Art Journal JAZZ - Time to Get BRAVE!

It's Time for Art Journal JAZZ!

I've been in a funk recently and I'm getting out of it.  I'm one of those people who just go blank when I'm a little down.  I love those people who can work their way out of the blues by picking up a paint brush, but no matter how hard I try, I just end up staring at the paper or canvas.  Weird!

But.......it's time to snap out of it.  I pushed my way thru my Picasso piece a few days ago and I'm going to keep going.

Here we go..........................





Thanks for watching.

Attention:  Colorers

My new, downloadable, CeeCee's Flower Girls Coloring Book is for sale on Etsy for $5.99.  There are 21, unique, illustrations of pretty girls surrounded by flowers.  You can print the pages as many times as you like.  Check it out!!

PEACE!

Cyndi

Time Not Wasted!

Isn't that the truth!!  I wanted to use my new clock stencil, so I "googled" some quotes on Time.  I liked this one.  No matter what you are doing, as long as it's not hurting anyone and it's fun, how could it be a waste of time.  We all need to remember to live in the moment.

Peace!

Cyndi

Art Journalling Workshop

I mentioned a few days ago that I was taking an online workshop, Tracy Bautista's Art Journal Play Live 2015.

After the first two lessons, this is what I've created.  The first lesson was Circle Abstract Patterns.  Basically, she was teaching how to use the brush freely, play with different colors, etc.

The second was Floral Prints and Patterns.  I didn't have all of the supplies that she used for this tutorial.  It would have been better when Golden High Flow Paint.  She also used a paint applicator with a very, very thin tip to draw the outlines and miscellaneous marks in black paint.  My applicator was slightly larger, so I ended up with some thick lines and big blobs of paint.  Oh well!

I'm enjoying this and getting some, much needed, inspiration.

Peace,
Cyndi

Where Have I Been?????

I haven't posted on my blog for almost a year.  I've been in an "inspiration slump".  However, I'm over it (or, at least, I think that I am). 

I'm taking a workshop to, hopefully, put an end to my lazy ways.  It's called ART. JOURNAL. PLAY Live 2015.  I've loved Traci Bautista for a long time and look forward to the experience.  Here's a link if anyone's interested.

http://creativityunleashed.ning.com/

I have an art room overflowing with supplies that need to be used (so that I won't feel guilty when I buy more......did I just say that???)

Peace,
Cyndi

Sunday Scribble

I'm not feeling very creative this evening.  I just bought some rubbing plates to use with my Gelli Plate, but I just couldn't get inspired today.

I did mess around a little bit with one of the plates.  I did a rubbing with my Prismacolor pencils, then did a little zendoodling.  Obviously, it's not much, but maybe I'll cut it up and use it in a collage or a card.  Or maybe, I'll spray some ink on it.

 

Maybe, I'll have better luck tomorrow.

 

Peace,

Cyndi

Just Doodling.

This was actually a piece of paper that I was using to clean off my brayer and stencils while I was doing some Gelli prints a few weeks ago.  I had also wiped off some spray ink on it.  So, I just started doodling and zentangling around the splotches.

Peace,
Cyndi

Hot Glue Flower Masks

I'm so excited.  (it doesn't take much).  I was browsing around Traci Bautista's site about a month ago and saw a short tutorial on making designs out of hot glue, then using them as stencils and masks in your backgrounds or wherever you think they might look good.

I kept meaning to try it, but I couldn't find my hot glue gun.  Then, of course, when I found the gun, I couldn't find the glue.  Then, I found the glue and couldn't find the gun again, and so on, and so on.

Today, I happened to run across the gun and the glue so I knew that today was the day.  In her tutorial, I believe that she says to do this on a teflon mat.  I don't have a teflon mat, so I used freezer paper.

