LAST PAGE IN MY JOURNAL OF COLLAGES

Does this look like it could be a Christmas card?  Well…that was the intention but after I finished it, I felt that it was a little too weird to send to friends and family. After all...a card is a gift and as such shouldn't it be something for the recipient to enjoy and therefore, be a reflection of their tastes and not necessarily mine? Maybe if I change out the crown for a wreath of holly and berries.  Anyway, just a thought and maybe I will modify it for next year.

Finished collage

Now...on to making the cover for the journal and it will finally be complete.  (Only several years in the making.)  The cover will be fabric with a transfer of one of the collage pages and maybe some quilting. That will be a post for another time.

Thanks for stopping by and until next time….

Hugs,
Ginny

IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT…CHANGE IT...

Does this ever happen to you?  

You start a collage and don't finish it because you know something is not right.  

You wait for inspiration to come but it never does.  

Then finally inspiration strikes…only to take you in a completely 

different direction! 

I started the page below over a year ago and didn't complete it because the 

colors and composition just didn't "speak to me."  

I love bright colors...it's no wonder that the neutral tones just seemed blah!  

Also, I felt that the composition was boring because the oriental people 

are too much the same size…it needs a large focal point to add interest.  

Soooo…it demanded a "do over."

Soooo...out come the bits and pieces of collage material and before I know it…

I have completely transformed the boring collage!

Finished collage with added pen work.

 

transformed collage prior to pen work

That's all for now folks!  Thanks for joining me and until next time…

Hugs,
Ginny

ONLY IN DARKNESS CAN YOU SEE THE STARS.

This is one of my favorite collages.  I think that it is because of the dark background.  It's bold…it's rich…and it demands your attention.  I just love contrast!  Don't you?

Here is a tip that I would like to share:

The white lettering is done using a UniBall Signo UM-153 pen which is a water soluble gel ink that sometimes rubs off the page through handling with damp fingers.  Has this happened to you?  If it has a great solution is to use Tim Holtz Distress Glaze.  Distress glaze is a water resistant sealer that is for use with distress inks, markers, stains, watercolor and other water reactive paints.  It has a greasy/wax like consistency that you rub over the painted surface using your finger and buff when dry.  Thus...making the surface water resistant.  I love this stuff!  It is a bit pricey for a little 1 oz. jar but I have used it on everything and hardly put a dent in it.  It should last a long time.

Those of you who are fans of Teesha Moore's work will recognize bits from her collage sheets.  The face is borrowed from my own art work.

THE FINISHED COLLAGE

COLLAGE PRIOR TO PEN WORK

Well, that's all for now…

Until next time…

Hugs,
Ginny

EVERYTHING CHANGES

"Everything changes when you start to emit your own frequency rather than

 absorbing the frequencies around you, when you start imprinting your intent 

on the universe rather than receiving an imprint from existence."

I will be posting over the next few days several collages that I finished many months ago and for some reason just didn't get around to posting.  Maybe life got in the way or maybe it is because I have moved onto another art medium. Whatever the reason…I am going post them now and close the book on collage making for a while as I pursue other art forms.  So stay tuned for some new and fun things.

THE FINISHED COLLAGE

COLLAGE PRIOR TO PEN WORK

THAT'S IT FOR NOW FOLKS!

Until next time….

Hugs,
Ginny

WHATEVER YOU ARE..BE A GOOD ONE.

"Whatever you are…be a good one."

Sorry….I have been "MIA" for a while and I have lots to share with you all.  

First, I have been finishing up my "Teesha style collage journal."  Which is taking FOREVER!  I think that I have been struggling with it because my interests have changed.  I have been exploring different medias such as watercolor and acrylic abstract.  Never, ever would I have dreamed that I would be interested in abstract painting…well, I am here to tell you that I have a 36" square canvas hanging over my fireplace just waiting for me to add more layers of paint and to call it finished.

I sometimes wish that I was an artist that concentrated on one media and style but I want to do it all!!!  Watercolor, acrylic paints, inks, crayons, pencil, abstract, collage, whimsical, portraits…all of it!  

