Instagram #2017bestnine

Last year, I really got into posting on Instagram. It's a good social media platform for me to share my art. I used the #2016bestnine website to see which photos got the most hearts. Click here to see #2016bestnine photos. This year I thought it would be fun to do it again with #2017bestnine website. As an artist, it's good to see what artwork people response to in a positive way.

#2017bestnine

It's encouraging to see that my "hope" art abandon piece made the best nine. The artwork in the top row center isn't one of my favorites sketches but it's nice to see that others respond favorably to it.

I want to thank those who have visited my blog this year. I look forward to sharing more artwork in 2018.

Happy New Year!

Time For Tea - mini sketchbook journal continued

I'm continuing to sketch in my Time For Tea mini (4.5" x 5.5") sketchbook journal. This book was one of the first books I made while teaching myself to book bind. I should mention that I'm continuing to practice book binding. It's an ongoing and inspiring new practice for me. To read about the start of my book binding journey, please click here. To see the sketches from my previous blog posts, please click here.

One of the good things about collage is that if the design is going in a different direction then you had intended to go then cover it up with paper. This sketch was not developing the way I had envisioned it so I covered up most of it was amber and orange painted deli paper. Much better!

 

This sketch was fun to create. I didn't have any preconceived idea of how I wanted it to look like. I just started adding layers of paint, pen marks and papers. Very improvisational. It's more of mess than a masterpiece and that's okay.

Sometimes it's nice to have a light hand when painting. I wasn't concerned about creating light, medium and dark values.

I thought about the elements that I wanted to add to this sketch before I started. The paint colors - indigo, light indigo (not grey), medium and light turquoise, amber splatter and translucent white paint. Addition of brown craft paper and crimson red pencil.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Time For Tea - mini sketchbook journal continued

I'm continuing to sketch in my Time For Tea mini (4.5" x 5.5") sketchbook journal. This book was one of the first books I made while teaching myself to book bind. I should mention that I'm continuing to practice book binding. It's an ongoing and inspiring new practice for me. To read about the start of my book binding journey, please click here. To see the sketches from my previous blog posts, please click here.

Black fluid paint drips. Love doing this technique! I have been trying to incorporate it in one of my mini sketches.

The mixed media abstract using layers is the main style that I want to practice in this sketchbook journal. I'm happy with the way this sketch turned out.

This sketch was created in under 10 minutes. I painted medium blue over the original watercolor ground then glued tie dyed paper on top. The green peeping through on the right is a start of another sketch to be finished soon.

Comfort zone. Sometimes I need to create in my comfort zone. Geometric abstract collage.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Time For Tea - mini sketchbook journal continued

I'm continuing to sketch in my Time For Tea mini (4.5" x 5.5") sketchbook journal. This book was one of the first books I made while teaching myself to book bind. I should mention that I'm continuing to practice book binding. It's an ongoing and inspiring new practice for me. To read about the start of my book binding journey, please click here. To see the sketches from my previous blog posts, please click here and here.

This colorful sketch was created by using the initial watercolor ground as the inspiration. To me it feels calming and energetic at the same time. 

 

  
Another sketch using the watercolor ground painted before I stitched the signatures into the book. Sometimes it helps to have some color on the page instead of starting with blank page. I like the use of indigo as the darkest value instead of black.

I'm doing my best to use other dark colors instead of black as the darkest value. This sketch using dark purple. Incorporating words, quotes or part of sentences adds a nice layer to make a simple collage.

 I pushed myself outside my comfort zone for this sketch. Many layers of paint and paper...and no blue! The good thing about mini sketchbooks is the freedom to play, explore and experiment.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Time For Tea - mini sketchbook journal continued

I'm continuing to sketch in my Time For Tea mini (4.5" x 5.5") sketchbook journal. This book was one of the first books I made while teaching myself to book bind. I should mention that I'm continuing to practice book binding. It's an ongoing and inspiring new practice for me. To read about the start of my book binding journey, please click here. To see the first 4 sketches in my Time For Tea sketchbook journal, please click here. 

This sketch is my favorite so far. I love the colors, textures, transparency and scrap book page from "To Kill A Mockingbird". The greenish-brown strip of paper on the left is a scrap from a monoprint.

This next one is a hodge podge of ephemera. I kept the watercolor ground that I painted before I stitched the pages to the book. The blue and orange scraps are deli papers that I monoprinted using a gelli plate. The tan paper is from a paper bag and the red dots were made from red cardstock using a hold punch.

Can you tell this sketch was painted in 20 minutes? I had some leftover paint so I quickly applied it to this page. Once again you can see the original ground of orange and pink. I took the narrow end of a triangle makeup sponge to make the hash marks. The turquoise paint was initially watered down so you can see some of the red paint underneath. 

This sketch was done this evening (12/8/17). The black Sharpie scribble on sketch is my way of releasing all the thoughts of my day job so I can focus on enjoying my weekend.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Time For Tea - mini sketchbook journal

My last blog post (here) I showed the books I have been created while teaching myself to book bind. These books were filled with magazine pages and watercolor papers. I wanted these books to be used as sketchbook journals not just book binding samples. The books filled with magazine papers will be used to collage. The books with watercolor papers will be use to create mixed media artwork. 

I decided to start working in the mini (4.5" x 5.5") Tea For Two because it has marked watercolor paper that will be used as a prompt or starting off point for sketches.
 

The first sketch I kept most of the ground of yellow and orange watercolor that was marked before the pages were sewn into the book. I dried brush red, purple and violet acrylic paint on top. Blue vertical stripes on the right was added using a stencil I made then accented with blue and white pen. The purple and purple/lavender/yellow/blue/green magazine paper were left over from a previous collage in one of my larger sketchbook journals. I'm not one to let scraps go to waste.

As with the sketch above, this one started by using the existing watercolor ground of peach and pink. I had some leftover red acrylic paint from another project so I dried brush it in the upper right area. The triangles were created by using a stencil I cut. The final step was to add blue lines with a Sharpie and gold dots with metallic pen.

I'm really happy with how the watercolor grounds are being used as a starting point for these quick sketches. Materials used: acrylic paint (orange and yellow), thin blue Sharpie and navy gelli printed deli paper scrap along the bottom.

Another sketch with the watercolor ground incorporated into the final design. I glued navy and orange gelli printed deli paper scraps. Detailed the yellow acrylic painted circles with black and orange Sharpies. The sketch needed more marks so I used a think blue Sharpie to add lines/hash marks along the middle and bottom of the page. Finished off the sketch with a square shaped section of white gel pen marks.

Thanks for checking out my blog!