Waterpump

This piece belongs to the Barn series that I am presently working on as a journal collaboration with my friend, Ingrid, in Sweden.  The characters are Crazy Guys similar to another series I worked on months ago.  This is the first time that I have included a female Crazy Guy (I guess we should call her a Crazy Gal.) in a piece.  When I  first started Crazy Guys I thought it was difficult finding ephemera for the male form.  Finding just what I needed for the woman was equally difficult but not impossible.  Perseverance is needed to find the right collage pieces for each human figure. Each human form is three or four collaged pieces. Distortion is the name of the Crazy Guy game.

Dubious

Dubious

For my September gentlemen's ATC group I decided to do more Crazy Guys.  After creating the background I collaged four different guys from a variety of found photos.  This guy is actually parts of four photos.  I love that when I look at him sometimes my eyes focus on the eyes.  Other times I focus on hair, and yet many times I focus on the lips and chin area.  Don't you just wonder what he is thinking and why is he hesitating.  Now you can start your own narrative.

I am mailing the ATCs today.  Soon I will post the other three guys which each share a different emotion.

Keith Haring

Keith Haring

Months ago I made a stencil of Keith Haring to practice stenciling making techniques.  I have never used this particular stencil for anything other than practice yet.  I printed on some printer paper and that was that.  The piece of printer paper was left on my wet working station and got lost under some paper toweling.  I  often use paper towel to protect the work surface. Layers of paint soaked through the towel and started adding paint to the stenciled Keith.  When I cleaned up the wet area a few weeks ago I found stenciled Keith attached to the paper towel.  Parts of the original practice stencil tore off and parts stuck to the paper towel to leave what you see here.  I love discoveries like this.  Keith is now part of my passport journal.  There is even a pocket formed between Keith's nose and the paper towel backing. :-)

RR Complete

Last winter I joined a round robin with six others hosted by Susie LaFond from Minnesota.  The RR is now complete as I have just finished the final spreads for Michele's journal.  It is pretty amazing how things turn out.  Michele created several pages in her journal from a Washington state map and some Seattle scenes from commercial paper.  When her journal arrived at my door, those pages were next in line for journaling.  Perfect for me as I am using Seattle as my home town for this RR.  As you can see I incorporated those into what I created for Michele.

Not only was the RR fun but I have made an art friend in Michele.  We meet each month to pass-off journals.  Today is the final pass-off, however, I know it won't be the last day that Michele and I meet to discuss journaling.  We have too much fun at our Starbuck's meetings.  I have learned so much from Michele who is an amazing journaling artist.

I am also so very pleased to have "met" six other journalers during this experience.  I thank all of them for amazing spreads in my new complete journal.

Fire

Fire

The inspiration for this piece has been the fires in the western part of the United States.  Not only damage to the forests but destruction to peoples' homes has been immense.  Safety from the elements does not exist when fire is involved, no haven then.  It all seems so unpredictable and it is totally scary.  Mother Nature is the one in charge ultimately.

This piece is part of the barn series that Ingrid in Sweden and I are collaborating on.  Fire heads to Sweden soon but will eventually return to me and will become part of a three signature journal.

Christian

Christian

In June, during my Minnesota trip to see Terry Garrett, I was impressed by the lakes that dotted the geography of the state.  On an outting to Itasca State Park I was able to take a few barn photos.  This journal spread is honoring that trip and also the artist Andrew Wyeth.  I love his piece Christina and hence, to honor Mr. Wyeth, I have created this piece, Christian. 

I have lost count of the number of barn pieces that I have completed, but this one has a special place in those works.  I had mostly completed it with the exception of the final touch....one more thing to make it right.  It came to me yesterday when I accidently laid a transparency on top of the spread.  The tree!  Perfect to make it all come together!

Christian will be heading to Sweden in October as it is part of  my friend's, Ingrid, journal signature.  Luckily I have a scan of it.  My partner exclaimed, "Noooooooooooo!" when I told him it would be leaving us in a couple of months.  Letting go is part of the reality of the art world, is it not?

