rebecca:vavic

Art on Sunday, Week 11: This Statement She Firmly Believed...

OOOOooops, running a bit late with this one, I am so sorry about that!

This week the prompt is This Statement She Firmly Believed. Mine is There is no such thing as too many photographs :) Using crayons and a rubber brush to remove paint (a subtractive technique) I created lines and circles to add some interest and variation to my background before applying some stickers from the October Afternoon Thrift Shop range:

I hope you have fun creating your page today, or during the week.

Go here for previous weeks prompts and challenges... and here for inspiration or to load your images to our Flickr Group.

Enjoy.

Happy Sunday.
Bxo

Art on Sunday, Week 10: Magazine Inspiration...

This week I have taken (quite literally) my inspiration from one of my favourite Mixed Media magazines, Cloth Paper Scissors - May/June 2010 issue:

here is my copy of the page:

I really enjoyed creating this page... I have used similar flowers in my freestyle scrapbook pages... funny how I never thought to do this kinda thing before. That's why I love CPS so much... the inspiration, the many talented artists who share and encourage us to think outside our usual methods.

Happy Creating Sunday.

Bxo  

Art on Sunday, Week 9: Numbers...

Hiya, happy top of a Sunday morning to you. Me and Mine are heading out to breakfast together, a little family treat. There are five of us in our family. 5 ~ and so that's the number and inspiration behind this page here:

 

Here are the steps I took to create this page:

Step 1.    Gesso the page.

Step 2. I covered the entire page with some text pages from a vintage book, and some music sheet pages also....

Step 3. Then I rubbed some "oak" or "walnut" coloured ink around the edges of the page to give a distressed effect.

Step 4. I gathered some stamps and stickers... placed them randomly about the page until I felt I was "done".

And there we have it... another art journal page complete.

This afternoon I'll be creating lots more pages with my beautiful gal pal Kim... she's coming over to have a mini artists date with me. JOY.

I hope your Sunday is filled with some love and magic. I hope too, that you have some time to create a page in your art journal. If you want to join in, you can load your pages to our Flickr Group. And go here to take a look at previous prompts.

Peace Out

Bxo 

Art on Sunday, Week 8: Conformity...

So this week the challenge is Conformity... I have used a number of squares of the same size to represent conformation in my page:

 

I used a punch to create a view finder in a piece of cardboard. I then gathered a few magazines and used the view finder to identify elements in the pages that appealed to me. I then cut the square pieces out and placed them into my art journal.

I already had a wash of colour on the double page... I added some journaling... a rub on word for "Italy" and voila... DONE.

If you are yet to join this challenge, you can do so at any time... it is all about making a small amount of time on a Sunday to create some art. Set the timer for an hour and I am sure you'll get it done easily.

You can add your pages here in our Flickr Group. You'll also find lots of inspiration there :)

Peace out.
Bx

Art on Sunday, Week 7: Children's Books...

Heya... this week our challenge is to use some pages from a children's book (preferably vintage). I got this book at our local second hand bookstore for $1. It's not one of the original Golden ones, I have one of those safely tucked away in my study cupboard. 

 

You may recognise the background from a previous week's challenge.

I created this page to celebrate and honor the safe arrival of our adorable nephew Sean. My sister in law, Cassie and her hubs Matt welcomed him into the world during the week. He is so gorgeous and we can't wait to meet him in a few weeks when we travel back to Adelaide.

 

This page also celebrates motherhood and the amazing, often magic gift, that we as mothers have in our children. 

  

Your art journal page does not have to be along these same lines, you just need to include pages from a children's book. Have fun! I can't wait to see your interpretations.

Remember to post your pages over at our Flickr group... or just go check out for inspiration... we've got lots of gorgeous pages in our gallery. I'll have to do a post on them soon.

Happy Sunday. Happy 1st August... yikes this year is going quickly!

Hugs

Bx

Art on Sunday, Week 6: Foreign Text...

Today's challenge is to use foreign text on your art journal page. I have used a page torn from a French book I got at the bookstore yesterday for $3.

Here is my page:

 Art Journal Page "Dreams Come True" by Rebecca Vavic © 2010

These are roughly the steps I followed to create this page:

1.     let drip from my Golden Fluid Acrylic bottles... a few drops of three colours     onto a piece of gladwrap.

