Open Your Mind

"Hope is heavy at times, and other times it becomes your wings and lifts you up. That's the thing about hope....sometimes you carry it and sometimes it carries you." Kristin Kory

I made a couple neutral master collage sheets this morning using pages from books and music. I used soft matte gel medium to glue everything down and as a top coat. This spatula works well spreading the glue and smoothing things out...and there's no brush to clean up!

I used old calendar pages as my substrate...and this particular bird happen to land on back of one of my cutoffs.

I layered up another Words of Encouragement tag....this time I used a piece of ripped fabric for the tie. The mastersheet cutoff is layered between Open Your Mind...and a found project.

The stripes are watercolored on artists tape...an experiment from a while ago. I think it makes a striking background for the tags.

Creativity Coach?

It's time to talk a little bit about Tuesday at the Table with Ida and Sally. (I love all the t's in that sentence!)  Working with these women around my table has been an absolute joy....and something I am willing to do with anyone who is interested. (And maybe we could even do it on Zoom.)

I've not always thought about myself as an artist....but I've been a teacher for as long as I can remember. I stumbled into my actual school teaching career by accident....but I grew into my art teaching quite naturally.  I've always enjoyed facilitating creativity and being a resource for anyone who showed interest. Paul recently thought I should call myself a "Creativity Coach"...and I  kind of like the sounds of that.  

Sports coaches don't necessarily have to be the best athletes...but they have to know enough to help inspire and turn their players into better athletes. Ted Lasso (have you seen that wonderful series?) didn't know anything about soccer....but he was a great coach. 

So maybe as a Creativity Coach...I don't have to be an accomplished artist...I just need to know enough to help my students uncover and tap into their own creativity....and facilitate and inspire art making.

My goal with Sally and Ida has been to facilitate the kind of art that they want to do but also introduce them to some new techniques and skills that might inspire them to widen their scope. I'm willing to try anything they're interested in....and chances are...I have most of what we might need.

I've also decided that anyone who takes a class with me will go home with as much supply and stash as they could possibly want...it's just part of the price of admission. So both Ida and Sally get to fill a bag anytime they come.   

This last Tuesday I offered up the idea of starting collage with a "masterboard"...or "mastersheet".....and both Ida and Sally gave it a try.  I describe what a masterboard is in this post: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2022/09/mastersheet.html

Ida collaged a neutral masterboard....then cut it up and worked on the individual pieces adding pops of color and layers with painted papers and even a grassy napkin.  They are all works in progress that she can continue to develop at home.

We talked about how using something like this circle cutout (from a road map) can unify a piece and help pull it all together.  Ida can choose whether she wants to use it or not because I sent it home with her.

Sally started with more color in her masterboard...and certain areas were a little stark. I showed her how she could use zinc white paint to softened some of the colors and lines and unify the piece. ...and she can decide if it still needs a little more.  Once she cuts this up...she can start adding layers and more pops of color and collage elements on the smaller pieces.

Using a viewfinder...I showed her how she could isolate parts she liked to cut out and develop further.  

 

We also talked about the magic of using tissue...both hand drawn and printed....as well as pretty napkins when you separate the layers.  They also help soften a piece and work as a veil as the background just fades away and the design looks like it was drawn or painted on. I use a lot of hand drawn swirls in my collage work.

I painted these white swirls on deli paper and worked them into this collage for Becky. I love painting swirls in gold. Sally used one in her masterboard.

Recently I've been hand doodling on art tissue with a permanent marker or paint pens...and even sending tissue through my printer.  If I want to be sure the image doesn't smear, I collage it upside down.

When I use words...like this alphabet I print it backwards so when I turn it upside you can actually read it right side up like in this piece.  No smearing...and it looks like it's written right on the piece.

  

To put a piece of art tissue through my printer I tape it to a piece of paper...making sure the tape is really secure.  I turned it upside down in my printer tray and just print as usual.  

Now these two images of this black and white photo can be used as an overlay in one of my collages.  

Here Sally used a few of my doodles in one of her collages and the colorful striped parts are commercial tissue that I had doodled on. 

I sent them both home with art tissue so they could doodle their own.  

Creativity Coach?  Yup...that's what I want to be when I grown up.

