1001 Traveling Journal

I have contributed to the 1001 Traveling Journal project through my friend Brian Kasstle.  You can link to this project at http://1001journals.com/ .  Brian started two traveling journals numbered 5386 and 5387.  The two journal pages below are in journal #5387.  Mailing them off to Brian after a two week turn around provided a feeling of accomplishment.

The process I followed was to create a gel skin of the stencil that I purchased from Artistcellar. I first scanned the stencil and then made the skin. After attaching the skin to the journal, I then collaged everything that you see. I had found a photo of a girl that I especially liked many weeks ago. So she started the vignette that is on the right side above. Inside the envelope is a letter. Just in case you can not read the vignette when you click on the picture I will include it here...

Ysabel lifted the fold of the curtain inside the confessional. She felt the crispness of the paper tucked inside the hem. She let out a breath. For days she had been coming to the church hoping that something would be there. Carefully and quietly she opened the folded note and began to read……

Inside the envelope the letter reads.....

lundi, 20 juillet 1942

Ysabel,

You know with the receipt of this letter that I have had to disappear.

Remember I told you that I may not come home for a long time. That

time has come. I am safe, but I cannot contact you and you must do as

we have always planned. Take the postcard, you know the one, and go

to Paris. I know you remember the location as we talked about it every

night for weeks. The postcard will gain you entrance. Do not lose the

postcard, my dear. Soixante-sept is your lucky number. Be safe.

Gros bisous,

Maman

The second collaged journal spread came to me after watching a documentary on Halston and finding a photo in an old National Geographic magazine of King Kong.  It is entitled New York Life.  The photos of the men on the left are of Keith Harin, Andy Warhol, and Halston.

Donnie series VIII - Hankie Found!

D.J. has not been found, but evidence has surfaced.  Hopefully Miss Watson is still alive!

Honeybee

Honeybee2

Honeybee

I am posting Honeybee for two reasons.  First, I created the piece to showcase the plight of the honeybee.  I found a website, one of many,  that is well worth venturing to that provides information on how one can help save the honeybee.  The site has an amazing animation that is well worth checking out.... http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/ . 

Second, you will notice differences in the two scans above.  The first is the original piece of art and the second is after removing some graininess in PhotoShop.  I printed the second one on semi-gloss photo paper to create a postcard.  I really like how the second one turned out.  But a problem occured.  The ink smears on the semi-gloss.  Even after drying overnight smearing still is a problem.  Now I have to find a solution to keep that from happening.  Does anyone have any advice?

Rousseau and Storm

Henri Rousseau - Surprise

Storm

In Jane Davies Color class we were tasked to created an abstract landscape evoking climate or temperature. Our choices were tropical, humid heat; dry desert heat; cold winter night; a chilly autumn day; or warmth of a fire on a cold rainy day.  I chose tropical, humid heat and Henri Rousseau's piece Surprise was my inspiration.  I created the piece using handmade papers that have been accumulating for months.  The papers are made on deli paper and left over acrylic paint.  I simply use up the paint from my palette and brush it on the deli paper.  I then tore pieces of it to collage Storm. 



Irene's California Sunset

 

Irene's California Sunset

In my Jane Davies color class we were tasked with creating an abstract landscape using cool colors.  My friend Irene who lives in southern California had posted the sunset picture above (left) to her blog.... http://www.irenerafael.blogspot.com/ .  Generous Irene gave me the go ahead to create an abstract out of her photograph.  Class members critiqued the piece and suggested that I tone down the yellow a bit.  I did with a Prussian Blue Faber-Castell colored pencil. 

Turn Your Back on Me

I am taking a Jane Davies Color class.  We are in our final week and one of our last projects is to create an abstract landscape using warm colors.  This was a complicated piece for me. It seems that I am incoporating what I have learned from Jane's Text and Image and Color classes into this landscape. In the collage process I used newspaper, self-made papers (mostly from deli paper), acrylic paint, magazine pieces, pan pastels, and watercolors. This image is what I would expect to find in Kenya or in South Africa.  I particularly like how there is a triangle formed by the elephant/butterfly, the tree, and the dragonfly.  I am warmed by the colors. To me they really represent the heat of Africa.

Annie Oakley Superstar

Annie Oakley Superstar

I had hoped that Annie Oakley would have been able to make a debut in the Donnie Series.  However, she did not pass through Dodge City until about fifteen years after the bank robbery.  So historically she just did not fit.  I had wanted her to save Belle, but that is not to be.  Instead another female historical figure will play that role.  Stay tuned.....