American Flag

ART JOURNAL

MIXED MEDIA - 6pages 

Last weekend I glued the American flag onto the page.  It was a photo of a journal page I had done before, but this time I printed that photo on deli paper. Making a print on deli paper from your copier is a cool technique.  Opposite this page is another American flag, albeit not in good condition.  I actually tore this page from another journal (from 2013) where I was trying an image transfer.  The flag looks like it's had a rough time but sustained.  The blue paint chip is called "Bravura".  And I also have glass gel beads around the perimeter.  

When you flip this page over...

The page on the left has 3 heart shapes on the left side that are cut from pages in a Pottery Barn summer catalog...red, white & blue.  The picture on the right is from that same journal and is a painting of a little summer beach cottage which I call Haven.  The door knocker is a peace symbol. The American flag flies over the doorway. 

 Then when you flip that page over...

you get a 3-way spread.  I know it's hard to see...here is the right side page...

The fish page has a paint chip that is called "Still Life." (A little humor here). I used my sewing machine to stitch the fish page to the chair page.

This page...I just made a messy background which I actually like, and glued the photo of a chair with the....red, white and blue...a closeup..

Journaling is about capturing things on a page that you like.  

SAVING PAPER(s)

ART JOURNAL

I was sitting on the floor in my art room this afternoon, trying to figure out how to organize at least some of the bits and pieces of papers I have saved that are intended for either art inspirations to paint or draw or for use in mixed media projects. I have come to the conclusion that I'm just going to start glueing them in a book where I can easily view them.  Perhaps it's a face I want to try and paint or a landscape or flowers. 

The page above is a picture of the musician/artist (musicians are artists!), Hozier.  The photo spoke to me. The composition...the way he's standing, his hand on the guitar, the contrast of his light skin that pops against his dark clothing; the position of his head. I could go on. I decided the photo wasn't doing me any good in a folder as I'd probably forget that I had it.  

I found this great paper to use as the background for his photo.  It's part of a store bag (can't recall the store). The paper adds the perfect dramatic background for this very cool photo.  When I cut the figure out, I left a part of the type all the way around him which makes the figure stand out.  What else am I going to do with this....I don't know....for now it just has a home in my journal and I like to look at it.  

How's Your Journey Going So Far?

Art Journal

File folder pages/Mixed Media

I bought this journal a year ago or so at our local mall.  It had brown paper pages inside that were glued so tightly at the binding, that they weren't really user friendly. I removed those pages.  But I didn't buy the journal for the inside...I loved the fabric cover.  I decided to use primarily manila file folders for the inside pages.  As you can see, it's a small journal.

I spray painted and used stencils when I first put colors on the pages.  This made it easy for me to pick up this journal and add embellishments/words, etc. when I had something to add.  Today I had something I wanted to put in this book.  

These pages are very basic in terms of the art.  What was important to me was having a place to capture the words on the paper I glued down.  It's from a little booklet I pick up at church called Day by Day.  Each day of the month has something written by a different person based on a quote from scripture.  Now I'm not going to get "preachy" on you here...I believe faith is very personal but here is what the writer says...and tell me it doesn't speak to you on some level:

We all experience endings.  The hard part for us is letting go of the old dead things.  It is hard to let go of dreams about where we thought we would be at certain points in our lives--jobs we might have had, risks we might have taken or shied away from, happy endings we might have imagined.  But we know that in order to embrace something new, something better, we have to let the endings be what they are and step into the new with joy and awe.

Below are a couple of more pages in this book so you can see how the ink/stencils look.  I have posted a photo of this before but I do love these two pages.  And I kind of think the quote on this one...works well with the one above.  It says:  Happy are they who take life day by day, complain very little, and are thankful for the little things in life. - Anonymous.

  Food for thought.