Final collages in Black & White (7inchx8.5inch) art journal

I completed all the pages in my larger (7"x8.5") single sheet art journal. The original post where I talked more about this new journal is here.Here are the finished collages:

This collage was lacking something to make it feel finished so I added a light wash of white paint to the ground stripes. This step helped to make the collage stand out from the ground to become the focal point.

 

 I'm happy with the way both turned out.

 

  

Time to make a new journal! 

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Gene Brown's t-shirt designs

It seems like I will be working mostly from home for awhile longer, I decided to purchase new t-shirts to wear at home since my current stash are beginning to show a lot of wear. My dear friend, Gene Brown, designs amazingly, creative t-shirts. These three are the latest ones that I purchased. If you're interested in buying new t-shirts or seeing the other merchandise he designs, please check out his website at http://drawn2themusic.net/genebrowndesigns.htm. Thank you!

 

 

 

 

New collages

I'm continuing to create collages in my larger (7"x8.5") single sheet art journal. The original post where I talked more about this new journal is here. Very slowly creating since I'm have a client project along with my full-time job. I do work in this art journal everyday but I don't always finishing one collage a day as I did in previous art journals. It's definitely changing the way I create. I believe any change in an art practice is beneficial.

My initial intention for this collage was to use only black, white and grey. After I finished making this collage, it looked a bit plain. For me, a pop of red gives this collage a hit of added interest.

I have been working on my computer the majority of the time lately. I got up early one morning to create this collage. I challenged myself to use color combinations outside my comfort zone. Also, to use only the painted papers that were on my table. I look at the collage now, after photographing it, and see design flaws. Oh, well...that's all part of the process of growing as an artist, isn't it?

I created this collage over a weekend. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I been working on a client project along with my full-time job. Both require me to work on my computer. It can be challenging to eek out time to create art for myself. It's essential to do so. I'm sure others can relate.

 

Thanks for checking out my blog!

New collage art journal and new collages

I completed all the pages in my last collage art journal in October. I decided to challenge myself to create in a larger art journal. This challenge changed the practice of creating collages. The new art journal is 7 inches x 8.5 inches and the finished collages are 7 inches x 7.5 inches. This larger size made it unlikely that I could start and finish a collage on my lunch time, which is 30 minutes, when I work from home. The first collage was made before work since I wanted to time myself. It took me 45 minutes to complete. This outcome made the decision for me to create this collages without a time constraint. It's good to change up a practice so it won't get stale and to further challenge the art form.

This short video shows the completed journal and the first collage. I'm planning on making a tutorial video of this binding method. It's relatively simple but uses a lot of binding thread.

 These are the completed collages made in this new art journal:

 

I wasn't sure if I liked the orientation of this collage - vertically or horizontally. For me, it helps to take a photography and look at it awhile. I gravitating towards the horizontal orientation.

After I photographed this next collage, it looked unfinished to me. I'm not sure what to do to it so it feels finished. I'm going to leave it as is for the time being.

This messy, mixed media collage represents this messy week at my day job and with the U.S. election. this piece started as a way to express my frustration with handling the registration of all the vehicles at work then morphed into my frustration with the election. At this posting, I"m still frustrated at both but it does help to express this feeling in my art. I included two WIP photos so you can see how this collage developed.

WIP #2

WIP #1

 

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Happy Halloween 2020

A few photos taken on my morning walk around my neighborhood. It's nice to see that a few people decorated for Halloween. 

Sound on for the first video.

 

 

 

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Pop up Technique in Repurposed Book Art Journal

This past weekend, I went down the YouTube rabbit hole looking for simple, single page bookbinding videos. While down that rabbit hole, I stumbled upon a 2017 video by LorriMarie Jenkins showing how to add a pop up element to an altered book page. Click here to watch her video. It is something I have been interested in trying. Here is a short video of my first attempt at creating a pop up element in my repurposed book art journal.

 

By the way, I did find some good videos on simple, single page bookbinding. First I need to prep all the materials before making the journal.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

New lunch time collages

Here are this week's lunch time collages. I must admit it's been a challenging work week and it has shown in my art. I struggled to come up with collage ideas. When I finally did, I struggled to execute. I pushed through it and looking forward to recharging this weekend.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

New lunch time collages

This week's lunch time collages. I'm really getting into the groove of making these collages on my lunch break when I'm working from home. 

Thanks for checking out my blog!

New lunch time collages

This week's lunch time collages. I noticed after creating the last two collages that both have fall colors. Honestly, unintentional on my part. I must be longing for cooler weather. It looks like that won't happen anytime soon in the Los Angeles area. Next week it's forecasted to be in the 90s. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for checking out my blog!

New lunch time collages

This week's lunch time collages. 

 

Thanks for checking out my blog!

New lunch time collages

This week's lunch time collages.

 

Thanks for checking out my blog!

New lunch time collages

This week's lunch time collages.

 
Thanks for checking out my blog!

Another Accordion Art Journal

The first accordion art journal I made using the cardboard header is posted here.

This is a short video of the new accordion art journal made with the leftover cardboard.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

New lunch time collages

This week's lunch time collages. A short video about the journal is here.

I finished the lunch time art journal that's featured in the video linked above. Here the two final collages.

I made a new art journal to continue this practice.This new art journal is a similar format. It's 4.5" x 5" with a 2" spine, 26 pages of 100lb Bristol paper and bound with the same binding method based upon the Coptic stitch. I used paper that was gifted to me by Gene Brown to decorate the outside and inside covers.

 

Thanks for checking out my blog!