Second, I have been busy taking Danielle Donaldson's "All Creatures Lovely And Small" on-line watercolor class and fell in love with watercolor again!  I have her book "Creative Girl, Mixed Media Techniques For An Artful Life" but Wow...her video's are so jam packed with techniques and tips that I somehow didn't pick up from the book.  Don't get me wrong….the book is fantastic and I would recommend anyone interested in painting like Danielle to add it to their library but also think about taking one of her classes because seeing how she actually paints her girls and little animals will get you painting in no time!  More about this fantastic teacher and her class in a future post.

Now…on to "Swamp Girl."  lol.  Those of you who have ever ordered anything from Teesha Moore will recognize the donut packing tape (or something similar) at the top of the page…I save everything for future use!  Also, there are a few pieces of her collage papers here and there.  And…of course, swamp girl needed a few "worm" doodles dripping down the page to make it complete. 

Finished collage

This is the collage prior to the pen work.  I hope you can see that it really didn't take a whole lot of pen work to change it up.

collage prior to pen work

Until next time…..

Hugs,
Ginny

BEAUTY IS NOT IN THE FACE...

"Beauty is not in the face…beauty is light in the heart."

Every now and then I get super inspired and race to finish the collage….
forgetting to take photos of the collage before the pen work.  
Yup!  That's what happened to this one!  
No before photo.  Sorry!

Enjoy….and until next time…

Hugs,
Ginny

FORGET NOT THAT THE EARTH DELIGHTS...

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet 

and the winds long to play with your hair."

Wow!  It's been a while since I posted.  I have been going through a kitchen renovation, including new floors in my great room…a complete gut job!  I have to tell you…I think that it has been the most stressful thing that I have ever gone through in my whole life!  Why?  I think that it is because as an artist I see every little thing that is out of kilter.  The electrical outlets didn't line up, the appliances were not installed correctly, the cabinets according to the granite installers were not level and therefore, the granite countertops did not square up with the cabinet and so on and so on.  I even made the granite installers come back and lower one end of the countertop to be parallel with the cabinet drawers.  They may have made them level but they did not take into consideration how all the combined elements can trick the eye and make things appear as they are not.  It actually looked like the granite curved up at the end.  I know that I am a perfectionist and that I have a tendency to expect the same from others but…Hey!…who has to live with this and see it every day?  ME!  

All that said and done,  I owe a lot to my kitchen contractor…he and his staff came to my rescue on more than one occasion.  I think that he tried to warn me in the beginning when he said "have patience" and I tried to warn him when I told him that I will drive him crazy because I am a detail person.  lol!

I will post before and after pictures once I have the backsplash installed.  It really is stunning!

I wish that I could say that making art de-stressed me but to be honest, I couldn't concentrate on my art when so much was happening with my house.  I didn't so much as pick up a pencil and doodle but here is a collage that I completed before the reno started: 

Finished collage

Collage prior to mark making

Until next time….

Hugs.
Ginny

LOOK NOT TOO FAR AFIELD….

"Look not too far afield…the answers lie within"

Now, I couldn't just leave the baseball cards in their original context…could I???  I have a rule that I have to touch the pen to every piece of collage and change it in some way.  It may be to add dots or shading or to change it entirely.  I thought that the little martian heads were a nice touch.  What do you think?

Finished collage

Collage prior to mark making

Until next time…

Hugs,
Ginny

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO FLY….

"If you really want to fly, you need to 

let go of the things that weigh you down."

This collage started with images borrowed from two of my original paintings; the girls face and a shirt borrowed from "Frida"….a page from my journal of famous woman.  I hoped to challenge myself by using materials from sources other than magazines and collage sheets by others….and did I say that I wanted to challenge myself?  This was definitely a challenge!  I was not inspired in any way by the grouping of collage pieces but as I added paint and Prismacolor pencil, it began to reveal its character.

This collage taught me that you can change the color of practically anything to enhance its presence and to balance the composition.

finished collage

Collage prior to mark making.

I hope that this inspires you to try using some of your art work in your collage pieces.

Until next time…

Hugs,
Ginny

RECYCLED ART

If you are always trying to be normal, 

you may never know how amazing you are.