Scrappy Strips

Roseanne sent me a link to a video of a scrappy strip demo by Kari's Mixed Media Arts.  I was intrigued....so gave it a try. It's starts with a simple mastersheet using just straight strips.

My goal was to make something for the mandala page in my art journal....so I chose colors that would coordinate. And although I love random curves and cuts, I do like this straight edge approach.  

If you want the full instructions, I urge you to watch Kari's video.  She explains it so clearly.

The next step is to cut the sheet up into more strips in a variety of widths. They are useful for all kinds of things and could even be rearranged and stitched back together. Kari recommends using them on the edges of journal pages. Once you have the strips...you can embellish them further.   

I added a few things to one of the strips and stitched it onto the stubby page next to the mandala.  Trouble was....when I contorted the book to stitch it in...it slid down and was crooked. Oops! I should have secured it with glue first.  So to soften the mistake I kept adding....and adding.  In the end...there is way to much going on...too many polka dots and it lost it's edgy/strippy feel.  It ended up kind of a scrappy mess....but I'm embracing it.

I used a small offcut to stitch the quote from few days ago into the book. ... 

and I cut the page down to accommodate the tab.

I layered another strip underneath for the previous page....I do like ripping these journal pages down so they layer when the book is open. Right now the quote is just stitched on one side....I can't get the sewing machine that far into the fold to stitch the other side. I need to mull over what to do with the rest of the negative spaces....and I'll glue it down when I'm done. One scrappy step at a time!

This is the tab of the under page is the start to another blank spread.

One scrappy strip at a time! 

Now I just need a couple scrappy quotes!

Mastersheet Conclusion

"Now is a very good time to imagine who you want to be."  Flying Edna

I recently got all the mastersheet pieces from Becky, Brenda, and Tracie.  And just to remind you....we all made a collage....cut it up....and sent pieces to each other.  I wrote about the pieces I sent here: http://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2022/10/shared-art-postcards.html

I have to start with this this photo of Linda's wabi-sabi Stewartia tree....because the colors lead right into Becky's pieces.  I love everything about these leaves....especially the brown curling edges and that amazing wiggly green line.

Was I right?  Don't they look just like the Stewartia leaves?

Layers....and luscious fall colors.

Here's Becky's mastersheet. We could play I Spy!

Tracie sent two.....one cut from a mastersheet of her watercolor art and doodles....and the other from a Van Gogh collage.

Tracie's mastersheets.

Brenda's mastersheet had a woodland theme....and we all got a piece of it with our first initial. I don't have a photo of her mastersheet.  

We don't know what's next yet....but we do know there will be a "next."  Shared art is good for us all.

I'm not sure I'll share a photo everyday of my drying sumac leaves....but I am keeping a close eye on them.  It seems the colors are intensifying.....and it makes me just giddy.  I hope you're watching something that makes you giddy.

The yellow leaf, by the way...is pressed.

Shared Art Postcards

Happy October!  My favorite month!

Here are all of my mastersheet shared art postcards. I haven't heard if anyone has received theirs yet....so they may be getting a little preview. The lower right one is mine....and it wasn't quite finished when I took this photo but I wanted to get the others in the mail earlier this week.  I posted my finished postcard yesterday. 

This is the one I sent to Becky.  She and I share a little history with Geninne Zlatkis, the artist who painted this bird.  And the little tiny colored circles are actually from one of Becky's coloring pages she gave me when I was visiting a few years ago.  

Becky's coloring sheet.

This is Tracie's.  I probably took the "robin" theme a little too literally....the sheet music was Irving Berlin's "When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bobbin Along." And I had to get a pop of purple in there....it's the color most celebrated in Tracie's household. The "definitely not perfect" on the left is her handwriting from a note she sent me with one of her art pieces and the brown scallops are from  Hallmark bag.  Yes, I save everything!

And this is Brenda's.  I ended up being quite fond of the geometrics of this one.  Most of the orange cutouts are from a calendar by an artist I admire...Susan Black. Brenda's got a little bird too....one of the black and white ones from Connie's calendar. 

Since I turned them into postcards....I was wondering how I would deal with the back. Rather than add another layer of paper....I painted a layer of gesso on the back and created large labels.  We'll see how they do in the mail. 

I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with....I'm expecting them all sometime next week. So stay tuned....and I wonder what's next!