Poetry on Paper

Collage on recycled cardboard (from a cereal box) painted with craft acrylic paints and collaged with scraps of painted papers and scrapbook papers. My favorite Sharpie extra-fine pointmarkers will not write on this paint, so I used a Zig Memory System marker that is a scrapbook product. It writes and draws smoothly but is not waterproof, so it must be used at the end of the process, after all water media has dried. I also shaded some of the edge decoration with chalk pastel.THANK YOU to Elizabeth of the Altered Book Lover blog for featuring me on her website! I am honored to be her friend and fellow artist. Elizabeth does a very informative and inspiring blog, where you can follow her experiments, challenges, artistic creations and endeavors in mixed media. The very first "swap" I participated in was hosted by Elizabeth, and she made it so fun and enjoyable! Welcome to all who are visiting from Elizabeth's site, and those who haven't met her yet, stop by for her celebration of Earth Day.

Retrospective: FACES

2009, collage on recycled cardboard, above.Scraps of painted papers & cardstock,hand-carved stamping, acrylic paint,Sharpie drawing over pieced collage.

2009, Collage on recycled cardboard, above.Cardboard cut into profile shape and collaged.Watercolors, scrapbook papers,hand-carved stamps, magazine words,negative & positive shapes utilized.

2009 crayon drawingglued into my art journal--I colored right along witha 3-year old...

12.26.08 Blue Facesa "use up the paint on the palette"painting, in acrylic

2009 pen drawingof African mask,in my art journal.

2008 "Botanical" collage.Magazine images, drawing offemale face in Sharpie, columnar paper.

2008 "Flower & Face"acrylic paint, painted cardstock, fabric,sticker, hand-carved stamps,magazine image, in myart journal.

2008 "found poetry"and drawing in art journal...'strata of rocks' theme resurfaces...

2008 pen sketchafter DaVinci..."Why does the eye see a thingmore clearly in dreamsthan the imagination when awake?"

2007 pencil drawing inmy art journal--self-portrait in reading glasses.

2004 watercolor in my art journal--Muslim woman's face.

Playing with collage and paint,2004 art journal page.

2003 matte acrylic painting froma magazine photograph ofa Mayan sculpture & glyphs--in my art journal.

My 2003 drawing from a magazine photoof a Mayan artifact that wascarved from bone."In painting or anything, you cannot have hate. If you have hate, you destroy the picture and yourself. You can have hunger, you can have thirst, you can have great feeling for texture, you can be sensitive to touch, you can be sensitive to color, but for the head you've got to be sensitive to love. Otherwise it will not work...Now, that love won't change the shape, but it will add something...this radiates out from the person...it's in the air between myself and the object I'm looking at."- Ivan Albright, painter

Spring Colors

Feed Your Soul--Spring Colors Art Journal Page,acrylic on cardboard, torn painted cardstock.Quote: "The human soul needs actual beautymore than bread."--D.H. LawrenceGo Make Something-Make It Mondayschallenged us to be inspired by Spring.Find your inspiration & feed your soul!

Feed My Soul

Green Collage, 5" x 5"Mixed media on cardboard:Watercolor on cardstock, gel pen, marker, pastels, painted tissue paper.Computer generated words.Some of the Collage Fodder fromthe previous post made it intothis collage...Do what feeds your soul!

Mini Collages

The cover of my Mini Collage Book: some of the first "inchies" I created.

These collages were created in an index card spiral notebook. They are small--3" x 5".The idea (which I read about and can't remember the source) was to use the spiral index cards to take along with you and make mini-collages wherever you are. It doesn't work that way for me usually, though...I like to use paint, and that's not always so portable. I end up doing these while I watch TV in the evening. Painting while you wait for your doctor's appointment might get a bit messy...but the small size does make the work go faster and you can finish one pretty quickly. I have taken this with me on weekend trips, along with painted paper scraps, scissors, glue stick & pens...well, you get the idea.

I used a glue resist technique on the page above. Apply white glue to the page in lines, any pattern, and let dry. Raised edges form when the glue is dry. Can be painted over with acrylic or watercolors as long as you don't use too much water and cause the glue to soften again. I also added a little pen drawing in fine point marker.

Colored pencil, fabric, pen drawing, images from tissue wrapping paper.

Photocopies of images of men and a boy. I think this needsa caption, but I just haven't come up with the right thing yet.I'm open to suggestions!

Stamped image, (above) tissue paper, acrylic, copper spiral, and beads

Tissue paper images added to the acrylic painting.

There is some organza fabric over the painted tissue paper in the collage above, which doesn't show up well in this photo...it adds a little sparkle.

Mixed media: fabric, acrylic, marker, watercolor, magazine clippings, hand-carved stamping, miscellaneous embellishments.

Saving the tiniest scraps of paper and cardstock that have been painted or stamped, gives me plenty of material for these collages.

Buttons and linen fabric added to the collage above.

Awakening: art journal spread

These pages were first painted with acrylic paints. The faces are from cardstock cut into oval shapes and then glued on. The silhouette figures were drawn in black permanent marker, and then the faces were drawn in. Swirls and curlicues were added to the background with a fine point black pen.To create the "found poem" text, I browsed through an art magazine, writing down words and phrases that caught my fancy and conveyed a joyful idea...

Impressions of August

This was a challenge for Artgang Ohio to use polymer clay in an Altered Book spread. The button-shaped pieces of polymer clay were made from impressions of old buttons from my grandmother's button jar. The background is acrylic paint over gesso. Circles were stenciled on, flowers from tissue wrapping paper were applied in opposite corners, and hand-carved stamping in green acrylic was added. The clay buttons were also painted in acrylic, layering yellow, tan, and black to highlight the textures. Words were added in brown Sharpie marker...things that remind me of the month of August and the sweet days of the end of summer.

Listen to Your Inner Consciousness

"Listen to your Inner Consciousness and summon the strength and determination to act on it." -Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophonistI am not necessarily a fan of jazz music, but this quote spoke to me...An art journal page: acrylic paint, magazine scraps, permanent marker, fabric and stickers from the Dollar Store.

Mail Art Postcard

A Mail Art postcard I am sendingto a friend in Kentucky...mixed media including craftacrylic paints, stamping with acrylic, junk-mail image of sunflowers, magazine clipping, and hand-carved stamps (the faces & green stamped design). I wonder what the mail carrier thinks about mail art...I suppose they are not surprised by much any more...anyway, hope it brings some joy to the people who see it...

Bandana Postcard

This postcard was created with craft acrylic paint and black Sharpie markers. The swirls are hand-drawn, and the white dots are white acrylic applied with a liner brush...green is not one of my favorite colors (unless it's leaves on flowers) so I try to periodically challenge myself to use it. Make It Mondays on Go Make Something had green as its theme in July, so here it is...saw the "bandanna" technique popping up several places on-line so had to try it!

Art Journal Page

"Pink Lady"- Layers of craft acrylic paint were painted on with a paintbrush, stamped with hand-carved stamps, then more paint applied with a sponge.The face is hand-painted. Fabric, cardstock scraps, a bit of postcard, and a sticker complete the page.