art journal pages

Student Art from The Secret Garden

As the snow falls and temperatures dip well below freezing in my neck of the woods, how about a gift of the garden to make you smile. Don’t get me wrong, winter is ok, but I treasure the beauty of a garden scene. Here is some lovely student work from my adult Secret Garden class I taught last fall, virtually at Bemis…enjoy!

We worked with acrylic paints and our inspiration came from Frances Burnett’s classic book, the Secret Garden. The techniques we explored included abstract expression, collage, silhouette, under painting, Marimekko design (stamping with veggies from around the kitchen), and a garden path.

Painted papers, including brown paper bags

One of my favorites…Graffiti Garden

Inspired by Marimeko Design

Acrylic paints and stamping

The classics will always be near and dear to my heart, especially The Secret Garden written many years ago. I have read the book to my children when they were little, seen the play at The Denver Center for Performing Arts and now have been celebrating the beautiful themes of the book by making art with adults and children. It is a heartwarming story about friendship and discovery…on many levels. The characters are ones you will remember for a long time and it is no wonder this book continues to be enjoyed by people of all ages today. If you have not read it, do yourself a favor and find it at the library, or perhaps a used copy at your favorite thrift shop or second hand bookstore. Losing yourself in the magic of this book with a hot cup of tea will be a delight…I promise!

The Secret Garden Art Journal

T H E S E C R E T G A R D E N

My cover page for The Secret Garden Art Journal class that I taught at Bemis Art School, this one was an adult art class. My students jumped right into making art, some were experienced artists, and others beginning their journey after a lapse of time, decades in some cases. It was delightful to see their curiosity, and willingness to engage with the art journaling process. I was honored to have an amazing array of women join me on this journey into making artful pages inspired by the classic book, The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett.

This two page spread is “Graffiti Garden”. Using black and white copies of art journal pages or any other black and white collage item we created the garden upon discovery by Mary Lennox. When the little robin lead her to the key, and she opened the wooden door to peek inside, the garden had been neglected. Dried twigs, and stems covered the garden landscape. This two page spread depicts the garden at this stage. The flowers are dormant and just beginning to bloom. Using black and white copies of art journal pages created interesting papers for collage and at times have a story all their own…only the artist knows for sure.

Painted papers for collage. This is a whimsical depiction of a garden, using simple shapes, hand painted papers, lots of white space, text, music, dress pattern tissue, and painted marks on Trader Joe bags. I loved using the TJ bags just because they are readily available, the simple white marks create texture, and I will always think of 2020 and the challenges we endured by using the paper bags. A familiar idea through quarantine times was using what we had and shopping for groceries to keep the pantry stocked.

Continuing the theme of using what is accessible, we stamped the left page with a kitchen item. First an underpainting using acrylics was done and additional marks. For stamping I used a red pepper and the end of an iceberg lettuce head in magenta paint. I drew the flowers with a black sharpie and then went over them with a white Posca pen. Autumn leaves found in the backyard were used for the second page. Once again, an underpainting, then laying the leaves on the page and spritzing with a bottle filled with paint and water. Finally an outline of the leaf shapes with a white Posca pen.

Abstract floral was the theme for this two page spread. I used a pastel painting by Debora Stewart featured in her book, Abstract Art, for our inspiration. This was a new color palette for me, burnt umber mixed with yellow for the darks, and I really enjoyed working with this palette. The orange accents really pop against the dark background. Thank you Debora Stewart for creating this beautiful image for us to use as inspiration in our art journals.

For the last two pages I created a silhouette technique and an acrylic painting entitled Through the Garden Gate. On the silhouette page a layer of acrylic underpainting, a neutral color paint layer around the silhouette and then written words reflecting on themes from The Secret Garden book. The technique used for Through the Garden Gate was watery acrylic paints, almost appearing like watercolors on the page. The best feature of acrylics is how vibrant the pigment remains when mixed with water.

This is my back journal cover inspired by the art from Marimekko design. I love the vibrant colors, simple shapes, and black line highlights. Adding marks with black and white pens in the negative space is a meditative process for me, almost like embroidery stitching or knitting. Drawing gold line accents over the back lines creates depth and interest.

Flipping through the pages of this art journal brings a smile and a sense of satisfaction. I loved the process of creating these pages while teaching others the techniques. Thankfully our zoom class was without any glitches, one never knows when using technology and so many others are on the internet simultaneously. Hopefully this provides a glimpse of art journaling and an understanding of how this creative process impacts the artful journey. Hope to see you in class one day and thanks for stopping by my blog.

Stamp it up!

Since March we have all faced numerous challenges and at one point everything was shut down to keep our communities safe. During that time I got to thinking about creative ways to make an art journal page with unusual items. I was making Swedish cabbage one evening and looked at the core of the cabbage..it was shaped like a star. Aha, that might make a great stamp. And quite honestly it did and this page happened as a result.

For my new class, The Secret Garden..an adult art journaling class I decided to incorporate this technique. For my demo page I used a red pepper and the end core of head of iceberg lettuce. It wasn’t as lovely as the cabbage core but it pushed me to figure out how to make it work. Here is a peek at the process. First I started with an underpainting of some favorite colors. Then, I stamped it up, and finally used marker pens to add details.

