{be creative everyday: 2013} MARCH 8

{be creative everyday} MARCH 8 :: gelli print collage, a photo by Vickie @ In My Head Studios on Flickr.

Gelli Print Collage - work in progress

paper collage of acrylic monoprints, gel pen, ink, handmade stamps
5.5" x 4.25"
© 2013 Victoria Porter

This isn't quite the finished version. I added a little more detail to it after I took this photo with my phone. 

All of these pieces of paper were printed on my gelli plate. Some were already printed with text, like the Japanese newspaper I picked up on a visit to Austin, Texas, and some dictionary pages. Using my hand-carved stamps and black archival ink, I stamped some designs on some of the pieces.  

I'm deciding whether or not to send it through my sewing machine for some random stitching. It feels disparate to me and needs some cohesion. 

What do you think? Stitching or not?

Happy Monday!

- Vickie

What's On My Work Table: Wednesday

Hey kids, what time is it?! It's time for "What's On My Workdesk Wednesday"! AKA "What's On My Art Table Wednesday"! It's so fabulous it has two names!

Workdesk. Art table. Tomato. Tomahto. 

Actually the posts I started doing (and apparently stopped) were called "What's On My Art Table Wednesday?". Today it's changed because I want to participate in "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday" (WOYWW) over at the Stamping Ground blog.

I took this photograph yesterday when what was in front of me while art-ing struck me as such a beautiful colorful mess. And I love those kinds of messes! 

The colored bits of paper are all painted by me for use in my mixed media collage. This photo shows quite a lot of the various media I like to use. I use paint, markers, paper, inks, stamps that I make myself, fiber, ribbons, watercolors, stencils - both homemade and purchased, gel mediums, and paper punches to name a few. 

The piece I am currently working on is that tiny oblong rectangle of green next to my yellow striped scissors. That is the size of my original collages for my line of domino pendants. Tiny. 

This photo was taken with my iPhone 4S, with which am I madly in love. The resolution is much better than previous models. Mixed with fun photography and editing apps it's a handy artists' workhorse. This was photographed with Camera+ and then edited in Instagram. You can find me on Instagram by the name of HeyVickie. 

Thanks for dropping by to my studio "virtually". I'd have you over personally but this place is a mess! 

- Vickie


I'm not being paid by anybody for any of this. Just sayin'.  

"What's On My Art Table?" Wednesday

This page began as part of a workshop assignment to paint circles and then doodle over them. I am still working through Traci Bautista’s workshop called {31} daily inspirations. Yeah, that class I signed up for in early 2011. I’m really just now getting around to it.

I started with a white piece of 8.5” x 11” cardstock. Several thick layers of gesso were added to bring in a little texture to the paper and to seal it.

I acquired a new tube of paint I wanted to try called quinacridone magenta (Golden heavy body acrylic). When I opened the tube and saw how lovely it was I knew the perfect color combo would be phthalo blue, a hint of desert turquoise craft paint, and a little white.

The plan was to paint some loose circles and keep it simple. I was making a simple page to cut up to use for other collage work.

Uh. Yeah. Got a little off track there.

I saw the bigger circles had smaller circles in them. So I started working them individually thinking, “Ok, I’ll just cut this up in sections now for use on domino pendants and other smaller collages.” No problem. I have done that before.

So I began to think of the page as sections I was going to disassemble. They were not related to each other on the page. Just conserving paper by doing this prep work on one sheet.

But then it started to kind of take on a cohesive look. And got more detailed. And then my mom stopped by and she gasped loudly when I said I was chopping it up for other uses. Now I don’t know what to do with it.

I think it might be about six paintings living in one as I explored many techniques and media here… maybe too many. I suppose if any deconstruction occurs it will be mentally breaking down the parts for other new works.

Also I recently discovered on my own that I could continue my long, torrid love affair with oil pastels! They can be sealed over with matte medium without destroying them and then they do not smear. Joy of joys! You can even write over them with a gel pen! Unheard of! There really isn’t anything like a nice, bright, crayon-looking oil pastel mark on a page for some interest. I had hung my oil pastels up to (never) dry since the mess was always a problem when doing so much mixed media work. Now it’s solved and we are back in love! <3

This is a close up of a flower created with gel pens and circles punched from an old dictionary page. I really like the lettering in the background on the left. That was done with a Copic marker and a stencil. The colors compliment wonderfully.

This is a mix of a little bit of everything: paint, colored pencil, gel pen, book page, and pigment ink.

Circles stamped with found objects. The 1/4" hole punch dots fit in the circles perfectly! There's a little gel pen, too.

More book page and gel pen. The flower petals and the very small dashed lines are stamped with stamps I made. The tiny dots were done with a stencil I made with my 1/8" hole punch.

I aged these book pages more than the others with Distress Inks. I like how they are layered. The depth in the background was created with two colors of Copic markers. You can see oil pastel on the edges of this photo. Welcome back, oil pastel!

More tiny text dots. More found object stamp circles. This found object stamp came from a disassembled adhesive tape runner. (Nothing is safe from being taken apart and inked or painted in my house!)

Do you see what I mean that each of these close-ups could be their own painting? I must explore this further.

The details: acrylic paint (Golden heavy body and the craft kind), matte medium, oil pastel, vintage book pages, gel pen, Copic marker, Sharpie, colored pencil, pigment ink, stencils. On paper. 8.5” x 11”

So now I am back to the painting board to make some simpler pages for chopping up!

