Tattered Angels & Background Art Paper Part II

The next set of pages are from my art journal that I’ve been working on. Again I want everyone to see how incredible these projects work for creating your own background papers. This page is being created with techniques from a class, 30 Days in Your Journal, with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. After applying a light layer of gesso I sprayed the following colors ~  Purple Pansy, Piece of Heart, Juniper and Electric Blue Glimmer Mist and Calypso & Fairway Glimmer Chalkboard with a Crafters Workshop stencil that is becoming one of my favorites. More 7 Gypsies paper tape and a border stamp designed by Dyan Reaveley's for Dylusions  help to create this 2 page spread which will finish on my grandson’s, Shane, 8th birthday. Here are the results:

I'm so glad you stopped by...it is Friday which means that for the next 2 days I can create art whenever I want...only 40 more school days and I will be to do that all the time....yipee!

Have a great weekend ;)

Background Art Papers made with Tattered Angels

Spring has sprung and color is everywhere you look. When I'm asked what it is about Tattered Angels paint mediums that excites me it comes down COLOR. I don't see these products as an after thought to mist here and there but as a way to create beautiful background papers.  This post I will be sharing with you examples of how I see Tattered Angels products and its uses for creating your very own designer paper.

This project is a collection of background papers I created to make a journal for use in a class, Letter Love 101, with Joanne Sharpe. I think you will find how beautiful Tattered Angels works on 140lb. Watercolor Paper by Strathmore. Watercolor paper grabs the color and the interferences in each product. Now I can tell you that I used a total of 11 different Glimmer Mist paints and 8 different Glimmer Chalkboard paints to create these backgrounds with a variety of stencils from Crafters Workshop. These background pages measure 9"x12". Here you see them before they were cut apart to make the journal where I will practice my new Lettering skills.

Here are pictures of the front cover with the title that soon will be hand lettered on {I photoshopped the title so that you would get the idea of the look I will going for} and some of the pages in the journal. Using duct tape and 7 Gypsies paper tape I created this no sew journal.

Don't the colors just pop, so brilliant and fun. I just love how Tattered Angels paint mediums work on watercolor paper. You must try it. 

Now I must go because I have homework for this ATC class I'm taking with Catherine Matthews Scanlon over at My Creative Classroom...looking forward to doing these ATC's. I think there is still time to sign up to take it ;)


Thanks for stopping by!

My Second Floor Challenge...

Here is my project completed for the very 1st Challenge of the Second Floor challenge issued by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Nathalie Kalbach. The challenge was to create with gold paint...not hard for me because I had on hand the most fabulous acrylic paint by Eco Green Crafts in Pure Gold. I decided to take the piece that I had just finished that really pushed my envelope and use that as my base. For one moment I hesitated and thought that I wanted to make a color copy so I could play with the copy but then I remembered the challenge...take it to the SECOND FLOOR. So I hiked up my big girl panties and used the painting I had just finished{below}.

I first attempted to just let the paint drip down from the top but it didn't want to cooperate...1st fail. Then I grabbed some punchinella and started dabbing around...it was OK but not what I wanted in fact I would say...2nd fail. Not to be outdone by this challenge I continued to play around, add some more doodles, went back over the flowers with my black pen...added more white dots...more black dots and the final splashes of gold. It took a couple of days...I would get to a certain point and stop...coming back and looking...adding...going away...coming back...you know the routine. Finally I felt it was complete but the longer I looked at it I knew something was lacking...I ran the edges of the paper through the gold paint and liked how it edged the painting. Now I felt it was finished. 

Materials Used:

Eco Green Crafts Acrylic paint - Pure Gold

Faber-Castell, USA Pitt Artist Pen Black - various sizes

UniPosca White Pen - fine

Staedtler Watercolour Pencils

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints

Zig Painty - Gold

I realized that I needed to let this painting percolate in my mind and that it was ok to keep working on it until it felt right. I also realized that for this challenge I needed to reflect on what I had done. I'm really thrilled with my finished project and I really feel I took this to my Second Floor!

Hope you enjoyed and I would love to hear your thoughts on my painting...thanks for stopping by...

Time to get inky,

Martha

Taking THE SECOND FLOOR CHALLENGE...are you in?

Good Monday morn...I haven't even finished my 1st cup of coffee and I'm already excited about my creative future! Why? you ask...


This is the very first thing I read this morning and I'm so excited, on so many levels. Please go check out the announcement by Nathalie Kalbach & Julie Fei-Fan Balzer on their blogs...TAKE IT TO THE SECOND FLOOR CHALLENGE!


