Playtime In a New Art Journal!

     The divine and talented Ms. Alicia Caudle from Altered Bits indicated in her recent post that she's been going collage crazy.  I too have been in a frenzy of activity   creating in a new art journal. (Alicia and I have started a new art collaboration together which has put us both in a buzz of energy)  Alicia though has  an even greater reason to be high in the sky happy these days since her brilliant new Print Zine titled Altered Bits Mixed Media Art Zine: Themed Notorious and Letters and Symbols has been published and is available for sale here at Amazon and here at Lulu.  I am so proud to be a contributing artist in Alicia's Zine and will write much more about it in a future post!
     I never worked in an art journal before so thought it was time to take a spin. I selected a handmade paper book

 which I thought would be great, being of a thick rough texture. But after trying out a few pages, I realized that it was difficult for many mediums to adhere to the surface.  My acrylic paints- which have been a main stay for most of my paintings-  seemed to just disappear within the paper regardless of how many layers of paint I put on.  Perhaps it was meant to be- since so determined was I to make this work- I looked around for other kinds of mediums to paint with.  I found a box of Prang Sketcho oil crayons which indicated it was for sketching and painting from the American Crayon Company,  a box of Pastello - pastel-like chalk crayons from the Dixon Ticonderga Company, Pentel Pastel Dye Sticks as well as a host of pastel and watercolor pencils.   With backgrounds of rubber stamps, stencils, my own drawings, photos and artwork printed out,  here is a sampling of some of my works in progress!

Printed from an old portrait I painted many years ago.

And below is  my personal favorite - 

A simple ink drawing.

I  will continue to work on many of these "works in progress"  - some used as backgrounds for new works of art,  others as artworks unto themselves, and still others as further playground for experimentation!
 Challenge yourself to do or create something outside your usual comfort zone - Whether in your home, at work, in a relationship
 Or in a new artistic endeavor!
ENjoy!