Four Crazy Guys

Four Crazy Guys

These guys are making their debut in a small journal that I made to accompany my new RR journal.  You might remember the crazy guy posting that I did months ago.  I particularly like the stamp I made from the moldable foam.  If you have not had a chance to use moldable foam run to the nearest online or pavement art store and get some.  It is so easy to use.  Just heat the foam with a heat gun and press something into the foam.  Pressing into the heated foam makes an indentation which is then printable.  I pressed beads that I got at a New Orleans mardi gras party to make this stamp.  You can reuse the foam over and over again.

Toward the Light

Toward the Light

I am involved in a new Round Robin group of five.  As I finish up my last RR, I am hosting a new RR group.  Susie LaFond was a great mentor and hostess in my last traveling journal group.  She kept us on our toes to complete spreads each month.  It was a lot of fun!  So I was ready to jump into a new RR right away.  Our new group members are mostly in Washington and one person lives in Texas.  Toward the Light is my first spread in this RR.

For this piece I adapted the idea of the Crazy Guy activity that my gentlemen's ATC group did months ago and  I used many techniques that I acquired while taking Orly Avineri's workshop on Whidbey Island a few weeks ago. 

Usually I do not start with an idea when thinking about a new piece.  I just jump in and see where it goes.  I did have the idea for this one and wanted to do it when I took Orly's class.  However, another piece Eye on the Forest took over and shoved this idea aside.  Not for long though as you can see.

A Passport Journal





Passport

Recently in an Orly Avineri workshop Orly displayed a journal example that I absolutely had to make.  Orly used an expired passport to create a journal with art on and in flips, pockets, folds, envelopes, add-ons, and who knows what all.  The completed journal looks like a "fat" book....a real journal term by the way.  Two weeks ago my new passport arrived and no better time than the present to use the expired one to create my own passport journal.  It is far from done and will be a work in progress for some time, but I have worked on it for six days and here is where I am at with it today.  Many people have been curious about this type of journal and so I share.

Freedom

Freedom

In Orly's class we were asked to name our journals.  I had already collaged the word Freedom into the piece as it represents how I felt in this class, free.  Orly was able to instill a sense of artistic freedom that I needed last week.  I am indebted to her for that.

Jack Sparrow

Jack Sparrow

I love Johnny Depp's character, Jack Sparrow, in Pirates of the Carribean.  The skeleton reminds me of the film and thus honors Johnny as his character Jack.  Placing a skeleton in a odd location next to the Trans-America building in San Francisco makes me smile.  I love disparate things brought together.

In Orly's class we were asked to make a closure for our journal.  Since I am making two more signatures and will bind three to make the total journal my clasp was temporary.  Hence the ripped white irregular shapes on this piece.  I may leave them alone or add more color to them sometime.

Gaucho

Gaucho

I love making backgrounds and when they are finally done I have the problem of finding something to make the whole thing pop.  Sometimes that takes quite a long time.  In this case, the gaucho had been motivation for another piece in the Orly workshop.  I just happened to lay him on top of the background and voila, it was what was needed.  The striations on the gaucho's portrait come from the uneven background.  I sanded the face and got the lines.

Innocence?

Innocence?

What dog would not steal your heart with this look?  But actually he is trouble!  Careful don't turn your back on your dinner or it will be gone before you can blink!

This piece is the third in a journal created in the Orly Avineri workshop I took last week.  I love how we used gesso, distress ink, and matte varnish to achieve a unifying effect.

Eye of the Forest

Eye on the Forest

This was another piece created in the Orly Avineri workshop on Whidbey Island.  In this piece we wrote in our journals, added color using spray inks and matte varnish.  Then we added torn masking tape to make the trees. We painted the whole piece with black gesso.  Once the journal spread dried we removed the masking tape.

Earlier in the week we had collected items from the forest to add to our collage.  Here you see parts of leaves and moss and bird egg shell.  Later in the week I cut a small hole in the journal and increased its size by burning it with a candle.  Hence the eye from another journal page comes through to create the piece Eye on the Forest.

Lotus

Lotus

This past week I took a class at the Pacific NW Art School in Coupeville, Washington, A Luxuriant Nature Journaling Adventure instructed by Orly Avineri.  It was truly an amazing five days of art journaling, camaraderie, amazing instruction, and just plain fun!

Lotus was one of six journal spreads completed during the class.  I will post the others and/or parts of all the others in the next few days.