Linda Sagastume Art

Lessons from a marigold

M A R I G O L D S

Gardening is one of my loves. Everything about watching flowers grow and the burst of color they bring to our world is amazing. Where I live the ecosystem is challenging, not to mention the deer and bunnies that stop by for a gourmet meal. They eat everything in sight so flower beds must be fenced off to protect the flowers and vegetables from intruders. It has taken me quite awhile to accept the challenges of gardening inherent in where I live. My perennial garden has had many failures…torch lilies, hyssop, paprika yarrow, pappy mallow cups, cone flowers, butterfly bush, hollyhocks and more. All varieties that were supposed to be either deer tolerant or able to grow in the Rocky Mountain Region. Well maybe that is true, but not in my neck of the woods! I have had to bob and weave, accept the elements here in the valley and make amends. Thus it brings me to the illustrious marigold. Not one of my favorite flowers, not very showy, sort of plain in my mind. Yet, they flourish in the pots on my deck. The deer don’t like them and the weather does not effect them much either. Marigolds continue to blossom after dead heading and bloom to their hearts content. They are reliable, tough little flowers, bringing forth a burst of happy color to a garden or a pot month after month.

As I contemplated these precious little gems it got me thinking about my art journey. How many times have I tried a new supply or technique hoping to discover the perfect expression? Too many to count! I have many art supplies that are practically brand new. They were interesting in the moment but I always find myself going back to what works, what I know, what I enjoy most…painting with acrylics. Just like the marigold, perfect for where I live, so are my acrylic paints. New colors emerge, yes, different subjects, of course, different themes, yes that too, but mostly I find myself using paint. Sometimes charcoal, pencils, or pastels, for mark making but all of the other items I have acquired through the years are not supplies that I reach for. As the gardening season winds down, my flower pot blossoms will have run their course just as the Russian Sage in my perennial garden. Not too fancy, yet these varieties are what you find growing around my house, merely tried and true. They are the ones that work and have success. And so it is with our art. Find what works for you, stick with it, hone your skill with it. A lot of beautiful work can be made with simple supplies. This is my take away from The Marigold in my garden, a constant companion for me, a flower that works with the elements of where I live…and it is simply, a delight. And my approach to art can be the same…stick with what works, and continue to hone my skill with painting, color mixing, value adjustments, and design. Simple, not really, but tried and true, most definitely. I love this lesson I learned from my marigolds and wanted to share it with you. Hopefully it gets you thinking or re-thinking how you approach making art.

So glad you stopped by my little corner of the world, thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

Handmade Art Journals

Here is a look at my art table when I am making art journals to sell in my etsy shop. It is quite an involved process… First I paint the pages on 140 lb. watercolor paper, each page is a unique expression of the way I paint. Then the pages are cut in half, and punched with a special tool, coiled with an O ring and spiral bound. I also curate a group of collage items, including French text from a book I bought in Paris, and Italian papers that I purchased in Florence. It is always nice to have some collage items ready to add to your journal and I have done a bit of leg work for you. Sharing collected treasures from my travels through Europe brings me great joy. At this point I am not sure when we will take the leap to travel again. So in the mean time please take a look in my shop. See if anything strikes your fancy and have fun with the curated group of papers and begin making art in a journal.

Curated Collage Papers

Here is a page inspired by leaves and the spiral binding is shown.

A page drawn by yours truly and included in one of my journals for sale..

Some pages have a very textured look!!

And my packaging includes a pottery button/bead..

Thank you for stopping by, if you have questions, please feel free to email at either of my contact addresses.

Link to my etsy boutique is under SHOP tab..

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.

Handmade Art Journal

FOR SALE in my ETSY boutique

Just click the link below and see all of the goodies in the inspiration pack, pictures of painted pages, lots of blank ones too, and all pages waiting for you to make your own. Made with so much love, even tied up nice and sweet with a handmade pottery bead.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/lindasagastumeart?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Make beautiful memories

s u m m e r i s a b e a u t i f u l s e a s o n

even though we find ourselves in difficult times

summer is a refreshing time of year

the outdoors are waiting

for YOU

gather up your art supplies

find a quiet spot to collect your thoughts

let your paintbrush flow and release your emotions onto the page

make some beautiful marks and memories..

your creative soul is beautful

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!