06.09.09
Soul Journal – Day 21 – “Misfit”
I’ve worked on this page off and on in small flurries over the past couple of months. It’s not that involved, just spent time on other things.
Today’s assignment was to scribble and then play with it like seeing pictures in clouds and see what emerged from the scribble for you. I saw, at first, a Kermit-the-Frog type head, and then it looked like a woman waving a baton, who was wearing some type of a Maid Marian type of headress. She looked “scolding.”
This made it obvious to me that I had a very unhappy, naggy, music teacher on my hands. I painted her in. I’m not sure why I chose the colors I did. I guess green for the face partly because it looked like Kermit but I think also maybe as a little “envy” or just “monster”. Purple just seemed to go with the green. Red eyes because she has power and seems evil to her victims. Then I pasted a page of music on the opposite page, and whited out the lyrics with some gesso.
Day 21 was about creating a “misfit” character, or to think about a time where we felt like a misfit, when others just didn’t “get” us or our art. My upset music teacher didn’t quite fit that category – but her poor victim could.
I started working on the left hand page by using an Aquarelle watercolor crayon and rubbing it across the music paper and the gessoed background. I used brown and ochre. I wet a sponge and ran it across the page and it really spread around nicely – and I actually realized a little goes a long way with those water color crayons. I don’t need much. I liked the texture when used dry, so I went over it again later, after it had dried.
Over the few days prior to this, I had been thinking some about spirals – and I truly cannot draw anything at all if I’m trying for “realism” – but I decided I could draw a tuba using a spiral. I think it turned out pretty well, and it looks to me like a pretty hip ‘n’ happenin’ and happy tuba.
When thinking of this in context of being paired with the Mean Music Teacher, the phrase, “Tubas Should be Seen and Not Heard” came to me, and I decided that would be my key line on this page. That now made my tuba my “misfit character.”
Then I added all sorts of things that the tuba would be subject to, like “Go play a flute” and “You can’t carry a melody” and so on.
This was a really interesting page to me, because what all the taunts and criticisms amounted to was an attack on the Tuba’s essential nature and purpose. Of course a tuba is big. Of course a tuba is loud. And maybe even of course a tuba won’t be playing a melody. They weren’t made to play a melody. And this particular tuba is pink - maybe a little unusual for tubas, but it is this particular tuba’s essential identity. I think there may even be some subtle feminism going on here, too. A “woman in a man’s world” as it were. I *really* like this page, and the more I think about it, the more I get out of it. I mean, really – how ridiculous is it to tell a Tuba, of all things – that it should be seen and not heard? Any self-respecting tuba would say, “Oh yeah? OOOMPAHHHHHH!!!! to you!”
It took me forever to decide what finishing touches to put on the teacher. I knew I wanted to add some sort of commentary about her not being able to recognize talent, or squelching little kid’s dreams, but I never could quite figure out exactly what to have her say. So finally, I just “did it”.
“Mrs. McGillicudy was blind to talent in unexpected places (it scared her).”
I really like the way this all turned out, and I think it was a fabulous assignment. It really brought up a lot of “issues” I have about creativity, talent, and some of those old voices of criticism that I still sometimes hear or that evil bane of creative types – “practicality”.
(No, I never did have an evil music teacher and I never did play the tuba. But I like having this little happy pink Tuba as my alter ego!)
© amateur-in-art, 2009
06.03.09
Guided Tour of Art Map
I was in such a hurry to meet the True North Arts deadline for posting my Art Map that I rushed my previous post. I also hadn’t quite finished up my map. Here’s what it looks like now, pretty much done at this point.
I don’t think I’ll talk a lot about technique in this post (mostly because there is not that much to it) but I will say here that my base is a paper bag that I wadded up and smoothed out several times. My original idea was sort of to have it be a “treasure map” – with the heart (Art) at the top being the “treasure.” In the end it wasn’t really a treasure map, but it definitely is a map of my art journey through the past year. I’m thinking about pasting it down onto a canvas board, creating some sort of trim around the edges of the board, and putting a small placard on the top that announces the title of the piece: “A Year in Art”.
My art journey began almost exactly a year ago. On my map, it starts in the lower left corner.
