AJS Lesson 13

The week's lesson for my online class is slide mounts. The slide mounts were created with much of what I had on hand from sand and glitter glue to texture paint and embellishments. For once I like all of them. Three were sent out as part of a swap.

Artists of the Round Table Lessons

6 in x 6 in Canson 90 lbs Sketchbook paper, Speedball Speedy-Cut, Colorbox inks
For the class I am taking, this week's lesson was to carve a stamp for our journals. Never done this before, but I had a lot of fun. The first stamp I carved was the crown and the last , the hand. I think I got it by the time I carved the last one. There is still another four stamps left in the block to carved.

AJS Lesson 9

I haven't posted a lesson from my Artist Journal and Sketchbook class in a while. I liked how this page came out. The lesson was to use a journal prompt card we made or received in the class swap. I scanned and copied the original I received from Deby. I loved the colors and the word.

AJS Lesson #5

I created these pieces in one long session today. Sometimes once I get going - and this was after I painted the cell phone for the EDM challenge. My normal color ranges is the pieces numbered 7-9 but I was trying to work out of my comfort zone.

All pieces on watercolor paper 1. Pastels (I didn't intend to make it look like Saturn) 2. Gesso over collage (newsprint, scrapbook paper, pages from a book) 3. Roller sponge with acrylic paint 4. Created patterns with glaze medium and acrylic paint over painted background - used finger and toothpicks to create squiggles 5. Monoprint from acrylic paint on palette paper mixed with a brayer - dry bush over print 6. Stencil layers made from stencils created from punches.

7. Crayon rubbing of wall heater and of light switch plate 8. Rubber stamps inked over acrylic paint 9. Sprayed and splattered ink over acrylic paint allowing it to drip 10. Pale paint wash 11. Water based oil pastels to build intense color 12. Tissue layers over paint and gesso (unfortunately the gold layer does not show its intensity in the scan.



13. Bonus piece created with coffee grounds poured wet directly on the paper. A wee bit messy process but I like the results.

EDM Challenge #162 and AJS Lesson 4

Here is EDM challenge # 162 - Draw your breakfast.

Okay, it was my mom's breakfast, so technically not mine. The paper in my little sketchbook does not even the tiniest bit of water so the page warped.

This was yesterday's coffee break (DH's iced coffee not mine).

DH came in to the house asking for a sketchpad as he had an idea for a sketch.

Last, but not least, this week's AJS lesson:

EDM #246 and Other Sketches

I take my mom out everyday for a little fresh air. I have had my sketchbook and knitting with me. I get a little lost trying to find subjects. On Tuesday, I sketched fingerless gloves I made for my mom since she brought them with her. I think it qualifies for the EDM #246 drawing.





I did create art everyday this past week(pats own back). I previously blogged about the AJS lesson #3. I made another piece based on that lesson but I am waiting for the muse to strike for the final inspiration.

I am not overly happy with these sketches. Atfer all these years, I still have problems with value and I focus too much on detail. I want perfection.


Mailbox, graphite pencil

Trees, Pilot G-1 1.0m

Fountain, graphite pencils.

AJS Lesson #3

For Lesson #3 of the Artist Journals and Sketchbooks, the lesson was to mimic one of the pages in the book.

I took a class several years ago called Cartooning and Caricature. A lot of the assignments were to copy cartoons. The best way to learn techniques is to study them and to actually copy them.

The following piece is based on the original from Lynne Perrella's page from her book Artist Journals and Sketchbooks (look closely for the second face).

(Based on original by Lynne Perrella)

There was only a short paragraph on the technique, so I just jumped in with my own ideas. Here is how I did the page:

1. Strathmore 400 series drawing paper (which amazingly held thru the 13(!) layers.

2. Completed covered page with turquoise acrylic paint (I used Liquitix Heavy Body throughout).

3. Mixed yellow and yellow cadmium paint with glazing medium and applied almost all over the turquoise. Splattered water over this glaze and let set for two minutes. Used a paper towel over the glaze to remove glaze leaving water patterns.

4. Blended yellow, gold, brown and titanium natural paint stamped patterns with bubble wrap, shelf liner paper, foam stamps, bottle caps and a stencil of squares.