Maya Angelou

I should recycle my art more.  It makes for a good jumping off point for the start of a new collage.  In this case, I used one of my ATC"s.  I scanned it, enlarged the size, printed it and then glued it to the middle of my page.  Although, I changed the original a lot…that's just how the process works…it was the push that got me started toward something different.

Here is the original ATC before the changes.

Until next time….

Hugs,
Ginny

WINDMILL GIRL COLLAGE

If you need that extra push to finish your art pieces and in my case to also clean my house…invite several of your creative friends over to make art!  Encourage them to bring whatever they would like to work on and enjoy an afternoon of coffee, tea, good conversation and creativeness!

We started our group, "Thursday Art Friends," about 2 1/2 years ago when one of my yoga buddies mentioned that she used to make cards with her sister and really misses it.  Another one of my friends mentioned that she would like to learn how to collage like I do.  Wa..la a group was born!  Now we are eight strong, meet weekly and work on whatever our creative spirits move us to work on and there are no rules.  Some of us paint, some do collage, one beads and another knits.  We also started our own FaceBook Group to keep in touch with each other, to share our work and ideas or anything that we think might be of interest to the other members.

I think the other members would agree that this group has bonded eight wonderfully creative spirited ladies who value the presence of each other in their lives…hence, we often call the group "Art Therapy."  Sometimes we work on art and sometimes we just come to spill angst or to just listen.  Whatever, we chose to do…it fills our soul!

In case that wasn't enough…I started another group that meets every Sunday. This group is made up of three of my friends who wanted to learn how to make collage. They are all beginners to most art forms and the tools involved…a real challenge to teach but they are making amazing journal pages despite my lack of teaching skills.  I am sooooo proud of them!

Hopefully, the time spent with these two groups will result in more finished collages.  Here is a finished collage that I hesitated to post because I was debating on whether it needed a quote added.  After studying it for days, I decided that it would take away or cover up the striped background pattern which I feel is integral to the color pallet of the overall picture.  I may change my mind later. Who knows?

Are you thinking of starting an "Art Group" yet?  Until next time….

Hugs,
Ginny

COLLAGE - FEAR & LOVE

FEAR AND LOVE:  "there are two basic motivating forces: fear and love.  

When we are afraid, we pull back from life.  When we are in love, 

we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.  

We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections.  

If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to 

love others or our potential to create.  Evolution and all hopes 

for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision 

of people who embrace life."   

John Lennon

It's been several months since I worked in my "Teesha Moore" style journal and I hadn't realized how much I missed it until I picked it up again.  I have been working on other art pieces; pen and ink sketches, watercolor, fabric journal covers but nothing gives me the joy and satisfaction that creating funky…even strange like collage pages in my "Teesha" style journal.

Here is my latest creation using a few sketches (the flagmen) from my grandfather's journal when he was a Merchant Marine.  Way back when!  (Im not exactly sure of the date but at least 70 years ago.)  I never knew my grandfather, as he died before I was born... but it makes my heart swell to see our art share the same page.  

Until next time…..

Hugs

Ginny

MORE TOTEMS

This is another Totem created with collage and a rubber stamp that I made by carving a rubber eraser.  Simple, simple, simple!!!  After the collage was glued into place, there was very little embellishing that needed to be done.  Just a little shading here and there to create depth and the addition of a few doodles to create interest.  Ta-dah!!!  A totem is born!!!

The following picture is the collage sans shading and doodles.  Like I said…simple, simple, simple!

Collage prior to shading and doodles

Carved rubber stamp

Until next time….

Huggs,
Ginny

TOTEMS

totem |ˈtōtəm|
nouna natural object or animal believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance and adopted by it as an emblem._____________________________________________________________________

Funny, how someone can plant a seed in your head and it grows into something that you had never imagined.  In this case it grew from something scary into something beautiful and not scary at all. You see….I always though that totems were kind of scary…something that I would imagine to be present in nightmares. (They never appeared in any of my nightmares but anyway…)  Animals and faces with snarly teeth and squinty eyes…ready to dance around you and pounce on you once you run out of ground in which to escape but after I saw the beautiful artistic quality of the totems created by Teesha and Tracy Moore...I became excited about drawing totems. I saw them in an entirely different light. They're not scary at all!!! They are "totems" of beauty!

