Recycle

Another quick recap if you just landed on this page. This blog is (currently) assigned to a project inspired by the book, 365: A Daily Creativity Journal. Mostly my daily postings are of my attempts to alter the book, from a commercial, prompt journal to an experimental art journal. It’s where I try out new materials and supplies and where I make mistakes. It’s not pretty. Sometimes, my creative endeavors take place away from the book so I post them instead. Today I made bread… but that doesn’t count, does it?

I’m not sure whether this is just a background or if I will leave it as is. It is a simple torn collage of printouts of old journal pages. I’ll let it dry and see. I often print out previous pages and tear them into strips for borders or cut out an element that I know will be just perfect for a new page. Using your own artwork like this is much better than using other people’s. I’ve never seen the appeal of purchasing commercial collage sheets, although I do have some in my stash of papers that were included in kits that I bought a few years ago. Kits… why? It’s so much more fun to build your own treasure trove of resources.

Here, there are scans of collages, watercolors, rubber stamps, drawings by my daughter, buttons and journal entries.

Reinventing Myself Every Day

I managed to finish (they are never really finished) the journal page that was started yesterday. Pages were gessoed, then an acrylic glaze applied. There was some transparency, which I like because the original text and printing shows through. I like altering books but I also like their original character to show through now and then – it’s not an exercise in obliteration. Then collage, using one of my girl portraits and fabric paper. Rubber stamp alpha and text added in markers and pen. A little wax crayon to lift the borders. Done.

If you are interested in the colored Zentangles I did, I also made this Squidoo page today: Zentangle With Color