My first ever image for Dia de los Muertos. I loved doing this! I had to use a picture from a magazine since I can't draw faces, but I love the way it turned out! I had so many ideas in my head that I could have made ten more images, until I realized how long I'd been playing with this one!
Lesley posted a great video tutorial she found on making images from pictures. I wish I had seen this before I made mine, but it makes me want to do another one!
Yeah, I like her...
I used color wash and color inks on the background. Just sprayed them all over the page, along with some water, and slammed the book shut! The beautiful colors that emerge are sometimes stunning! Although this wasn't one of those times. :) I really didn't use anything new, it's all leftovers and old $1.00 stamps, except for my Stampendous flowers stamp that's been buried in the closet for far too long. The lady's head and even the flower pot came from old magazines, and the border is from old background pages.
I feel like I could have done more on this page but then I feel that way on most of my pages. There's always next time!
Have a great day!
How I love collage! I just started playing around with the magazine pictures, some torn pieces of scrap paper, and a little paint. It only took about 8 hours! LOL! Not really, but things sure do change from what you think you're doing. I love the vintage pieces and the beautiful modern day model.
Have a lovely weekend!
In one video, Gulfspr1te advises someone who's blocked to stop looking at other artist's work on the internet and just go and make art, make a mess! I immediately identified with that poster because I'm always watching videos and taking classes, and comparing myself to them. Ew. Yeah, I'm that person, the one everyone says I shouldn't be. *sigh*
Then this morning, another poster asked about finding her style as a beginner. I loved this answer! She was told to watch everyone, take all the classes, and I gave Christy a loud cheer and a round of applause! I'M a beginner. I will always be a beginner. How's that for justification? Good? Good!
All of this thinking boiled down to what I really enjoy doing and that's collage. So I made a very simple collage today and I like it. It's about my niece and her daughter, and the posts she makes on FB about her. I love that she loves her so much, and that the feeling is mutual. Yesterday would have been my sister's 75th birthday, hard to imagine her at that age, but I know she would love the little messages on FB as well. Happy Birthday, Joan.
I met Dede online through Ustream where she programs her weekly shows. I wrote the following about a year ago after watching one of those shows...
September 2nd was a GOOD day! I woke up early and somehow managed to go online around 7:00 am. I couldn't have been luckier! Dede had been persuaded to go live on Ustream and she gave the BEST show ever! I think she was on for 2 hours, maybe 3, I'm not sure, but she sure did give us a ton of information! We should have paid for it...it was like attending a motivational seminar! The people, the place, the timing....it just all came together in cyberspace to make for a truly great morning for a bunch of art lovin' girls. Dede's such a fabulous artist, and she inspires so many others.
I'd been watching her shows for a while by then and everything had started to fall into place, I started to really understand what it was Dede was teaching. For the first time in my life, I began to "see" art for something other than a bunch of old paintings hanging in a museum. I don't think I'll ever be able to see what Dede sees in her paintings, but I know it isn't just a bunch of fortunate brush strokes. My fondest memories and most valuable time was spent watching Dede make magic before my eyes.
I started this page in September but didn't finish as usual. Then I realized I didn't have ANY finished pages to post on my blog and here it is, a new week! Quick! Add some stamps, add some ink, add some stitches, get out the white pen and just go ape!
The picture is from an 1879 painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, who apparently also painted one in 1869, 1875, 1882 and 1884. Each one of a different girl at different ages. I actually like all of the paintings but they've made me quite curious to learn more about this artist.
This is the first double page spread in my brand spanking new Strathmore hardbound journal! It took me forever to start using this. It wasn't the page that scared me, it was the whole damn book! I paid good money for this book and I didn't want to ruin it! Yikes! I have another one too, a bigger one, and man, is it Huge! A full 8.5 x 11 which makes a humongous double page spread that I don't think I'm ready for. I know, I know. It doesn't sound that big. I just may stick to single pages in that one, we'll see. But this little journal is very easy to work in and a page can be done so quickly that you don't really have a lot of time to think...and that's a good thing.
I was both pleased and surprised (shocked!) at how this page turned out. I didn't use any gesso at all, and just laid down some misc. pieces of paper and old background pages. I then used acrylic paint for the background and the stencils. Of course, I got some Dylusions Ink Spray in there on the doilies, then I painted the stencil areas with it and finally shook some over the whole page. Believe me, I didn't have a clue what I was doing or where I was going, I just went. In the end it was missing something, until I found the perfect girl in an old magazine, and she really shook things up. I love when that happens!
These fun flowers and heart banner are digital stamps from The Octopode Factory. They were all hand cut (talk about fussy cutting!), some colored and some printed in color. Absolute fun to play with on top of Dyan Reavely's Dylusional Ink Sprays.