Footnote:  Teesha and Tracy Moore, in the Artstronaut's Club, are currently exploring drawing totems using different media.  

Until next time,

Hugs,
Ginny



                                                                         

HAPPINESS DOES NOT DEPEND ON…..

"Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are, 

it solely relies on what you think"

Buddha

I couldn't wait to use these retro black and white bonnet heads.  They sat in my basket just begging to be used in a collage.  They spoke to me!!!  And….I love black and white against a bright yellow.  What could be more retro than that I ask?

Finished Collage

I tried something new in this collage…pencil!  I don't know why I hadn't done this before but while watching Teesha Moore in one of her videos for the Artstronauts Club she said that she uses pencil to add lines for interest…so I thought that I would give this a try.  I added lines around the rocks and a few lines for cracks. Then I shaded with pencil which is more subtle than the black gel stick that I usually use.  I really like it!   

(Oops!  I got carried away and started to alter the collage before I photographed it.  You can see the pencil lines around the rocks.  Guess I was really anxious to try the pencil.)

Collage prior to pen work

Until next time….

Hugs,

Ginny

THANK YOU FOR BRIGHTENING MY DAY

This one was a sleeper!  

I put off doing the pen work because, well…I just wasn't inspired 

by the color or subject matter but as I said before…

put pen to paper and go with the flow!!!

Just let it happen!

Completed collage

Collage prior to pen work.

I don't think that this needs further explanation…it is what it is!

The bug on the girl's dress and the lettering is from a collage sheet by Teesha Moore, the rest is from magazines and children's books.

Until next time….

Hugs,
Ginny

THE UNIVERSE SPEAKS

Aaarrrgh….this collage was a real stinker!  I painted, repainted, added more collage, painted again.  I have sooooo many layers of paint on it that I finally had to say ENOUGH!

I think the problem was that the composition and colors didn't speak to me.  It started out predominantly red and yellow so I introduced the color green in order to provide more interest.  I made the heart shape into a martian face but it was too dominant and took away from the main character, the girl with the headdress. The solution was to cover the heart shape with a flower girl collage piece by Teesha Moore and by adding yellow paint to the main character's skin.  This created a better balance.  

Finished collage

Collage prior to pen work

This would have made a good Valentine's Day theme collage but you know how it goes…the painting sometimes takes on a life of it own and BOY…did this one ever!

Until next time…

Hugs,

Ginny

IMAGINE

"I think the artistry is in having insight into what one sees around them.  

Generally putting things together in a way no one else has before 

and finding a way to express that to other people who don't have insight."  

Steve Jobs

Sometimes the finished collage piece surprises me because it turns out in a way that I had never imagined.  Such is the case with this journal page.  I felt that it was pretty ugly before the pen work and I knew that pen work would really liven it up but this page took on a life of its own.  More embellishment with collage, the addition of the color blue, the tinting of the flowers to match the skin color pull it all together.  I think that it is one of my favorite pages!

Finished collage

Collage Before Pen Work

Until next time…..

Hugs,
Ginny

TIME TO COLLAGE

It's been a while since I last collaged in my "Teesha Journal."  

It feels really good to be back and doing what calms the stress of everyday life. 

 I don't get this feeling from other art forms and it is a puzzle to me why that is.  

Could it be because my other art work requires more planning and skill

whereby, collaging in my journal is more intuitive and there are "NO Rules?" 

With collage I can cut out different elements from magazines, books or 

collage sheets (my go to for collage fodder) and try them out in various locations 

on the page before I commit to gluing them down permanently. 

Then the magic happens…the pen work.  

This is where the "intuitiveness" come in….this is where I put pen to paper and 

color, doodle and draw until I like what I see.  

Until I feel that the page is finished.  

Sigh…..pure bliss!

Here is the finished page with before and after photos.

Finished Collage

Collage Before Pen Work

That's all for now.  I am working on several more pages in my "Teesha Journal"…so stay tuned!

Until next time……

Hugs,

Ginny