Rust dyeing

In readiness for the next Wanderlust lesson tomorrow, we have been asked to prepare some rust dyed papers.  I have seen this done by others, but have never tried it myself, so it gave me the opportunity to try it.  I used some book pages and other paper scraps, some with gesso, some not.  I sprayed the various metal bits and pieces with white vinegar, covered them and left them, making sure to check them after a few hours.  If they looked dry, I gave them another spray.

The next morning, the papers were dry, so I took the metal bits off and was pleased with the results.

I have some interesting patterns left by the rust and it worked on both the gesso and non-gesso pages.  Now to find out what we are going to do with them...

Wanderlust 2023 - Weeks One to Eight

This is my third year taking part in the year long art journaling course that is Wanderlust. This year's  course continues the focus on different media, starting with pastels.  There is always an introduction to the media and then an exploratory page.  We thought about a word (in my case, two words) for the year and then played with soft pastels, pastel crayons, watersoluble crayons, and oil pastels.

Week two was my absolute favourite and I really loved creating this abstract landscape, using soft pastels, white gesso and clear gesso. I hadn't really used pastels much, partly because they are a bit on the messy side and also because they have to be fixed.   However, as this technique used gesso to fix the pastel as I went along, I began to really enjoy the way the pastel worked and the effects that could be created.  

We then used baby oil with soft pastel to create a paint.  Soft pastel is a stick of pigment with very little binder, so adding a binder changed the pigment to 'paint'.  Using pastels like this gave a thick, bold line.  We also used pastel to paint in flowers which gave a delicate effect and dripped gesso over the pastel/oil mix, which resisted the gesso and again gave a different effect.

Using watersoluble crayons to create flowers was the following week's page. We cut out a window and then on the other side... 

...we created a night sky in acrylics with lots of splatters.

Colouring photographs was the next lesson, then setting the pastel with a mix of glue and water.  The photos did have that hand coloured look, although using a sponge to add the pastel meant I couldn't be that detailed.  These are all photos of my Granny's family.  The words I added were from The Secret Garden and seemed really appropriate for the different family members.

I enjoyed the process for this page, layering up over pastels and adding gesso.  

Abstract flowers over a pastel layered background was the focus for the final lesson using pastels.  My abstract flowers didn't look how I wanted them so I added collage over the top, which I was happier with.  Working with pastels has been a really good learning experience and I will use the techniques again.  I am sure I will revisit the abstract landscape from week two. 

Week eight was the start of a series called Artful Musings, where an artist discussed their inspiration. This artist talked about how they look to nature and so I created a page which said Winter into Spring to me and added in a quote about courage.  Snowdrops always have resilience so that created the focus.

On to the next seven weeks - all about pencils.   
 

Wanderlust 2022 - weeks twenty-nine to thirty-five - Watercolours

I have absolutely loved learning all about watercolours.  I had used them before but until last year's Wanderlust, I had never really felt confident with them.  We have used them with gesso, as in the page above.

We have used them with salt and isopropyl alcohol, to create watery effects.

On week 31, we used them through stencils and created collage papers, layering them on tissue paper.

Week 32 was all about abstract florals and using the paintbrush to do the work for you.  I was meant to stick to just one leaf shape but I got carried away making different leaves and I wanted them all in there!

This was an extra page using some of our practise florals and leaves.  I have since bought a book on abstract florals and shall work my way through it.

My best portrait so far, using just two colours of paint and layering the colours, letting the layers dry before continuing.  We drew the features with a black watercolour pencil, which couldn't be erased if we went wrong.  I was really thrilled with how this turned out.  

Week 34 was capturing shapes and colours on a walk, or in my case, in the garden.  This top flap includes photos from the garden and some leaf gel plate prints...

...and here's the page underneath, capturing the shapes of the bricks and various leaf and flower shapes.

Finally (and I am really sorry to have finished watercolours, although I will continue to explore them and what they can do) was this collage explosion of colourful flowers, using doodled flowers copied from books, random abstract rose-type flowers, lilac-type flowers and imaginary ones too, leaves and berries and a few stamped elements.  I found this process such a relaxing and joyful one.    

We now move on to inks and I am sure there will be lots more experimenting! 

I have signed up to Wanderlust 2023 as I felt I wanted to continue my artistic journey and with the way things are going, I may well need that creative boost even more. I hope you'll enjoy coming along with me.

Wanderlust 2022 - weeks one to seven - Gesso and Gel medium

I have been thoroughly enjoying Wanderlust 2022 - the mixed media art journaling course.  This is my second year and the format is a little different this time.  The course is split into seven-week blocks and each block explores different media. The first block was about gesso and gel medium.

Week one began with an overview of the media and then a project using clear gesso and a photograph.  

Week Two was using gesso and seedheads, stems etc. as brushes.  It is supposed to be a view of poplar trees out of the window, but Chris thought it looked like a battlefield.

Week three was using gel medium through a stencil as a resist and then colouring around it with water soluble crayons to reveal the word. I had more success using water based Distress ink.

Week four was using gesso through a stencil, applying it thickly and marking into it, using it to cover materials such as lace and cardboard, stamping into it and mixing it with small amounts of colour.  There was a lot of layering involved!

For the fifth week, we used white and black gesso in thin layers. I cut the eyes out of magazines and decided to give only one figure a mouth.  This piece has a meaning to me as it represents how women have not had much of a voice throughout history.

The sixth week was about using coloured gesso in light layers.  I didn't have any coloured gesso, so made my own using a tiny bit of acrylic paint mixed in.  There was also stencilling and mark making in the gesso.

The final week of this first block was about using charcoal and gesso. Charcoal is not something I use very much, so it was good to be pushed out of my comfort zone.   It involved sketching flowerheads with charcoal and using gesso to blend areas, as well as scraping charcoal onto a page and blending with water.

