Collage

Painted Circles (and MM scraps)

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

I was experimenting with a technique I found on YouTube called painted circles.  I wasn’t overly thrilled with it, but I do think it has promise for another time.   When I was finished, I glued it into my humble Canson sketchbook and called it a night.

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This is the result.   It’s acrylic paint, Neocolor II crayons, a torn book page (I hate to tear books, but this one was reallllly bad, so it was actually gratifying)….and that’s about it.    There’s some scraps from the painting I just cut up in there too. I’ve been in a “play with color” place lately, but I’ll be picking up my faces challenge again soon!

Enjoy your Tuesday. I hope you find time to play today. It’s good for you. Peace.

Mixed Media Monday

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

OK, Kerfe, you inspired me lady! If you haven’t seen Kerfe’s post from the weekend, here is a live link. It wowed me so much, I decided to take a card from Kerfe & Nina’s deck and riff off of one of their creations (they run their blog as a team, and inspire each other’s artwork).

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Not sure if you remember my mixed media painting from last week, which was created with Neocolor II crayons, colored pencil, Inktense blocks, and gelly pen. I liked the colors, but felt it needed something. I added a few things…..and was ready to abandon it. Until I saw Kerfe’s post…..and cut it up, instead!

Wow, what a change. I could have sat there for hours staring at the colors and shapes, cutting, trimming and rearranging.   It was wonderful, like quilting, minus the frustration of sewing! Thank you, Kerfe!   I’ve not glued it down yet, only the borders, and the photo is a little over-exposed and wonky…..but you get the idea.     If I could blink three times and turn this into a quilt, I would!     I know what to do with my art fails from now on!

I hope you all enjoy this little creation. I may try this mixed media thing for awhile on Mondays and see how it flies. Happy February! Spring is just around the corner! Peace.

Yo, Yellow!

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

When you need a lift, I can’t think of a color better than yellow to help you to see things from a brighter side. So I paged him to the front of the store, and happily (because Yellow is always happy), he responded.

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He agreed to help me send smiles out to a few friends today. He gave Pinky Purple an early wakeup call (he wanted her up before the sun), and she groggily joined in.  So, I give you Yellow and Pinky Purple! Plus the ever popular white dots in gesso as an accompaniment. This was done in my 9 x 12″ Strathmore Visual Watercolor journal.  (Supplies included Portfolio water soluble oil pastels, acrylic tube paint, Derwent Inktense blocks, gesso, modeling paste, love, hugs, and warm thoughts.)

Happy Memorial Day Monday. We sure owe a lot to the men and women who fought for our freedom, my dad and brother being part of that proud circle. Love you, Dad. Nearly twenty years, and I miss you still!

Peace, hugs, and smiles to you all.

Unrestricted, Uncaged

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

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Well, here is my first attempt at a layered, mixed media art journal page.   It was lots of fun.  I started with a few shades of Portfolio water soluble crayon, which I liquified with a stiff brush…

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Then mixed gesso with a couple of shades of acrylic craft paint and spread that on with a coarse brush…..and ran Hub’s old comb through it…..This was lots of fun.

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Then added splurts of watercolor tube paint (this is from the first set I bought at Wal-Mart for like $7….I’m putting that paint to good use!  😀    So, mixed that in a bit, trying to get a balance of light and dark values…..then took some lace and gessoed through that……still feeling like a first-grader in art class (so like, yeah, rock star cool…because we all feel like rock star artists in elementary school, and we all need to reclaim that, right?)……

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You know those end of the day, headache, kinda tired after work type of days? Yeah, those.

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This is good medicine for that.   My Strathmore visual journal with 100# drawing paper did wonderfully with this.  I am thrilled with that journal!    I also want to thank grandmalin and Jill at Jill’s Art Journal for inspiring my first mixed media art journal page!   Please check out their sites; they will both inspire the heck outta you.

Happy Friday Eve!  Dance like no one’s watching today.   Have FUN and make something special, just for you.    Peace & good, high-flying wings to you!

Draw a Bird Day reminder: Friday, May 8!

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

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Thanks to A-Wing and A-Way letting so many of us know about Draw A Bird Day on April 8, many of us had fun drawing or painting birds on April 8.  Some drew a bird for the first time, and found it be lots of fun!  However, many people weren’t aware of the holiday until it was too late.  So, some of us decided it might be fun to make this a monthly event!   I also want to thank Squirrel Writer for helping to spread the word!

