Mixed Media Mayhem - Where Next?

Today's journal entry presents a long standing dilemma - Where next?  It’s a question my friends always ask when I come home from an adventure.  Like everything else, there is no long range plan. Something pops up and it becomes a destination. I have not been to Sub-Saharan Africa so this page is a possible answer to the dilemma.  

What’s more fun than a bunch of new tools to try.  An entire book of textured wallpaper with shapes ideal for Gelli printing and a new assortment of stencils gave me stimulus overload. Focus, focus, I chose the circles and ovals for positive and negative printing with Pebeo Studio Acrylics Iridescent Orange.  

Once the Gelii plate is on full speed, I can’t stop so I made a lot of prints on deli paper that I could use for collage.  Some of the deli paper became the translucent circles that I glued on top of my original prints.  

I loved my background and left it unadorned for weeks.  

When my Grand Circle Travel brochure came, I found the images and message I needed.  I fussy-cut the animals and strung together the message.  

The final touch was an old gelli printed mask of a giraffe I had used in one of my classes.  

Mixed Media Mayhem - Ode on a Chinese Napkin

I have a fascination, maybe an obsession, with the Asian aesthetic evidenced by all the treasures gathered on my numerous travels to the region.  So when I attended a cocktail party where the hostess set an Asian motif, I secretly hoarded several of the napkins.  I wanted to preserve the beauty of this little piece of paper in my journal, but I wanted it to be more than a napkin overlay.  To prep the background I used gel medium to adhere several layers of tissue paper.  Separating the napkin pattern from the other layers, I glued it to the surface to set a scene spanning both pages.  To make it my own, I added drawings of the motifs to complete the picture and I stamped and collaged Asian images. I used Faber-Castell Big Brush Markers and Intense pencils to match to colors.  My favorite part is the Chinese ginger jar.  Blue and white has always been a favorite color scheme, almost rivaling teal and Chinese red.

Mixed Media Mayhem - Beach Life

Recently I was clearing out magazines...a difficult task because I reread them and hoard...deciding which to save, which to toss.   As I peeled off the address labels of magazines going to book recycle center, I decided that they would make a great tiled background in my journal.  After adhering them with medium, I added a wash of gesso to blur references to my name and address and to unify the two pages and blocked in alphabet stencils.  An illustrated Ralph's grocery bag laying nearby on the floor gave inspiration for the surf boards. Using one of my favorite products, Gelatos, I drew in the features of the beach scene and used stamps, pencils, and micron pens to add detail.  To find captions, I turned to several local publications which tout the year long beach life of our treasure coast.

Someone recently asked me if I plan ahead...no...the labels and the sequence were pure serendipity.


I revised the pages after I found 3d pieces to mix in.

Mixed Media Mayhem - Forgive #WOIW

Meandering through the process of art journaling, I just enjoy the journey and do not think about the destination.  This process works to a point, then I need direction.  For this journal spread I was guided by the #WOIW, Word of Inspiration Wednesday group's challenge, Forgive.

The finished spread is bright and shiny, but began as a very bland stenciling with Dylusions and a TCW stencil.

                                   

Hmmmm.  To elaborate the floral theme I looked through my wallpaper books for some images and used a pattern to make a set of stamps.

A big fan of bling, in art but not in dress, I had to go further, adding gold embossing powder and black highlighter. 

Needing some focal elements I added the bird...remembered I had some black embossing powder so I could make him patent leather shiny and balanced him with some black embossed flowers on the opposing page.  To amp the colors I experimented with drippage (a new French word for letting ink run down the page, pronounced drip - pauge).

Looking through my Google+ posts, I discovered the new #WOIW, Forgive, which I interpreted to be about self-forgiveness and positive outlook.  My little black bird seemed to be looking for a positive message and found several that suited my intended message.

The finished page reminded me to keep in front of me that art journaling is for discovery not for product.  I enjoyed finding all the quotations and then cutting them out word by word to embed them.

Mixed Media Mayhem - Gift of Language

I was inspired to make this journal page by the #WOIW, "Gift", Word of Inspiration Wednesday forum hosted by Heather Kraafter.  As usual when I work from a concept I easily go off the rails.  I began this page with pasted strips of paper and gesso.

Blah...so I used a credit card to spread on some blues and orange/pink paints.  Still blah.  I added some punch outs of alphabet letters that I got in a scrapbook packet on sale at TJ Maxx and recolored them with gelatoes.  It then occurred to me that the gift I wanted to talk about was "language".  I searched through my collage stash of language books, dictionaries, and French and German novels, Chinese newspapers gathered in Xian, and translations of my new Medicare policy.

To illuminate the theme I found quotations on language on the internet reprinted with script fonts. The spread is still blah, but it communicates my message.

Maybe I should add some three dimensional objects.

Mixed Media Mayhem - The Taj Mahal - Three Views/Three Viewpoints

When I need a journal fix, and I have no plan, I like to gesso the pages and smoosh them together for a ridged texture.  That's how this spread began.  I sprayed with Dylusions and scribbled on some Gelatos.  And, since pink is the basic black of India, I began thinking of images and papers in my stash from my trip to Rajasthan.  I chose one of my zillion photos I took of the Taj Mahal and printed it in several versions.

I used one of the images to draw, cut, and emboss kid foam to make a stamp and impressed it onto the page.

I printed the image several times in different versions to place around the page.  I found some swirly pink and gold paper in my scrapbook file and a cute elephant from a World Market purchase.

Now that I had three vesions of the Taj I looked for quotations that would suit the page...Voila...three views...from romantic to cynical...

Mixed Media Mayhem - Time: A Continuum or Cycle

I have had this beautiful cover from Smithsonian Magazine forever thinking some day I could use it. I had a journaling week during which I wanted to use up what I have hanging around...this cover, scrapbook paper with clocks, a Crafters' Workshop stencil, clip art of clocks, magazine cuts.  As I began building the layers the question, time - continuum or cycle?, popped up.  As I searched different dictionaries for text I found different answers to this question, time a circle or a line.  This final journal page presents this question for you to ponder.