Falcon Travelers

It’s the little things – art jounal page

Monique

May 3, 2013

Just a quick post today, because the sun has been shining all day and I have been working in the garden. So I am now really sore and my arms are all scratched and bruised from the rozes I pruned. I’m also very tired, but a good tired for a change. I think I may even sleep well tonight.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a journal page with you today. Still practicing my faces, but I feel I’m now getting to a point where I can take it all to a canvas, we’ll see.

It’s a bit difficult to photograph this page, because I treated it with a glossy varnish. It looks great in person, but on a photo not so much. I took the photo’s outside, so the lighting is somewhat better compared to taking them in the house.
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Some booklets I made

Monique

3 comments

May 2, 2013

As I started blogging on lifejournal, some posts about booklets were posted there. I finally figured out how to import those posts to blogger, so I posted them here today. I back dated them as not to fill your RSS stream.

Not a lot of posts, realy, so I don’t know why it took me so long to get them over to blogger. Not all booklets I made were posted on lifejournal, so today I will post some of the other booklets I made.

Some of the books above can be found in the previous posts, while others have never been posted before.

All booklets are handbound and most are made from tea dyed paper.

Except the TP mini album, which, off course, is made from TP rolls. You can see the (considerable) size difference very well in this picture.

I also made some tiny pictures, 2″-2″, so too large to be an inchie and too small to be and ATC…

WOYWW 204

Monique

10 comments

May 1, 2013

I thought I’d join in on this funny wednesday workdesk share, what’s on your workdesk wednesday, as I love watching other peoples workdesks. It makes me feel as though I am not the only one with a really messy workdesk and I get to see some workdesks to aspire to achieve, all nice and clean =)

My workdesk, which I share with my daughter, Chelsea, is always rather full, even though I clean up every evening. Well, almost every evening. I’m afraid I didn’t clean up last night and the page I just finished is still on the table. As you can see I tend to confiscate my daughters workspace when she’s off doing her homework.

I sit where the green silicone cookie sheet is and my daughter sits at the long end where all the paper is stacked. She has a pink cookie sheet, but it isn’t even visible anymore…

More practice

Monique

12 comments

April 26, 2013

I love drawing faces, though I am a bit insecure when it comes to painting them. I really want to get past that and I realise the only way to that is to practice, practice practice. So that’s what I’ve been doing. That and watching youtube video’s of people drawing and painting faces.
It’s really fun to see how everyone aproaches painting and drawing faces in a different manner. There is not one set way to draw a face. Some start with ovals, some with ovals and circels for the cranium and others start by just drawing the eyes and building the face around them. There are those that take a real mathematical approach and those that just fly by the seats of their pant (that is a correct expression I hope). Any which way, they all get to where they want to be.

I love that. I think I’m going to try all the different methods (or non methods) out there.

So today, when working in my art journal I used the method, start with the eyes and build the face from that. Which actualy came about because I collaged an eye, I found in a magazine, onto the page.
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New beginnings

Monique

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April 24, 2013

So I have a new assignment for my creative therapy, which is to just draw what makes me happy and not analyse what I’m drawing. I find this to be very difficult. How do you shut down the part of your brain that thinks about what you are doing and just do…? So I thought I could at least go for the part where I just draw and paint what makes me happy.

Years and years ago, I made a drawing of a picture that was taken of me when I was 24. I love that picture and what it represents. I also loved the drawing. So much so, that I was afraid to paint over it, as was the initial plan. Somehow some coffee got spilled over it and I put it away. Never looked at it since. Now I decided I would make a copy of it and just for fun, play with it in my art journal. So I did.

I even remembered to take some pictures of building the page along the way.

a thousand faces – art journal page

Monique

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April 22, 2013

Last weekend was the Elf Fantasy Fair at castle Haarzuilens in the Netherlands. We went on saturday and even though I didn’t make any clothes this time, I was completely wiped out at the end of the day.
It was a wonderfull day with lots of sunshine and beautiful people and I got to use my iPhone case altered book for the first time.

My husband made a nice steampunk backpack, but forgot to take it with him. I’m glad I’m not the only one who keeps forgetting things. =)

Last night when the peace was restored at our house I could finally sit down and do some doodling. I doodled a face, trying not to use an example, but just by using guidelines for face drawing I found online. Oddly enough, when using those guidelines, I find myself drawing faces that I would draw when I was a teen. I tried to steer away from this a little, but decided to use it as is in my art journal instead. This way I can, hopefully, see some progress when I start drawing more faces and get more practice.

And, maybe, find the style that suits me and, in general, is more me.

Background

Monique

11 comments

April 18, 2013

Just a quick post today with my entry for the Simon says stamp and show challenge: background.
I had lots of fun doing this even though it didn’t seem to come together just the way I wanted.
I even did another spread in my journal, which I like, but somehow just doesn’t seem to be about the background. I guess, neither does this one, but I feel there is enough left of the background stamping to qualify =).

I started out with a page where I had tried my hand at image transfer using PVA glue over a gesso background. Not overly succesfull I might add. I had put the page aside because I didn’t know what to do with it.

Last night my daughter was playing with her art journal and mixed way to much pink paint, so I offered to use the left over paint in my book.

All that we see or seem – art journal page

Monique

2 comments

April 17, 2013

My inspiration for this journal page was the challenge at Simon says stamp and show: backgrounds. Well at least the start of this page, but then it got away from me and it became something completely different.

Which is ok, but I won’t be entering it in the challenge, since it was all about stamped backgrounds. I did however start off with a stamped background =), but I’m afraid this is not very visible anymore.

It actually started with a reddish background made with soft pastels. Over this I had dabbed red pearlescent acrylic paint over a stencil, a home made diamond pattern. I then stamped floral stamps over it with plum archival ink.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep…

Monique

12 comments

April 15, 2013

but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep…

This quote by Robert Frost was the last item I added to this art journal page. Which, funily enough, started out with me wanting to make a tree. From this lonesome tree on a page, a whole proces started, I love that about art journalling.

Before I started art journalling, when I wanted to make a painting, I needed a subject. Usually an example, a picture, something or other that I then would translate to the canvas. Now I can just come to the table, with either a thought, an idea or nothing at all and still express myself.

As I said, this page came about with me painting a tree. I painted the background black with acrylic paint and freehanded the tree with, fairly thick, brown acrylic paint. I overheated the tree, because, well, you gotta have bubbles.
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Drippage and texture – art journal pages

Monique

2 comments

April 13, 2013

I really love creating all kinds of texture in my art journalling. There is something soothing about a page you can feel as much as you can see it. I love taking my books and flip through them, sometimes just to feel the pages. I guess I’m a little peculiar that way.

Actually, I even think, next to making the pages, the flipping through the books is the biggest perk of having an art journal. I made many paintings over the years and I usualy create lots of texture in them. Don’t get me wrong, I love making them, but when they are done, they are done. You hang them somewhere and that’s it. Which is ok, they have their own merit, but for now I think I’ll stick to my art journals for a while.

Next to the tactile nature of art journals, I love that they are small, all different, open to experimentation and a great way to practice new techniques. I can just go in, do somthing when I feel inspired and move on when not. They are patient and there is no pressure. The beautiful thing is, I don’t even have to like what I did. There are no mistakes in art journalling.

It’s always nice though when something comes out that I do like.