Day: August 5, 2007

Art

Productivity

Shelly

I regularly read several art blogs, and the main theme lately has been that folks feel they are in a summer slump. I am surprised that I don’t feel that way, because I’m used to thinking of myself as a slow worker. That, despite the fact that I’ve gotten several e-mails from people wondering how on earth I manage to do so much. Ha! I don’t. Or, at least, I don’t think that I do.

But, it’s true what they say about creating new habits. I’ve somehow managed to get into the habit of arting pretty much every single day, whether I feel like it or not. I’m really not sure how or when that happened, but I think it’s been fairly recently–the last 6-8 months, maybe? It’s become ingrained, so that I can’t even sit down to watch the news without working on something.

Art, Drawings

Blue Tree

Shelly

Blue Tree
Blue Tree
wax resist (wax crayon and India ink) on leaf from 19th century patent book
9 x 5 1/2 inches

The altered books group posts monthly techniques. I hadn’t done wax resist in years–and never with India ink–so I thought I’d try it. I used RoseArt crayons, which aren’t as heavily pigmented as Crayola, but they are waxier, so they might be better suited to resist.

Blue Tree
Blue Tree
wax resist (Portfolio water-soluble crayons and India ink) on leaf from 19th century patent book
5 1/2 x 9 inches

I also did one with Portfolio water-soluble crayons. That was only almost as stupid as it sounds. The top layers of crayon washed away in areas, but I can go back in and replace them. What’s more interesting is the way the ink bloomed. There are circular spots in the top drawing, where the ink dropped onto the paper. In the bottom one, there are lines, where I used the dropper to squeeze swathes of ink along the edges of the paper. In the scans, those areas read as tears, though close up, it’s obvious that they are not.

You could use other colors of ink. Watercolor or acrylic paint mixed with a small amount of water might be interesting, too. Pretty much anything that flows well and is water-based should work.

Art, Artist Books, Collage

The Remembrancer: Blue Moon

Shelly

The Remembrancer: Blue Moon
The Remembrancer: Blue Moon
Portfolio water-soluble crayons, pencil, and gesso
4 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches

For some reason, I have a terrible time color-correcting blues. It doesn’t help that some media–like crayons and colored pencils–lose opacity when scanned. So, the color on this one is as close as I could get it, but it’s not perfect.

I’m also not a big fan of Portfolio water-soluble crayons. They’re super creamy and smeary and are just too mushy for my tastes. They also don’t layer very well, so just when you think you are building up nice, complex strata of pigment, you end up with bald spots. Hrmf!