Discovery Wednesday - Amongst Friends

Here is my inspirational mosaic for this week's Discovery Wednesday.

1. Hole Punch Flowers ATC, 2. Flower ATC, 3. Watercolor Flower ATC's, 4. Summer Flowers, 5. ATC_ violet flower, 6. ATC Pretty Newspaper Flowers 2/2, 7. Landscape: Spring Flowers, 8. Flowers ATC, 9. 3 flowers, 10. Traded: Springtime ATC, 11. flowers ATC, 12. ATC Traded - Button Flowers, 13. flowers - atc

Here is the ATC card I was inspired to create.

"Amongst Friends" ATC 2.5 x 3.5 inches mixed media.

Here are some pictures I took as I worked my way through the process of creating this ATC card.

(1) I used Strathmore Watercolor cold press 140lb paper as my base, glued a thin sheet of white tissue paper with Golden mattee medium, glued a hand torn piece of (single sided printed) designer scrapbooking paper half of the way up to start my composition for the field of flowers and finally added a glaze of Golden (heavy body) Titan Buff mixed with Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid Gloss (1:1 ratio) over the entire surface and dried with my heat gun.

(2) I then began to play with my permanent color ink pads (golden yellow for sky and green for grass) and dried with my heat gun.

(3) I then continued to add more acrylic paint to build up depth, shadow, highlights and dried with my heat gun.







(4) I then played with texture adding marks using a metal ring and bubble wrap.

(5) Finally came the time to dive into my homemade collage paper I had painted the night before on Canson Mixed Media 98 lb paper. I have found this paper weight and brand to be my favorite so far for collage; especially on an ATC sized base so that it does not become to bulky when I overlap sheets. I hand cut various circle sizes and glued them on 2/3 of the way to add to the composition.

(6) The next step for me was to play with my oil pastels to continue to highlight the texture from the tissue paper and add depth to the overall image.



Hope you're having an excellent Wednesday and are inspired to go out and play and create art and of course stop and smell the flowers;-)


Enjoy,
Sandra

Discovery Wednesday - Nature Inspired!

Here is my inspirational mosaic of artist images that inspired me this week to create my journal page titled "adventure". 

1. altered envie journal page 7, side 2, 2. opposites WIP- would like to add opposite colors to the yellow orange- Where do I go from here? I didn't even think of a background..., 3. Another fallen tree, 4. Olive Green Tip In Pages Right

Art Journal page 8x7 inches mixed media titled "adventure".

What I discovered in the process of making my own personal artwork was that I enjoy creating in a monotone color palette infused with a punch of highlight color. I also discovered that while I like the color harmony that was created in my journal page I also enjoy the irony of the opposing messages the images communicate. 


The page is titled "adventure" with a subtitle of "a point at which to pause and think". If you study the top image (a packing tape image transfer of two hunters walking side by side carrying their 'prize') and the beauty of the bottom image of a songbird perched ready to start it's day you will glide over the letter 'Y' that was placed to sound out loud the question of why we hunt.

I have friends who are hunters and come hunting season they will proudly seek their weapons and children to join in their family tradition of hunting for deer and turkeys for the holiday festivities. I'm not trying to say they are wrong (I am a meat eater after all) but I do pause and wonder of all the animals in nature that find their end by the hands of humans and what might of been their destiny if given an opportunity to sing a song. Just something to think about. 


Enjoy,
Sandra

Discovery Wednesday - Watercolor & Typography



Click on links below to see artist work on Flickr. Marica Beckett is #2. Five



1. The Serenity Prayer, 2. five, 3. kay atc, 4. Artbook typography

Another new discovery this week is the use of Mosaic Maker to create the image you see above. I was first introduced to this tool by Marcia Beckett (a Flickr friend) from her blog http://marciabeckett.blogspot.com/2011/08/mosaic-monday.html Marica was kind enough to add me to her Mosaic Monday group - I am #10 WORRYless. This is such a cool tool - I hope you enjoy using it as much as I am! And of course please visit Marcia's blog page and let her know I sent you. She is a K-6 art teacher and her work is amazing and inspiring with vibrant colors and fun handwritten text!! Way to go Marcia and thanks for sharing this tool.

Inspired by Marica I plan to make Discovery Wednesdays a weekly repeating feature of my blog where I will showcase Flickr artists who have inspired me that week to explore my personal art making process and style. I will provide links to their Flickr photostream and/or blog websites so you may also enjoy in the discovery of these incredible artists.

Enjoy,
Sandra