An Art Journal Page of Leftovers (9/100)

I'm back and joining all of you today with another couple of projects I worked on tonight that I'm really quite proud of. The first is the above canvas panel. I think that I'm slowly but surely starting to get used to this sort of surface, though it's taken a bit of experimentation and adjustment (though not quite as much as a full-out canvas. 

This piece was a bit of a play on my canvas from the other day, though when I started on this canvas it was a fairly unintentional sort of thing. I am happy with the way I was able to differentiate this piece and have it stand well on its own, while still working as a set. If you want to purchase this piece, you can find it here. 

• As I mentioned on my instagram this evening, this canvas was really inspired by the colors, specifically the color purple. It's one of those colors that I love, but don't tend to use very often, for reasons unbeknownst to me. I had a lot of fun playing with the blue in combination with the purple (then adding the yellow for good measure and a sense of flow). 
• I said above that this piece worked well with another piece I had made previously, and in that post I mentioned that the circles were made with a homemade stencil, that I reused here. I can't even tell you all how good it feels to be using my own stencils in my artwork, it just adds another layer of depth to it all, in my opinion.
• The purple in the circles was done with a Portfolio oil pastel, which I then proceeded to activate by rubbing it with a damp paper towel (you could also use a baby wipe). I love the end result. 

Now I want to share with you something that I have done previously on this blog, and I will continue to do it in the future. When I had completed the above project, I still had quite a bit of paint on my palette that I didn't want to go to waste. I actually have a special journal (not this one) that I use specifically to get rid of my paint leftovers, but there was enough to create a full page and I hadn't worked on an art journal page in a while.

And so, out came the composition notebook!

• The words placed on this page were very much inspired by how unique I felt this page was to me. Though it is fairly simple (and I'm not completely sure that I'll never add anything to it), I still feel as if it is very uniquely me. 
• There are several reasons for this, but first and foremost it is because of the doodled pieces that are scattered throughout the page. I had created these as part of a sort of collage sheet fairly near the beginning of last month, and I'm just now getting around to using them. They just seemed to fit. 
• Another thing that I felt was very much particular to my style in particular is that I used yet another one of my stencils I created in this piece. The oval shapes were this very stencil, and it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. 

In the long run, I'm very happy with the way these mixed media pieces turned out, though I think I prefer the canvas panel. That's only if I had to pick a favorite. I've actually been spending a lot of time with my art today, and I ended up finishing a digital piece and my first drawing for Inktober if you want to check my instagram (@worldofimmensum). 

Thank you all again for visiting me, it's greatly appreciated, and I'll see you all next time!

2 Panel Update (7+8/100)

Hey everyone, I'm back with another one of my 100 Day Challenge updates! If you're following me on Instagram, you'll have already seen that I did in fact still do a mini canvas yesterday, despite the fact that I didn't update the blog. If I'm not around on here, you can find me over there at worldofimmensum.

However, back to the art itself! Yesterday's piece was definitely a way for me to try to work through some rough emotions I was experiencing. I got through that by scribbling with pencil chaotically on the very first layer. I further emphasized it through the thick black outlines and gestural shapes. I definitely did feel better by the time I was finished. At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but it's definitely starting to grow on. 

• By this point, you guys are probably starting to spot some reoccurring shapes/materials in my artwork. In this piece in particular, you may recognize the diamond stamp. You can see this in both of the above photographs. There's just something intriguing to me about the texture it gives. It's similar to dots (another weakness of mine) but varied just a bit. 
• Another thing you may recognize is the polka dot tissue paper that is collaged inside of the oval shapes. This is one of my very favorite things to add to pieces, just because of the way it almost appears as a stamp, since the background shows through whatever parts aren't black. 

 Next up is today's piece! I do like the way this little canvas turned out, since in my opinion it is pretty personal. In my eyes, this canvas is a representation of my artistic journey, which is why it looks vaguely chaotic. All of these different styles are originating from the same point, and I love that. The colors were also fun to play with.

