Three Page Journal Spread

My blog has been languishing again.  Lately it seems like there isn't enough time in the day to make art, much less to blog about it.  I've got a four day weekend going right now and I'm going to get about one day in the studio.  I made this journal spread a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd finally post the photo.  This was an attempt at making the left hand page, which I had painted with some leftover pink paint, match with the right hand page, which had some collaged tissue paper that had been sprayed with Glimmer Mist and some blue and pink watercolor.  I've been doing a lot of work with Medieval elements lately.  This whole spread incorporates leftover bits and pieces from other projects.  The Medieval tile design on the left is a t-shirt transfer and the woman on the right is from images I took from a book of hours when I was collaging the front of another art journal.  Lots of small bits of paper collaged down in between too!  Nothing fancy happening here but I like the result!

Transfer Artist Paper (TAP)

As part of the book review program with C&T Publishing I decided I wanted to read and review Create With Transfer Artist Paper, by Lesley Riley.  This book is a great introduction to the variety of wonderful things you can do with Transfer Artist Paper (TAP).  Lesley's writing is warm and personable and she really clearly explains the various uses of this product.  I was not overly impressed by any of the artwork in this book but I did appreciate the variety of surfaces and techniques demonstrated by each piece.  There are some good basic instructions for editing photos using photo editing software. Lesley covers some of the pros and cons of using TAP on various surfaces so the user will have a good idea what to expect and how to deal with any complications that might arise.  I find it really exciting that you can use other art media such as pastels or pencils on TAP and that transfers can be layered on top of one another for additional effects.  This book will give you some great ideas if you are an artist who is interested in image transfers or is looking for a way to get your own artwork out of your sketchbook and onto another surface.

Collage painting

I recently completed this 9"x12" collage painting.  Can you tell who inspired me?  I'm utterly fascinated by Lynne Perrella's work.  Could stare at it for hours.  Her work makes me shake.  That shaking feeling is what made me realize that I wanted to be an artist.  Nothing but art makes me feel that way.  It's like being seduced by a new lover.  Back to the painting....  This actually began as an experiment inspired by one of Jane Davies techniques where you dip a pipe cleaner in ink and feather it across the page and then scrape various colors of paint over the top with a credit card.  Great idea!  All my attempts looked like crap.  Sigh.  I put the papers away for a while and recently dug them out to see if I had any ideas.  The I took another look at Lynne Perrella's series based on Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and some ideas took off.  Stencil's and tar gel and t-shirt transfer paper, oh my!  It was great fun and I'm really happy with it.