Paint Your Town Photo Transfers

Learning to print and transfer photos in the Paint Your Town class (see sidebar for link) in my journal! I love using photos and sketches from my home town and surrounding area in my art and for my journal. I don't have the technique down just right yet, but I can live with these

This page is one of my rust transfer fabrics, which I transferred a vintage photo of the old Riverside Theatre in town when I was growing up. The photo was in color, but I copied it in B/W, and even though I knew the ink wasn't dark enough I went ahead and transferred it. Since it was torn down years ago, I kind of like the ghostly images it projects. There happened to be a Christmas parade going on the day this photo was taken in 1969. I may do a little touching up on it, and I have some theatre tickets that I'm going to age and add to it, as well as some other stuff, which will hopefully make it pop.

I made this photo a couple of Sundays ago on a field trip, which we were supposed to do for the class. It's on a copy of music paper, and it's at Glenkirk Landing, a very short walk from my house. The angle is toward the bluff caves and the Beachview community. I wish I'd paid more attention and made the music bars horizontal with the picture, but it's ok. I'll add more stuff to the page as I go along, maybe even some of my own artwork!

I have so many ideas that it's going to be hard to choose which ones to put in this book! And I haven't even watched all the videos yet, or done some of the projects from the videos I have watched!

It's beautiful fall weather here in Rabbit Hop, and I long to be out roaming around with my camera, but at the same time I want to be in my little rabbit nest playing in my journal and with other half done projects, while my conscious is making me feel guilty about what I "should" be doing. It's a never ending tug of war! :)

Happy Creating!

Paint your Town Journal

The beginning of the 4"x 6" handmade journal for the Paint Your Town: Mixed-Media Urban Landscape class with Jeanne Oliver (see sidebar). I'm using watercolor board (I think) for the covers and a piece of canvas for the spine. I'm also using various papers and some cloth for the pages.

My journal after the pages are glued in and dry...

Journal open with pages ready to work on!

My journal after I used gel medium to attach a print of a vintage photo of The old Russ Hotel that used to grace the end of Main Street overlooking the TN River when I was growing up. I added a strip of my rust transferred fabric to the spine for a little color and to hold the leather lace in place. I'm not sure whether to leave it as it is or do a little touching up on it. The back is still blank for now. But it is ready to work in now! Can't wait!

Next project is waiting! :D

Rust Fabric Transfers

I'm learning to do rust transfers (rusty objects on to fabric), in this case on flour sack drying cloths I got at Walmart. I'm learning this in a class from www.jeanneoliverdesigns.com in a class called "Paint Your Town: Mixed-Media Urban Landscapes". I should have made a picture of the rusty objects, but I didn't. Anyway, above are my first attempts drying. Once dry, the fabric can be used for different projects. Some of this is to be used in my journal for this class!

These are the transfers on to my fabric after drying. I think I wet them too much or something. Some of them didn't come out like I wanted, like the one above, where I used a large rusty hook.

I like parts of this one...

Love this one!

My second attempt at using the rusty hook and less wetness. This is half the design. I folded the cloth in half up over the hook.

The whole design, and I love it, although, I love it too much! Now I don't want to cut it up or use it for anything else. I learned a lot about what NOT to do on this project!  :)

This is my first project in this class, and I haven't watched all the videos yet. I've been working on the small handmade journal project to keep the mixed-media projects, sketches, etc. of my home town in too. This is a fun class!

See ya on the next project! Keep creating! It's good for your soul!

Art Journal Spread "On the Edge"

 

A journal spread in my Moleskine, which I thought was finished, but I decided it wasn't, and worked on it some more this week. NOW it's done...I think!

 

I started with a collage, a piece of lace stencil, and some spray inks. The figure was cut free hand from a piece of decorative paper, and I tried my hand at lettering. I've added the buttons, the marks/patterns, more color, and the writing down the side with some medium point Posca paint pens, which I really like.

 

The writing down the side says, "She often felt like she was going over the edge, but then she thought of her family and turned it into a balancing act for the time being..." I went over it twice with the white paint pen, so it's a little blurred, but that's ok!

 

Happy Journaling! :D

Mini Mojo/ Mark Making

I'm still here and I finally got in some painting practice! These two pieces were inspired by the first video on mark making from Tracy Verdugo's Mini Mojo: Textures, Patterns, and Colors (see sidebar for link).

The top one is the first one I did, then I didn't particularly like it, so I just added more marks on top with acrylic inks, and found or unusual tools, until I was content with it (second version). It's on 140 lb watercolor paper, a half sheet, so it's pretty large.

The bottom one is the same, except it's on brown kraft paper. I think these will be used as collage fodder in another lesson. They were fun to do!

I had to order some cold wax to use in an up coming lesson, which I'm looking forward to. Of course, I couldn't just order the wax. I also ordered some mixed media scissors, one pack of the mini gelli plates (rectangle, oval, hexagon), a large canvas, and three more bottles of ink.

I also worked some more on a journal spread using my new Posca markers, which I really like. Not ready to share it though! I'm letting it sit for a while...

Spending a quiet day at home alone, which is a rarity anymore, with my paint, my music, and my blog! Definitely food for my soul!  :D

Hello! Still Here!

I just wanted to say hello! I'm still out here, but, for some reason, I've been totally blocked creatively since before Christmas and have done nothing. No painting, no writing, no fabric journaling...Nada! I'm beginning to have withdrawals in every fiber of my body! Even though I'm enrolled in a new class and a couple of new art groups, and I've been looking at lots of wonderful and inspiring creative work and videos, I have yet to unlock my muse. I go through this about once a year, but I don't think it's been this long before. I want to create and share, but something within is stopping me, for now.

I'm filling up my creative well from looking at and reading creative things while I'm "resting", so maybe when I do start back I'll have something worth sharing to post.

The above piece is from a class with Jeanne Oliver (see sidebar), using her patterns, and it looks much better in person. Sorry about the photo quality!

Thank you for your support! Back soon!

The Fun On My Desk Right Now

I'm still having a hard time getting back into the swing of things since the holidays, but here are three of the current projects I'm working on! Still very much works in progress...

The beginning of the first two pages in my first attempt at a Shabby Chic album each have a pocket to hold treasures. Now for some lace and bling!

The first exercise in making marks with different tools in the Tracy Verdugo Mini Mojo: Pattern, Texture, Color online class. Hoping to turn it into something good as I go along! Can you see the blue seahorse that's peeking through?

A project from Tracy's class Animalitos mini course that's maybe half done. Waiting for it to tell me how it wants to be finished!

I just seem to get farther behind on everything all the time! I will probably never be caught up again, but that's okay. I have much to be thankful for!