Some Experiments-Abstracts

 I've been relaxing with some experimental paintings the last few days, in between having to go somewhere and company. These are all in my 7 x 10 W/N sketchbook, 135 lb paper, which has a slight tooth to it. They are all acrylic paints or inks, except the red and blue one, which is gouache, and I made them by lightly spraying the paper with water, adding paint with my finger, then lightly spraying with water again and tilting the page in different directions, letting the paint/ink/gouache run and merge however it wanted to. I added sea salt and table salt on most of them. It took on some, but not on others, according to the dampness of the paper at the time. I like how most of them turned out, but a couple of them will, for sure, have more work done on them...

I can see all sorts of critters/characters/images in each one! I love it!

The gouache didn't work as well for some reason, but I can always paint or collage over, or with, it!

An art friend told me that she had had some amazing results with spray alcohol and water based paints, so guess what I'll be trying soon! Ha!

Also, I'm still adding to my Magpie's Nest journal pages as I find interesting things/ideas to use.

Anyway, for now, I'm off to make a doctor's appointment, have breakfast, start a watercolor painting that I sketched off earlier, and I'm expecting company around noon, so it's a busy Monday following a busy weekend.

Hope you all have a blessed and creative week!

A Face, A Wild Garden n Color, and an Abstract Landscape?

 Part of my art practice the last few days, besides my Magpie Nest and Piano Hinge journals, was in my W/N MM sketchbook.

A girl character from my imagination, sketched with a stablio pencil and water.

I tried a "wild" garden in color, in a variety of media and techniques. It wound up kind of busy, dense, and chaotic, but I had a total blast with it. Notice the little stamped cat at the bottom of the left side! Isn't he cute? He's actually the middle cat of a trio of cats stamp that I got in a supply swap years ago. I love the stamp!

This one started out with a dark grayish image across the bottom where some ink bled over from another page, leaving a couple of blobs and some stripes. I could see a dog's head image in the top blob, so I thought I could somehow turn it into a long dog across the end. I turned the book horizontally and sprayed the page lightly with water, added burnt sienna acrylic paint, then sprayed with water again and held the page up so that it ran down the page. I added a few grains of sea salt just before it dried, but I think it was a bit too dry already, because it didn't affect it much.

When it was good and dry I used India ink to make a striped dog with a tail, but it didn't look right, so I thought I would take some turquoise paint and turn it into a dog wrapped in a black and turquoise blanket and see how that went. I could always cut that end off and do something else with the rest of it. 

But when I turned it around to check it from different angles, I saw all these little silhouetted figures trudging across the page end, with a hill behind them and a bigger hill in front of them. Some had large bags on their backs and some had on head rags, and they all looked exhausted. I liked it, so I tweaked the hills a bit with ink and added a bit of turquoise colored pencil and left it alone. I didn't do anything else to the sky, because I really like all the little things going on in it at sunset. Who knew? I love it! 

Sometimes, if you pay attention, the painting creates itself and surprises you! Nobody else may like it, but I do, so it's perfectly fine! 

Another Teabag Critters Attempt

 I totally forgot about this page of teabag critters from back in April! I thought I probably found the critters within and forgot to make a picture, but when I went back to the sketchbook, I hadn't. Then I remembered that I put the wet teabags on a different kind of paper than I used before, and I didn't get as good a result. The dried images were pretty much just solid blobs with few lines, although I did see images in a couple of them, plus the color wasn't great either, so I'm not going to finish them. Instead, I tore the page out and put it in my collage paper box to be used some other way. So that's that! I will try the teabags again on better paper at some point, because it's a fun project...

See a previous post for better results and more about the teabag critters. I think next time I will put each teabag on an individual square to dry and see how that goes.

Last post today, I promise!

Another Toni Burt Class

 I didn't realize that I had so many post drafts containing pictures, but no words, so I'm playing catch up. 

A few weeks ago, I signed up for the taster classes in the "Make, Create, Express, Celebrate 2026" with Gailia Alana, which contained sample classes from thirty-something teachers, because I saw a class with Toni Burt. The sample classes lasted nine days with so many classes a day, with the option to buy the VIP package to get the full classes from now on.

There were some awesome classes/teachers, but I only took the one with Toni Burt. In the promo the class was for a girl and a rabbit, but the actual class was only for the girl. I took a similar class with Toni in the Mastering Mixed Media classes earlier in the year, but I did this one too and really enjoyed it.