I took my time and carefully formed each design.  No I didn't.  I just started making designs willy nilly.  I had glue strings everywhere, but I figured that I could cut them off at the end.  I was surprised at how easy it was.  I let them completely cool, then began pulling them off the paper.  If I had used the teflon, they would have popped right off.  Mine stuck to the paper here and there, but for the most part, I just used my fingernail and scraped them off.  The glue is strong, so they didn't break or pull apart.  On the ones that stuck to the paper, I just scraped or cut the paper off with a small exacto knife.

I tried them out right away on a piece of art that I was never happy with.  I sprayed Dylusions Ink, but you could use any kind of spray paint.  You could even put paint or ink on the flat, back of the designs and use them to stamp.

I am pleased and plan to make some more.  They will be great for using on backgrounds or art journal pages.  I don't know if Traci Bautista made up this technique.  She probably did because she is so creative and talented.  Anyway, thanks Traci!

Here's some pix.

You can see the paper stuck to this one.

Girl Number 3

I'm on a roll.  I painted another girl on the back of a cereal box today.  Again, this one is very Kelly Rae Roberts-esque.  I tried another new technique.

I covered one of my rubber stamps in gel medium, instead of ink, then I stamped it on the surface.  I used water color to paint over it.  The gel medium acts as a resist to the water color.  It looked really good.  I wish that I had taken a picture of it right after I used the water color.  I ended up painting over it with acrylic paint because the dress needed to be more pronounced.  You can still see the stamp through the acrylic, but not as much as with the water color.  I want to try it again on something else.

Thinking About Flying

Inspired by the works of Kelly Rae Roberts and Susie Blu, I spent this Sunday afternoon trying another face.

I was very patient this time.  I started out with a piece of cardboard (OK, it's the back of a cereal box).   I tried something that I saw in a video by Samantha Kira Harding.  I put gesso on the cardboard, then wrote all over it with Prismacolor Premier markers (she used Copics, but I don't have any), then brushed gesso over the writing.  It smeared some of the marker which looked really pretty and you  could see a sort of ghost image through the gesso.  Then I used stencils and spray ink, acrylic dabbers, and ink dabbers.  I collaged some torn book pages, decorative tissue paper, and a lacy rice paper.  I went over everything with watered down Golden Titan Buff to calm it down a little and make the papers more integrated.

I drew the girl with a charcoal pencil, then painted her face, arms and hair.  After it dried I used a charcoal pencil, Pitt markers, and a white gel pen to draw her facial features.  After I painted the dress, I stamped a butterfly on regular white paper, reduced it, then colored it with markers and glued it to the dress.  I added the wings, some more stamping, and a little molding paste through a plastic grid.

I just need to brush a layer of gloss medium and it will be finished.

You know it's hard to develop one's own style.  I watch a lot of tutorials on Youtube and am addicted to arts/crafts magazines.  When someone is showing you how to do something, naturally, your piece is going to look quite a bit like theirs (just not as good, of course).  I'm guessing that many people gain inspiration and technique from others, then eventually develop their own style.

I'm working on it!!

Pretty Paisley

As much as I try to do other forms of art, I always end up pulling out the pens and drawing.  I just love to draw with a nice black pen, then color.

I bought a new book on Friday -  Creative Doodling & Beyond: Inspiring exercises, prompts, and projects for turning simple doodles into beautiful works of art by Stephanie Corfee.  It's good because she goes through different doodling shapes and boarders and leaves space for you to practice next to her doodles.  Okay, can you tell which page is mine and which is Stephanie's?  Of course you can.....mine are on the right.

Here's my doodling from last night.

Playing with Colored Pencils

Here's the project that I worked on while watching Celebrity Appentice.  I was very happy about 2 things on Sunday night - this drawing and that Omarosa was FIRED!!

I used a black Faber Castel Pitt Artist Pen and Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils.

 

 

 

Here's the tutorial  that I watched to learn how to draw the fat squiggly things.



ZATISSE - A little Zentangle, a little Matisse

I found the Modern Master Challenge on Art Journaling,  I found it a little too late  They were doing Matisse in February.  However, I thought I would take a look at some of his paintings and find out a little bit about the guy.