You cannot read it here, it is too pale, but the small purple square at the lower left is a tiny “book” and the cover reads: “Altered Book Workshop.” That’s where my art journey began. I had not seen or heard of anything like this before, but being both a reader and a writer, it sounded like it would be very interesting and creative. Wow! Did that start me off on a journey! I think I went out and spent $100 (that I did not have) on various art supplies right away. I started searching out different places on the Internet, checked out books from my library about altered art and college, and literally, for a while, I think, went nearly insane in my enthusiasm. In fact, I started this blog not too long after that, too, and my original intent was to call it “Artistic Enthusiasm” because that was what I felt, and if I gave it that kind of a name, at least I didn’t have to worry if I was long on enthusiasm and short on talent. (The name was already taken, even though it appeared to be an abandoned blog, but so here I am as “Amateur in Art’.)
Back to the map. I’ve already commented upon Collage Diva and 1000 Squares in my previous post, so won’t reiterate here. Let’s move on to the “southeast,” which covers the next major portion of my art journey.
Caspiana (Sarah Whitmire) has been a mainstay in my art journey, and I started her Soul Journal project in the fall of 2008. She posted her Soul Journal prompts in July and August, but I couldn’t do them then. I have taken my time and am almost all the way through them all at this point, but it often takes me several weeks to do a single prompt due to my schedule and other (off-line) creative commitments. In any case, Caspiana is a big country on my map. I made it from a photocopy of one of my Soul Journal pages, and I added my little sketch of one of her little white dogs – sort of my own logo that I have made to represent her and her work at Caspiana. I also decided to add (you only see the top part of it in this image, but you can see it better in the full map image at the beginning of this post) a booklet attached with a brad that says “Caspiana Soul Journal” on the front of it. On both this and the Altered Books booklet, I thought about decorating the interior of the books, but I have not done so yet. I may come back to it – but then again, I kind of like the idea of leaving them blank – a “blank canvas” as it were.
I talked about the Watercolor River and the Village of Kindred Spirits on my previous post. One of my favorite parts on my map is the Ocean of Possibilities. I like the color of it and the way it turned out. The wrinkles on the paper bag also give it a very nice “wavy” effect. The large stamp in the middle is from Tim Holtz and reads “Live the Life You’ve Imagined.” Oh – and I just put on the finishing touch of the sailing ship earlier tonight, and realized I forgot to write “Set Sail for Adventure”. There is also a small “safe harbour” (I’m not British but I decided to spell it that way) in Caspiana, as well.
Onward! Let’s begin to head north, now.
Now it is less about specific places (like Diva and Caspiana) but more about what art gives me and how it helps me. There is a brick wall that is being burst through (a.k.a. “Creative Breakthrough”) and then up to the left we have “Inspiration Point” (a promontory and an old fashioned pointing finger) along with a “Leap of Faith” occuring at the same place. A few weeks ago, I had read something about creativity being an “act of faith” – because we simply have to trust that something will come from our first brush stroke, written word, note, or what ever action you take in your chosen field of creativity. Then, after these things, you at last get to the Land of Big Ideas – where the light(bulb) is always on, and it is a land of many mountains – big, strong, and with incredible vistas that give you great vision. You literally can “see forever.” Then finally a few tidbits – the quote “Not All Who Wander Are Lost” and the centerpiece and the real focus for the entire map: “Follow Your Art” (in the shape of a heart).
Now, let’s continue our journey to the northeast.
Starting at the bottom, after the journey across the Watercolor River and through Caspiana, and the Village of Kindred Spirits, we get to the Ink Well (literally) which is overflowing with ideas. Then we get a Flight of Fancy (love that flying flock of birds stamp – I’m using it again. It’s from Tim Holtz, too). And a journey to or through Creative Freedom. The first thing I think of when I hear the word “freedom” is an American flag so often it pops up in otherwise unexpected places for that reason. I had to stick “Wisconsin” in there – because after all, True North was leading this exercise – but also I consider Wisconsin to be my “heart’s home” – I love that state and its beauty. It makes me happy just thinking about it. And then of course we get to the compass and True North. I really like the look I got on the square that the compass is on. It is just a square of pastel-patterned paper, but I took some liquid alcohol ink and daubed it on a cotton swab and dabbled it around to give the paper more color. I like the way it turned out. Oh! And I have to comment on the tag at the top – the “Don’t Stop Now” came from a bookmark I picked up on a recent trip – I found that and immediately knew I was going to have to use it in my art somewhere, and when I started work on my map, I knew it would be the perfect place! Right at the “end” of the map, where normally you would “stop.” It also works well, I think, because at the beginning of my map I have a “Start” tag. Off to the far right side, I have written “Off the Map”, “To Unknown Lands” and “Unexplored Territory.”
