Nature journaling......

I'm so excited because next March, Saturday the 22nd to be exact.....Roxanne Evans Stout will be coming to teach at the Woodburn Art Center here in Oregon.

I'm getting in the mind-set by stitching a beautiful, Tazo tea silk bag with a fall leaf in it, to a piece of my eco dyed paper, a layer of handmade paper and another layer of my dyed papers to make this.......

I'm not finished, yet, but these beautiful fall days are certainly inspiring me to try to capture the essence of the season!

Teaching and learning........

I'm teaching a journaling class with another woman.  She loves to write and I love to make art so we have teamed up, again.  We did something similar last fall.

  

So, the "other Jan" gets them thinking and writing about the events of their life, both, large and small and I'm showing them ways to express themselves by adding art to their stories.  In the photo above, we took pieces of a collage and rearranged them to demonstrate how each person has their own idea of how the piece fit together.


These were the pieces.....hopefully, I will be able to share the finished page with you next time.  The story that goes with these pieces is even better, it is about a flashy aunt who always had perfectly manicure red finger nails.  Do you have a story like that?  How would you express it in art and words?

 

 

Just because.......I have to share the latest Gelli prints!

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

I'll share my class story, as well, I remember a neighbor woman who every day sold produce in an out-door Farmer's Market in downtown Portland.  I don't know where the produce came from but she would load it in the trunk of her white Cadillac and drive off wearing a black dress that her slip ALWAYS hung below and her unkempt hair.

     

 

 

Funny, the things we remember.....that is why it is so much fun to write them down and one day your family and friends will treasure those stories.

My kind of weekend........

Yes, my kind of weekend because I got to stay home both days!  That may sound pretty boring to some but, for me, two solid uninterrupted days of playing with my paints and paper.....HEAVEN!

Saturday I accomplished so much, even I was surprised!

First, I gathered some flowers and leaves to do a little more eco dying before the frost hits......

 

 

 

 

then I cut some watercolor paper and boiled away.....here are some of the results.

 

The resulting colors and designs are always a surprise.  I love color and I have found marigold petals make an incredible yellow dye.  However, I may be getting a bit carried away. 

If, the weather and time permit, I hope to do another batch using only one leaf per page.







One of the other projects for the day involved cutting a stencil and making some more Geli prints, which is a form of mono printing using a gelatin-like, commercially made, 8x10 inch printing plate.

With the stencil, you can print the negative and the positive image.  I printed some over already printed surfaces and two that I will now print over. 

Then.....I made a journal page using one of my Geli printed pieces, a stamp I carved and some washi tape.  Like this!

Sunday was almost as productive......I'll share later.

More "geli".........

Still playing with my new toy, the Geli Printing Plate.

Pretty fun!  I've use commercial stencils and cut this one to experiment with, I think it saved the top print. I pretty much thought I had ruined what I had when I put down the dark blue-green but the white stencil on top added depth and interest.  It's a little difficult to know when to stop!

For the journaling class, I'm team teaching, we are going to write about home and how ours have influenced us over the years.  So, I've come up with some examples for the class.

 

 

 

 

The top journal page is really just pieces of paper cut to build a house and the bottom is a Geli print with some magazine pages cut up to add depth......and one of my favorite quotes. 

 

Follow me over to Carolyn Dube's October party of Geli prints!

 

I don't know but I may need some help with my addiction, soon!  Enjoy your weekend.

 

 



Look what I got.......

I gave in.......I thought it was cheaper (and it probably is) to make my own gelatin plate, but you know what......this is much easier.  It is ready when you are in the mood, or have a need for, some stylized printed paper. 

So, today I've played a bit....nothing spectacular but I get to use those crazy bright color combos I love so much!

Too much fun!  Great pages for journaling.

Sometimes a great notion!

 

This is when collage and/or journaling is fun.......you see a photo in a magazine, you love it!  You NEED to make art with it, but what do you do. 

 

First you trim it to size, then you glue it onto heavy paper.......then you wait!  The idea will come to you!  You wait!  You sleep, you eat, you clean.....then it happens.

 

The "ah-ha" moment......I'll glue an index card on the page for a journaling space (well, there was a door/window idea previous to that).  O.K., however, while searching for the place I last spied the index cards......I come across some old library cards and card holders!

 

Whoa Nellie!  That's it.  You glue the library card holder in just the right place, then you add the library card.  DULL!  BORING!  I know, I'll use the radish stamp I carved.  After all, there are radishes in the photo. 

 

H-m-m-m, looks weird with just the card holder stamped with the radish.  Oh, I know, get out a tag and stamp it, so it doesn't cover up the radish leaves.  Added some color with my colored pens.  Found a cool old canning label that reads "relish" in my stash and VIOLA!  DONE!  Plus, now, you have room to write on the back of the tag and both sides of the library card.

 

 
 
 

 

Sometimes it can be simple!  Sometimes not so much!