instagram #2016bestnine

I noticed on instagram people were posting #2016bestnine photos. I decided to give it a try. The results of the top 9 images of 2016 were interesting to see.

#2016bestnine

The project in the upper right was a small sample that I wanted to re-create in a larger format. Many missteps has occurred along the way. Rethinking this piece so it can be finished in 2017.

Happily,  I see 4 paper collages and 1 fabric collage made the top 9. I really enjoyed the process of creating collages. I'm still trying to find my own style. 

I want to thank those who have visited my blog this year. I look forward to sharing more in 2017. 

  Happy New Year!

"Sketchbook West 2017" - Pages 33 and 34

A few more pages for Las Laguna Gallery's "Sketchbook West 2017" exhibit. To learn more about this project, please click here.

Pages 33 and 34: This collage uses junk mail and security envelopes. Love the brightness of this collage, which is in contrast to the limited color palette of collages 21 to 32.

Pages 33 and 34

Side note:  I noticed that using papers for the collages is adding a lot of bulk. So much so that it's getting harder to completely close the sketchbook and add elements near the gutter. Going forward I need to think about what materials to use when working on my sketches.
 
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"Sketchbook West 2017" - Pages 21 to 32

A few more pages for Las Laguna Gallery's "Sketchbook West 2017" exhibit. To learn more about this project, please click here.

I enjoy challenging myself to create with a limited color palette. The next few pages will use red, white, black and grey colors to create collages. I'm on a quest to master collage.

Pages 21 and 22: I pulled out some construction paper scraps then marked some with paint, sharpies and pastel crayon.

 

Pages 21 and 22

Pages 23 and 24: Another collage using construction paper with some pieces marked with black and white sharpie. The white ground is marked black crayon scribbles.

Pages 23 and 24

Pages 25 and 26: I noticed other artists using painted deli papers in their collages/journals/sketchbooks. This technique intrigued me. The ground is painted grey with black and white acrylic painted deli paper scraps and red tissue paper. The acrylic paint on the deli paper seems to be flaking off. Instead of using Yes glue, next time I will use gel medium to adhere and coat the painted deli papers. This is a perfect example of testing techniques in a sketchbook.

Pages 27 and 28: This collage uses paint splattered black and white construction paper on a grey painted ground. I love the simplicity of this design.

Pages 29 and 30: I had fun playing around with different shapes for this collages. I used white, painted grey and red construction paper on painted black ground with white scribble.

Pages 31 and 32: I started to play with negative space with this collage. At this point, I felt stuck. I uploaded a photo of it into Photoshop and played around it different layouts. All of them felt overworked and forced. I realized that this collage is finished in its unfinished state.

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Holiday Cards 2017

Last year, I made one holiday card for my blog to share with everyone. This year, I decided to make a few cards for friends. My cards tend to be labor intensive so, I usually make no more than 15. Each card took about 30 minutes to make.

I like Strathmore Watercolor cards because they are heavy weight. It's a bit tough to cut into the cards as I did with my holiday cards. The cards were strong enough for gluing the bleeding tissue paper.

Here is a tutorial on how I made these cards:

I planned out the message for the cards in Photoshop. I adjusted the letters so there were areas that touched and included a border on all 4 sides. This is an important step because you want the message to be attached in more than one area to keep it intact when you cut away the excess paper. I ended up printing the message out as a mirror image then traced the reversed message to the inside of the card. I initially traced the non-mirrored message on the front of the card but it was to hard to erase any pencil lines that were left after cutting. 

After the message is cut out of the card, I glued distressed bleeding tissue paper to the inside of the message. What I mean by "distressed" is that I took pieces of bleeding tissue paper and overlapped them slightly then lightly spritz water on top. The inks in the tissue paper bleed onto other papers. This technique yields a nice distressed effect on the tissue papers. I kept the colors similar in hue for each card. I'm happy with the way the cards turned out.

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"Sketchbook West 2017" - Pages 13 to 20

I finished up a few more pages for Las Laguna Gallery's "Sketchbook West 2017" exhibit. To learn more about this project, please click here.

Pages 13 and 14: I have the paperback book "To Kill A Mockingbird" for another larger project. I was feeling a bit morbid when I create these pages. It was nice to do a bit of line drawing.

Pages 13 and 14

Pages 15 and 16: The last time I made a piece of art for my "Peel Away The Layers" series was in 2014. I have a few words to use as prompts for future pieces in this series. The words "exhale" or "exhaling" are the prompts for this piece.This sketch is very rough but I wanted to put the idea on paper. To learn more about this series, please click here.

Pages 15 and 16

Pages 17 and 18:  This sketch started out as a meditation of dots but now I get dizzy looking at it.

Pages 17 and 18

Pages 19 and 20: After creating pages 17 and 18, I wanted to create a simple, calm feeling sketch.

Pages 19 and 20

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