Gluey Gooey Fun

I think February is just the month of backgrounds, period. I've been inking and dying a lot of paper and canvas, and my hands are all stained--always a sign of fun had! I've got quite a stash going for projects.

Tonight I'll post some of the paper backgrounds. These are glue resist backgrounds done on cardstock, and they are for another Trish Bee "Background Noise" challenge. See Trish's challenge here http://trishbee.co.uk/?p=34
And here are a few of the backgrounds. The basic idea is to smoosh (technical term) regular white PVA glue on cardstock--either randomly or in patterns, and let it dry. The glue acts like a resist when sponged with colors.

These will get added to my background noise journal.

New challenge technique: Shining Stones

On the NGS group, Trish has us starting a "Background Noise" journal. The idea is as we try out her various challenges, we have a place to record and keep the experiments.

Here's the cover I made for my big 9 x 12 sketch journal. It's made from bits and pieces of backgrounds I've made.

Round Robin Returns

Yesterday, my book came home after being out in the world for six months. This is how the book started. I focused on all the women--authors, poets, songwriters--whose work has inspired me over the years. Used a variety of techniques in here, including gesso, acrylics, stamping, Color Mist sprays, stamping, torn paper collage, transparencies, etc.

Here's my cover, a sign-in page, my welcome page, and three pages I created. This was the first time I participated in a project of this nature. It was challenging, fun, frustrating and totally worthwhile. Thanks to Kate Markey for organizing (see below for Kate's pages).

Deatra's pages

Deatra Cohen and I just met through this exchange. Deatra does fabulous acrylic work.

Her pages in my book blew me away. The text running throughout says "women's words of wisdom" and indicates that they go in one ear and out the next. Deatra may or may not have meant this as a political statement, but I cannot help think of how much better off we'd be if women's words were heard--and stuck--in Washington and elsewhere. In any case, I absolutely love these pages. Not sure if you can tell, but they are sort of die cut, and they overlap and connect to the "storyline" all the way through.

Sharon's pages

Sharon Sahl (who happens to be Kate's sister) does amazing digital collage.

Somewhere in my journal I mentioned how important music and women musicians are to me. Sharon took it to heart, giving me images and lyrics. The cover page of her five-page spread has lift-up flaps and really trippy imagery.

Sharon, thank you so much!

Kate's pages

Kate Markey organized the book project and I can't say enough about her and the pages she made. Each one is so textural. She really "got" the theme and designed pages for it beautifully, touching on poetry, dance, fashion, time, gossip and wit. Thank you, Kate!

Cheryl's pages

Cheryl Lundstrom did these amazing concept pages in my book. Using the Vietnam War memorial as inspiration, she spread hand-written quotes by amazing women across the "walls" spanning six pages, wrapping it all up with a message to "Write Women Back into History." Thank you Cheryl, for the great idea and execution!

Stacy's pages in my book

Here are a couple of Stacy Goldenberg's pages. She went with the historical theme, which I love. She also did a great Patti Smith page and I somehow did not get a picture of it. Will have to post that later.

Marshmallows, lichen & pine needles

On one of my Yahoo groups, Trish Bayley challenged us to start a sketchbook that is "all about us." On a good day, I would be challenged by such a project. But, I decided to take the journal along on my family's trip to the high Sierra a few weeks ago, along with some Caran Dache watercolor crayons and a water brush--and that's it.

But the pages needed texture, so I thought, "hmmm, what can I use?" One page has some nice ovals courtesy of a marshmallow...

Another was done by dabbing on watercolors with a piece of lichen...

Two were accented by dipping the tip of a pine branch in contrasting color and smooshing it on...

And one was just scribbles and the water brush.

The real challenge is that I know have to FILL these pages with journaling...about myself. I've actually started this but will wait till I get a few done to upload.

2 o'clock knock knock

This is my next-to-last set of pages for the round robin journal swap, for Deatra's journal. Her theme is "Dreams for Insomniacs," and boy, can I relate to that! This spread talks about the recurring insomnia that seems to plague most of the creative people I know. My nighttime images literally wake me up and keep me up for hours at a stretch.

More journal pages

These were pages from Cheryl's book in the round robin journal swap. Her theme was "Where We Go to Rest." For me, that's nature and art--both refresh me!

Teesha Moore-style swap

Well. I've been participating in a Teesha Moore-style swap on CC Swaps, wherein we are supposed to create pages similar to her style. Although I've had a lot of fun doing these, I don't think I ever got close to her style. Hopefully they will be OK for the swap because I've spent loads of time on them., vbg! This was one of those life lessons: in trying to find my own style, it is not helpful for me to try my hand at someone else's. But painting and doodling sure is a good way to unwind. To see her actual work, go here:
http://www.teeshamoore.com/teeshasjournalpgs.html

Anyway, here are my efforts.

Journal pages: Kate's book

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More pages from the round robin journal project in which I'm taking part. Kate's theme was "word play," and I came up with bird idioms & bug idioms--hence the "birds & bees." I love playing with words so this was a very fun pass for me. I'm getting more comfortable working with brighter colors--breaking out of my vintage rut! These are transparencies layered over stamping, paint, Color Mists, feathers, velvet leaves, etc. The bright color mists are from Outside the Margins.

More journal pages

These pages are for Sharon's journal, with the theme, "Fairy Tales, Real or Imagined." I've never scene stamped before, so this was a real challenge. The scene was stamped in India Ink Black and colored with Twinkling H20 watercolors. This is a two-page spread, I just couldn't get them to line up that way here.