October Square-A-Day Project

As I wait for the doorbell to ring and costume-clothed kiddos arrive with pillow cases or plastic buckets to be filled with sweet treats, I review my October square-a-day project.

This month I tried to stick to a theme. Nature was my inspiration. Simple squares. Gelli-plate printed backgrounds. What do you think of having a nature theme?

I left my 5×7 inch Gelli-plate out on my art table for the entire month of October. This led to some wonderful explorations with acrylic ink and fluid acrylics. I also enjoyed printing on old book pages.

Below are some of my favorite squares:

I believe I am now supplied with as many prints as the kids whose buckets were overflowing with Halloween candy! 😉 Sweet!!

I look forward to hearing which squares you like!

Happy November! Cheers! 🙂

Apples – Tart And Sweet

Sometimes creating art is like an apple… It can be tart and sweet!  

I started this mixed media piece I showed you in yesterday’s post – with watercolor and walnut ink on hot press watercolor paper.

I color copied a cut apple directly on my copier!  I learned this technique recently from Lendon Noe in an online class hosted by Carla Sonheim:  “Meaning Making: Inspired by Poetry.”

After I color copied my apple, I transferred the image to my paper with matte medium.  I like how the background colors show through my apple!

Next, I drew three crabapples directly on the right side of my page with Stabilo CarbOthello which are Chalk-pastel coloring pencils.

I added the words, “Apple and Autumn” with a Pilot Parallel Pen with a 2.4 mm nib – which is a calligraphy pen that uses water soluble ink.  I discovered that the ink bled over the apple transfer when I tried to write the word, “Autumn” using the “A” from the word, Apple.

Instead of scraping the whole project, I tried first to cover up the letters with tracing paper where I had lightly drawn apples as you see below in the photo on the right:

However, I still wasn’t satisfied with it so removed the tracing paper and covered the letters with computer typed letters.  How do I blend the typed letters with my piece?

I solved the problem by gluing a piece of Gelli-printed deli paper in a light orange color over the typed letters.

I added three autumn leaves that I color copied and transferred the same way as the half of apple.

The words describe an apple to me:  Tart and sweet, juicy, fresh, round, red and green, yellow.

I learned a lot from this art piece!  It may not be frame worthy but I learned how to persevere and FINISH it!  Sweet, I say!

Cheers! 🙂

 

Dye And Salt Nature Prints

A few years ago, I purchased this book by L.K. Ludwig on Nature Journals:

I fell in love with making nature prints with Procion fabric dyes and Kosher salt:

It was a really fun activity to do at the lake!  I had lots of natural materials and could work outside.

I had so much fun making the prints that I never got to making the journal!  Lol!

Then I found this old ledger at a thrift store so I started creating pages for it:

However, I didn’t get very far on the project.  With my renewed interest in creating a nature journal with my sketches, I decided it was time to “dig” this one out again.

Yesterday, I added some collage papers to some of my prints:

I had fun playing with color and different images… and will continue to add to these pages.

Have you ever created a “Mixed Media” Nature Journal?  I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Creating!  🙂

Leaf Notes

I know I left you hanging yesterday, like a leaf on a tree… LOL!  So here it is – the moment you have been waiting for – a before and after photo of my watercolor leaves!  😉

I finished them with gesso and added some “leaf” notes for my hubby and myself with pencil.  I thought these little reminders would be great to put on the fridge or left in unexpected places.  We all like to feel loved and appreciated!  🙂

The other images are gift tags I’m making for another project.  I painted these on both sides with watercolor and the gesso – here is an example of one I made for myself:

I added a little glitter to these tags too.  Other ideas are tucking them into a card for a friend, give as a bookmarker or use as a place setting at a special dinner, like Easter.  They are fun to write a message of inspiration on one side and a person’s name on the other side but you could do whatever you want.

Speaking of shapes, here are my leftover stencils:

One of the nice things about gesso is that it works as a glue so was able to complete their shapes by gluing there openings closed.  I could then use the negative and positive shapes on my gelli-printing plate!

The above is an example of using my positive and negative shapes with layers of Golden Fluid Acrylic paints.  Aren’t they just AWESOME?!

I will show you more of my gelli prints tomorrow – oh, the colors!!!  :-)))

Happy Creating!

P.S.  If you were to leave a “leaf” note for yourself or someone, what would it say?!  I’d love to hear from you!

A Fall Chiller

There was a fall chill in the air today – A real CHILLER!

I wanted to stay with the Michael Jackson music theme for completing my mixed media leaf print that I started last week.  You can find my beginning piece here.

I added another layer of watercolor:

And finished this THRILLER with black pen:

Not too BAD!  What do you think?

Happy Creating!  😊🎶🎨

Just Leaf It

My title for this post reminds me of Michael Jackson’s song, “Just Beat It!”

I tend to be musically challenged in that I cannot remember the artist or the name of the song.  It brings a lot of humor to our marriage. 😄

I started the above piece with soft pastels:

I like the texture it gives to the paper.

Next, I painted REAL leaves with acrylic paint and pressed them into cold press watercolor paper:

I tried to add a variety of colors and leaf shapes.

After it dried, I added my first layer of watercolor:

I like the added texture that the soft pastels have added to the piece but it may be difficult for you to see it.

I will add many more layers of watercolor paint and finish it with a black pen. Much like these previous experiments that you can find here.   I also have them listed in the category of Leaf Printing on the right.

Happy Creating!  🍂😄🍁

Leave It To Me – Part 2

Yesterday, I showed you one of my leaf experiments.  Today I will show you another one in different colors and leaves.

Here is the beginning:

I really love the colors in this one!

So I didn’t add too many layers to it:

Outlining with a black pen really adds to it, don’t you think?

It reminds me of crunching through a pile of leaves on a fall day.

I like this saying by Albert Camus:                                                                        Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Happy Fall, Yee all!  🙂

Leave It To Me – Part 1

I love fall and the leaves changing colors!  This has inspired me to do some experimental leaf printing.

In some ways, my finished piece looks a little like a map:

I started by painting leaves from my yard with acrylic paint and then stamping them onto cold press 140 lb watercolor paper.  I then added some wax pastel crayons to the printed leaves and a little watercolor paint to my paper:

I liked how this looks but wanted to add definition with a black pen – I used a Zig Writer 0.5 mm ink pen for outlining:

I then added another layer of watercolor:

And finished it by outlining the color changes with my black pen.

The colors feel like summer as it starts to change to fall.

Would love to know what you think!

Happy Creating!  🙂

Peacock Feathers

The colors in this leaf print remind me of peacock feathers:

I printed my leaves with acrylic paints.  I then decided to experiment and combine watercolor, crayon resist and water soluble markers.

I would not have thought of combining these techniques if I had not taken Carla Sonheim’s FREE Art classes for Kids!

I started playing and had so much fun!

I have found a new way to create papers for my collages!

I just love the bright colors!

I also had to make a bird!

Happy Creating!  🙂