I watched the video and took notes and tried a couple of small sketches with different expressions before doing a whole page sketch.

I sketched the face on a small piece of regular drawing paper, then glued it onto my mixed media sketchbook page with UHU stic glue, then sketched the hair and sweater around it. Once again, I didn't leave room for the stretched out long neck and sweater neck, so mine has a regular neck, and the face color is a bit different than the page color. Whoops!

I did a second sketch in my sketchbook. This time I left room for the elongated neck, but not much room for the shoulders. Oh, well! I like both sketches, and they taught me some things, which is the point of sketches and classes. I love Toni's work, but couldn't copy it if I wanted to.

Anyway, as I said, this was the only class I took in these taster sessions, and there's no special label category for it, so I'm labeling it in with the Mastering Mixed Media classes with the other class I took from her. I'm considering taking some classes from Toni's website though. I would love to take the rabbit class and one of her cityscape classes. We'll see!

More Australian Piano Hinge Book Sketches

 Still practicing faces and shading. Two of them are from my imagination, three are from my original photo references, and one is from a paused TV image. I'm proud of how far I've come, but I still have a lot of practicing to do! All in my piano hinge handmade sketchbook.

I really like this sketchbook and am looking forward to making another one when I have the time and energy. Next time I will use better materials. I intended this one to be a learning experience and an example, but it's so handy to pick up and sketch in, plus I can easily take out any pages to work on or throw away. That's a plus! (Class instructions in Sketchbook Revival 2026-link on sidebar)

The Magpies Nest Journal-WIP Pages-Part 2

  The first picture is the cover with the signatures now sewn in with with I think a pamphlet stitch. I chose a landscape format instead of a portrait format to open it. I could have made the front cover shorter so the page edges would be visible, but I forgot and didn't do that. The cover still needs some stitching and ephemera added, but that will come later when I find what it is asking for. 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" and it's looking more like a nest...

See Part 1 for more info about the cover and the class, and the link is on my sidebar.

The following are a few of the pages I've worked on so far, all works in progress. It has a total of twenty-seven folded pages, making a total of fifty-four pages in the the three signatures, plus the canvas cover page. Many of the pages are hand painted or have hand sketched or painted elements added, plus lots of random mark making with different tools and media. There will be a lot more added, including rusty metal bits, shiny things, etc.

Many of the elements are from bits and pieces from my life. The last page has my initials, my favorite number, and it will have a date stamped on it when I finish it.

The journal has been put on hold for a few days, because I've been trying to keep up my almost daily sketching practice, plus life stuff is always happening, but my little box of stuff is sitting by my recliner, ready and waiting to resume at any time! I will share as it progresses...

The Magpie's Nest Handmade Journal-Part 1

 I bought the Magpie's Nest class with Aimee Bishop on Jeanne Oliver's website three, or four, years ago, watched all the videos, and started collecting and making the various elements suggested. I have continued making and thinking about the papers and ephemera ever since.

Lately, I've been seeing other students' work in the Facebook group, and it has inspired me to start working on mine seriously, and I'm loving the results. This is what I have, so far.

The mixed media journal is meant to be messy and raw, like a Magpie's nest, including ephemera, papers, rusty and shiny bits, feathers, etc.

The suggestion for the cover was raw canvas, but I didn't have any, so I used a piece of cotton canvas that was gessoed on one side. I cut it into a 4 1/2" x 11" piece, to be folded in half, for a 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" journal. I painted the inside cover in a thinned acrylic dark blue.

I stained the outside cover with Burnt Umber acrylic paint and let dry.

As per Aimee's instructions, I cut several rows of slits in the long side of the cover. Then I started weaving strips of bought papers, handmade papers, fabric, twine, raffia, yarn, ribbon, etc., first lengthwise, then across.

This is how the outside looks folded, kind of like a nest. I still lack some stitching and embellishing on it.

The inside, unfolded. Not exactly like the teacher's, but it's not supposed to be. I tend to watch the videos, then do my own thing sometimes...

I cut this piece of canvas from a small tote bag that my sister-in-law gave me for my birthday, or Christmas, many years ago for a cover page. 

I put together three signatures of nine pages each, folded in two, using a variety of papers and fabric, some hand painted. Folded to fit inside the covers...

Here, all three signatures have been placed inside the cover to check the fit. It is now ready for the holes to be punched and the signatures to be sewn in.

Fun stuff! I'm on a roll with it now! Stay tuned for the journey!

This is a very calming thing for my soul...