I showed you the cover portion of the book I’m working on in yesterday’s post. Today, I’m gathering up things from around the studio that I think I will use on the inside and to decorate the cover. I’m sure you’re getting the idea of the theme, here: roses. And I’m going with an old fashioned theme. So this sets my colors to pinks, reds, tans and browns with some accents of green, yellow and gold.

I recently replaced my antique, red, Sizzix Big Shot with a new Sizzix Big Shot Plus. I wanted to use embossing folders, but my old Big Shot didn’t have a crank, so you had to press, lift, move item, press, lift, move item, etc. It really wasn’t working well for what I was trying to do. In addition, I wanted to use some larger pieces of paper, cardstock and bigger dies.

On Friday, I posted a version of this page from my 3-ring art journal. I thought I was finished, but I wanted to look at it for a couple of days because something felt unfinished about it. I decided to add some more to the lower third of the page. Nothing obtrusive, I didn’t want anything to vie with the octopus that is the focal point. It just needed something to balance it out.

Yesterday, you saw a partially finished page from my 6-ring journal. This is the same page, and I think I’m finished… or almost? I needed a focal point for the page, so I added the octopus stamp. I actually previewed it with the octopus in various positions, but I finally settled on this one. It seemed to want to be tucked into the torn corner of a piece that was already on the page.

I thought you might like to see what I am doing with some of that stamped paper I showed you yesterday. This is a WIP. There are multiple layers here. But what I loved was the way the paper that was stamped on disappears into the piece, leaving behind just the black, stamped image. Liquitex Matte Medium was used as glue.

Even though this was one of the first tiny Traveler’s Notebooks that I made, I never wrote a post about it. So now’s the time, since some people are looking for easy, simply way’s to make a cover for their tiny art journals. This was made from a piece of an inexpensive, plastic placemat. You can find these at dollar stores, walmart, and some grocery stores. They are in the kitchen section.

I am busy creating my own “designer tissue”. It’s really simple and easy. I am stamping on deli paper! This is a great project when your time is limited, or your having an artistic down day. Use Archival ink, and any stamps that you think will look good torn or cut out and applied to your artwork. I generally stick to text and texture and neutral colors. But sometimes I have a plan in mind, and then use specific images and brighter inks.

I’ve been thinking about how to create an art journal, one page at a time. But how would I keep the pages together, before they were permanently bound? Last week, when I was window shopping on Amazon (yep, I do that!) I ran across this A6 size, 6-ring binder. It had a translucent cover with an elastic cord to hold it shut. And it came with some zip pockets and card holder sheets.

Museum Continued

  Zentangle tile

If you saw yesterday’s post, you will understand what is going on here. I had a few more “museum” pictures. The main outcome of this exercise, for me, has been the desire to do some larger pieces. They won’t be completely Zentangle… rather influenced by it. Above, this tile is a monotangle of Ruutz. It is using the idea of fractalizing a tangle, introduced by Eni Oken, in one of her Art Club classes.

At the Museum

  tile zentangle

Recently, a friend of mine posted an image of her art in a museum setting. The picture was stunning. She used an app to create the image. I decided to see what was out there for doing this sort of thing, and I came across PhotoFunia, which is a website that let’s you choose a setting, and then upload your photo to see how it looks. I used it to created the image above, which was the stamped art that I posted yesterday.

We often use stamps to add to our art journal page, but have you ever tried to create an entire painting using only stamps to apply ink to the paper? This is one of my favorite techniques for creating a scene: using multiple stamps and stamping ink to build the image, layer by layer. It’s a bit tricky, and requires a bit of thinking and some planning. If you were to try this, what scene would you create?

It’s been a long time (over two years, actually!) since I posted any of the pages in this Teesha Moore style art journal. I had kind of gotten stuck because I didn’t know what materials to use to get the effect that I wanted. I pulled this book out yesterday because I was looking for things to work on and get ideas for on a art play date. I thought this book might be a good subject.

I have a few, very tiny Traveler’s Notebooks that I actually purchased. These are from Chris.W. The leather is very nice. Stiff, but sturdy. The come with two, fat inserts, with 20 sheets in each for a total of 40 pages in each. The size of the insert is almost A9, but they are a little bit shorter and definitly not as wide. You can purchase refills from the same link, above.

This is the third portrait in my tiny art journal. This three-quarter view was challenging in that there is some differences to the features on the right side of the face. I had some trouble with it, but over all it’s ok. On a side note, the reason I skipped over a page is that I had to find some paper to put between the first two pages before I could draw on page three.

I decided to use the side that had a bit more mahogany coloring to make the cover! I absolutely love the way this turned out. Although it doesn’t show up in the photo above, there are some metallic touches on the gears. They’re subtle, so you have to move it about in the light to actually see them easily. This photo came out distorted, but the cover actually is a real rectangle.