Hi all!
This is my first participation in Michelle Ward's very cool crusade challenges. It was actually due last month (oops!) but been fiddling around with this blog, so anyways here is my journal page result.

The challenge was to journal on the theme "Scent of the season".. choose a scent, christmas scent reminders, whatever comes to mind. I started off thinking of the pine tree smell of a christmas tree. and I really had planned to get a fresh one this year.. but ended up sticking with my artificial tree so that went by the wayside.

Another suggestion of Michelle's was to select a scent and wear it, have it in your home and embrace that as your scent of the season.. being in budget mode, I didnt buy a scent to embrace and my current ones werent grabbing me. But! I am in decluttering mode! And I had been hanging on to this lovely Kenzo fragrance bottle that I recently finished. I adore this purfume! So I took it's photo, happily honored it in my journal and then threw it away! yay I made art and got rid of something I didnt need.



Thanks for the challenge Michelle! By the way I have taken to noting fragrance much more in my journal. Smell of anti-mosquito spray while camping, the smell of mussels as I remove their shells (what a job!), spritzing honey room spray at a tourist shop... all good things.

Labels: Challenge, Journal-Pages

Hi all,
This is part two of my interpretation of the Own Art challenge. I have included full photos and instructions so YOU can have a go too!

In part one I started with my chosen subject of Wisteria vines and worked it into a sketch in my journal. I decided that I then wanted to try it represented as a textural sculptural piece.

Here is my result!:


My goals for this piece were to

1. Produce a 3dimensional representation inspired by my sketch and photos.
2. Work in a textural medium
3. Maintain a color washed effect

As I have reached these goals I am labeling this piece as complete in my mind however I ideas for further working it. More likely though, I will explore those ideas in another project.


Process:

1. First up I wrapped a block of wood in a piece of white tissue and baby muslin, hot gluing it securely to the back of the wood.

2. I then hot glued chunks of Floracraft Styrofoam onto the base in the general shape of my subject. This gave my piece height and stability for the detail to come.


3. Once the main shape was in place I started to cut into the foam to create more defined areas.


4. Using my sketch as a guide I continued to cut into the Styrofoam base with a scalpel and started adding a surface of Paperclay. Paperclay is an airdry clay that is receptive to detail. It dries fairly quickly so ideally it is best to start and finish this step in one go. If you need to leave your project during this step be sure to cover securely with plastic wrap to slow down the drying.

5. This photo shows the sculpture now covered in Paperclay and I am just working up the detail in shapes. My main emphasis here is to maintain the fluid motion of the shapes. Cutting lines into the background helped me visually differentiate between the background and forground as well as adding texture.


6. Once the Paperclay was dry I individually added small squares of baby muslin to the surface with Gel Medium. Using a pushing/dabbing motion with my paintbrush I could push the muslin into the cracks and creases. The baby muslin adds interesting texture and dimension to the piece as well as making the overall sculpture stronger. (much like a plaster cast! - and yes it does look like an archeological discovery!)

7. Using an old French dictionary I tore tiny pieces and used the gel medium to apply to the surfaces that would appear to be in shadow.

8. I then applied a coat of white gesso to the entire surface (going very light over the text) and allowed to dry. This is to even out some of the tones where the wood showed through and also give a good surface for applying color.

9. To add color to the piece I used the Derwent Watercolor pencils I had previously worked with in my sketch. Applying the pencil to the areas I wanted the most intensity of color then using my water brush to lightly bring subtle color the the highlight areas.

This was continued over the whole piece using a neutral color in the background.



Thankyou for following my process! I welcome your questions or comments and would love to see your Own Art results!

take care
~Kathleen

Labels: Altered-Arts-Magazine, Art, Challenge, Inspiration, Instruction, Journal-Pages

Hi all!
Clara put up a great challenge inspiring us to use our own drawing, words and images. Right up my alley! I am dividing my my contribution into two parts to show how I decided to explore this challenge... here goes!

Selecting a subject
Sometimes I find this the hardest part. I find if I look too hard I get overwhelmed with the options. Inspiration is as close as your front door, kitchen, library, family... close your eyes and see what comes to mind and don't second guess!

Here in New Zealand it is Spring and I am always inspired by the Wisteria vines that come out into bloom. It astounds me how their beauty is here for such a short time. To me they represent the onset of Spring and the hope of Summer, elegance in their drapey shapes, life in bees and perfume, and vibrancy and sheer surprise of their purple colour. While away recently I took some photos of these beautiful flowers and they became the source of this project.


Starting the sketch
The first thing I wanted to capture is the elegant flow of the flower shape. Wisteria has a very distinctive curve so using a grey fine tip pen I drew the main lines in first.


Next step in my sketch was to start adding detail. This is a working sketch where my main focus is to explore the shapes and patterns within the flower that can later be interpreted into a textural piece. I also added some colour.


To emphasise form, highlights and shape try observing the negitive space - that is, defining the space around the subject.


Further exploring the subject
As this is a study piece rather than a finished composition I picked out pieces of the flower that I felt were characteristic shape and detailed them to assist me when I come to do my textural piece.


Testing colour balance
Finally for this sketch I added more colour using Derwent Watercolor Pencils. Here I was experimenting with where I wanted to add the most depth of colour without losing detail. Note the tiny colour swatches on the left side are colour tests and also to use as a colour dip rather than applying pencil to areas I wanted to be kept very light.



So that was my process for working with my chosen subject. Stay tuned for Part Two where I will share how my sketch was then interpretted into a dimensional piece.

I would love to see your sketches, or if you have any questions - feel free to post in the comments!
~Kathleen

Labels: Altered-Arts-Magazine, Challenge, Inspiration, Instruction, Journal-Pages