I absolutely loved this Art Map adventure, and thanks go to Collage Diva at True North Arts for providing us this prompt and her guidance!
© All images and words copyright 2009 by amateur-in-art. All rights reserved.
05.22.09
Art Map
I am squeaking in just barely under deadline, so keeping the verbiage to a minimum tonight.
Here’s the map I made as part of Collage Diva’s (a.k.a. True North Arts) map event. I have not had a chance to check out what other people have done, and I’m not sure I’m even completely finished with what I’ve got, myself, but it is pretty much done, so I wanted to post it now.
And here are a few details.
Kudos to the Collage Diva – and inspiration from inchies at 1000 Squares!
A visual shout out to some of the kindred spirits I’ve found along the journey. (This isn’t everyone on my map, just the ones that are in the “village” here.)
Sorry a little out of focus - will try to fix later.
The residents of the Village are: Thrifty Collage Artist, Vintage Moth, Pattern of Life, and Me Scrap!
The extra shiny part right above the word “Explore” is my “Watercolor River.” I laid down thin stripes of paint, then coated it with gel medium to make it look liquid-like.
And finally – every map needs a compass to point to True North, right?
Thanks for this great idea, Diva! I’m only sorry I didn’t have more time to work on it, but I’ll keep going on it, and maybe post more or edit this page soon.
© 2009, amateur-in-art
04.19.09
Soul Journal – Day 20 – Bookmark
Also as part of Day 20, we are to make a bookmark. In the original Soul Journal, the bookmark was part of a swap, but that was many months ago, and I’m not sure I’d want to give away mine anyway (it has its flaws, but it’s mine).
Actually, I ended up with two bookmarks. The first one I started by doing a photocopy transfer using acetone (fingernail polish remover). I had already torn up my photocopies of Day 6 and so I did the photocopy transfer using strips from that page.
It is a really simple technique. Just lay the photocopy face-down on the page, dab the back of it with acetone, burnish – and there’s your transfer! You can see the area where I transferred the orange/yellow panel with a pattern just above it in this picture. Here’s a picture of the final version, below.
I didn’t like the “stripe” that showed up in the middle of my tag. It is some sort of aberration in the paper or something, I think. Maybe it has to do with how they were manufactured. Overall I like this tag, but clearly it needs more work and is just a beginning. I wasn’t sure what to do or where to go to next with it, so I just tossed it aside and started afresh.
This time, I took torn bits from Day 18 and covered a tag. I used the stamp that is my avatar (the half-face of a woman) but because the surface was uneven, it did not stamp well.
Undaunted, I pressed on. I had just seen some fabulous new stamps from Tim Holtz at the store, and knew I wanted to use the flying bird image and the “Soul/Journey” phrase on my new bookmark!
I decided to give embossing a shot. I had gotten a heat tool and some embossing powder a little while back and had not tried it yet. This was all new to me, but since I had already made one mistake I wasn’t happy with, I figured I had nothing left to lose. So I did that, and although the image turned out much stronger with the embossing (an important lesson) – it still did not stamp correctly, due to the uneven surface of the different bits and pieces of paper glued down together. I was really disappointed that the “The Journey Awakens the Soul” phrase did not come out well.
But onward I must go. I wasn’t sure what to do about the really messed-up stamp in the lower right, but decided to use a piece from a collage sheet, add some ink to distress it, and use it to cover up the bad spot.
Distressed next to original
Positioned and outlined with dyed string from tag
Now, to work on the back. I still used torn up bits of paper from Day 18. Then some letter-stickers spelling out “Soul Journal” and a tag-type sticker, cut in half then reattached so it would not be so big, where I wrote in the years. Then I outlined them both with a thin-line marker.
Then I added a pink ribbon at the top, with two jewelry charms from (love the name) Heart & Soul. One is a key and the other says “Trust in Your Dreams”.
Here you can see the details on the charms and you can see the other side of one of them says, “Be Free.” A few other things to point out in this detailed view. Before adding the ribbon, I also dabbed on some pigment ink around the reinforcement around the hole, on both sides of the bookmark. I took my heat tool to dry it – but I think the heat may have made the color shift just below the hole in this picture – where the two red lines are, see how it goes to black in the middle of the green, just underneath the hole? Finally, one other detail. As a finishing touch to the whole piece, I used some yellow watercolor and edged the whole bookmark, on both sides. It really gave it a nice look, overall. (You can compare the difference by looking at the back of the bookmark, and the picture preceding it which is the front, without the yellow trim.)
