"Use What you Have" Geometric Backgrounds - Triangles & Hexagons

 I was originally inspired to create these pages from a Mixed Media Morsels group. Give up credit where credit is due! One of those "I have to try this" finds online. I have so many papers that I won't throw away but that have no artistic purpose aside from decorating the inside of a container drawer that I barely open...Until Now! I have been incorporating my extra colors and scraps into journal pages but fell in LOVE with this technique at first sight!  I chose 3-4 different papers so that there is some consistency in the madness of beautiful color! I started my first page with triangles as shown in the example I found. 

If you have a triangle punch this part is cake. Also, if you are really skilled with the straight edge cutter and angles. I used 1.5 inch strips stacked of different patterns. I measured 2" increments and connected the dots. (Small fun side note if you mark your inches on alternating sides. 1"-top, 2"-bottom, 3"-top, 4"- bottom, and so on).
Cut out the triangle and start placing the top row.  

I didn't draw lines to keep straight, I just did what looked good. This is supposed to be fun. NOT math! (For me, not fun). Notice that there is a little bit of page showing through between each triangle creating a visual line between edges and sides. (NOW I SEE DIAMONDS).  I just used a glue stick with enough to put down a town at a time and went down the page from there. I eyeballed the up and down straightness and well as side to side. It's more important to have straight lines on the top and the bottom of the page where your eye naturally goes, that the whole way through. 

Once the whole page is covered. The front and back will look like the photos below. I did use glue on ONLY HALF of the triangles down the spine of the page. You'll see more below.

I used an exact-o knife and ruler to cut the straight edge down the spine. Remember they are NOT fully glued down. Also, if you are worried about cutting your journal, don't be. The papers just need a quick slice and the blade shouldn't go down past the page. You are using the page as your table guide in essence. 

Process photos and the final page. Look at all that detail and color!?! Isn't it just yummy! 

So naturally I had to push the envelope and branch out to another shape. Hexagons!!  I have a hexagon punch by fishers. I love this punch but it's starting to get a rough spot on one of the edges and I'm not loving that as much.  I cut a lot of copy paper shapes, so to get a good cut I will fold the papers and get 2 cuts at once which provide a cleaner cut shape.  (front and back of punch)

 For these papers, I used some old thank you card fronts, gold shiny's, and newsprint I had used with my delusions spray inks. (Ironically with a honeycomb hexagon pattern) 

I did NOT use lines to match these up, I eyeballed it. Notice the spine starts with a point leaving the black triangles on the edge. I did NOT try to cover those in . You can start with a flat edge if you like. I try to change direction of the pieces with stenciled stringent lines. I alternate inked vs painted and play complimentary colors off one another when I can. I also try to evenly disperse similar pieces to give a more fluid visual to the piece. (Sidenote: I did use black gesso on the background of this page first. It act like chalkboard paint and is flat, which makes the colors really pop.)

 I did cut clean edges from the backside of the top and bottom of the page, However, because of the spacing I decided to leave the right page uncut so these little tabs stick out when the pages in front of it are closed. I think it's a fun "extra" to my journal. 

Again with the colors! Color being the 2nd, to creation the first, is my favorite part of making art and the inspiration for so much of my work.  Below is the finished page. (I did cut off those top and bottom hexagons) Again, I may just leave it as it's own art on a page. 

 Hope you have fun creating with what you have and in a functional and artistic way. I think I'll make copies for mixed media paper strips and stickers! Enjoy :)

Who Knew ?!?!

I wipe off my brayer every time I'm done using it. As in: there is extra paint on my brayer and now I'm rolling it on a  piece of paper so it must be clean. WRONG!
My brayer had become more of an everlasting gobstopper!

BEFORE:

AFTER: (scrubbing with a brillo pad made of plastic, soaking, scrubbing with soap and finally, scraping aggressively with the back of a steak knife!)

Time to play with my "NEW"ly cleaned toy!

Intuitive Art - What Comes Out When I'm Not Trying

I like to work on large surfaces so my boundaries seem limitless. While it's not a wall size canvas this is "big" for my purposes. Metallic vintage rose wrapping paper, gold polk a dot washi tape, metallic acrylic paints and dripped inks. 

Cut out magazine girl meets gesso and some glitter paint. 

This cardboard template was for the pages of my planner, it became a piece of art in itself.

