The Little Prince - Inspired Art

Mixed Media Butterfly Tutorial

I just made a video tutorial for my Mixed Media Butterflies! You can check it out here:

Utilizing my Patience with Art - Mad Hatter : Alice In Wonderland interpretive series

When it comes down to it, I got sucked into the mixed media monster and have enjoyed my time there. Not to say that I am leaving forever, but that I have just decided to step away from the online scene a bit and get back to my drawing roots. 

Journals upon endless spiraled drawing journals fill a shelf in my closet and I have really missed that part of my creating. Mixed media and collage have been fun and quick and easy for me, but I've found a new/old meditative and rewarding practice in creating something from my own interests. Starting with an idea, putting it onto paper with no guidance but my inner picture and skills I've acquired.  I've decided to put together my own series of Alice in Wonderland characters. One's that are original to my drawing style and reflect my abilities. No reference pics, no drawing from a picture, just what I see to create. 

First on the drawing pad is the Mad Hatter. I will preface this by saying the following disclaimer. **Yes, the Mad Hatter exists in many forms. Yes my drawing doesn't look like Johnny Depp, or any likeness to him, nor should it. That is NOT the point of this creation.** This is my interpretation using my inner ideas to create an original piece of work. I did reference a photograph purely to match colors**. 

Laying out on the lawn on a sunny weekend day. I drew the pencil sketch of this idea on my large Canson Mixed Media pad. So the size is roughly, NO, accurately 14x17". Pencil, Acrylic Paint, Black fine line permanent marker. The process of this project is simply the pictures. They speak for themselves. I rather enjoy tapping into my ability to have patience and must say this picture is a pride piece that I will hang on my wall at home. 

Drawn with white face and shading

I do have to say this shot just screams Clockwork Orange.

Velvety Hat

No Flash Natural Lighting

Flash 

Journal Work - What's Coming Up on my Pages

Just a pictorial walk through of the journal pages I've been working on lately. Actually all within a short period of time just working to get color on a page, some emotive textures and scrapings, and giving each one a voice with words or texture.  This is all in the progress of starting a new Dylusions Journal which I love and own too many of. Maybe 5??? They are all filled but this one wishin a year or 2.

I am on a new color combination kick of Daler Rowney Blue which has a bright hue to it, but when thinned a beautiful transparent water look, a liquitiex acrylic teal, and a bright pink of the first brand and style as above. Add some white and black gesso and "Say hello to my little art."

This 2nd page is in same journal.  Underneath lies a very inorganic red-yellow-blue-sharpie exercise I did for an on line tutorial. Not my jam. So it became this creation below. 

What I love:

1. Blended colors

2. Depth of colors and paints

3. White gesso scraped to look like the gears stencil underneath

4. Anchor sticker because it is showing up in a lot of my art

5. The blue pink black white combo as above

Photography is another piece of my creative outlet arsenal. I used to get doubles of every picture I would take just to have a copy to cut up for scrapbooking. I haven't done that in a long time. This photo is one of my all time favorites because I am drawn to color and interesting lines. This is simply a picture of used  brushes before I was going to throw them away. I had to take a snap. Fast forward to today, this photo still floats around my art room but I've permanently affixed it in my journal and replicated it with net-color II's. These colors make me happy and I adore this page. I've also added words to remind me how I felt about the picture and why it is significant to me.

Up next, this abstract crazy creation of bright colors that would replicate the crazy feeling that has been swirling around in my head. Not my usual, but the blue and greens mixing together brought out the ocean influence in the next pages. 

My favorite technique here was wiping away paint from the middle of the yellow smears to expose the contrasting color underneath.

 Blue green inspired this page. I may add more, I may not. I just love the colors blended. Go Seahawks! Still more of just an ocean inspired color scheme. Mermaids have been popping up in my ideas lately.

Finally, the swirling mind is connected to this magazine image. I would think I would alter her face, but I just connect with it so strongly. The waves in her mind continued on the page. I then finally started writing where I am in life and where I want to be. I've been very introspective in realizing I'm done "waiting" for the right time to do things in my life. I've spoken up about things I've held onto for 10+ years. If I make the effort I know at least I will never regret not saying what I needed to say. That is the value of this page and incorporating more of the writing part of journaling back into my art. I am a writer at heart. I thrive on it.

