Scrapping by Design

Week 5 from Lifebook 2016 is taught by Pauline Agnew. She named it A Vessel Full of Tenderness.

I think this is one of my favorite lessons. As the picture shows, we did a bowl of flowers using collage and mixed media techniques.

If I recall this correctly, we made the background using many layers of collage and paint and handwriting.  Then we drew a loose image of the bowl, and painted the flowers and greenery on top of the bowl.

We did not paint the bowl at all, but rather, we used white acrylic paint to go AROUND the bowl, allowing the underlying collage to show through.

I used a floral stencil at the bottom to make a couple of flowers lying “on the table”.

This is the main lesson from Lifebook 2016, Week 1. Again, the instructor is Tamara LaPorte. The name of the lesson is The Happy Traveler.

We collaged the background and then drew and painted the woman’s face and upper body. The orange flower in her hair is a paper flower that I made last year. The small mark on her forehead is a rubber stamp with black ink.

The idea was to select some animals that represented us, or some aspects of ourselves that we wanted to take with us on our journey into 2016.

My main animal is a cat, because I am one step away from being a Crazy Cat Lady.  I also chose an owl, because I love owls and I love the fact that they represent wisdom. For reasons that I don’t quite understand, I also wanted a cow. Perhaps it is because I was born and raised on a farm and we had livestock.

I gave the cat a little crown cut from old music paper.

In Tam’s lesson, we created a small envelope that we attached to the bottom of the page. The envelope was to contain a letter to ourselves.

I wasn’t in the mood to do that, so I stamped out a small envelope, cut it out and glued it by the cat’s paw. It represents my letter to myself.

I am pleased with the girl’s face. I think it is the best job of coloring a face that I have done so far.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Lifebook and Willowing Arts, you can find out more here: Click here to view more details

I am once again enrolled in Willowing Arts Lifebook. 2016 is my fourth year, although I did not complete the first year.

This picture is my version of the warmup lesson offered in Week 1. It was designed and taught by Tamara LaPorte, the owner of Willowing Arts. The name Tamara gave to the lesson is “Creativity Takes Courage: A Playful Warmup Lesson”.

I deviated from the lesson quite a bit.

The girl’s silhouette was a leftover from a lesson in 2015. I had drawn her on sandwich paper. For this warmup lesson, I cut her out, glued her over my background collage and outlined her with plum colored ink.

The background is a combination of hand writing, collage, stenciling and various paint spatters.

I cut the words “Against All Odds” from a magazine and glued them on. The smaller text reads, “personal courage.”

I think the text and words had some special meaning for me at the time I made this, but for now, I forget what that was.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Lifebook and Willowing Arts, you can find information at this link: Click here to view more details

This project from Lifebook 2015 was taught by Donna Downey. Its titled Finding Strength.

Donna used one of her own stencils to create the silhouette of the woman. I didn’t have the stencil, or one similar, so I drew the shape on sandwich paper. I then cut it out and glued it to the page. After that I coloured it, but lightly so some of the scribbling underneath would show through.

From the looks of this project, I probably did some writing or scribbling for the first layer, and then covered it with various colors of acrylic paint and perhaps watercolor crayons.

I made some splatters at the end with black ink, then drew around the borders with a black sharpie.

This is week 32 from Lifebook 2015. The name of the lesson was “You are Wise” and the instructor was Tamara Laporte of Willowing Arts.

At this point, I no longer remember exactly how this was made, but from the look of it, I would hazard a guess that there is collage for the first layer, followed by layers of paint and stencils. The stenciled shapes on the bottom were made, I think, with brass stencils and modeling paste for texture.

The girl is hand drawn, of course, and painted.

Lifebook 2015, Week 35, is entitled Create New Possibilities. If you are interested in hearing more about Willowing Arts and Lifebook 2016, here is the link: Click here to view more details

Since I have fallen behind, I ended up doing this collage on Thanksgiving weekend. Therefore, I went with a fall colors theme and the word GRATITUDE.

This is based on a lesson by Andrea Gomoll.

I started by stamping GRATITUDE in black, permanent ink. I stamped smaller, related words around it.