Happy Middle Of The Week!

- Vickie

Graffiti Art Painting

I have not really made anything in weeks. So I was getting a hard core art jones going. Inspired by the class I’m taking from Traci Bautista I sat down in a few spare minutes yesterday to make this.

It is created on 8 1/2" by 11" ivory cardstock with gel medium, acrylic paint, and Sharpie paint pens. The yellow decoration down the left side is paper tape.

I will be sending this along with some paper goodies for a swap. I suppose it could be used like a collage sheet and torn up and used in other artwork. Or it could be framed as is.

It was really fun to make and I thing I’ll do some more work in this style. I seem to be getting caught up in a lot of planning and that's starting to stifle me a bit. This page was just a big, fun doodle. I need to let go more and trust the process!

Listen To Your Heart: Art Journal Page

This page started as a spot to lay down some leftover paint from another project. I glued down some random paper scraps with gel medium. Some stencils made nice shapes to draw with watercolor crayons. The crayons create a nice opaque color, even doing light drawing over a dark background. Very cool. Then I added the tag in the middle.

I wanted to lay down as much color on this page as I could. It’s a little busy but I think that’s my anxiety coming through from the other day. I really love using up my little paper scraps this way. I don’t like to see paper go to waste.

The watercolor crayons look so good to me that I think I’ll run out today and buy more colors at the art store, which, incidentally, is called "The Art Store". Need to pick up some more gel medium and either heavy body or fluid acrylic paint by Golden, too. They make the best paint. Right now I’m using the cheap craft paint, which is not very heavily pigmented and are a little dry. Oh, my art shopping list keeps getting longer. I want some different colored inks, too, for doing lettering with a brush. Maybe Erik will have to come with me to rein in my spending!

New Year, New Work: "Cohesion"

I enjoy the challenge of melding dissimilar shapes, colors, and patterns to make a single cohesive piece. I think because my personality feels a bit fragmented at times I’m drawn to designs that have many components and complex movement. Plus I’m kind of rotten at making decisions so I throw many mediums and elements into all my artwork because I cannot decide what to leave out.

This collage reminds me of glimpses of visions in dreams. Parts you cannot quite grasp before they are gone. Then you move on to the next possibly disjointed vision and so on until you are left with a mosaic of images and a sense of struggling to assemble them to uncover the meaning in it.

All of the individual rectangles were made separately and then brought back together. I wanted to stay with earthy tones, but some hot pink snuck in, and I think it worked out fine. Created in the proportion of a wood domino - only larger (measures 6” x 2 7/8”), I plan to scan it, shrink it down to domino size, print it, and use it to decorate the domino pendants. This way I can work in a larger format to make art for the dominoes.

Consequently, I then have an original piece of art to sell, too, and possibly sell prints, note cards, and calendars with the collage on them. I have not yet ventured into the world of selling original art online so there are some things I still need to work out before you see this one in my Etsy shop.

I am enjoying getting back to my collage roots and working in a bigger scale than the dominoes and the one-inch square glass slide pendants. This work may be sectioned into twenty-one pieces, but it’s making me feel more put back together than I have felt in a long time.

A larger version of the image

©2009 In My Head Studios

My HTML Color Code

I took a quiz I saw on Twitter and it is weirdly accurate about me.

you are aqua #00FFFF

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well. Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right. Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

I do like greens and blues and have been painting a lot with this color turquoise. I am not afraid to lead people, which is why I took on leading the Etsy Twitter Team. It's true that my hard work keeps me going through the tough times. I try to be optimistic and bright even when I am not feeling well.

Go take the quiz and leave your results in the comments! I want to get to know you!

Beginning An Art Journal Page

I have not been working in my art journal like I had hoped to be working on it. Life gets busy. Running the Etsy Twitter Team gets busy. But I found myself with some spare time last week to work on a page.

I started out with a rough idea of what I wanted. Lately all my work is created this way – not knowing where I’m really going. Ha! So I began working with torn book pages and Golden regular (matte) gel medium. This technique creates gorgeous texture. All you have to do is tear up some pages with text and slap them down onto your paper.

This is what it looks like with a little bit of gesso painted over it.

Then I grabbed my favorite green and brown paints – Eucalyptus craft paint and Raw Umber Golden fluid acrylic paint. Watering it down a little makes a really nice glaze effect. This is what it looks like painted.

Here’s a close up of the great texture the gel medium and paper creates.

Soon I’ll show you what else I painted onto this background. It’s better than I thought it was going to be because I really don’t know how to paint and I just make it up as I go along. My art journal is turning into my own self-taught painting class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don’t forget that today is the last day for the Etsy Twitter Team Sidewalk Sale!! Get some great deals on handmade – free shipping to 30% off some shops!! It’s definitely worth a look! My sale is 15% off all items (not including shipping and sales tax). Use code "Etsy Twitter Team Sidewalk Sale" in the comments at checkout!

I'm In A Treasury

One of my Etsy Twitter Team members made this treasury to promote our team! I'm honored to be included in such great company! Thanks!

Click on the image below to visit the Treasury. When you're there please leave a comment! Also it helps us move up the "hot" rating if you click on each item. Happy browsing!

Created by Caelum.etsy.com
expires May 21st

Original post at: Etsy Twitter Team: Team Treasuries

Art Journal: Qualities

I finally finished these pages with the writing. I’ll just let it speak for itself.

click image to see it bigger over at flickr!