSA. The moment I viewed John's work, I knew it was a workshop that would enhance my creativity.  His work is full of color, vibrancy and movement, and I was eager to learn his technique.  

THE TECHNIQUE

The main objective of the workshop was to teach us rendering and blending with line, and color blocking in areas with line and scribbling.  We began by practicing the scribble and discussing color choices.

We continued by choosing a block letter and after drawing the letter, we began color blocking and shading the letter.  We filled in the background and were given additional information on color choices and color experimentation.  

We followed this exercise by working on portraits from photos that we brought with us.  I chose a photo from my photo file of National Geographic images.  I was captivated by this gentleman's beard, mustache, and the folds of his turban.

I would be hard pressed to describe the excitement I felt as I learned this new technique!  The very act of using line differently breathed a new life into my work, and I've been obsessed with this method of drawing since the workshop.  I've worked on this portrait every day, and I'm at a point where I'll set it aside and look at it again next week to see what I need to add.

Adding the layers of color has been a fascinating exercise in color juxtaposition and experimentation.  There are 14 colors in this drawing at this point, and some of the darker areas have up to 8 layers of color.

MAKING A TECHNIQUE YOUR OWN

The fun part about learning a new technique is "making it your own".  I'm already thinking of ways to incorporate this technique into not only my journals, but in my acrylic paintings.  How fun will it be to use this technique by squeezing craft acrylic straight out of the bottle?  I can't wait to give that a try.  In the meantime, I started using this technique on a new spread in my moleskin journal. (more on that tomorrow).

I hope you're having fun each day and finding new ways to enhance your creative muse, and I hope that if you     get an opportunity to take an art workshop, you'll give it a try.   Wherever your journey takes you, remember to "Celebrate, LOVE, and Create!"

PHOTO OF THE DAY

"Red Sky at Morning"

I took this photo early one morning about 2 weeks ago as the sun was coming up over the rooftops.  The saying "Red sky at morning, sailor take warning...", proved to be true as thunderstorms rolled in later that afternoon and evening.