5. Repeated #3 using raw sienna and primary red paint.

6. Gessoed page, thinned with water, leaving about a inch border.

7. Used gel medium to adhere newsprint and handmade tissue paper.

8. Painted a blend of yellow hues painted over the newsprint and tissue paper.

9. Repeated step #3 with red hued paints.

10. Repeated step #4 using browns, natural buff and yellow paint. Used foam stamps of numbers and diamonds.

11. Used gel medium to adhere and coat a stamped image (I just happened to have the stamp of the image Lynne used), scrapbook paper, a thesaurus entry for the word "clown", red and white handmade tissue paper.

12. Used purple, magenta and brown paint to stamp diamonds and circles and stenciled squares. Used a carmel apple stick dipped in paint for the small dots.

13. Mixed titanium buff, turquoise and silver paint with a liberal amount of water, pained numbers over surface.

14. Took a white gel pen (recently discover this pen - Inkssentials Opaque White - its stays on over layers of paint) to highlight the letters, face, collar and hat.

I am working on a more original version of this technique and will post when done.

AJS Lesson #2

The current lesson for the Artist Journals and Sketchbooks is to use a photocopies to create and invent methods to use on your journals.

I used a photo of my mom from a trip she took from her hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to Los Angeles in the mid 1950s. The photo was taken on Olvera Street in L.A. Mom remembers the blouse being pale yellow and the skirt black velvet.

Basic photocopy on scrapbook paper of a beach scene. Purple pigment ink on the borders with the word "California" cut from another scrapbook paper.

Body created from photocopy stencil and over painted, Pitt pen writing, stickers, corner fabric embellishment, painted and ink dye background, leather and grommet luggage embellishment, clear round sticker.

Three sheets of scrapbook paper torn and over painted with liquid acrylics using bubble wrap, shelf lining paper and bottle cap as stamps. Photo cut using the photocopy as a template. Arms cut from leftover photocopy used on another piece.

Photocopy used as a mask for pigment and dye inks brushed over scrapbook paper, bird cut from another piece of scrapbook paper, ribbon, miniature playing card.

Photocopy colored with water soluble oil pastel on scrapbook paper, name and diamonds stamped in dye ink. Sticker sanded and brushed with pigments inks.

Photocopy doubled on scrapbook paper with words cut from another piece of scrapbook paper, raised sticker white dots with red pigment and pink dye ink on edges.

Full photocopy of the original picture colored with colored pencils on scrapbook paper.

Photocopy covered with loose glitter and glitter glues on a painted acrylic background with a piece cut from another scrapbook paper.

The backs of all pieces were from heavy cardstock scrapbook paper gessoed for strength on the back of the paper prior to decorating.

Journal Making

I have been participating in a online workshop Artist Journals and Sketchbooks. I completed the first assignment almost two weeks ago and was so inspired I made another journal:

All pages are made from Diet Pepsi boxes, gessoed, painted and altered, then sewn.





We had about 6.5 inches of rain in 24 hours on Tuesday. The worst October storm since 1962. I was getting a little bit of cabin fever from being indoors so DH challenged me to do practice my line drawing. Two minutes later:

DH was practicing his TV viewing.

AJS Journal

I joined a workshop - Artist Journal and Sketchbooks in the Yahoo Group Artists of the Round Table. The workshop's first lesson was to create a journal. One of the suggested book covers was a composition book. I had never thought to cut out the pages before. I had recently gessoed a composition book cover, I cut out the pages (so easy), used some scrapbook papers to cover it along with some tape to cover the original black binding and hold the sewn pages in.

Front (excuse the wax paper on the surface of my worktable)

Front and Back

I found an old Strathmore drawing pad with three sheets in it which I took out and folded in half. One sheet from old pad of tracing paper (which had yellowed edges that was perfect), a thin paper bag and a piece of scrapbook paper complete the inside. I used DMC linen embroidery thread to sew the pages to the spine and painted the inside covers with heavy body acrylics.

I may paint and over-stamp the inside and outside covers later after the workshop is done.

About six or seven years ago I was altering composition book covers, but I always left the papers they came with inside. I never really liked the paper.

Below is one I made for my DH after a trip to Eugene, Oregon. DH is a MS Flight Sim freak, hence the airport/plane theme. I punched a hole in each page to fit the compass and then positioned the sticker with a real photo of the sky so where ever you are in the book you can see them.

Cover of the above.

The two composition books below were also made for DH. Only the one with the old truck is upside down on back cover not where is should be on the front cover. I was also using crackle medium which is not very visible in the photo. The plane picture is a photo transfer.

This last one is a small version composition book covered in a copy of a stamp collage I made. I made a larger version for a co-worker who just loved it. It has a little steampunk vibe I never noticed before.