Journaling and Collaging

My favorite thing to do is to journal and collage in a combined method.

I decided to do a journal called "Women's Journal" and have it just be women photos, and portraits of women combined with every technique you can think of that can make a fabulous and many layered collage.

In the following examples, you will see that I used antique music, antique french papers, rub-ons, stickers, antique photo, gesso, snow white acrylic, antique white acrylic, black marker, water soluble pastels, and velvet paper.

the water soluble pastels were melted with a quilting iron. But learn this, if you melt your water soluble pastels onto your paper, they will not be water soluble anymore. You can drag the quilting iron over and over the pastels to spread them and add another color on top and spread that color.

I used a yellow ochre, a grape purple color, blue and white.

I also rubbed the water soluble pastels on other spots of the paper so that when I applied water, it smudged just nicely.

I watched a video by "Zin". it was not a teaching video, but just a video to watch her at work. I took notes as though I was taking a class. I tried to figure out various techniques and then go to my art room to work on my own with my own supplies. I added a couple extra ideas into mine. I really like Christina Zinnia Galliher.

Collage-Waxed Paper

Here is a new little piece I am working on today.

The wax paper has paint all over it from the yellow water painting I did the other day. I had it in my trash bin. "Hey" I thought, let me try this as a color experiment, rather than a wax paper and paint experiment. So, I gethered a few different colors of my card stock (kind of like color aid paper back in college) and placed different pieces of card stock on top of each other to see what colors worked and complimented each other. Purple and lime green, wow, different combo. I think I am into lime green lately! I just put some lime green sheers on layaway. I had already punched out inchies out of the purple paper so that when I placed it on top of the lime green, it showed like little windows. I then layed the wax paper down and I can see subtle hints of the purple and lime coming through the wax paper.

Next blog, what I decided and came up with to finish this little piece as I cut and place the pieces and teach a color lesson.

You can have your children do this art with you and see the differences. This was acrylic paint I was using and wax paper as my palette; cheap pallette by the way and you can just wrap it up and throw away (or use again:)

Colors of Early Summer

Be inspired when you are looking at the colors of early spring, early summer and early fall. Just the colors themselves can give you ideas for new pieces of art. You don't have to paint the flowers themselves. Pull out these colors from your stash of paints or papers; mix paint on your pallete, cut random pieces of color from your scrap book papers and glue away.

Years ago, we had what was called color aid paper in art school. We would use this paper to learn about all of the hues, their values and intensities. Today, we have papers galour to play with from textured papers, shiny gold and silver papers, home-made papers, oriental style papers, flat or shiny papers; you want it, you can find it!

Take a piece of bristol board (a paper that is somewhat thick with no tooth to it) and paint different spots with your acrylic paints. Let it dry and then cut out shapes and glue the shapes every which way you would like on a piece of wood, on a canvas board, or even a piece of drawing paper. Get a feel of the colors.

We are so used to making sure colors match in our wardrobes, but when we see the lillies of the fields, and the herbs in our grasses, we see combinations of wonderful colors like the yellow and peach in the lilly, and the burgundy and mauve type pink.

When you are taking a drive, do you ever look at the colors of the weeds and wild plants on the side of the road. I have seen what looks like purple in the lime green colored grass. I am sure that the purple was not purple but brown. But, with the light and shadows, that brown was purple. So,paint a picture with purple and green instead of brown. Our minds trick us into thinking something else when we really see purple. Color is alot of fun. Play, Play Play with your colored paints!