• Looking at some of the finer details of the piece (the photo on the left stands out to me in particular), you can see that a lot of work went into getting this piece to look the way it does. There was stamping, stenciling, finger painting, collage, and basically whatever else I could think of. 
• The fine details of this organized chaos are really what I love the most, and you can see a lot of that in the photo on the left. The blue plant is the final of three stencils I made about a week back, and I've loved working with them. The dots were done with the tips of my fingers and acrylic paint. 

In the photo on the left (another one of my favorite photos I've taken of this piece), you may recognize the mushroom from a while back. I had drawn them, then photocopied the drawing I did, to use the copies in my art. That was exactly what I did here. 

In the long run, this is the way my mind works. It's crazy, it's a little bit structured and a little bit not, but in the end it all comes together. I'm glad it worked out the way it did, even if it does make me feel kind of vulnerable putting it out there. 

If you would like to buy either of the canvas panels in this post, they can be found here and here.

Until next time, I hope you all do well!

Pinks and Grays in Canvas Form (5/100)

The more I create mixed media art with the intention to portray a specific message, the more I tend to enjoy the work that I produce. This piece is no exception. 

When I started today's 4x4 canvas for my 100 Day Project, I only had one idea in mind. I knew that I wanted to completely cover the base in newspaper (though the majority of it ended up being covered completely in the final project). However, after that point, I didn't have the slightest clue as to where I was headed. However, as soon as I stamped the butterflies (one actually was covered up), I knew that I wanted to tell something about flying, or moving forward. The catch? I've recently been trying to avoid words. I think it worked out in the long run. 

The link to purchase this piece is here.

• In looking at the finer details of this piece, the thing that stands out to me as something I want to explore in the future is the graphite I used on this particular painting. With some experimentation, I discovered that graphite actually blends incredibly well on top of acrylic paint. I have ideas in mind for how I will play with that in the future.
• I used my gold marker for the arrows in this particular piece - that is certainly an investment that has been well worth the $1.50 I think I paid for it. Gold details are quickly becoming one of my favorite things to add to a piece of art as the final finishing touch. On top of that gold marker (which I layered on top of white acrylic paint), I doodled some lines with a white gel pen.

• The photo on the left is probably my favorite photo I've taken of this piece. You can see the texture incredibly well, that was created from smudging graphite over top of the acrylic paint, as well as some tissue paper that I layered into the background. 
• The stencil that I used to create the horizontal ovals was actually one of the hand cut stencils I mentioned yesterday. I have been enjoying playing with those pieces (I still have one more to play with before I start repeating myself), and I'm sure they will soon become essentials in my mixed media stash. 
• Finally, the little pink dots scattered throughout this piece I actually just made with my fingers. My paint had been sitting out for a little while, seeing as I had taken a break to eat, so it was too tacky to use a paintbrush with. I love the result of these little dots.

Ultimately, I love the way this canvas turned out, and I hope you all love it as much as I do! Thank you all for visiting, I've been having so much fun sharing my art with all of you!

A Science Fiction Inspired Canvas Panel (3/100)

I'm extremely happy with the way today's canvas panel for my 100 Day Project turned out. It really defines the style I love to achieve in my art - quirky and almost cartoon-like in style, but with something that is just slightly off (the science fiction twist that I love to throw in). 

In this case, it's that the leaves of these plants are actually eyes. 

The title of this little painting (which is something that I've just recently started doing and am quite fond of) is "The Forest's Eyes". This was yet another one of those projects that I started before heading off to work, then got back with a completely different idea in mind. 

• Starting off with the photo on the left, one of the subtle elements I added to this canvas were the little circles in both the lower right and upper left of the canvas. I wanted to parody the look of the eyes, as well as add a subtle hint of interest to the equally subtle background. This was how I chose to do that.
• In both of these photos, you can see the background. It started out with shades of blue, but after having created the plants and adding collage, I decided to add a wash of pink instead. Some of the background layers shone through, but for the most part I covered them up. Then I added the hints of blue and yellow that create the swirled background. I think that further adds to the mystery. 