Next, I did some stenciling with modeling paste. Andrea used actual stencils, but I used these circular shapes that are sold in the sewing department of Michaels and other places that sell yarns and needlework items. I don’t know what they are called, but they make excellent stencils.

Next, I chose some fall colors from my aqua crayons and created water colors over the page.

I drew the small circular shapes using a black sharpie. The shape is said to represent gratitude.

On top, I tore a napkin or serviette into a strip and glued it in place. It had an autumn theme, so I thought it worked okay.

I finished by splattering black ink here and thre, and drawing a jagged black border around the edge.

I rather like this piece.

Lifebook Week 31, taught by Rachael Rice, was a raised hand Hamsa Protection Symbol.

Right off the bat, I have to say that I traced the wrong hand. According to information found on Google, the Hamsa protection symbol is supposed to be a drawing of the right hand. I didn’t realize that, and traced by left hand, because, of course, I am right handed.

The Hamsa Hand is said to provide protection from the evil eye and from other sources of danger. If you want to learn more about Hamsa, you will find explanations at this link: Hamsa Hand at Lucky Mojo

We began by making a background. Rachel made a blue sky with clouds using paint. I decided to do the same. Later, I decided to stick with a blue on blue colour theme, although I did add small splashes of other colors for contrast.

The Hansa Hand traditionally has an eye on the back of the hand.  I did all of the decorative touches by hand, using marking pencils. I did some dark red coloring around the nails and in the background, and added one word of text in orange That word is SAFETY.

Its a fast and easy piece, and covers a subject (hamsa) that was new to me.

Lifebook 2015, Week 26, was taught by Andrea Gomoll. Andrea’s instructions were to do with identifying and drawing our Inner Warrior Princess.

I am not so big on Inner Warrior Princesses, but I have it a shot. It turned out that my Inner Warrior Princess is actually an Eco Warrior Princess. This should not have come as a big surprise, because I am passionate about environmental issues, as most of my friends know quite well.

I am not one of those artists who begins with a concept and paints it. I start out with an extremely vague idea, if any, and see what develops. I am usually as surprised at the end as anyone else. LOL

Anyway, my Eco Warrior Princess has plenty of symbols representing our planet and the life that is on it. The glove itself is obvious — but I have also added stars. animals, plantlife, birds, seashells, stones in the necklace, feathers, birds, a mushroom and ocean waves in the top of the hat.

The o’s and 1’s in the bottom part of the hat represent digital media, since I use social media to publicize ecological concerns, and because I often incorporate digital art into my projects.

All images are hand drawn and painted, except for the stars which are stencils done with silver acrylic paint.

This art journal page has a painting of an orca whale. The theme was DREAM. I made this for a swap at Art for the Creative Mind, a Yahoo mixed media art group.

I started by doing some paper collaging, then painted over the collage with acrylic paints.

I drew and painted the whale free hand, then did some stenciling with stencil paste. I used a rubber stamp to apply some shapes that resemble seaweed, at least in my opinion.

I drew on some bubbles, and used a stamp to apply the word DREAM.

I printed the word BIG with a Sharpie.

I live in Vancouver, and we often see orcas in our coastal waters. They are always a thrill to witness, and this one was fun to paint.

This is my effort at Week 24 in Lifebook 2015. The instructor is Juliette Crane, and the title is Happy Painting.

Juliette glued some collage papers at the bottom, mainly. She used splotches of paint and various media to cover the paper. Then she figured out a face and drew the face from the blotches and squiggles.

The whole point is to work quickly and allow your inner “muse” to take over.

Juliette’s face was female. Since I seem to be on a “male” theme these days, I thought I saw a male face in the mess and created this guy.

I named him Andre and decided he was a poet — the sort of chap who wouldn’t wear socks and who resists “the establishment’. LOL

However, some of the gals at Lifebook thought he was a likeness of Vincent Van Gosh. They suggested I add a bit more orange to his hair and call him Vinny.

I did add more orange, but haven’t taken the second picture.

For now, this is either Andre or Vinny. You be the judge. 🙂