Art Journal: 9-24-08

(click to see bigger over at flickr!)

This page was created with real puzzle pieces. I put part of a puzzle together and painted the pieces. The background is torn paper covered with gel medium and gesso. It was then painted in red, yellow and teal. The words were written with a Sharpie thin marker. Twine attempts to hold my pieces together.

I wish I had done this on better paper than in my art journal.

Felted Artist Trading Cards

I got this idea from a magazine that I now cannot remember the name of or I would link to it here. This woman made the loveliest Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) from felt and wool roving. So I decided to try it out as some of my work has leaned me toward fiber arts and felting. The ATC biz is something I’ve been interested in as well.

Pink Flowers

This is the first one I made. Needle felted simple round flowers with French knot details and embroidery on a purple felt base. “Hey,” I’m thinking to myself. “This isn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be!” 

House

Needle felted onto black craft felt. Embroidered with glass beads. I added the little bird because the house looked lonely.

Bird’s Nest

I got a little wild with this one. The brown roving nest needle felted onto the cream was boring to my eye. My mother gave me some brown sparkly eyelash yarn from a project she had done. I wasn’t sure if it would stick, but I tried it anyway. I’m really pleased with the results. The green leaves and other beads just makes this one pop. It’s my favorite so far. 

All of these still need a backing sewed onto them with my information for an ATC swap I might try. I just cannot decide what fabric to sew onto them. Plus getting out my sewing machine is hard when my studio is such a mess.

Art Journal: 8-28-08 :: “Circles”

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This page started without any real direction or thought out plan for the finished page. In my stash I have this great polka-dotted blue tissue paper that I’ve been looking for something to do with.

I employed Golden Regular Gel Medium (matte) to secure the tissue to the page, and let that dry overnight as I decided on how I wanted to use the page.

Lately, some health problems have been plaguing me, and I feel like I’m getting nowhere quickly. I get a little better, and then it gets worse again. Up. Down. Up. down. Round and round. Can I get off the merry-go-round now, pretty please?

The circles were filled with images that struck me at the time. The clenched fist image represents me holding on for dear life, as well as a symbol of my strength. Some images were rubber-stamped and some were stenciled. The words “REVEAL”, “SHARE”, and “GAIN” reflect the purpose of this art journal. There is no exploration or learning unless I reveal myself to myself and share it in order to gain.

Creating this page reminded me that I am not truly just going in circles. It just feels that way sometimes when I am frustrated. In truth, I am much better than I was just six months ago, and I continue to do better everyday. My situation is possibly more akin to an upward spiral where I get close to where I started as I come around again but I’m not at the start.

So, I’m just on page two here and I’m already gaining some insight into my art imagery and myself. Thanks, art journal!

Art Journal: 8-27-08

(click to see bigger over at flickr!)

I honestly didn’t know where else to start but at the beginning. This page is kind of an introduction to my project. A welcoming, if you will, to the pages behind this one.

Pieces of torn old book pages were collaged with gel medium. Then I panted it with gesso and some brown and green paints. A fancy rubber stamp was impressed randomly about the page in dye-based green ink. The typewriter keys lettering was stamped and embossed onto vintage Sear’s catalog pages and cut out. I hand stitched around the border of some funky Basic Grey paper, and then glued on the letters. White pigment ink was used to stamp the same fancy stamp I used for the background along the edges of the lettering background.

The same book page collage technique was used to make a smaller journaling piece and was painted the same way. I edged it with dark brown and olive green pigment ink that I then heat set. Another strip of different Basic Grey paper was added down the side along with some very vintage lace my grandmother gave me.

I’m rather happy with the result of my first art journal page. This work produced some nice ideas for other work I want to get finished for my next craft show in November.

The Wedding Gift

OK, I’m going to bear a little shame publicly today. My best friend of over 20 years, Joolie, got married this year in March. I could not decide what to get her or what to make her. So I waited until my brain gave me an answer to take care of this. But it never did and months have passed. But do not worry for our friendship. We’re the types who get around to sending Christmas gifts in May with no hard feelings. It’s becoming comical at this point.

So I finally figured out what to send when I saw Patricia Hecker’s TattooDreams shop on Etsy. Her work fits my friends’ artistic aesthetics very well. The boxes seem so personal and yet so “made for anyone” at the same time. They talk to you and allow you to have your own dialogue with them. Plus Patricia’s eye for composition and layout is impeccable. I’ll let her pictures speak for themselves.

(images © Patricia Hecker)

More about Patricia: “I've made art since I was a child. I know I was born to be one! Making art has provided me with a career for the last 21 years, but it's more than that. It's what makes me complete. I travel the country with my husband of 23 years selling my work at juried fine art shows.

I've been selling on Etsy less than a year and am beginning to see repeat collectors buying my work. I find this exciting as the holidays approach. I've met wonderful people here on Etsy and really love having this marketplace to sell my TattooDreams body of work. The work I show here on Etsy is not what has funded my life, but a separate body of work that lets me play and explore. Both necessary ingredients to any artist.

I believe the imagery I use in my Tattoo Dream work to be translations from our dream state. The lasting visuals and fragments of thoughts and images are facets of our everyday life. These resonate into what we dream and they frolic in our subconscious. They are then born into the sharp contrast of black on wood.

To surround oneself with objects that are handmade is to surround oneself with the energy of the artist who made them.”

She also has a fine art line of work that she has done for the last 24 years, which can be found on her website: http://www.heckerdesign.com. You should also check out her blog.

Here is the card I made for Joolie and Eric.

(image and design © In My Head Studios)

If you are interested in a card, I can customize it with any color to match the wedding colors of your bride and groom! They’re just $5.00 plus shipping.

So since my gift was about six months late it also served as a six-month anniversary gift, too! Double bonus!

Thank you to Paticia Hecker for allowing me to reproduce her copyrighted material and to promote her shop.