•  And finally, for the last image I will share with you all tonight, a close up of the eyes themselves. They were cut from bits and pieces of scrap paper, and if you look closely, the blue leaf in the lower left hand corner may look familiar (it's cut from a scanned copy of this painting). I had a lot of fun with this piece, even if it is fairly straightforward in comparison to my previous two pieces. 

In the long run, though I'm only three days into this self challenge, I've been having a lot of fun with it. The ideas are already starting to churn (I have a title idea that I may work off of tomorrow), and I'm excited to see where this project will lead! If you would like to purchase this piece in particular, you can find the link here. 

Thank you all for joining me, it means a lot, and I look forward to seeing you all next time!

Canvas Panel in Blues and Greens (2/100)

As I mentioned yesterday, I have officially decided to embark on a new journey in my little world of mixed media. This is 2/100 in my 100 day project, where I create one 4"x4" canvas panel a day for that duration of time.

This piece in particular is one that I'm quite fond of. Not only is it done in some of my favorite colors, deep blues and greens, but it just generally makes me happy to look at. I had a lot of fun with the doodling that is showcased throughout the piece. If you would like to purchase it, you can click here.

In looking at some of the finer details of this piece, a lot of it was done as stress relief. With school and work taking up a lot of my time lately, it hasn't exactly been pleasant. I had just gotten finished struggling my way through a math assignment (that I'll still have to go back to) when I decided that I needed to let off steam. Thus, this little canvas was born. 

• The bigger circle that takes up the majority of the canvas was done with a combination of acrylic paint and oil pastels - I had scraped some dark blue paint in the background, then before it was dry, I applied black Portfolio oil pastels then wet them to activate their water soluble nature. This mixed with the blue in the background, creating an affect that I am personally quite fond of.
• The doodling on top of the circle was done with a Sharpie paint marker in white. I'm still trying to get used to how the Sharpie markers work, but I just bought another on clearance for 75 cents at Target (in turquoise!) so I'm excited to play around with them more. 
• In the photo on the right, you can see another doodled element that I worked with. This was simply a shape that I freehand cut out of college ruled notebook paper and collaged down, before working on top of it with a regular Sharpie and shimmer watercolors. 

• In the left hand photo, you can see the doodled border up close, as well as the little stamped word "dreams", which serves as the title. I was experimenting with fading out the stamping for a more square title design, but I decided to ultimately just go with the single word. The other effect may make an appearance at some point in the future. 
• Another thing that is more visible in the first photograph is the stamping I did in a silver ink (which I also used on this page). This is quickly becoming a favorite element of mine to play with, simply because it's extremely subtle, but still beautiful when the angle is just right.
• Finally, in the photo on the left, you can see a bit of the detail that I played around with in the lower right hand corner of this little canvas. I attempted to imitate the dots of the doodling on the circle in a more random way, and you can also see some subtle diamond stamping (which is actually one of my favorite little bits of this painting.

Finally, before I leave you today, I wanted to a fun result of creating these canvases thus far. I typically will use drop paper to catch excess paint and stamping, as well as testing out pens, and whatever else I decide I want to experiment. These two papers are from yesterday's and today's (in that order), and I personally love the way they look. Who knows, maybe these will all become a project of their own someday!

I hope you all enjoyed viewing this piece, as I really do love the way it turned out. I'll see you all next time!

Inspiring a Character + 29 Faces FINISHED

There are several interesting things to me about art, and this finished page in particular says a few of those things. This page was actually worked on top of something I had already started - every now and again I find it worthwhile to look back through my journals and look for pages I haven't finished yet. I didn't have a whole lot of time tonight, so that was what I decided to do. I love the way that it turned out.

That leads me to my first point about art that I adore. Even when you're happy with the way your art looks on a consistent basis, when you think that you've developed a style, there's still more room to grow. The more you do, the more you work at it, the happier you start to become. At least, that's the way it has ended up working for me.

