Tag Archives: altered book

365 A Daily Creativity Journal – Day 41

Wild

In the spirit of ‘more is more’, this page has been layered with paper torn from an old atlas, bordered with black acrylic, shaded and tinted with Neocolor lls, stamped and stenciled, painted with more acrylic, doodled on with Faber-Castell Big Brush Artists’ Pens and corrector pen, collaged and a little more Neocolor lls scrubbed on. Phew!

 

365 A Daily Creativity Journal – Day 40

Fly

Two posts in one day – amazing. Only because I forgot to post yesterday’s after I scanned it.

This one used one of my ‘girls’. Printed her (not very well as printer running out of ink and left some stripes on her). Gessoed over her and reworked with Inktense crayons. Stamped, charcoaled, Tippexed and journaled. Done.

365 A Daily Creativity Journal – Day 39

Thinking (& Letting Go)

 

Yesterday I felt like writing. I woke up thinking about an unresolved family situation and, as I hate to let stuff like that get in my way and spoil my day, I often find it is best just to write it out, letting the thoughts flow and not trying to produce a perfect piece of writing. Simply getting the crap stuff out of my head and onto paper.

I’d already begun this portrait that was going horribly wrong. It started out as a pencil drawing with a touch of acrylic. I wanted to reinvigorate the surface for more drawing by covering it in clear gesso. Well, of course, the pencil was still dry and the gesso activated it and it turned into a texture almost like oils. So I just went with it and then gave it up as a bad job! I quite liked her poor sad face and she matched my mood, so I left her alone and wrote in her hair and all around. My writing is so small and spidery that I will never want to read it again… and that’s a good thing. I even added more writing on top with marker to mess it up some more.

 

365 A Daily Creativity Journal – Day 37 & 38

Zenspirations

Sandy Steen-Bartholomew mentioned in a recent blogpost that she’s become enamored by Zenspirations by Joanne Fink. I’ve seen this little book on Amazon and I think it’s going to find its way onto my already cluttered desk. At first glance it seems a little simplistic, but sometimes simple is very good.

On the previously painted background I just took a marker and Zendoodled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s page was created with an acrylic background, collage (fabric paper again), and doodles. I added charcoal for shading and drew over the bird that was already printed on the page. There’s room for more here.

365 A Daily Creativity Journal – Day 36

I Love Flowers

Page gessoed, painted with acrylics – semi mixed because I love the streaky look. Covered with craft tissue paper to add texture while wet. Stamped through some sequin waste/punchinella. Collaged on some pieces cut from previously made fabric paper. These were doodled on and stitched, then highlighted with oil pastel. The flower isn’t completely stuck down but has a 3-D look.  More oil pastel added around the border. Then I rubbed two stamp pads across the flower to grunge it down a little.Finally rubbed on some lovely gold powder I discovered in a drawer the other day.

I’ve done the same background on the opposite page ready for… I have no idea as yet!

Harry Catman has improved immensely – thank heavens and the Goddess of Cats.

365 A Daily Creativity Journal – Day 35

Get Well Soon, Harry Catman

No creativity happening here, none. One of our cats was hit by a car thee days ago. He’s going to be fine. He has a fractured pelvis and is obviously bruised and sore. He was wandering down the lane when it happened. A wonderful couple out walking their dogs found him and carried him home to us. Friday was awful as we had no idea if he would make it or not after we said goodbye to him at the vet’s.  We wrote prayers for him and lit a candle. At 6pm we were told he had no internal injuries and his bladder was intact. Hooray! We were able to bring him home the next day. He’s had to go back once as he finds urinating difficult but this morning he managed all by himself. His next appointment is tomorrow evening.

Our daughter drew this little picture a couple of years ago after Harry decided to move in with us. We had no choice in the matter. He spent 6 months establishing that he was going to be part of our family and was prepared to make the ultimate male sacrifice to do so. Unfortunately, he never got out of the habit of wandering off wherever. Our other three girl cats never leave the house and garden.

We love Harry Catman.

365 A Daily Creativity Journal – Day 33

Passion is the key to a good life.

It is, you know. When you feel enthused, inflamed, inspired, excited and passionate… about anything. Anything at all, whether it be another person, art or collecting thimbles. If it sets your heart beating and the blood racing, then you are feeling the life force pulsating through.

My girl doesn’t look too enthused, but inside she is burning with desire for the chocolate cake she has just spotted on the other side of the room. If she doesn’t get some very soon she is going to explode! Under that cook exterior throbs a deep desire for chocolate.

The page was created with reverse stenciling. Paint a background (or not) and let it dry. Cover with a coat of undiluted acrylic. Use two or more colours if you prefer. Lay down a stencil and simply dab through it with a babywipe to remove the paint and reveal the undercoat. I added clear gesso, drew straight on top with coloured pencil and collaged the dress and headdress.

 

365 A Daily Creativity Journal – Day 31 & 32

Simplicity in an Altered Book

Two more pages to show you. Really basic techniques. The first has a border created with acrylic paint and gold marker pen. It’s just a little ramble about the wonderful weather we’re having here in the UK right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second is more interesting. I laid down some torn strips of masking tape close together on a plastic surface and rubber stamped them all over with a single stamp in one colour. Then I laid the strips on to the journal page, leaving some space between them to add text. I made sure that the gaps were varied. Then I just journaled in the spaces with a marker pen. I wish I had prepped the page with some paint or ink first, instead of leaving it white. Never mind, there’s always another page.

 

365 A Daily Creativity Journal – Day 29

Paint Like a Little Child
I can’t believe it is only day 29! Only 337 to go (leap year).

Wanted to experiment using weird things to stamp acrylic paint on the page. I used packing peanuts, a door wedge, the lid of a cocoa tin and some kid’s alphabet stamps. Covered the page in a big mess and had to clean it up somehow so made a watery wash of yellow-green and sloshed it all over and let it dry. Added more paint doodles, marker doodles, correction pen doodles, words and Neocolor lls. Much fun was had and I don’t care what it looks like!