I really enjoyed finding out what gesso and gel medium could do, learning new-to-me techniques along the way.  Roll on the next block - image transfer and modelling paste/texture paste. 

Wanderlust 2021 - weeks twenty-five to twenty-eight - Boundaries

Wanderlust continues, with more challenges.  Week 25 was about reviewing how far we have come and what was holding us back. It was a monochrome page which I really enjoyed putting together.  My boundaries were 'enjoy the process' because sometimes I worry too much about how the finished thing will look rather than concentrating on the process to make it, which is much more important. The other one is 'perfection in imperfection' again to remind me that the end project is not the most important thing.

Week 26 was all about watercolours.  I did feel a bit anxious about this as my watercolours in the past have not been successful.  However, the lesson was very clear and I actually really enjoyed trying to paint six versions of an iris.  Using a watery, loose style really appeals to me and the teacher said she thought I had a knack for it, so that was really encouraging.  I haven't tried to paint anything else in this style, but the thought of trying a poppy is in my head.

Week 27 was about mixing four media which would not normally be used together. These were watercolours, gesso, soft pastels and oil pastels.  It was a game where we wrote the media onto little cards then picked one to see which layer would be next. It was an enjoyable way to make a background. 

Week 28 was really exciting to me,   I have recently rediscovered my distress inks and this week was all about using them to make a tag book with different edges on each page.  I created a background page for the tag book to live on.

Here's the tag book.

I used lots of stencils and had so much fun.  It took me all afternoon, but I was pleased with the end result.

I really enjoyed the process though - more than the end product.  It's beginning to sink in!

Wanderlust 2021- weeks twenty-one to twenty-four - Poems and Quotes

Wanderlust has been challenging me again over this four weeks, but I have really enjoyed the poems and quotes theme.  We had to go for a walk or sit in the garden and be aware of sounds, sights etc.  The object was to write a poem and make an envelope for it on the page. The poem is featured above.

This is the front of the poem card.  I made the envelope from a masterboard of scraps, which I scanned into the computer and printed out.

Week 22 was one I really enjoyed. I learned a new technique of brayering gesso over the background which gave a 'old wallpaper' vintage look and which toned down the colours.  The poem I chose was 'Aedh wishes for the cloths of heaven' by W. B. Yeats.

Week 23 was about creating a poem from found text.  I used a Hammond Innes novel (The Trojan Horse), which has (surprisingly) been incredibly useful throughout this course, along with some magazine cut outs. I wanted to have a page with both cool and warm colours, so made two poems.  The background for these was so enjoyable to make.

Week 24 was illustrating a quote.  I wanted to create a pretty pastel page for this.  However, initially, I used Distress Oxide sprays, which created a muddy background (my fault for the choice of colours).  Not what I wanted.  I used acrylic paints in the hope of retrieving the colour.  That looked even worse!  Then I remembered the gesso technique from week 22, so did that and success, the page was saved!  After that, it came together pretty quickly and I am pleased with the end result.

Boundaries is the next theme. 

Wanderlust 2021 - weeks seventeen to twenty - Recycling

Week seventeen was using a magazine image and keeping the pages around it, cutting them away to reveal the image, adding gesso, other images and colour.  I wasn't sure about this one and I'm still not. The original image is the jewellery piece.

Week eighteen had us looking in our stash for napkins, magazines, tissue paper, old books.  I was quite pleased with how this one ended up - judicious amounts of gesso in the background and shadowing the main images with black watercolour pencil to make them pop more. 

Week nineteen encouraged us to raid the recycling box for junk mail.  I used pizza leaflets, a politicial card, and the inside of security envelopes.  This is how it started...

...and this is where it ended up.  I used new stencils, outlining in black and white and some stamping too.  If you look closely, you can just see the security envelope patterns in some places.

Week twenty was about recycling material.  I used material left from sewing projects, including making facemasks.  The focal point was a photocopy transfer onto material.  However, to do that successfully, you needed a laser print, which I didn't have, so had to think about alternatives. I came up with a gel plate transfer print.  I had done these before onto paper but not onto fabric.  I looked at a Youtube video and then had a go.  It took a few goes - too much paint, the fabric too wet, but eventually it worked - the material was just damp and I used a thin layer of paint on the gel plate.  The stamped words were from a Visible image stamp and I masked off the rest of the quote.

So, a few challenges for this topic.    We move on to 'Poems and Quotes' which sounds intriguing.

Exploring Mixed Media - Small Abstract Landscapes

Following on from my inspiration book, the second workshop by Laly Mille was about using the inspiration book and creating four small abstract landscape collages.  We were shown the process step by step and I took lots of notes so that I could remember what to do!  I cut the watercolour paper and backed it on cardboard to make the pieces easier to work with and then stalled.  

However, I decided one afternoon that I needed to get on with them.  I drew in the horizon line with a watersoluble black crayon and then smudged it with some matt medium. I began by making four bundles of collage pieces - the same one for each picture.  These were then stuck down on the four pieces and I was off!  I tried to make different shapes with the pieces. Once the collage pieces were in place, I had a cup of tea and a break. 

The collage pieces were a mix of paper scraps, tissue paper, printed papers and  gel press prints.  Once theses were dry, I could begin adding colour and texture.  I used texture paste, acrylic paint, white gesso and watercolour crayons.  

The finished pieces are more blue than the teal I had envisaged, but I used my inspiration pages to find contrasting colours and darker colours and I like the colour mixes.  I think I like the one on the bottom right best as it reminds me of standing stones, although they could also represent trees!  I haven't done anything like this before and I really enjoyed the whole process, once I actually got going. 

The third workshop was creating a mixed media canvas.  I haven't done this yet - I am thinking about it a lot though...