2.    Placed the gladwrap onto my page and "mushed about" some.

3.    Removed the gladwrap once happy with paint coverage.

4.    Using my Gel Medium (Soft Semi-Gloss), adhered 3 patterned papers and the     French text.

6.    Using my fingers, applied some more paint about the page.

7.    Using letter stickers, wrote my quote "Dreams Come True", applied a coat of     Gel Medium to make sure they stayed on the paint.

8.    Using a Faber Castel Pitt Pen (Brush) traced around the letters, about two at a     time, then wiping the ink off with a paper towel... just to add some depth.

I have some foreign text you are welcome to download:

Thai >>> from a newspaper we picked up on holidays in 2006:

 

Italian >>> from a magazine I brought home with me in 2000:

 

You could also go to a translator site and make up your own text pages, using quotes you particularly love.

I hope you have fun with this one... I certainly enjoyed it... and I'm really happy with my colourful and vibrant page.

Peace
Bx

Art on Sunday, Week 4: Backgrounds...

Okay, this week, let's take a few steps backwards... and start at the beginning by preparing a few pages at once.

This weeks prompt is: Backgrounds and here are some I have prepared recently:

 

These are the steps I followed to create these pages:

1.     Covered the watercolour paper in a wash of colour. Or in the case        of my art journal... a coat of gesso, then the colour.

2.     Used torn pieces of three elements: sewing pattern, text paper and         patterned paper, adhered them to the watercolour paper using         Golden Gel Medium (soft semi gloss).

 

3.     Applied gesso over the entire piece, then wiped most of it off while        still wet. This technique "tones down" the colours somewhat. The     photograph of the watercolour pages, shown above, was taken     BEFORE the gesso was applied. This page here (in my art journal)     shows the effect after the gesso is applied and then wiped off:

 

As you can see by the first photo of this post, an art journal does not HAVE to be in a bound book... you can create separate pages, as I have done here, and then bind them at a later stage.

When creating backgrounds I like to work on quite a few at once... this works best if the pages are separate. If in a bound book, such as our art journals... then you can really only work on one "layout" at a time. For me... more really is best when I am creating art *smile*... I try to get as much as I can done in one "sitting" or one "chunk" of time.

Let's see what you come up with this prompt. Have fun and I can't wait to see your gorgeous creations. Make sure you load them to our Flickr Group.

Hugs

Bxo

Art on Sunday, Week 3: Circles...

Hey everyone.

We've got some art in the "studio" so to speak, go take a look at our Flickr group to get yourself some inspiration (and sign up if you haven't already done so).

Today our theme is Circles... I created this page using LOTs of circle punches, circle letters and circle stamps:

Have fun. Remember the "rules" lovelies... just get messy, play and create... do NOT stress yourself.

You can take a look at Week 1 and Week 2 for more prompts.

Hugs

Bxo

Art on Sunday, Week 2: Fabric...

Hiya ladies...

This week we are working in our art journals with FABRIC... well 90% fabric. Then 10% whatever other mediums you'd like... I used Golden Fluid Acrylics, a signo pen in white, watercolour crayons (caran d'ache)... pencils.

Just remember that the most important part of this journey is to GIVE THE GIFT of time to yourself to BE CREATIVE. It doesn't matter if your page takes 20 minutes or an hour and a half... or longer if you can devote the time.

Just have fun, don't think too much about it... and get messy, creative, and PLAY.

Here's my page for this week:

 

Upload your image to our Flickr Group, or link to your blog here. Or both.

Have fun.
Bxo
 

Art on Sunday, Week 1: Monochromatic Colour...

This week's prompt/challenge is to do a page with only the one colour and it's various tones... you can use white and black too... and charcoal or lead pencil or black pen is okay too.

So here is my page for the challenge:

Photograph assistant Benjamin featuring there at the left! 

As you can see I chose to use YELLOW. I am so yellow obsessed right now, it is almost silly. I think it's the autumn leaves {which are no longer anymore!!}. Some are were just such an amazing bright yellow... the whole tree. Nature has the best art and colours by far.

So here are the "rules"... 

1. Create a page of your own.

2. Set yourself a limit, say one hour.... and stick to it... just create, have fun, get it done... do not think about it too much, if you find you do get "stuck".... YOU ARE OVER THINKING IT !!! *smile* let go, breathe and create.

3.Once done... go here to our FlicKr Group and upload your image. Or put a link in the comments section below. 

Have fun. I can't wait to see your creations.

Bxo