Painting Over Collage - Finding Your Style

Over the Christmas break I bought an art lesson by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer over at Interweave called Paint Over Collage. 

At $1.99 it is a terrific value and, as always, Julie does a fabulous job walking you through the steps. 

I've been messing around with my Gelli Plate so I had lots of random papers to collage onto my painted backgrounds:

Then I got at it. The first one was a wreck. It happens. 

And if you don't fail on occasion you aren't really trying.

Collage Girl #1:

But even the hot mess that she is, there is a lot I like about it. The interplay of the patterns across her face made me want to keep trying.

Collage Girl #2: 

I did a bit more with the eyes and shaded in her nose. Better. 

Still terrifically strange and not at all right.

Then I reread the lesson and realized I was supposed to be shading in the face a bit. *headslap*

Note to self: don't try so hard not to copy that you fail to read through the whole lesson as you do the steps... at least at first.

Collage Girl #3

I feel like this one was a huge leap forward. I shaded, added a shoulders, clothes and accessories. She's weird but she's me-weird.

Apparently I needed to sleep on it and let things percolate a bit.

Collage Girl #4:

This one is from the same day. I really like how she came together but I feel like I lost a lot of the collage. Her lips are my favorite part as the bright pink background and washi tape created an interesting effect. I also left the whites of her eyes collage paper instead of painting them white. It's kinda cool.

Collage Girl #5:

 A new day. New girls to draw. 

The night before I read through Suzi Blu's Mixed-Media Girls
 and she insisted that the pupils and irises need to be perfect circles. So I hauled out my circle stencil and made sure they were more circular and less goggly-eyed. Better?

My boys call her 'Man Face' LOL

Collage Girl #6: 

Same day, I tried this one with less hard outlines and more abstract shading. 

She's cool... in a hammer-head shark sort of way. How her eye ended up in her hair I'll never understand. LOL

Collage Girl #7:

 We watched Love Actually so I had the urge to draw feathered hair (the caterer).  Again, a little masculine. Okay, a lot masculine. One of my teenagers may or may not have referred to this as my, "guys in drag series"

Collage Girl #8:

This is my most recent one. I tried adding all the shading first and then the features. I love the effect. But I find the cool greens and blues a little Marilyn Manson in the 90's. She really makes me happy though. I was thinking of a dear, dear friend back in the NW and some of her essence came out in the painting. 

So, yeah, I cherish it.

As always the backgrounds have a ton of splatter and stamping. If you open up any of the above pics you can see the details.

Thanks so much for sticking around for this gargantuan post. I wanted to show you the evolution of a project and how your style starts to emerge. I think it's safe to say that no matter what I try, my work has a 'look' to it that's inherently my own.

Linked up at A Colorful Journey

I Am on a Journey - Art Journal Pages

(please click to see this larger)

I wanted to make something soft and pretty with lots of texture.

This is the first time I've Mod Podged a paper doily right onto the page. I love the raised texture it gives and how if softens the color underneath.

Left Side:

Right Side:

Close Up:

Plant Your Own Garden, Decorate Your Own Soul

I made this for a very sweet lady, it was a real privilege.

As always, the little heart garden was so much fun to make. If you saw how much paper I paint to make those flowers you'd know how Type A I am - for such a paint-splattering fool at least :-)

What do you think of the funky hair? I'm enjoying branching out into more contemporary styles - it's nice to give these Modern Girls a little edge. 

Thanks for visiting!

Tags with Magnet Gifts: Giveaway

When I saw Paula Cheney's Tag for the 12 Feminine Tags of Christmas my first thought was, "Yeah. Not gonna happen"

It's very pretty but so far from my style I didn't think it was worth even attempting. But not trying isn't my style either - not at all - so I broke tag down to a sketch and took notes from the tutorial of techniques I could use. Looking at it as a sketch helped me "see" the design elements and I realized that while Paula's tag was very layered and filled to the brim with techniques and product, the design was fairly simple and straightforward.

And I liked it so much I made it twice, one horizontal and one vertical.

For this yellow tag I tried to mirror Paula's mostly monochromatic color scheme, deep embossing, color smoosh *grin*, large bow and large round element.

The fun thing about these tags is that the focal ornament is a magnet made from a wood shape, painted black, topped with hand painted paper and embellished with wood letters and ribbon. The recipient can use the magnet once they are done with the tag.

I ended up making a whole stack of magnets. They were too fun to make just one.

This bright tag is built on hand painted watercolor paper embellished with music paper. It's so energetic and cheerful and feels Christmasy even though it doesn't utilize the traditional Christmas color scheme.