• The second thing that I find interesting about art is that, at least for me, the more that I do, the more ideas I seem to have. The words in this particular page illustrate this point. They read as follows. "In all my days, with all the things I've seen - there is nothing much more difficult than fixing a broken heart."
• As I was working on this page, the drips coming from the heart immediately started screaming to me that it was a broken heart. I didn't have a quote in mind, or any sort of phrase, but what I did know was that I wanted to incorporate a broken heart somehow. As I worked, and continued to build up the page, the words continued to jumble around in my brain, and eventually I managed to spit this out. It didn't come from anywhere except for my own brain, and I can imagine it coming from a wizened old man in a fairy-tale esque story. In fact, a character started to develop out of this page, and that was something I didn't intend to happen when I started it.
• The sharp contrast of the black with the bright colors is something that I love about this page, and I feel like it plays right in with the feeling of the page. Besides, it's just something that I generally enjoy. 

•  In both of the above photographs, you can see some black outlines of collage bits I cut out and glued down onto this page. I've been hoarding this scrap for a good long while now, but I've decided that I can't keep things just because I like them - that I need to start using them so that I can buy new things that I like even more. It was just a piece of copy paper that I painted a lot of doodly scribbles on with india ink, and I think it fits this page beautifully.
• Also in these photos, you can see a lot of the beautiful layering I was able to achieve with this page in particular. The color layered much better than I had even been expecting (I actually never painted the color purple onto the page, which can be seen in the first photo - the colors just mixed that way) and a lot of it I don't even remember doing, since some of it was already down when I got to this page.

• I want to finish off talking about this page with a close up of the heart itself and the drips that inspired the words. I created the heart with Prismacolor NuPastels, which I've talked about quite a bit recently as something I've been experimenting with and having a whole lot of fun. They're water-soluble, so they spread beautifully, and if you wet them enough when the page is tilted, they create beautiful, inspiring drips like these. 

That brings us to today's face I completed for 29 Faces. It's been a crazy journey, and this actually marks my 29th face. I've finished with a bit of time to spare, but I've definitely learned a lot these past 20 days. I've learned that I love painting faces, and I've awoken a love of watercolor that wasn't there before (as you can see in the sketchbook page shown above). 

After painting my ocean-inspired girl, I felt the need to give my watercolors another go. I also wanted to try out this sketchbook, which I typically use more for pencil sketches, but it has 98 lb paper. It warped a bit, but I think it's manageable, so I'll probably be doing more watercolor in this sketchbook in the future! Ultimately, I like the way this girl turned out. The coloring is perhaps a bit more brown overall than I typically tend to go for, but I'm certainly not opposed. It's definitely better than I could have done at the beginning of this month!

If I've learned anything, it's that painting people is definitely something I'm capable of if I put my mind to it, and that continuous practice is a good way to make significant improvement. Essentially that's what I plan to do this October with Inktober (as well as a top secret upcoming project that I'm super excited to share with all of you).

Thank you all for being with me through this month, I hope you've enjoyed viewing the work I've been sharing as much as I've loved creating it!

Pen & Ink + Distressed Bright Colors

I would like to start today's post off with today's piece for 29 Faces, which was a whole new kind of experiment for me.

I think I've been gushing about this challenge the entire time I've been doing it - there's really something to working at the same thing consistently, and I've definitely seen significant improvement just in the time I've been working on this challenge. This entire month I've been making an effort to experiment in different mediums, and today's face is the 28th out of 29 faces in the month of September. It was done after being inspired by another challenge that I just recently heard about - Inktober.

Now, I haven't done a whole lot of pen and ink drawings in my day, solely because it's always seemed like an intimidating medium to me. However, seeing as this entire month has been about exploring new things (as I did with watercolor, an equally intimidating medium), I thought it only fitting to do a sample piece for Inktober using a face. This was really about me convincing myself that I could do it if I truly wanted to - I'm so pleased with the result that I probably will be doing Inktober this coming month. So stay tuned!

Now we arrive at the art journal page I finished this afternoon. This was done on the page opposite the one created in this video - in it, you can see me building up a few layers that I built up on top of. That is what makes the color scheme vaguely similar to the previous page - I decided to go with the colors that were already down on the page.

