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Dear Friends~
I found this collage in my flickr albums archives. I made it in 2006.... It's always been a dream of mine to go to London. Well, guess what? Dreams Come True!!! I'm going to LONDON! I'm so excited!!!!! I'm already taking pictures in my mind! I will be back soon to share!!!!! xoxoxoxoox Lia
p.s. Did you know they make a London Trip Moleskine?! I'm going to get one today!
I'm still workin' away on my doll doodles and collage backgrounds for Suzi class. I've learned alot so far technique wise, but also figured out that I would have probably dropped out of art school, so I no longer have that regret. I don't do well with precision and such. Chaos is more my mode. So, off I go to do some more work. Be back soon with more dolls and junk.
xo lia
painting in my watercolour moleskine.
I love mixing-up the media! I have painted over this piece twice. That's why I love moleskine journals...the pages are durable and you can do that. I used acrylic paints, markers, gel pens, paint pens, anything I could fine on my desk. I love experimenting in my journal, and then of course I can't help but add words, it completes the story for me.
xoxo lia
Dear Friends~
I promised to share a few more tips & links on altering childrens board books. Now, like I've said before, I'm not an expert. (except when it comes to making a mess and trying things with reckless abandon). My projects may or may not use "archival" methods/materials. It depends. I have been known to use newspaper and everything biodegradable. I only have one teeny, weeney rule when it comes to using up disregarded papers and such. The rule is no food wrappers, or anything that's touched or come near food. I guess that's one of my"thangs". Everyone has one of those "thangs" and that's mine. I figure if it hasn't touched food it can remain quite sanitary.
Speaking of newspaper, I freakin' love it. I love painting it, collaging with it, etc. Love the texture, love the words. Don't like the obituary section, so I do use the style section and such. Oops. Guess I got another thang there. Anyhow, I got off on a tangent as per usual. I think I just may have to do a little vlog on this. I have alot to say but can't type as fast as I can think...and I get sidetracked...So, anyway, where were we? Oh, yeah, altering a children's board book, art junk style.
1. I prefer the older books to the glossy board books you can get at the dollar store. (the one on the right). I have used my kids old books, as well as some I've found at library book sales. They also have them at most thrift stores. Again, check for food prints, torn pages, etc.
2. I lightly sand, then gesso the pages (gesso is a paint primer found at craft store, I say that because I never knew what it was when I started altering books. I thought it was the same thing as gel medium. That'll tell ya what my first book looked like). So, after I "gesso" the book, I let it dry standing upright and "fanned" open between coats.
3. As far as adhesive, my preference is modge-podge. I know this may cause some sticking. I have chunky books that stick and some that don't but I don't know what I did or did not do to cause that. My guess is which adhesive I used or that I didn't let it dry long enough. There may be a few patches of glue that I could probably lightly sand to prevent it sticking...again, I'm not an expert, but I know this is an issue I'll have to look into. If you have any tips for this, feel free to share in the comments for us.
4. Another type of prepping I've done is the newspaper method. I simply "decoupaged" an entire chunky book with newspaper and brush-stroke modge podge as a "base" for my book. No gesso, no sanding. I just ripped newspaper and adhered it. When it was completely dry, I modge-podged (glued) tissue paper in different colors on top. I liked how the writing showed through. On some pages I simply painted over the newspaper and then collaged images and words on top.
dear friends~
This is the "queen of the house". I sketched her randomly the other day and then colorized her with paint.net software. (which is free online). Just google paint.net. Anyhooo, it was super fun. I still haven't figured out the tricks of using this software (including how to make lines that will fill in completely and not "bleed" over into other sections).
Just goes to show how a simple sketch, scanned into a computer can provide hours of fun and experimention with color, etc.
Hope you have a fantastic and creative weekend! xoxoxo lia
