'Anyone Who's Known...' excerpt from my original poem

Howdy and Welcome,
These images are from another page in my art journal #2.

Digital collage of images below - using MS DIE

Whole page from art journal #2 -

the calligraphy is an excerpt from my one of my original poems

Page portion from art journal #2 -

close-up showing journaling in foreign languages

(German, ancient Greek, French, my take on ancient Cuneiform).

Also I added a little bit of musical notation.

fyi in my dreams I speak French and I often wake up with original music playing in my head!

Page portion from art journal #2 -

close-up showing tile made from a TH clear plastic tile wrapped in a piece of aluminum repair tape (from hardware store) that I embossed (using texture plates and my Big Shot), painted with Ranger acrylic dabbers and a little light sanding when dry.  I prefer to use the acrylic paints rather than alcohol inks. There is also a strip of mesh tape (from the hardware store.)

The edges are bordered in scrapbook paper scraps - I save the strips when I trim scrapbook paper. I also organize and store scraps by length and type. But that's for a whole other blog post!

Note: before working on any of the pages in the sketchbook, I covered each page, front and back, with 2" masking tape - to give the substrate more strength in preparation of all the stuff I was hoping to do. If it had been watercolor paper I would not have used the tape all over, maybe on the sides as a border. Love those 'paper tapes' from 7gypsies and tissue tapes from TH.

P.S. You know in all the art journal magazines and articles, they never mention how MUCH PREP goes into making this type of art. I spend a lot of time organizing and prepping, before I even begin to paint!

What do you think of this page? Have you ever experimented with writing foreign languages or writing music notation in your journals?

Thanks for visiting - please stop by again when you have a moment or 2.

Peace,

LuLu

'Tonight' poem excerpt

Howdy and Welcome!

Here are closeups from some pages from my 'Art Journal #2 Never Give Up - Never Surrender!'.

Enjoy!

Closeups of pages from Art Journal #2 -

 'Never Give Up - Never surrender!'

The italics calligraphy text is an excerpt from 'Tonight', one of my original published poems.

Ingredients: each page of sketch paper covered in 2"wide masking tape both sides, white gesso, tinted gessos, various paints, mediums, techniques, watercolor, acrylic, pens, mesh tape (from hardware store), inks, ZIG calligrapy marker, gel pens, glitter, 14k gold paint.

What do you think of thses closeups? I love the abract quality of these pages. I specifically tried to turn off the analytical side of my brain and let the artwork create it self with little thought or design.

What do you think of the textures, and various layers peeking in and out?

The title of this journal 'Never give up, never surrender!' is a motto from the sci-fi movie 'GALAXY QUEST' with Tim Allen!

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment if you have a moment or 2 - and visit again soon!

Peace,

LuLu

'Never give up - Never surrender!' Art Journal #2 - with ribbon fringes and texture!

Howdy and Welcome!

I'm back for a hot minute...
Been feverishly working on pieces for my September 2010 art show and haven't posted for a while.

Here are some pix of my first art journal. Started it a year ago in July 2009. It contains a mish-mash of pages. Tests of paints and image transfers, calligraphy, zendoodles, gel pens, Sharpie paint pens - just a lot of different things. The subsequent journals I've started have themes so I can focus on specific processes.

For example, I now have another  moleskine journal dedicated exclusviely to practicing my calligraphy. I love, love, love calligraphy - ever since I took penmanship class in grammar school, I've enjoyed writing, pens and stationery. I'm one of those throwbacks who enjoys writing long 10 page letters with a fountain pen and sending them off to friends in the post. Must be the poet in me!

Closeup of cover of journal #2.

Ingredients: white gesso, tinted gesso, gold and other colors of acrylic dabbers applied via monoprint from deli wrap paper, Golden fluid acrylic (Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold), italics calligraphy font using purple ZIG calligrapy pen,  Ranger Distress Crackle 'Clear Rock Candy', various acrylic washes, diluted Liquitex matte medium between layers, diluted Modge Podge gloss to seal.

Cover of journal #2

Art Journal #2 - with ribbon fringes and texture!
Photo showing ribbons on coil binding of journal #2.

Really had fun adding the ribbons. Up until now, didn't think I was a ribbon lover - but they have grown on me.

Technique: cut ribbons in advance 6"-10". Tied ribbons mixing colors randomly. Fyi, I no longer keep ribbons on spools. While watching TV, I unravel the spools, cut to shorter strips and affix them to those little plastic ribbon cards. Spools take up too much space in my studio and crop bags...

What do you think of this cover. Aren't the textures yummy? That clear Rock Candy is an incredible crackle product. Have you ever used clear Rock Candy crackle paint?

Thanks for visiting - please leave a comment and stop by again soon!

Peace,
LuLu