Layering and Texture with Masking Tape

Two more favorite spreads. This time I used colored masking tape for texture and layering over gesso and both Caran d' Ache and Acrylic's. Lot's of 3 stage sanding in between.

I made a frame between masking tape and layers of paint and gesso and sanded out the hollow part for a image area for Nicci. She and I had been talking about seeing a lot of "Fat Bottom Girls" around the world of illustration - but not a lot of big girls with a focus on the belly... so I have made (and will make a few more) an attempt to embellish on that thought. A celebration of all body types. Small, medium, large and extra large.

Posted by: Maralena

it's all in the details

i have been adding little bits of drawing and decoration to various pages in the book the last 2 days. sometimes i need to go minimal and concentrated on the elements rather that worrying about the whole.






btw, the minizine sticking out of the pocket above is another i received in a swap-bot swap i hosted. it's by a girl who goes by s. jane.

Three heavy texture spreads...

I had been working on these for a few days. There are multiple layers of Gesso to begin with on all three spreads. I got a little wiser in my sanding process and now wrap strips of sanding paper around a heavy balled up terry cloth to keep more control. I am doing some pretty rough sanding! On these spreads - I added acrylic paint - which, when hard - makes it a bit harder to sand than if using the water color or the neopastels. For the most part I kept the acrylics to a single layer. Still adding handmade paper for texture between the layers of gesso and color... for strength. I'm glad to take Nicci's hint in going heavy (the chunky book queen). I've never done such intense work in a single project before and can see that in the long run - the sturdiness will be a good thing.

I am in love with the softness of these pages and how they turned out. They are like little sheets of suede. They feel wonderful... and I love the colors. I have not decided what I am going to do on them yet... and who knows what Nicci will do!

Posted by: Maralena

Journal progress - Seeing Red

Sheesh. It took me two days to finally get though Blogger to post. Not sure what that was all about!

Meanwhile... I was busy in my journal. I could not decide between to papers for the texture undercoat. I finally decided on the red pattern. Gesso, Gesso and then laid the paper down. Very nice "fiber/cotton" paper. Gesso on top and then the Neopastels again. Watered them down and repeated. Sanded course, medium and then fine and repeated the process a second time. I love the way the fiber/paper pulled/ripped in parts - and how it felt when it was sanded smooth with the fine sand paper. It looks really cool... almost like skin. I added a bit of blue color... and will revisit this in a day or two.

Posted by: Maralena

hearts!

between drawing and painting sessions, i have been layering on ripped up pages with gesso. it makes the working surface really thick and textured. yummy!


i have been thinking about tattoos lately. and hearts. and slowly some tattooish heart doodles have been slipping into my drawings. i might use this one as a logo for some new business cards!


i also seem to have thing for drawing blue hearts. it doesn't feel corpsified to me. how about you? zombie hearts or just blue hearts?

drawing on thin gesso covered papers

watercolor doodles on dictionary paper are the next order of business in the sketchbook!. first, you rip out some paper form a dictionary, or another sort of book. it doesn't have to be a dictionary. gesso it. 2 coats will mostly obscure the words. i used 2 coats here. 1 coat doesn't cover as well, but is good enough. draw. watercolor. glue in.


this makes for very thin pieces of your own art you can easily collage into your visual journal. the gesso gives some body to the paper to support painting or drawing, and helps keep the paper from ripping or otherwise soaking up too much ink/paint.

photo integration in progress...

and then there were photos. i dug out some photos from a box of black and white proof prints i made while still in University. these are images of my nieces, Brittani and Bianca (Bianca is the one with the dark hair). Bianca is mistaken for my sister a lot.

i have been wanting to use these for a while, and they make good bases for drawing on. i glued and/or taped them in to various spreads. if you look below, to the green spread, you will see some drawing on the photo with gel pen. they work pretty well for that.

don't ask about th egg thing. i'm not sure what's going on there...






Bianca (pictured above) was a more reluctant model than her sister, but quietly so. i only have a few photos of her. these are proofs, which means the printing isn't the best, and i don't really feel weird drawing over them. also, they're 'outtakes' from our shoots.

if you've never photographed in a public laundry, you should try it sometime. the graphic qualities of the dryers alone...





here i've put some color proof prints in with a spread of color maralena did, and a black and white image on the opposite page. it's going to take a few layers to connect these bits. the color images are from 2001. i never used the images because of a lens flare (it was an old TLR on a sunny way without a hood), and there was something wrong with the winding mechanism, so all the frames overlapped a little. annoying! (i don't crop... i print full frame, so that was a problem for me.)

it's leaning a little to the scrapbooky side here, isn't it? weeeell. we'll just see how it turns out, shall we?

blue! blue blue blue.

i started by just painting blue watercolor over a spread maralena did in some acrylic berry and greenish colors. but then, then it went nuts. ahhh! tape everywhere! gesso! more tape! envelope! gesso! painting, sanding! writing with gel pen!






