Saturday, April 26, 2014

Studies in collage with walnut inks and cereal box journal update

I've had these walnut inks sitting around for a long time. I had to have them but I've never been sure what to do with them. (I know I am not the only person out there who is compelled to buy art supplies before having a use for them!) They can't be used on non-porous surfaces (or they will never dry), so I had limited use for them. After being inspired by Jane Davies to stamp, paint, and mark on tissue paper for use in collage it finally occurred to me to spray the inks on the tissue. I love the result. It's easy to do. Spray ink on tissue paper. Tear up paper. Stick it down.

Tsukineko Walnut Ink Sprays
The colors in this set are Terra Cotta, Eucalyptus, Java, and Walnut. I think they are meant to be used for aging or antiquing papers. Tsukineko calls them "craft inks" on their website.

Torn tissue paper
I started with opaque papers, mostly ones with words, adhered to some drawing paper about 9"x12". Of course I forgot to photograph that part.

I ripped up the tissue paper and started sticking it down, paying very little attention to what went where. I added the translucent tissue paper over the opaque papers and I like the look very much. It knocks back the white and leaves the text visible. 

The tissue paper on the left, in the image above, was stamped using a wooden stamp with Golden Iridescent Copper Light (Fine). I am adding it into the collage because it it's curvy, and because I love the copper color. You can see a bit of it in Collage detail (1) below. Not Collage (1), Collage detail (1).

Collage (1)
The tissue paper I used had a strong grain in one direction and I ended up with lots of pieces with straight-ish edges. I positioned the most extreme ones against the edges of the paper.

Collage detail (1)
I love the transparency, well, technically I guess it's translucency, of the tissue paper. Because the inks do not spray uniformly, I was able to choose from very dark to very light coverage.
Collage detail (2)
There is no rhyme, reason, or composition here. Just randomly placed paper. It's not necessary because I will paint over much of this. It takes great courage, but I am learning to paint over collage, using the collage to inform my painting decisions. (Don't you love that? Informed. Me?) The class that I took from Jane last month at Art & Soul in Kansas City was filled with instruction that has made me much more confident about painting over my exceptionally wonderful precious collages.

Cereal Box Journal 

The cereal box journal slowly marches on. When I add to the pages, I use paint left over after a "real" painting session and collaged junk. I experiment with things I might want to do in a project: techniques, stamps, all kinds of stuff.

Cereal box journal detail (1)
This is a label torn off a beer carton. There was lots of nice narrowly corrugated cardboard left for use as a texturing tool. My son was nice enough to give the carton to me as I do not buy beer by the case.

Cereal box journal detail (2)
I sprayed over a hare mask with Dylusions ink spray. I am still a little leery about using Dylusions because they are water-activated and they smear in the kind of work I do. Love the colors, though. I think my choices are to seal it with a fixative spray or switch to acrylic inks and settle for a different look.

Cereal box journal spread
I have been sick for a week, but I think I am on the mend now. It will be great to get back in the studio instead of sitting in a chair and watching netflix while reading the interwebs. I can only take so much of that stuff and I reached my limit last Monday.



Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Cereal Box Journal

I have learned so much from other people, too many to remember to list them here. I do want to mention Jane LaFazio, who introduced me to cereal box journals, and Jane Davies, who taught me about lifting paint. I have learned a great deal more than that from Jane and Jane. They are both brilliant artists and excellent teachers, and their classes are fun and filled with new ideas. Check out their workshops and online classes on their websites!

Okay, my cereal box journal. I save cereal and cracker boxes and cut off the sides and ends to make pages. I punch holes in them so that I can hold them together with rings.

Art journal made from cereal boxes.

Art journal made from cereal boxes.
As you can see, we eat lots of cereal
and crackers around my house.
I am working on collage and paint pieces (not in the journal, on printmaking paper), and sometimes I want to remove paint that I have applied. I grab a cereal box page or a piece of drawing paper and blot to lift the paint. I love the interesting effect of this. The cereal box by-product is just a bonus! When I have blotted enough that the CB page is covered, I make marks on it and sometimes I add more paint.

Art journal pages

These finished pages are fun to play with. I have no stake in how they look. They do not have to be perfect! If I end up with something I hate (it happened once) I can either paint or gesso over it or throw it in the trash.

Sometimes I use cheap drawing paper to lift paint. I learned about this paper from Jane Davies. It is on her Favorite Materials web page.



I love to write on these pages. I overlap the writing so no one can read it (really, I say things I would never want anyone to read!), and I love the blocky squiggly effect.

Rather than punch holes in this paper, which I think would soon be destroyed by flipping through the heavy cardboard, I stick it on the CB pages with acrylic medium. I am sure PVA glue would be just fine, I just haven't had a bottle near me when I have been doing this. In this photo I have folded the drawing paper in half and wrapped it around the cardboard page.



I'll add some paint and some writing certainly, and maybe more. Whatever I do, I will enjoy doing it, and maybe learn some things that will help me be a better artist.