R is for Relatives

Just had a chance to upload the scrapbook layout I did last night. It sort of fell together w/o too much agonizing from me, which is always good.

Click here to see a layout I did of my Dad's Mom's family sometime around the nineteen teens.

adding to the scrapbook...

The surprise snowfall we got the other day demanded a scrapbook layout. I usually wait until I get my photos professionally developed... but this time I didn't bother and printed this picture at home. I love this grey paper that I picked up on vacation in Vermont. *cries that this is last piece* I gessoed the floral stencil and then played around with layering things. The brown circle bit is actually packaging from some jello cups. The brown grid paper was salvaged from the recyling bin at work! The titling came from an attempt at a tag in photoshop. Given that I don't know what I'm doing ... I screwed it up ... but still made it work for me!! HAH.

...are you ready for your closeup...?? In the closeup you can see better my little glitter glue dots on top of the floral stencil (click for a closer peek)...

gettin' messy

been binging on other people's blogs... and so finally had time to get down and dirty with my own long ignored art journal this weekend. I can't say I 100% love any of the pages I did... but I sure had fun playing. I've been away from it so long I don't feel like these are authentically me. But I'm rediscovering what I like and what I don't, so that's a positive step.

So for whatever it's worth... here they are...

day by day

Oh, also posted my 10 latest daily collages over at my Flickr site.

There is JOY in a cup of coffee and a movie

Came back from seeing "Julia and Julia" and felt like playing around a bit. Gessoed and painted and inked a cereal box cut to 8 1/2 x 11 inches for the background. Then layered on a piece of lime green tissue with some acrylic medium, a still from the movie, my ticket stub, my coffee sleeve, and some "typed" text and a couple of Thickers letters.

I really like the weathered effect on the background chipboard which was an accident as I was trying to smooth out some of the paint and ended up wiping away more than I intended. But it ends up adding an extra bit of texture that I really like. And it doesn't show up in the photo, but the ink from the cereal box packaging shows through just a bit here and there and adds even more texture...

Just smooshing gesso and color around to make the background is totally addicting!

stay classy!!

Saw this class, and COULD NOT RESIST! It looks like SO MUCH FUN!

http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2009/09/new-online-class-techniqueapalooza-paint.html

(may also be a reason to pick up a couple crafty things I have been eyeing that are on the supplies list...)

I've been feeling sorta stuck lately, in a lot of ways, and I think maybe some time to PLAY will be a good thing!

Illustration

Some years ago, during a period in which theater had kicked in me in the teeth, I started hanging out on the internet doing everything crafty BUT theater. I started with collage sites, and ended up keeping a visual journal for the next several years. I have tried and failed at drawing, so mostly what I keep/have kept are "glue books." You look at the paper that surrounds you every day, and you stick some of it together in some fashion that means something to you at the time. I've branched out from that a bit to artist trading cards, and making my own embellished papers, and scrapbooking ... it all ends up informing other projects.

I haven't felt like I have any worthwhile words lately, so I thought maybe I'd go back to pictures for a while, and see if that sparks anything. It's like the all purpose warm up you have with any activity: stretching, contour drawing, improv, daily pages, whatever.

Grabbed a couple lousy pictures from my little laptop Lola's webcam. Here are days one and two of this new project.The main material I'm ripping up is the October issue of Vogue. No doubt there will be additions as I go along. This is a dangerous pastime for packrats. (It's good to know when to let go of paper, otherwise you start to look like those poor sods on Hoarders.)

The text here reads "mixed emotions" They're done on 5x8 cards, and I'm gluing them in my journal. These are all wrinkly as I'm using an odd bottle of Elmer's glue I found in the supply closet here at work. I keep forgetting to bring in a new glue stick.

Text reads "Tuesday morning, perpetual stationery object." There doesn't need to be text, but I usually find a word or a phrase popping out at me as I page throught the magazine looking for some color or texture or expression that seems to reflect how I'm feeling on any given day.

Tuesday I was looking for something along the lines of "vague" or "unfocused" ... and the little strip of pink is flower petals, a little signatory of trying to track down a friends home address to send her flowers after the recent death of her father. Hidden flashes that speak to me when I look back on these pages. Often I can remember pretty clearly the act of creation even years later. The sketching crowd talks about this in terms of their connecting with what they are drawing.

This is my way to connect without the pressure of having to make things look "right."

Sometimes I don't even know why the images I choose speak to me ... it's enough that connections are being made. Which satisfies something in me that longs for connections to other things, other people. All from a few magazine ads and some gluey fingers.