Posca pens are amazing! They make a nice line, no accidental blots that can happen with other brands of paint pens, smooth lines, and so far…lots of ink. I look forward to seeing my students work and how they decided to make their stamps from household items into beautiful blossoms! So far Zoom is working out fine, thanks to my administrative assistant and tech support from my daughter..it has been a huge life saver during this situation. Look around your kitchen and see what items might work for stamping. One of my students mentioned using a jalapeno pepper, great idea!

Mixed Media Pages.. the process..

Distress Inks, Acrylic Paints, Lyra Pencil, Stabilo, Brayer

Mixed Media Supplies

It is March of 2020 and the COVID virus is on the move and we are quarantined in the hopes of reducing the curve, stopping the spread, and keeping our fellow citizens protected. To ease the anxiety which is all around and channel my creativity I made some pages. Kellee Wynne, (click here to see her website) http://www.kellewynnestudios.com offered a free workshop, just what I needed at this time, and I hopped on board. As an instructor I am in creative mode constantly and right about now I wanted someone else to lead the way, get my creative juices flowing, and plan the steps. Basically I needed to be in a DO-the-process mode. Just DO IT as the Nike slogan goes. Here is how I proceeded. It is important that I give Kelle credit, because this step by step process was all hers. Of course with my own interpretation, which is how being an artist works.

Using the Gelli Plate is so much fun. If you don’t have one, you need one! There are recipes on how to make your own gelatin plate and they work very well. I purchased mine at my local hobby/craft store. Or you can order directly from the company here http://www.gelliarts.com This is a mighty nice website with tutorials on how to use the Gelli plate for printing and various supplies. Please take a look. This is the perfect time to hone skills and explore techniques.

Here are the prints I made with the Gelli plate. I used paper called deli wrap, yes it is the wrap used for sandwiches and is available at the big box stores. It is thin and works perfect for collage.

Copy paper works well on the Gelli plate too and here are those pages. To the left is my 400lb. watercolor paper. I had a large sheet on hand, folded it in half, tore it apart, then folded those sheets in half again and tore apart. For this process I vowed to only use what I had on hand, being creative with my supplies, making them work. My studio is full of paints, papers, and collections that I have amassed over the years. This year I am being diligent about using what is in my studio!

Layered page

The first step was painting the watercolor paper. I used a brayer, white gesso, mixed colors, and painted both sides. For color, I went with analogous and complementary, also colors that are my favorites, hues that work for me. After the pages were dry, I added collage elements with a brush and matte medium, stencils with acrylic paint. Liquitex matte medium is my go to, and Liquitex white gesso. These two products work very well. If you have other brands which are your favorites, those will work also.

Layered Page

For my pages I added snippets of papers that I had on hand, matching color and pattern by creative intuition. I love vintage sheet music and it appears throughout my process. Fortunately, one day I was at my local library and a retired concert pianist came in with a large bundle of music to donate. He had arthritis and was unable to play the piano anymore. It was a serendipitous moment and the librarian gave me the music for a song when she discovered that I was an instructor at The Bemis Art School. www.fac.coloradocollege.edu/bemis

Mixed media, acrylic paint, white gesso, collage, art journal page

Layered page

The layers of mixed media create interest. And there are no rules when it comes to this process. Sure, color theory will make a stronger statement. For example using analogous colors, or complementary colors, and pairing collage materials with those concepts in mind will be pleasing to the eye. But the bottom line is process, enjoying the process, being free with your materials, and applying what you like. When these pages are put together in an art journal, the result is a unique art piece. A “one-of-a-kind”, a “there-is-not-another-one-in-the-world”, an… ORIGINAL! Therein lies the beauty of this process.

Here is my workspace. Paints, distress ink pads, a brayer on a paper plate for a palate, snippets of paper, matte medium, gel pens, stabilo markers, stencils, even a cardboard toilet paper roll in case I want to stamp some circles on the paper. This is my studio, and how my world looks when I am working in mixed media…a jumble of this and that. And take a look at the brush I used with matte medium to collage, it tends to get gunky (is that a word?) after awhile.

Matte medium and brush

I had some Golden matte medium on hand and was using it up for this project. After trial and error, as I said before Liquitex matte medium is my preference for applying collage. Since I was down to the last drops, my brush was filled with medium, but it cleaned up easily.Painted watercolor paper with collage.

This is a unique time in our lives, unprecedented in many ways. I am hoping this post will give you some ideas for how to spend time creating and using supplies on hand. It is accessible, a great way to learn how to make prints for collage and papers for a hand-bound art journal. Once I make the finishing touches, I will show you my journals, they are still in process. I absolutely love making layered pages and art journals. I have a spiral bound journal in my etsy shop with a packet of lovely collage papers in case you are interested, see the link below. By the way, I neglect my Etsy shop so there are not a ton of sales, but those that have made a purchase have been very happy. Take care fellow creatives and please leave a comment. I would enjoy hearing from you!