Thanks so much for visiting. 

If you'd like to receive one of these magnets in the mail just leave me a comment and I'll choose a winner or two.

Super Hero Ornaments

I made these last year for my friend J. and never blogged them for fear he'd see them before Christmas.

Pretty cool, no?

Saw them Happy Looks Good on You and they were a lot harder to make than they look :-)

Christmas Angel Tag - Bombshell Style

You know I love my Bombshell Stamps. So when I saw an angel tag by Carolyn Peeler for the 12 Feminine Tags of Christmas I couldn't help but add the wings from the Sacred Heart set to the pirate from A Pirate's Life.  Boom! I got me an angel... more like a Victoria's Secret angel but...

It was fun to do some masking and coloring - it's been awhile.

In addition to the glitter, there is a border of glass micro beads around the edge. It gives the tag great texture, shine and interest that the photos aren't quite capturing. Silly winter skies and the trouble they wreak on picture taking!

The color scheme, glass beads and pearl were all inspired by the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger

Thanks so much for stopping by :-)

Trees Christmas Tag

Here's my take on Maile Belles  Christmas Tag for Day Ten of the 12 tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.

This is Maille's tag:

And here's mine. All my white stamping ink let me down so I squished gesso through a stencil instead and left it to dry overnight.

That tree stamp is SO old. I used it to make Christmas Cards in 2001.

Bird on Branch Christmas Tag

One thing I realized this year during the Twelve Tags with a Feminine Twist is that I really don't bring a lot of my own style to the tags. I tend to make my own version of the designers tag and that's it.

But, I know it's much more fun, and more authentic, to create something my own style that is inspired by the tag of the day. Does that make sense?

My first attempt was earlier today with the Snowman Tag - I flicked some red paint (oh, how I love red splatters!) and stenciled on some white paint through punchinella - and just that little bit made a huge difference in my perspective. 

So when I approached Jennifer McGuire's GORGEOUS tag from Day 4 I did my best to do it my way. Namely I used hand made paper, gesso, lots of ink and hand cut elements. The only purchased product was the scrap of Bazzil I cut into the branch and some jewels  - even the ribbon was from a package we'd received.

I also drew inspiration from Tim Holtz's tag from April, it too used a bird on a branch motif with a background reminiscent of book paper and a color scheme mixing warm yellow/oranges with blues and browns. Over at Simon Says Stamp the current challenge is "inspired by Tim's 12 Tags" and I have to say I had a great time looking through his tags deciding what to draw my ideas from.

It felt a lot better to make it my way and it's a good reminder that it's just not as fun unless it comes from your heart.

Snowman Christmas Tag

 I'm really enjoying the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist Challenge over at The Classroom. The designers have all been really impressive and you can tell the love and time they put into their work.

This is my take on Tag 8 by Kelly Alvarez. Hers was, of course, just perfect. 

Mine is a little funky, messy, and me-ish :-)

 

On My Workdesk

Having a little fun this morning with home made substrates - the ovals are made from cereal boxes and the rectangle is a See's candy box - spray paint and black gesso.

I wonder what they will end up being :-)

Christmas Tree Tag

 This is my version of Teri's AWESOME tag over at The Classroom's 12 tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Snowflake Christmas Tag

Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist were one of my favorite things last Christmas and this year they are absolutely lovely again.

This is my take on Julie Stainton's gorgeous snowflake tag.

It's also my entry for the Simon Says Stamp Snowflakes Challenge :-)

I never quite realized how deeply I'd buried all my embossing powders and accompanying paraphernalia. It was fun to haul them out again.


~~~

And don't forget my BOGO sale is going on until Monday 12/10

 Buy an original and get any 6x12 or 3x12 print of your choice while supplies last. Just leave me a note of which print you want in the "notes to seller" section at purchase and it's yours*. HAVE FUN!!! *while supplies last

 

You can check out my originals HERE and Art Prints HERE.

She Loved Life and it Loved her Right Back

I didn't get a chance to formally introduce this Modern Girl before she was off to her new home but I wanted to post some pics anyway.

I love how this outfit turned out. The style is what I'd call 'sassy simplicity'. She looks like someone I'd want to hang out with.

Her highlights are pretty fun too.

And don't forget my BOGO sale is going on until Monday 12/10

 Buy an original and get any 6x12 or 3x12 print of your choice while supplies last. Just leave me a note of which print you want in the "notes to seller" section at purchase and it's yours*. HAVE FUN!!! *while supplies last
 

You can check out my originals HERE and Art Prints HERE.