Mixed Media Mayhem - the Fabric of My Life - Documented Life Project

Documented LIfe Project
May Theme  Touchy Feely (Texture)

May 2

Art Challenge:  Fabric

Journal Prompt:  The Fabric of Your Life

I have always love fabrics.  As a young girl I drooled over the bolts of materials from which I could fashion my wardrobe making skirts and blouses, suits, and prom gowns.  As I have traveled the world I have collected textiles and needlecrafts that I have framed, stacked, and draped throughout the house.  I could never cut these up, but in my stash I had a stack of fabrics donated to me by an Art Chic friend.  Glued to the page with matte medium, they became a perfect background.

To tell the story of the love of textiles woven through my life, I chose a drawing I made of an older woman, transferring it and adding color.

In my "use it up, wear it out" theme, I found some of my beloved postage stamps depicting American quilts which I adhered to tags.  Journaling makes the page complete.

Mixed Media Mayhem - Before the Ink is Dry - Documented Life Project

Documented Life

April Theme - Color Safari

Art Challenge - Inks 

Journal Prompt - Before the Ink is Dry

The challenge of inks immediately provokes the responses of Dylusions and the transfer of printer inks. Because I prepped the page before beginning, the spray of Dylusion inks reveals the texture of the dried gesso.  Yummy but messy.

For my theme I chose of picture of my daughter the night she received her Emmy.  I had manipulated the pic in many ways, finally printing it on a transparency.  I used Purell hand gel to transfer the image to printmaking paper, tore it, and glued the main pieces to my page.

To complete the page I added pieces of photographs, washi tape, and journaling.

Mixed Media Mayhem - Documented Life - A lot on My Plate

April Theme   Color Safari (Exploring Inks and Paints)

April 18

Art Challenge:  Gelli Plate

Journal Prompt:  A Lot on my Plate

Yes, I know this is June...I do not respond well to deadlines unless I am held accountable in some way...so here is my post for "A lot on my plate."  I never liked the expression "full plate" especially when people use it to complain.  Who wouldn't want a full plate...as opposed to the empty one or the only half full?  My "plate" was full this spring with art activities in the various school programs I enjoy leading at the VBMA.  As the school year wound down, my activity also diminished leaving me saying goodbye to kids for another year.  To commemorate this happy experience, I made my entry for April 18, Gelli Plate Challenge.

I have a stash of Gelli plate printed papers that I made using hand made stamps to put on and take off ink to print images of carefree children at play.  Many of these were printed on deli paper making for layering of positive and negative images

To add more focus I stamped more of the child images on tissue paper with StazOn and glued them to the surface with matte medium.  This technique makes the tissue paper disappear leaving only the image.

I added more stamping with numbers for the dates 2014-2015.

For dimension I added a tag with a tissue paper image of a child, scrabble letters for Artist in the Schools, and broken pen and pencil.

Journaling was the final commitment...making myself write on my page to tell the story lest I forget it at some future date.

Although the art challenge in this weeks prompt was to use the Gelli plate, one of my favorite art results is the crinkly texture produced by the layered deli papers.