Strathmore Visual Journaling Workshop 1, week 3

Week 3 of the Strathmore Visual Journaling workshop went better than week 2.  I added color to the background, included some stenciling and stamping and graphite pencil.  Much to my surprise an 8B pencil went over the oil pastels really well.  Some of the other workshop participants are doing really great work.  Much more "art" than my page.  LOL!  Sometimes silly and simple is just fun and its all a great way to practice and learn.  One more week of this workshop to go.

Strathmore Visual Journaling Workshop 1, week 2

The visual journaling workshop homework this week consisted of adding charcoal and oil pastel shadows to our collaged work.  After that we were to add watered down gesso and another layer of oil pastel.  Before I got started with my homework I decided to add a couple of hearts using more of the background I copied and printed and used for the "ground" last week.  I have a vague idea for flowers or something I suspect will be silly and insipid but cute anyway.  Sadly week 2 did not turn out so well for me.  When I collaged the elements in week one I used gel medium and a brush and didn't worry about getting gel outside the edges of the collaged papers.  After all, it dries clear and can be worked over right?  Well the charcoal and oil pastel don't look so hot over the brush strokes left in the gel medium and the whole thing ended up looking kind of dirty.  However, I have faith that this piece can still be worked into something worthwhile.  And after all, the point of taking this workshop was to learn and have fun so I know I will succeed.

Strathmore Visual Journaling Workshop 1, week 1

Strathmore Artist Paper is offering three free visual journaling workshops to promote their new line of mixed media workbooks.  The instructors are terrific and hey, it's free!  The first workshop is being taught by Pam Carriker.  This is the start to my first journal page made for the workshop.  We are supposed to be recycling our own artwork for use in new ways but I didn't have anything I liked well enough to recylce except for a background I created but haven't used yet.  The collaged element at the bottom of the page is from a printout of that background.  Everything else is cut from magazines.  We will be adding more to the page in weeks to come so hopefully this will become more "mine" as I go.  I chose to work in a smaller book so the pages wouldn't take so long to complete and since the page was small I decided not to add to much to it at this stage.

Cloth Paper Scissors 2011 Calendar - Interweave

I was lucky enough to be a winner in the Cloth Paper Scissors 2011 Calendar contest.  My artwork was chosen for the month of February.  This is a picture of my piece.  This was only the second time I have ever sent a piece of artwork to a contest so it was really exciting to be a winner.  The prize pack they sent was fabulous too!  My inspiration came from Medieval books of hours.  It is a mixed media piece made from fabric-paper, paint, beads, machine stitching, hand embroidery and painted fabric.

Cloth Paper Scissors 2011 Calendar - Interweave