Sometimes when you have questions and you put them out in the universe the answer will come along...Nathalie & Julie not only framed this question for me but provided the opportunity to challenge     my questions...WOW!!! And the answer comes from 2 of my favorite artists. 


NATHALIE'S STUDIO http://nathaliesstudio.com/2012/03/12/take-it-to-the-second-floor/


BALZER DESIGNS    http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2012/03/to-the-second-floor.html

I've had this same conversation with several artist friends, especially Catherine Matthews Scanlon & Tracy Weinzapfel Burgos over the last month or so. We have been pushing each other to try new & different.

Here's what I worked on this weekend...something I've never done before...pushing my limits...climbing to the 2nd floor ;)

I'm so in! How about you?

Creating Art Everyday...{keeps me sane}

 Really, truly...I try to work on some type of creative endeavor every day...here is part of last weeks projects.

When I'm creating I'm also calming down from my workday and all the trivial distractions from the day. The more I create the more I want to create. I'm no longer waiting for the perfect time...give my 15 minutes to work and I'm a happy camper. Even straightening up my studio sparks a creative idea...of course I drop what I'm doing and follow that spark!


Have a great day...I'm off to do something creative...how about you? What's on your creative plate?

Letter Love 101 with Joanne Sharpe

I have really enjoyed taking Letter Love 101 with Joanne Sharpe. Joanne is someone that I've wanted to take a class with but never was able to be in the same place she was. What's funny is my most of my family and my beloved hometown is only 30 minutes from her. I had to wait until she offered this in an online format so Joanne...thank you very much! Here's a little bit of what I have created in the 3 journals we worked in...Letter Love Journal, Letter Loving Journal & Letter Loved Journal.

More to come...what do you think? I would love to hear...

Letter Love 101, Helmar, Dylusions & Faber-Castell = Art Journal Love

I have always been fascinated by typography so when the incredible Joanne Sharpe announced her online class,LETTER LOVE 101, I was one of the 1st to sign up. Now that the class has come to the end I can say it was one of the most informational and fun classes.I can also say that I really have had the opportunity to work with, in my humble opinion, one of the Helmar adhesives that doesn't get showcased as much as it should! Here is a link to a great chart explaining the different qualities and also videos demoing this product. HELMAR Professional ACID FREE Glue, with a neutral pH, dries clear and creates a FLEXIBLE bond. This is not the 1st time that I have used this PAPER to PAPER adhesive, designed for book binding, but it is the 1st time that I had the opportunity to use it on heavy 130 lb.watercolor paper and also used to adhere manilla tags to 130 lb.watercolor paper.  I highly suggest all mixed media artists consider using this in art journals along with all other paper arts.

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Let me show you several different ways that I used the Professional ACID FREE GLUE in my journals created for the Letter Love 101 class.

This is the cover of a handmade journal I made to hold several final projects. I used Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Paper, 130 lb. weight, to create the handpainted pages. After putting it together I wanted to label the front cover. This is some heavy paper and this would be the test to see if this adhesive worked as well as it had on regular weight cardstock.

The trick I discovered is to help the process along with a brayer and allow to sit overnight. That is where the magic happens...the bond becomes complete and you have what looks like 1 paper instead of 2 papers. Another fact that I've discovered is that it doesn't allow colors to bleed together...that in itself is a major selling point!

I wish you could see it close-up, since I have a torn edge you

can't really get the idea of the bond...it doesn't lift or curl.

Here is another example that I created so you could get a look at different weights of papers using this adhesive. This book I'm working in is the Strathmore Visual Journal/Mixed Media and the papers are 90 lb. weight. I've learned that sometimes it is better to glue 2 pages together to create strength so that is how I started off. I know it is hard to see but the painted pages are not the least bit wrinkled, in fact you would never know that they are 2 pages thick. I wanted to try a different weight so I adhered a manilla tag created using the new stamps from DYLUSIONS, designed by Dyan Reaveley for Ranger Ink & Stampers Anonymous. The tag alone consists of 3 different layers so with my adhesive I applied a thin coat, attached the tag and smoothed it with my brayer.

Here are the journal pages still in process but you will see again how incredible this adhesive works. No lifting away or curling of the edges!

I'm going to sound like a broken record but HELMAR Professional ACID FREE Glue needs to be in your glue arsenal. I highly recommend it!

I want to give a HUGE shout out to FABER-CASTELL, USA for the absolutely phenomenal  Pitt Artist Pen & Big Brush series. All hand journaling was done with these india ink pens in various sizes. It has become my pen of choice for art journals!

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any questions I would be more than glad to answer them.