have i mentioned recently how much i am loving blue these last 2 weeks? i don't know where the blue fetish is coming from. i'm a red girl! but blue... blue sometimes horns in.

the 'evidence' tag is something i picked up in a scrap book store because i thought it was funny. that was a while ago. i think 7 gypsies is the name of the company who made it.

the envelope glued in is one i altered with inks... well i was going to alter it with ink, but my ink bottle sort of exploded the day i did it, so it was just splotchy. i never quite finished it.

the best part about this spread is that these are colors i never would have thought to use together. but it just sort of happened. thanks, maralena! =)

a couple of details + color fields

these are three spreads in order. well, more specifically, a detail of a spread, 2 spreads, and then a detail. you can see how the prismacolors + watercolor were used in the portrait. layering these two media is delish.

the blue is just watercolor over gesso. the last image is a little detail done with gel pen.






sometimes it can be hard to draw with the gel pens. pressure is important, as is the surface you're writing on. slick surfaces tend to work a little better than rough ones. with gesso, you have to be very careful not to clog the gel pens.

i love white pens!

Dance, Dance, Dance

I haven't drawn ladies in a long time. Thanks Nicci for the inspiration! I decided on a little hip action - so here goes that "Fat Bottomed Girl" at work. First... Gesso, Gesso, Gesso, Sketched the design, Caran d' Ache Neo Pastel II's, Inktense Pencils, more gesso, Acrylic, and metallic marker.

Posted by: Maralena

In the Green

I pressed an assortment of leaves some years back. I pull out two Maple leaves and used them in this spread. First I gesso'ed both pages... let it dry... and then more gesso before I placed the leaves. Gesso around the sides and let that dry. Painted the outside surrounding the leaves - deep green, and more gesso - repeat. I highlighted the leaves and then glazed them with a clear coating and sprinkled UTEE on top and zapped them into a hard image... and added some acrylic (opaque and metallic) detail. Sponge painted the surrounding areas. I'll leave the rest for Nicci to play with. I hope she funk-a-fies these leaves.

Posted by: Maralena

sneak peek

i did a lot of work on the sketchbook (mine) the last 2 days, but i am too wiped right now to post it all. i chose an image from one of my favorite works in progress... this is a few steps back, though.

first i layered a bunch of ripped out pieces of dictionary on this page with gesso (ir already had about 3 dry coats), and then did another coat on top. when it was dry, i used a square punch to punch out two squares through the page.

i pulled out some old photos (from 2004). these are black and white proof prints of some images i took of my nieces, Brittani and Bianca. i cut them down to about an inch over the size of the window, and sanded the edges to be sure the glue would stick really well to them, and glued them to the back of the page, with the image showing through. i also taped the back to be sure they wouldn't slide around as they were drying, and did 2 coats of gesso over the back so i can also draw over them.



after flipping the page the right way to view the images, i edged with aluminum tape, and used a metal roller to put the 'stitch' impressions in. i also drew directly on the images with those sakura gelly roll metallic pens to add some color.

the text is from my (sadly) broken dymo label maker. it's the cheapest one... i don't know how well the more expensive ones last. this one has trouble punching certain letters, and the cutter has ceased to function.

recognize the song the words themselves are from?

Hey Girl Friend!

Here's a friend for the Blue Lipped Girl. Not completely finished yet... have a few more "make-up" add-on's for later... but here is a sneak peak.

Posted by: Maralena

Two down...

I am officially finished with these two spreads. I'm going to call it a night on the journal - but it sure is hard to do! I don't want to set it down. My mind is already turning about the other pages.

Added Mainstay Golden to the long haired lady and broke out my new set of Inktense Pencils. I love, love, love them! I used them on the backgrounds.

Posted by: Maralena

A bit more progress...

The little lady was ready for another set of streaks, and this time they are a vibrant purple.

I started working on another spread I had gessoed and ready. First the sketch and then some color. Again, Caran d' Ache Neo Pastels for the base. Not sure where I will go from here. I'm still considering.

Baby got back!

Posted by: Maralena

layering, layering, layering & MESS

my favorite thing about collaborative journals is the building up of layers. you can, of course, do this on your own, without another person, but there is less surprise involved--less challenge when you're playing art with yourself. it's like visual chess, almost, except one person doesn't beat the other person--you just strive for a kind of aesthetic resonance.





i started using some tape and sewing together, and i was struck by the way the laters of gesso and watercolor have built up with one another on this spiral binding. i also accidentally ripped the bottom of the page when i was sewing, so i had to make a little makeshift repair to keep the page from wobbling too much. the thread was later stained with watercolor as i painted other areas of the back page. mmm. in this case, messy is good!



and then came the orange. you may remember that maralena did some fabulously orange and gold pages with acrylic. i edged them with black tape, then took down the orange with gesso, leaving it showing in places where i scraped or dabbed through. i edged in orange watercolor, kicking up the vibrancy. i might go in with a drawing, but i haven't decided yet...

next up? a skinny girl with a scarf...