 Until I have another power creation weekend,  thanks for checking out my artwork and I hope it inspires you.  Side note: glasses have been a recurring theme as well. You'll see it in a upcoming post with a magazine transfer success!

Clay Octopus

Just as it sounds. Clay Octopus. I have a thing for water and sea creatures. Especially the octopus. I have had the pleasure of scuba diving with some of these amazing creatures as they live in the waters near me. (Not recently, but one trip I saw an octopus as well as a large Santa lawn ornament. Underwater. 

I used some white sculpey to create the basic shapes of the legs. The little tentacle suction cups are easy very small rolled dots of clay that were intended with a round end stylus and pushed on. Of course, he has a fun bumpy texture and he's not really that big. Love him just the same. Expanding my creative playing field one medium at a time. 

Traci Bautista Inspired Morning Workshop Painting

I have been drawing and creating all my life. Well ever since I could use the tools. Play doh, homemade yes. Paint and brushes, yes. Drawing and art class in school, yes. Ceramics and oil paintings, yes. A camera and photography, yes. Art in every medium I could get my hands on.  Jump forward past scrapbooking and all that jazz to the last 3-4 years where I have been emerged in the mixed media culture.

One of my very favorite and first artists that I was inspired by was Traci Bautista. I love her use of abstract, bright colors, and unconventional use of tools. This morning while perusing the book of faces with my morning coffee I saw a FREE online class with Traci!!!  This is the link to her FB page and the course was called "Floraldelights"  https://www.facebook.com/TraciBautista/?fref=nf

I don't know if you have to register to still see this and yes it is a promotion for something bigger, but I created a painting in a style that I would not have otherwise created by following along in this video!

It started off with a mark making exercise which I just used a journal for, but I've recently purchased new canvases and had to use one to make something beautiful. This is my journal base which I painted over.

Here is the painting I created from watching this course. Everything is so free and abstract. I'm sure you can see all of her influences in this work. I have nothing in my studio like it, but was a fun way to start a Saturday morning creating this! 

#TBFLORALdelight, #TBfloraldelight,
(Also...my first #'s)

Altered Envelope Swap Becomes a Handmade Journal

Once upon a time in a swap group not so far away, I signed up for an altered envelope swap. This was 4-6 envelopes, depending on size, that are decorated and sent to your partner. They in return send you the same number of altered (arted, painted, collaged, changed in some way by artistic techniques) envelopes. My amazing partner Kathy Cote sent me 5 of the 5x7 manilla envelopes with the most amazing art in a vintage style of blues and coppers that I fell in LOVE with on sight.

I loved these envelopes so much, I decided I had to keep them and incorporate them into my art somehow. But how? I wanted them to be displayed where I could see them and use them and admire them. Not long after I created a signature for each of the envelopes and these beauties became a handmade journal.

First I must show off the 5 envelopes as stand alone pieces of art. In they order they appear in my journal are the following:

   Front Cover and 1st Signature                        

 2nd Signature                  

3rd Signature                                     

                

4th Signature

                      

    Back Cover

Each envelope is opened so the flap closes down over the first page of manilla cardstock.  Each signature is made of one of the envelopes, one sheet of manilla cardstock, and one piece of mixed media watercolor paper in the center. Each is sewn down the center with a sewing machine straight stitch. To get the envelopes to be sewn to the signatures, the machine stitch is sewn over one long edge of the envelope making the opening 1/4 in smaller at the top, but still functional as a pocket.

Both pictures are showing the stitched signatures and the folded manilla with the envelope flap still able to open as a pocket.

Once all of the 4 signatures were sewn, I couldn't decide how to bind them. I wanted to preserve all of the details and have a book that would lay open. I hand stitched sewing thread in a zig zag pattern through all of the signatures. Following this I used a multicolored embroidery threat up the center of each signature. I used one long string on each and tied each at the top to create a fun tassel.

From there it is up to you what to put inside. I glued this galaxy 5x7 playing card art I made into the cover page inside and used the "live creatively" tag I also made on the opposite side. A fun tutorial for another day..washi tape as ribbon. 

One final touch I used a similarly colored piece of ribbon (aka the small colored scarf from the goodwill bin) as a tie around the entire journal. More texture, more color, more yum!

This couldn't have turned out any better than this. I just love it to pieces! Thanks for visiting my page and if there are any questions about making this book, comment below, and I'd be glad to help you out!