I definitely like this bookmark much better than my first attempt, and although I wish the “Journey Awakens the Soul” part would have turned out better, I still really like it, overall.
© amateur-in-art, 2009
04.05.09
Soul Journal – Day 20
At last! It’s been a long while since I posted about my Soul Journal. I’m still doing it, just moving very slowly. This is actually good news, though – it means other areas of my life are also picking up, creatively, and so I’ve been working on a lot of other endeavors, off-line.
Enough with the intro. Today’s assignment was to use our photocopies of previous SJ pages that we made on Day 19 in our artwork today. I was stumped for a long time on this one – I just didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t even sure what to do with the background, to even get started.
I had bought some spongy foamy letters with the idea of using them as stamps, so I decided to try that.
I didn’t really like how this turned out – silly me, again stamping or trying to bridge the gap on the center of the book. And wasn’t sure I liked the color on either of my pages, but shrugged it off and kept moving.
I had kept the latex glove I wore when I traced my hand on Day 17, with the idea of using it at some point in some future art project. I wasn’t even sure if I’d use it in my Soul Journal or not. But I did like the look of it, and I decided this would be the place and time to use it. I put it on the right hand page (resulting in an unintentional pun), I think because of the weird way-out color I used. I thought the glove would “go nicely” with that page color.
Once I did this, I really started being able to move ahead on this page – at least the right side. I slipped some paper inside of the glove to give it a little color and subtle interest, using polka-dotted paper down in the fingers, and paper from photocopies of Day 17 inside the wrist part (which aren’t that visible here). I used a small circle punch and also tore up some bits of photocopies from Day 18, and used these as like “rings” and “fingernails” on the hand. I added a photocopy of the button-”ribbon” from Day 18 as sort of a sleeve cuff or bracelet, and put a heart from Day 17 on the middle of the hand. I like it!
I still really wasn’t sure at all what to do with the left page. I tried a few things – using a paint spreader with “teeth” (which turns out, looks just like “fork painting”) using a small stencil with hot pink paint (I still don’t know how to stencil well), and spread a little here and there, too – it reminded me of blusher!
I still really didn’t like this. I took some “Pewter Gray” paint and spread on top – it came out too strong so I wiped off. I didn’t like this too much, but I did really like the overall effect that this gray had on things. It toned it down a lot, and softened the colors very much. I will have to remember to use this color in soft wipe for future when I want to tone down the overall color of a page or even just make it look old and distressed.
Meanwhile, I had remained pretty stumped on what else to do with my photocopies. Finally, I decided just to weave them together. I used some from Day 18 and also from Day 17. Day 17 is what I ultimately ended up using.
Starting to weave
Finished weaving - copies from Day 17
I laid this down on my page to see what it would look like – and really didn’t like it. Ick!
Finally, I just decided to scrap the whole thing (the left page, that is). I realized that although I had a lot of different colored paints, I didn’t have just your basic black. So, when I went to the store to get that, I also saw the great strong green color, like the ink I had used on Day 18. I thought this green would be fabulous on a black background, so I decided to just go with solid black with some “skips” of the green. I used a craft stick to put on the green.
(Bad news though. Some of the black got on to my Day 18 page, around the corners. I guess I got some on my wax paper that I had underneath the page – and didn’t realize that it had seeped under to where it would get onto the previous page! Argh!)
I had done more weaving, and decided the piece I had (shown above) was too large for the page. I had another piece, that was more rectangular, and decided to use that. I also felt using a small piece of purple paper sort of as a mountboard and frame would help unify it as well as set it apart. Yeah! I like this much better! It is so much stronger!
While at the store, I had also come across some of Tim Holtz’s Grungeboard. I got the “elements” pack because I really liked the swirls and flourishes, as well as some of the other items included. I didn’t realize when I got it, though, that it was not chipboard. Instead, it is more like leather or soft suede. I like it, I just didn’t think it would be as flexible and pliable as it is. I found that even the intricate details were well cut, making punching out easy. I thought I’d use this large flourish across the page.
I decided this was too big, though, and that some of the smaller flourishes would be better. My intent was to use the remainder of the grungeboard as a stencil, after I punched out the items, and I wanted to try it on this page. Like all of my stencil work, I had only limited success, but that is not the fault of the product but rather, of me, because I still have difficulty keeping the stencil smooth to the surface and getting a clean impression. I had to do some touching up on the image.
But I like the result in the end, and I like the way both of these pages turned out!
© amateur-in-art, 2009
