More from the Art Journal

I finally figured out what my art journal is and what it isn't.

It's a spot for me to try different techniques. Not everyone will be a hit -- I expect plenty of misses, in fact, but hope to learn from every one of them.

I will try techniques I see in online videos and put my own spin to them, like this "one color" challenge.

I will play with various media. Collage, gouache, acrylic, watercolor pencil, gelli printing, and painted deli paper are all fair game. And probably others, I just haven't committed to them yet.

I will try to duplicate things in paint that I have done as collage. (In this case with bad results -- that's a VERY wonky Eiffel Tower on the left. I can do better. I will do better.)

I will work on drawing and painting.. I'll try original things and also work from previously drawn images (like this one, from a Christmas card)...

Or, I'll base my drawing on a photo. But I will try to make them more or less my own.



I will express my passion for places, people and things I love with my art.

Sometimes I'll use it (as my friend Kate does hers) to show a technique or have a guide for her colors. I had tremendous fun testing out the watercolor pencils to see what they really looked like!



And sometimes it will be very personal -- more than an art practice book but a real journal.

I will not be afraid to show it to people, even when I am unsure of their reaction. Is Lady Mary Crawley afraid of anyone's reaction (apart from the misfortunate incident of Mr. Pamook)? I need to bring out my inner Lady Mary!

And always, I promise myself to allow myself to fail and celebrate when I succeed!

Trying to Find My Place

I've been spending more time in my art journal lately -- with notably mixed results.

Napkin, gouache, paper, gesso

I've been including a mix of things there but mostly collage and paint -- gouache and fluid acrylic with a bit of watercolor pencil thrown in.

Gouache, india ink

I think one of my big challenges -- in addition to working on drawing skills -- is finding my own style. It's rather elusive, but then I suspect I need to draw more before the style emerges.

Gouache, watercolor pencil, washi tape, Pitt pen

On occasion I'll work with a favorite photo. Here's the original photo, which was taken from my friend Jerry's fifth floor Paris apartment, overlooking the roofs of his courtyard.

Here is my version. Not ready for prime time but a noble effort.

Gouache

Lately I've been taking to doing a collage on one side of the page...

Napkin (birds and flowers at bottom), paper, words, gesso, gouache

Then drawing and/or painting a more-or-less mirror image on the other side of the spread.

All gouache

These are kind of fun -- a good stretch and fun working with the paints. The results are mixed to be sure, but I enjoy it.

And sometimes, just pages, picking up whatever I have at hand.

Napkin (bird, flowers) acrylic, papers, mica, words, stamp embellishment

It's practice. That's what I keep telling myself.

Paper, pen, napkin (bird), mica, sygma white pen, Golden acrylic

And while practice might not make perfect in all cases, it should make it better over time!

On the Table -- The Art Table, That Is

Back from Massachusetts and soon will have a post on a very special sighting! Meanwhile, I thought I'd share a bit of what I was doing before I left! I don't have a lot to show for all the time I've spent at the art table of late, but I thought I'd show you a few things I've been working on. Because it's spring, we'll start with a few springy cards pulled together for a special order for butterfly-themed cards!

I love the card above. Which didn't start out that way, but when I was finished the soft palette, the butterfly words and the papers seemed to remind me of how spring sneaks in gently with those subtle colors. The grass is still pale and perhaps even brown, not yet healed from winter's brutal cold. The skies not always sunny, yet hints of pink and brighter greens to come.



Here are a few other cards from that order -- definitely brighter!

The fairies -- not butterflies, but I couldn't resist this sweet art and a couple of variations.



I've been working in my art journal too. This was a page I did in my class where we painted over newspaper and then worked from there, tearing it into an odd shape. I found the Michigan Beaches page in the paper and thought that would be a good spot to journal some at-the-lake thoughts. I confess, I am not fond of the technique where you write over your black in white. It looked a lot better when our teacher did it!

What I didn't realize was that on the flip side was a newspaper story by and with a large photo of a woman with whom I'd worked on committees with while I was at MSU. So, I couldn't cover her up! Had to give her the treatment!

Beside her, I tried my hand at cat drawing. I am NO cat artist, at least not a realistic one -- the eyes mess me up every time. But I'm improving. This was mostly colored pencil with acrylic background.

Here's how it looked in the spread. In a perfect world, the pages would be reversed but you go with what you've already got down!.

And yes, I've been playing with the gouache, too. I showed you the one below before -- the gouache version with my own version is on the left with the acrylic/napkin/cut out embellishment version on the right.

And here are some cards using the gouache. Yes, practicing the drawing part, too!


More to come. I'm on a bit of a roll now. And it sure is fun!

Gosh! It's Gouache!

I can only think of one thing more fun when it comes to being creative on a Sunday afternoon. That is being creative in a class with others, learning something new from a fun instructor who really knows how to motivate you!

So, when my friend Kate suggested taking Barb Hranilovich's Gouache class, I was all for it!

What is gouache (gwash) you might ask? Gouache is a water based paint that is opaque. It's much like watercolor except it's not! With gouache, I could paint something light colored over something dark and it would cover. (Well, if the paint isn't too watered down! Learned that one the hard way!) It also has a very matte, almost chalky surface.

The class wasn't a painting class in terms of learning how to paint a tree, for example, or a still life. It was technique oriented, designed to teach the properties of the gouache and the importance of color and color value and give us the opportunity to experiment with it a bit.

We made value charts with black and white mixing our colors and making a gray scale. Then we worked on mixing some of the colors.

Barb told us several ways to mix color on the page with the gouache including "physical" methods and optical methods and the difference of using a wet and dry brush with each of these.

Here's a closer look at Barb's samples.

A good demo first, then we tried it.

And then we painted. In the photo above at the right you can see a little tin bird. That was my subject.

Yes, drawing is not my strong suit, but here is my interpretation of the little bird!

Well, of course I went home and started playing. The day before I had done a mixed media page in my journal using acrylic, gesso, a napkin and dictionary page for text, papers and an ephemera girl with bird. You can see it on the right. I decided to try to duplicate it by hand in reverse on the facing page. As you can see, I took some liberties with the girl's hair (and my girl looks softer and a bit sweeter, less sophisticated). I did the painting and background in gouache with some color pencil overlay and Pitt pen India ink highlights.

It won't win prizes, but I was pretty happy with the result for a first try!