For my friends who may not be comfortable with drawing:  Do not let this sideline you, if you are interested in participating!  Anything goes:  Photographs, stories or poems about a bird, a little sculpture, a nature collage, you are only limited by your imagination.  I think what we’re trying to do here is open the cage door and let the birdies fly.  That’s us!  We all have wings, and sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to open them.  Let the spirit move you as it will.

Friday, May 8 is a week from today, and I hope we can all make WordPress fly to celebrate our wing-ed friends.

Inktense inquiries

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

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Once again, I found myself drawn to the Inktense blocks when I had a few non-work hours on Sunday. 🙂

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I really enjoyed creating this little collage with an underlayer of (I think – from the palette) cadmium yellow watercolor. Next layer was a scrap of plain white tissue paper from the wrapping supply box, then on with the Inktense blocks in a rainbow of colors. It was sooo much fun.

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Yes, while I was painting happily, the Orioles were losing, but they played well, so it was all good. Better luck for them (and me) tomorrow!

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I hope you all enjoy your beautiful Spring week, and I’ll catch ya on Tuesday. Thanks (as always) for visiting!

An Abstract Experiment

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

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I thought it might be fun to combine acrylic and watercolor paint, so I grabbed a few colors I enjoy, and just decided to play and have fun. I was happy with the result, but a few more catalogs came in the mail today, and they once again proved to be excellent collage fodder! So here I go again with another collage to share. Didn’t some of you warn me this was addictive?  I even added a few touches of Lumiere (metallic acrylic) paint at the end, in Emerald Green.  I really enjoyed this one.

Hub and I finally caught up and watched the Christmas episode of the last series of Downton last night, and this kept me busy through that and a couple episodes of Forensic Files besides. So, about three hours. It was loads of fun, though, and I highly recommend this to anyone looking to unwind at the end of the day. Put that recycle bin to good use!

I also want to thank all of you who inspire me with your beautiful works of art, and encourage me to try new things all of the time.  This is such a kick, and I’ve never enjoyed busy season so much as I have this year!  Art is helping work go more smoothly, and maybe even vice versa.  It’s an amazing thing, this art journey.  It’s a life journey, truly.   The waters run really deep.   It’s a cool feeling.  If I have time, I’ll try and crank out a portrait or two tomorrow for the workweek.  See you then.  Enjoy your Sunday!

WC colors:  Cobalt blue, azo yellow, veridian, turquoise, phthalo blue

I Dare You Not to Laugh

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

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I hope you laugh looking at this as much as I did while making it.  I took advice from a blogger friend who suggested I turn my last watercolor painting into the base for a collage.  Terrific suggestion, so I took my scissors and Mod Podge and had a great time putting this together from ads and catalogs in the recycle bin.

I encourage everyone to try this; it is so much fun, and all you need is scissors, glue and stuff that you’re tossing anyway.  Why not grab a friend and a bunch of old magazines and laugh and have fun with art this weekend?   Be like a kid again.   We could all use some more joy, right?

I hope you enjoy my crazy collage, and the beautiful springish weather this weekend too!

Call this a Collage?

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

Hmm….OK, not sure what to call this. The definition of “collage” includes the phrase “work of art”, and I’ve seen soooo many gorgeous actual collages on blogs of my friends here on WordPress.  Not sure this falls into that category, or even close, but … as I always say, here goes nothing.

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I’m kind of enjoying these late-night creativity bouts.   What’s even more fun is starting with no preconceived plan or idea and just…watching what emerges.  And then, because I’m me, trying to analyze it at the end to see where in the world I was going with it, lol.   I enjoyed using lots of different mediums, including Inktense watercolor pencils, Polychromos colored pencils, Micron and Pitt permanent art pens, good ol’ Mod Podge, and of course my goony imagination.

It was fun, though, I quite enjoyed it, and so I’ll be doing more of this kind of free-wheeling, wacky creative inventing for the next several weeks while the storm that is busy season gets cranking.  I can’t think of any better way for me to release the stress of the day, and turn it into something….if not beautiful, then at least cool and fun to look at.    I hope you enjoy it.  Have a beautiful spring weekend!  *cue the dance*