There is something that I really love about this page - I feel like it really describes me in a lot of ways. I love bright colors, but I also love distressing. I love texture and a lot of layers, and this page did all of that for me. 

• A big part of the purpose of this page was to experiment with the Ranger texture paste I had bought at Michaels the other day. I had bought some texture paste previously, but it wasn't very good and was really more like white paint. I should have known, since it was pretty inexpensive. However, this texture paste was much different - it was thick and I laid it down over top of a stencil to create the pattern of squares you can see throughout the page.4
• The blue squares scattered throughout the page were punched from the leftover paper I used to draw my face from before - it was a piece of 140 lb paper that I sprayed with Dylusions ink spray and wet with a paintbrush to spread it out over the surface of the paper. The color seemed to work well, so I went with it.
• You can see just how many layers of paint I put down in the second photograph. It took me quite a while to get this page to a place where I was genuinely happy with it, and these are the little areas that make all of the process worth it for me (besides the fun of playing around with  color).

• Something I am quickly starting to become a big fan of is doodling in the layers of my pages, specifically underneath a ton of other layers. You can see that in this photograph, with the gold circles I did in sets of three.
• There are many layers of stamping and paint - you can see the butterflies and dots specifically. Also, if you look closely in the upper left corner, you can see an under-layer of collage I ended up covering almost completely - it was a piece of a gelli print from the other day I was trying to use. I guess I'll have to try again soon.
• I'm linking this page to Stamplorations Stencil Sunday (mixed media + a stencil), as well as Altered Eclectics (anything mixed media).

In the long run, I'm extremely happy with my creativity results for today - sometimes I feel as if it's too much work to try to juggle it among all the chaos of everything else that is going on in my life, and then I realize just how much better I feel when I do make things and I remember why I do it. 

Thank you all for visiting, I look forward to seeing you around!

Art Journal Video + Four Faces

Hello everyone, I'm back and this time I have my third art journal video ever to share with all of you. I know I haven't been incredible consistent with making videos, and I'm not going to promise to do so because I honestly don't have the time to edit them a lot of the time.

However, I am going to be making them whenever I can (most likely on days I don't have to work, like today). I'm also not going to be expanding upon the photographs too much, only because I added captions to my video this time around. However, I will be adding a few comments, so stay tuned!

I broke out the better camera to take these photographs today (honestly, I had just kept forgetting to use it, but I'm glad that I remembered, since these are much clearly and generally better). In the above photograph, you can see a bit of the page opposite the one I was actually working on. You can also see me adding things to it in the video. Essentially this is how I clean my brushes and my stamps, as well as test out ideas. Then I just work over top of the layers later.

In these two photographs, you can see the quote a bit more clearly. I heard this the other day and I just couldn't get it out of my head. I knew that it would become an art journal page eventually, and when I ended up creating a circle with wings that looked good, but didn't really make sense, I knew it was perfect.

I thoroughly enjoy this little section of the page. I grouped the majority of the main elements of the page down in this corner, which gives it a lot of interest (while at the same time using the rest of the page as a way to even out the overall feeling of the piece). 

Finally, I would like to finish the sharing of this page off with what is probably my favorite photograph of it. In the long run, the idea was to work with bright colors. I was starting to miss them after so many warmer tones recently, and I'm glad that I made the decision to do an abstract piece instead of a face (not that I dislike faces, don't get me wrong).

For this page, I'm linking to Creative Artiste Mixed Media for "anything mixed media goes".

Speaking of faces, I did some doodles this morning in an attempt to practice some faces that weren't straight on (not including the girl in the upper left). I think it's fairly obvious that I don't do it very much, but that's exactly why I knew that I needed to practice doing so. I used Prismacolor pencils again today for these sketches - they give a bit of a different look than the Derwent ones that I really like. They both act differently, and because of that, I'm glad that I'm experimenting with both.

Thank you so much for visiting and commenting, it really means a lot to hear from all of you! I hope you enjoyed today's post.