spring in the garden

Spring has definitely sprung. Winds, sunshine, everything growing with gusto. Here are some pics.

Crumpled plastic grocery bag technique

I'm not sure how well I explained this earlier, but since I'm getting questions - I'll spell it out for those of you who want to try it.

 I often press crumpled plastic grocery bags (I prefer them to Saran or other wraps) over wet acrylic abstracts to get a textured effect, let it dry a bit and then pull it up. I reuse the bags for several projects so they often get wonderful colors on them.   (If the paint is still wet when I lift it - I'll press the bag onto another painting, or blank paper to transfer the texture again.)

 This time the plastic bag looked so interesting that I figured there must be a way to use it. I cut it into big pieces and glued it to watercolor paper with acrylic gel medium, and rolled it with a brayer. The painted side was facing down. I wasn't sure it would adhere - but it did. Then I cut them into ATC size cards. That's all there was to it. I just hated to throw away something that I liked so well. I hope someone else tries this and will share their results.

Collaborative work

Recently I sent some of the new background ATCs and cards to my art pal Jackie.

 She surprised me yesterday by sending them back - but altered. She collaged over them. These are a few of the results. I am wowed by how good they look, and how they took on new life with a second pair of hands. Thanks Jackie!

White grid in background

Other artists have been so interested in the web spray paint, I'm glad to help bring it back to the art scene. Some people asked what I used for the white grid on the background. I had a plastic "thing" - I think it originally came with fabric trim wound around it. I use it to spray through usually, but this time I wanted a grid look without covering the background. I painted gesso on it with a sponge brush. Then to make the impression I covered the plastic "thing" with deli wrap, and rolled over it with a brayer on top of the background paint. I had to really push hard because the paper is stiff.

New backgrounds for ATCs and 4x4s

This afternoon, I reworked some old acrylic backgrounds and took them outside to spray them with webbing paint.

SICL art class March 15

Headed for the hills

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings..."

My heart is in the hills; I gravitate back to the Sierras. This is my new hang-out. Views show the

trailer, the screen room where lots of art things will be going on.

Art day today

This was of an old watercolor painting that I painted over with white paint. While it was wet (and I had to move fast) I scratched into the surface. Then I thought I'd go over it again with a glaze and scratch back to some of the white. Here are the white birches that appeared.

Background experiments.

Acrylics, strips of floral paper napkin, glazes and paints over top. They remind me of white birch trees.

Scrapbook cover

This photo album was recently given to me by a classmate in SICL. I'm posting the cover so you can use it in your art.

Weekend in Pleasant Hill

I spent the weekend visiting with Jill in Pleasant Hill.  We went
 to see Ross Muir Hanna in concert w his band. The music was delightful performed by The Phirehouse Philharmonic Band.  I came home relaxed like I had just had a nice long vacation.

Altered book - picking a theme

One of the questions today in the SICL class was "how do you pick a theme?" This is a really good question. Usually themes pick me. Maybe the title of a book will suggest a theme. Perhaps it is the lyrics of a song that sticks in my mind. Maybe it is a quote that means something special and that can be illustrated some way. Sometimes images themselves suggest a theme. Maybe it's a mood. Love? Tenderness? Anger? Political injustice? War? Family reunions? There are more themes floating around out there than there are artists to do them justice.

My suggestion is to make a practice book first and not be tied to a theme. Just play with it and have fun. It may develop a theme by the time you are through playing with it. Pay attention to what images you want to use in it. Maybe a color can be the theme. Maybe it is the construction that will become a theme. Windows? Doors? Tunnels? Folds? Any of these can be themes. They can be as frivolous, or as serious as you want them to be.

Once you have a theme established in your mind, be open to where it will take you. Say you pick windows. What do they suggest to you? Look for images, quotes, embellishments that you can use. Start to collect things associated with your theme. Weaving them all together is where the artist in you will get to stretch and play. I like my altered books to have a message. But that is just my style. You will find your own style. Maybe it will be a story you want to tell. Maybe it will be a book filled with your favorite images. Maybe it will be filled with poetry. Maybe you will write in it like a journal. It can be anything you want it to be.

After you are playing with a practice book, you probably will start looking around you for things you can use in it. Sally talked about this in class. Nothing is safe! You'll save scraps, tear apart magazines, pick up leaves and twigs, and know that they can be used in your art.

Since there are no hard and fast rules for making altered books, you can make it up as you go along. If you dont' like a page you finished - tear it out. It's just paper. Try again.
Or, if tearing it out is not an option for some reason - then collage over it, or paint over it.

I often work in several sections of a book at one time. I don't always start at the front and end at the back. Again, that's just my personal work style. It may not work for you. I usually have a general idea of where I want something to fall in a book. I like to lay it out and tuck things into it - long before I start structural changes. That way I can see how the text works to move the reader from the beginning to the end. It helps me find what images I want to use and what I need to do research to find.

I hope this helps you get started. You probably will make more than one. You will soon know if it is "your thing". I haven't stopped painting, or doing my other art and needle work, but while I'm intensely into constructing an altered book, everything else takes a back seat until I need a break.

So grab an old book and start tearing, cutting, pasting, painting, and having some fun with it. Let me know if I can help. You can email me at momzart101@yahoo.com

More SICL photos

Todays SICL class was fun as always. Here are some photos of the various activities. There are watercolor students, acrylic students, and today a talk about Altered Books.

Fashion Magazine alterations

Today I worked on more of the crumpled magazine pages. These are the results.

Crumpled magazine backgrounds

The big buzz about scrunched up magazine pages on the online art group sites, enticed me to try it. Thanks to Sherre for telling us all how she did them. My variation is that I sand the ridges and don't always paint the paper. Here are the results.