Art Journal Notebook

I just started working on a new art journal and this week Inspire me Thursday is about altered notebooks. Thought I would post my beginnings....

Purchased at Michaels, the heavy weight paper pages measure 7” x 10” and are unlined. Originally the notebook contained a total of 125 or so pages. I glued 2 or 3 pages at a time, so now there are 58 pages. I painted the pages that I had glued together. Because I am rather impatient it took me 1 & 1/2 days to get the pages glued and painted. Just couldn't stop once I started that part. I love the way acrylic drys quickly in Arizona's dry environment.

Next....using my digital images, I printed on: lace paper, tyvec, matte paper, canvas, ribbed drawing paper, lutradur, a substrate made from gel media- cheesecloth and golden’s digital ground, and finally a transfer created with gel media and golden’s digital ground. I also used pages from a dictionary, dyed burlap, wire, hemp etc for collage. I tore some images, cut others and started creating some collage and writing. I still have 22 pages that consist of paint only waiting to be collaged before journaling on them.

For the cover I used heavy weight upholstery fabric. For the front and back outside cover I cut strips and pieces of the fabric, and then pieced them together with large stitches. Next some small circular gathered pieces were added. I anchored all the pieces with embroidery thread. Then I glued the front and back outside pieces to the cover with gel media. I added a strip of crocheted cotton yarn to the left front. For the inside covers, I found a piece of fabric that waspieced long ago with digital fabric. I used gel media to attach the scrap piece to the inside back cover and added smaller pieces of the upholstery fabric to fill in some spaces.

So here is a view of some of my almost finished notebook.

BRANCHING OUT WITH DIGITAL PRINTS

This months (and next) Cloth Paper Scissors arrived in my mailbox today. Although I knew it would be there, I was excited to see my “Branching out with Digital Prints” among the articles. The staff does such a great job with CPS magazine in publishing interesting articles, inviting visuals and some great “how to” information. I love looking through their pages every time it gets delivered. It is always a pleasure working with their editors. Be sure to pick up the September/October issue:)

Currently I am focused on writing some “how to” information in the form of ebooks. The ones in the works are about using Photoshop Elements to create interesting images for art journals and mixed media art.

Next year during Art & Soul Retreats in Hampton Virginia I will be teaching 2 workshops in Photoshop Elements. On April 30, 2009 the workshop will be “Photoshop Elements 101” and on May 1, my workshop will be “Creative Digital Scrapbook pages with Photoshop Elements”.

Although most of my work is created with Photoshop CS3, I love working on Photoshop Elements. The program is easy to use and although it doesn’t have some of my favorite features from the regular Photoshop program, it is user friendly. The learning curve for Photoshop Elements is less steep then CS3 and the price is reasonable.

The registration information on the Hampton Virginia Art and Soul Retreats will be on their website in mid September. I will put the link up when the site is ready.

New Journal Page Downloads

I'm at the Phoenix airport waiting for a plane to Buffalo. Our son coaches in the minor league system for the St. Louis Cardinals, so my husband and I are on the way for a visit to Batavia New York where his team plays. We will get to see Niagara Falls this trip, so maybe I will get some good pics for new digital designs:) Haven't been to the Falls since I was a little kid.

These are prints of the 10" x 22" digital pages that can be downloaded from my KathyAnne Art website. The link I put here and on the title will bring you right to the page for the new images.

I print these pages on Fabriano Artistico, hot press 140lb watercolor paper and then fold in half to make journal pages for a journal that ends up measuring 10" x 11". I loaded these images last week and if you want to try one for free, you can use the word awesome in the coupon box at checkout.

The prints are lightly colored, so that they can be written over in journals and then of course you can collage over them and create your journal space just the way you like it. I haven't gotten my examples photographed yet, but will post them in a future blog. Once you download, just size to your paper specifications and print.

Have a great week!!

La Jolla FiberArts exhibits Forest Surfaces

Catching up

A few weeks ago I shipped over 16 pieces to La Jolla FiberArts in La Jolla California. My show opened on July 28th with an opening reception on Friday night the first of August. The 3 days before I left for La Jolla I taught a 3 day workshop on digital printing on uncommon surfaces. Busy week and I am just getting myself to the bottom of the list that accumulated when I was out of my studio. At the same time, I have been scheduling several workshops and will be putting a list of these on my blog in the next week or so.

A big thanks to Lynn, Dan and Susie, from La Jolla FiberArts for the brilliant and wonderful job they did in hanging my show and putting on a beautiful spread for my opening reception. This work is a challenge to hang. I spent a great weekend at the gallery and appreciate all the work that went into the weekend to open my Forest Surfaces with success!

Contact Lynn or Susie at La Jolla FiberArts for information and sales.