He was pretty interesting.  He hung out with Gertrude Stein, Picasso, the Cone sisters (who were very interesting - I might write a post about them someday) and other artists and collectors,

Matisse was a painter, printmaker, and sculptor.  In 1941 he had surgery and remained in a wheelchair afterwards. With the help of an assistant, he started creating collage-type work.  He called it gouaches découpés.  He brushed gouache onto paper, cut it in pieces and  attached it to other paper.  His works were large in scale.  During this period he created the Blue Nudes, which are probably some of his most recognizable pieces.

So here is my tribute to Matisse.  I zentangled one of his nudes.

The Real Blue Nude

Look at My Tote Bag

I really like Zazzle.  I discovered the site a couple years ago.  There are other similar businesses on the web, but I've used Zazzle and haven't been disappointed.

I would like to put some of my art on greeting cards, coffee cups, tote bags, etc.  So, I uploaded a piece to Zazzle and ordered a tote bag and a card to see how they would look.  I'm pleased, considering that I photographed the art journal page with my iPad.  If I actually decide to try to sell something, I will photograph my art using more professional equipment (better lighting, better camera, etc.)

I ordered the extra large bag, so it makes the picture look like of small.  It would probably look better on the regular sized tote bag.

This is a drawing that I did while watching "Dance Moms" last night.  I think this would look really cute on a coffee cup or dishes.  I think I'll order a coffee mug from Zazzle to check it out.

Spring - When Everything Old is New Again!

Here's last night's art journal page.  I started out by painting some pink flowers with watercolor.  They make watercolor look so easy in the videos.  But no...........it is not easy!!  I decided to add some birds to hide some of my watercolor mess.  Then I kept adding and adding, and it just kept getting worse.

Never one to give up, I decided to start putting glitter on it - hey, what could it hurt?  Then, finally, I reached for the Dylusions spray inks and Liquid Pearls and figured it may not look like what I was going for, but at least it would be colorful.

Spring is a time for starting over.

Material used:
Artists Loft Watercolor pencils
Pigma Micron pens
Rubber stamps
Stickles by Ranger
Liquid Pearls by Ranger
Dylusions Spray Ink
Stencils
Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber
washi tape


Watch how easy this girl makes it look.

Zentangle Peacock

Here is the 4th and last zentangle drawing in my little series.  I can't say that I'm thrilled with it.  It needs something on the bottom so that it will be similar in size to the other three.  I've been staring at it for about an hour and can't think of what I want to do to the bottom.  I really wish that I had just made the peacock a little bigger.  Oh well..........

Close-ups

Collage Couture

I've seen the work of several artists who do collages of women in pretty clothes made out of paper, fabric, flowers, little gems, etc.  So when I was in the bookstore the other day and saw Collage Couture: Techniques for Creating Fashionable Art, I had to get it.

It starts at the beginning teaching you how to sketch a fashion figure (you know, those tall, skinny figures that fashion designers draw for their creations).  Then she moves into drawing clothing, painting backgrounds, choosing colors and styles for clothes, then putting it all together into a piece of art.

The hardest thing for me was choosing the papers.  Then the only scissors that I could find were huge, which made it very difficult to cut out the body and dress.  Next time, I will make sure that I have some very small, very sharp, pointy scissors.

Here's my first attempt.  This was the first project in the book.  I made a couple changes.  She made her background by rubber stamping flowers and the word Vogue.  I didn't have a flower stamp that looked right, so I stenciled some leaves with a few small flowers.  I added a couple silver skeleton leaves.  I used bubble wrap to make the little white cirles and fine black marker to outline the stamped areas and add a couple more flowers.

Here's the most recent art journal page and some zentangling that I did while I was keeping my parents company in the hospital.  Actually, the girls face couldn't be consider zentangle - it's just doodling.

3/12/2013 Art Journal Page

Zentangle

Three Tears