Watercolor is my weakest form art artistic expression. Watercolor paper and purple watercolor paints with a little help from a mauve acrylic. Holding the end of the brush quite loosely, this angel girl appeared and presented herself to me. 

Acrylic smears on a page for a rainy day of doodling. 

Altered CD. Just smearing colors for the background and these impressionistic tulips bloomed.

Back to the doodling board and pastels. Feathers were made with a stencil and I discovered etching the details with the  back of my brush to give them a realistic texture/look.

Creating textured square marked backgrounds. Sometimes with fingers, this one with a brush. Green.

Large mixed media pad pastels and collage. Attempt with neon Sharpies.  I'm not a fan.

My photograph. A ripped page of a National Geographic. "Quit eye'n my coffee". - Bitch

 Small scale wings with under paper.

I collaged and altered the cover of an old SINGER sewing book. I was simply making a background page and starting the idea of a girl. I was going to paint and color and shade her. After making the black marks for eyes and feature placement. This girl just came out of me. I don't know how or why. It is a complete 360 from my self-imposed style. She is by far one of my favorites in her simplicity. I heart her.

Keeping My Thoughts on Straight

Process art.  Sometimes I have an idea of a project I want to create, but most of the time, No. No I don't. After learning some sudden news and changes going on around me I ended up with a blank piece of mixed media tablet paper and the paints on my wall. This came out. All the colors were what I grabbed one after another to create layers of emotion.

4/10/16

I will call this one "I am stuck in a box" because that is all I seemed to be able to get out. One box after another, first with a finger paint technique and after, with a brush. Still stringent line boxes and small brush bristle 3-tap accents.  All of the scribbles in the boxes are my fast cursive pouring of thoughts from my brain to the paper with the back of the brush. I do this intentionally to scribble out the anger, hurt, confusion, whatever the feeling of the day may be.  So much is written in these boxes but all I see is a piece in colors I love.  I was stuck in my thoughts, paralyzed but not having any reaction at all.  A words slap in the face and numbing of the  brain.  Simple piece of information not making any sense except as individual pieces themselves. Facts. I could not stop there. I had to get to the core of the mess. The next painting let that out. 

I do not typically name paintings unless they present their names to me in the creation process.  The black lines were a repetitive action that produced the consistent numbing feeling of disbelief. Again with the boxes outlined in white gesso. Still too boxy, to "clean". 

Photographed wet - 4/10/16

The emotion was ready to be bled. To spill out. In a violent angry splatter of unconfined rage flung onto the paper, splatters reaching everything within reach on my table. When there was just past too much, I wiped some of the edges to clean up the mess, but you can't clean up a mess like that. It just smears and contaminates the rest of the work. Which perfectly exhibited what my thoughts were experiencing, now real, now tactile on the page.

*I am not trapped by the choices of others, but I am accepting the reality of what I was presented*
-Keeping my Thoughts on Straight.
Done.

Feather Texture Technique - YouTube Video

 Feather Textures can be drawn on top of any paint or medium with a pencil, pen or other writing utensil. To have your work evoke the feel of a real feather, add texture while the paint is wet. Check out how I do this in my new video "Feather Texture Technique"

This tag is a sample of the way a feather can look with this technique. I do not actually make this tag in the video. The video is a byproduct of this tag.   Up close I do add the black with a stabilo marks all pencil.  I do this to fill in the grooves of dry paint for depth. Enjoy!

I wanted to add a little more depth to this post for you to really see the finished idea of this feather texture. 

Feather stencil (it is originally light blue but this is just a loved one). I have three colors of paint above: turquoise, metallic purple, and plain old white paint.

I used the paint over the stencils creating the etched lines as in the video to show the spine and little details of the feather itself. This dries raised with depth and texture. 

The magic is in the stabilo marks-all pencil, or watercolor pencil if that's what you have available. Think creatively! Draw with the pencil around the main feather in a jagged fashion and coming in on some of the feather sides. Also give depth to the feather spine with a line of stabilo right down the middle.

Feather on the left: stabilo has been drawn over with a wet water paint brush. Nice thing here is the shading gets into the details. Pull single lines from he outer edge to the center in random places. If there is too much black shading for you, use a wet brush or baby wipe to pull it up. The feather on the right is pre-wetted stabilo.

This is how colorful and fabulous feathers become when they are all done and cut out. Just a hint of color behind and through so they aren't flat and shading. I feel like they are "fluffy" when I look at them and want to just touch them!  Hope you enjoyed this and are inspired by creativity!