ART ON INDEX CARDS - ONE DAY AT A TIME!

I am having the BEST fun taking part in Tammy Garcia's ICAD challenge. The challenge is to create one piece of Art on a 3 inch x 5 inch or 5 inches x 7 inches Index Card for 61 days in June and July. I'm using the smaller size.
These cards are a very cheap art supply - and 8 prompts and suggested materials are provided by Tammy each week, and some are shared by participants on a Face Book page dedicated to ICAD.
Here are some of my cards for June.

This prompt was Watercolour and Quote. The Dalai Lama was in Darwin when we were there, so it seemed very appropriate.

Prompts here included - Circus, Map, Zebra, Gardens, Crown - and - acrylics, paper, pencils, markers, texture, stamping, stencils...

It's a great challenge to create a tiny piece of art every day - but I'm loving the whole process - and especially getting inspiration from others in the group. I find though that I am particularly drawn to collage - making the other techniques (especially drawing - A REAL CHALLENGE!)

Three cheers for Tammy, her idea, her commitment and her enthusiasm for this!

SPLASHING PAINT AROUND

Cold Wintery days in Melbourne are a terrific excuse to play with paint! Another 21 Secrets Workshop - this time with a very creative Diana Trout, who provided Journaling prompts to print out, and adhere to cards to be kept in a decorated tin for inspirational games. I used Index cards as a base; acrylic paint smeared with a credit card; sprayed some with Dylusions spray and stencils; stamped with "found objects"; some serviettes & even used my paint drop sheet too!  

 

 I made tab cards too, to divide the sections and sanded, painted with gesso and stencilled a tin purchased in a charity op shop for $1.00.

 

I am very lucky to live close to a venue where NSW artist, Tracy Verdugo, another wonderful 21 Secrets teacher, was holding a weekend Paint Mojo workshop. After some exploratory mark making intuitive responses to a poem read by Tracy, the real work began. Paint and inks and found objects - using ply board as practice - trying out colour combinations and marks.

 

Stage 1 and 2 of my FIRST ever canvas painting! Inks and acrylics making magic!

Four corners of my canvas at the end of day 1. 

Day 2 - more inks, acrylics, stencils, glazes ...

 

Finished canvas and the two boards I took home.

I was very happy with the whole process and I now have some bright colours to hang in MY ROOM!

More 21 Secrets - flowers and more flowers

I am loving the luxury of having art workshops at my fingertips! Twenty - four hours a day access to amazing lessons, inspiration and "art galleries" of other participants work.
Below are some pages using recycled business envelopes and flowers designs made into a book where I can paste more envelope flowers. Making envelope flowers are from Ro Bruhn's workshop, called "Flower Power".

I love opening my bills now - and have a pile next to me when I watch TV - colouring and decorating them, trying different colour combinations - soooo relaxing and rewarding!

Back and front covers.

Pages ready to be sewn into the covers - note flowery wrapping paper through the clear envelope window.

The following pictures are of my progress through the stages of Cathy Bluteau's workshop titled "Dooding my Way" - and using flowers cut from papers, lines, copic markers, washi tapes and small pieces of patterned papers.

I had so many flowers cut out I decided to do two versions - Cool and Warm colours.

 

This was relaxing, calm inducing and pushed my boundaries with the business of the process as I an used to having white spaces.

My pile of cut out flowers.

Flowers, text and lines in the Red version.

Flowers, text and lines in the Blue version.

Almost completed

Finished

Almost completed

Finished

Enrolling in 21 Secrets is the BEST present to myself - now I just want more time!

21 Secrets Online Art Journalling Course

I am so glad I signed up for this course (through Ro Bruhn's blog). I am having a wonderfully creative liberating time - and I've only done one workshop so far.

 

My first workshop was Carissa Paige's "Following the Wild Winds". Part 1 encourages exploring and playing with paints using hands, fingers, stamps, found objects - after allowing an appreciation of where you are.
I went with a serendipity flow and painted.


This Red Tree appeared and reminded me of a beautiful childrens's book The Red Tree by Shaun Tan.

Days later I painted over the red tree and a whole forest appeared!

Next exercise was to put yourself in a painting - again serendipity was at work for me when 2 old photos turned up whilst sorting a drawer.
Significent moments in my life up to now called to be painted. The colours were what came to mind rather than a laboured decision.



No 1 - 1970 - a young couple in love.



No 2 - 1985 - stepping out into a career, study, family, travel



No 3 - 2013 - mellow, wistful, exciting, future awaits an older and wiser me!

This one has song titles that were playing when I was working on it - Brown Eyed Girl, That's the name of the game, Love lifts us up where we belong,I'll be there ... and many more.
I know I have most probably built on other techniques I've learnt and now have freed up a painting method for journalling, which I love.

I've already started another page - my version - where I have written down words of concerns, messages, joys, sorrows, struggles  - then covered them up with text and paper.


No 1 - My hidden secrets.

No 2 - First painting session. with ink drips too.

Next I will stamp, tape, write, maybe paint ...who knows ...but I am dedicating it to calmness in my life, relaxation and enjoyment. Which probably spells ART!

MY JOURNALS

I love making journals from "Junk" mail, catalogues, old envellopes - I gesso or paint pages, stamp and paint the pages with templates, hand sew them together then have great fun, relaxation and "art therapy" using these journals as travel diaries, "Smash Books" or "Glue Books" and yearly diaries.

I first heard the words Smash books and Glue Books from a Lawendula Paper Swap friend Melodie and these links give more information.

About glue books, Smash Journals or Junk Journals....go to

www.bluebirdpaperie.blogspot.com - and search "Glue Books" or Mary Green's blog www.greenpaper.typepad.com

This one started life as a stapled catalogue ( 14cm x 21 cm) from a dress shop and I used all those bits and pieces that are too good to throw out so I keep them until ...

 

This next one started as an empty biscuit box cut to a small size ( 10 x 15 cms) as a little book to use on holiday, with words and images added from places we visited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I make larger journals with strong manila folders ( 24.5 cm x 35 cms) - filling them with "junk" papers from my HUGE collection and adding ephemera and words in a weekly entry.

The next Journal was a collage and word diary type.

I attribute this idea to Nicole Austin at http://kinueko.blogspot.com.au/ (in 2011) so I tried it in 2012 and loved doing it.

I decorate the covers usually with scraps of papers then collage pieces of single ply from serviettes.

Below is my 2013 Journal/Diary - and this time I used mainly plain papers with some junk papers, and painted and stamped and decorated them with washi tape before I sewed it together. I am writing short weekly entries, sometimes in point form, this year.

 

 

 I do have separate "smash" journals happening at the same time - and am making smaller travel journals for our trips this year (17 cm x  24.5cms). These have been featured in an earlier post (2012).

As I love making these types of journals, let me know if you'd like one and we can talk about postage costs etc. depending on where you live.

I was inspired to write this blog by a lovely friend Jacqueline from Stockholm, whom I met on Marney K. Makridakis' Artella's Annual Mystery Muse Project for 2013 - and wanted to know how I make journals. I sent her a small journal from me - her mystery muse.

 

I have now enrolled in my first ever online art course called 21 SECRETS - and know that my year is going to be a very enjoyable one artistically as there are so many wonderful classes, with notes and videos included.