And now some happier pages

I love this colour scheme - red, black and neutrals - and I also have asked for it in my new deco book which is about to go into a deco journal swap on atcsforall.com.

Again I was planning to use some Cuttlebug bits and pieces - Tim Holtz dies again, the steampunk cogs and wheels and slide die, and used them to cut out stark black, red and lettering.

I also used lettering from the Melody Ross SoulFood, pages again, plus old book pages, and positive and negative cuts for the butterflies,

Finally I used a script Cuttelbug embossing folder to make a back ground of embossed semi distressed script and used some frames made from Paper Cellar Ltd Victorian Classic papers waste after I had cut out some journal pages.. I wanted a strong composition of squares with repetition of elements..

I was  terrrifed of my work becoming twee by using embossing folder and cutting dies, but I am really pleased with the drama of this page...

Art Journal Every Day - using my backgrounds

 I have been in London for a few days as it was our  grand-daughter's  7th birthday party - which involved a trip across from Dulwich to Islington to visit the Sylvanian's shop and then a party for 15 children at a leisure centre - hectic!!

And I have been making her a scrap book since we got back home with montage photos I put together of the shop trip and the party with backgrounds of wrapping paper and Sylvanian' catalogue pictures so I have been buried in glue and gift wrap...

However, I have started using my backgrounds for my month's challenge I set for myself in the last post.

I have used the Moleskin journal with the ready made background.

I was looking through a book catalogue and found a picture of an ambigram by John Langdon called ambiguity - they read the same either way up (and my daughter has one about sunshine  in her bathroom, so this is something I have been taken by for some time).

And this has given me the subject for this journal - ambiguity and opposites

I did a title page with some self adhesive lettering and a crimson wash

And for the first spread  I have used the ambigram of ambiguity, with a definition and some details about ambigrams.

Then I have drawn and tinted Janus, the god who looks both ways into the past and future, with some image transfers of his name and properties.

So...
I think this subject has lots of potential!!

ART JOURNAL EVERY DAY - a month of faces complete

HERE IS THE FINAL PART OF THE ART JOURNAL EVERY DAY MONTH OF FACES

The final 4 slots are full - 

On the left, 2 Egyptian heads inspired by pictures of tomb paintings; they are on cream water colour paper using water colour crayons and water.

The 29th June is from a photo on my mobile phone - on 28th I went to my last pottery session until September and I was desperate to finish this head  so it can dry out and be fired - I cannot list the number of decapitations, crackings and downright falling downs she has endured over the last few weeks so I think she has earned her spot!

And finally there is an ink head with lots of gloating written in it along the lines of yay I did it!

This is how the whole right hand page looks - in retrospect maybe I should have used new blank pages and worked straight into the journal instead of using the page grids I did for Strathmore Workshop2 as the dark background has been such a pain that I have frequently ignored it and stuck things over it - so I have totally cheated I suppose!

However, I am really pleased with the final spread four pages, see above - it has been a really interesting exercise and I am so pleased that  Julie Fei-Fan Balzer at Balzer Designs was such an inspiration!!

now - what to do for JULY's Art Journal Every Day!

ART JOURNAL EVERY DAY - A Face A Day UP TO 18TH JUNE

Butterfly - no puffin - spotting in Wales



There has been a delay in posting my "face a day" as we have been in Wales, originally butterfly hunting (to photograph them!).




There was nothing flying we went to South Stacks cliffs at Holyhead in Anglesey. 



It is an RSPB reserve with guillemots, choughs and my all time favourite bird the puffin. The puffins nest in burrows on a grassy slope high above sheer cliffs down to the sea.


 You get to see them by going down a long series of steps cut into the cliffs - which is why I am looking hot and windswept but very pleased with myself!

Back to a Month of Faces

These pictures, therefore, cover the 13th June

 to today, the 18th June. 

The 13th June is a drawing of a very pretty doll's head with pouting lips; I used the Pentel Aquash water colour crayons and blended the face with water afterwards.

The 14th June was inspired by an article in The Times about the Chemical Brothers - I loved the strange colours in the accompanying illustration.  

The 15th June is a cartoony lady - the kind of woman who scared me to death when I was a small girl, probably because I wouldn't eat my school dinners - done with colour pencils and black and white ink.

The 16th is a rather natty Victorian gent, part of my Edgar Allan Poe drawings, with a wash of colour.

The 17th is probably a relative or a younger version of 15th June, thankfully she is asleep now!

 And the 18th is another  interactive art example - inspired by  "Interactive art workshop : set your mixed media in motion" by Kim Rae Nugent". This time I used  a child's pinball machine toy with the back removed and replaced by a shameless theft of a Klimt style lady.

And the picture of the layout of the two pages shows the grid waiting to be filled....

ART JOURNAL EVERY DAY - A Face A Day - 9th June 2011

INTERACTIVE ART!

I have been dying to try out some ideas from this wonderful book

"Interactive art workshop : set your mixed media in motion" by Kim Rae Nugent"

The idea for this face is to take a child's game, remove the back and replace it with an image of you own and you have a totally different piece of work.









I "channelled" Aubrey Beardsley again as it gives quite a contrasty image which works best behind the plastic - subtlety vanishes!


I have some different toys to try later -  like a little round maze and a miniature pinball machine - so they will  appear during the month.


I think I should draw some men now!