michelle ward

summer shapes

I love the change of seasons and how each one influences my perspective on art-making.  Lighter and brighter colors emerge in summer....and I can spray paint outside which makes me want new stencils.  I look around the yard and find new shapes to replicate with tyvek to use in my work.  Stencils, masks, and stamps - quick, cheap, and easy new tools to play with.

 

 

 

 

I am currently away from home (typepad lets you pre-schedule posts!).  I am in northern Minnesota for a Kelly family reunion - our first gathering that isn't a wedding or funeral.  Thanks to the organizer, my brother John, we are having an early celebration of my Grandmother's 98th birthday. 

I have my camera - I am certain I will be finding additional new shapes as inspiration in the deep woods.  See you next week!

EDIT:  I've gathered all my favorite hand-cut flora and fauna stencils and put together a collection of mylar stencils, available at GreenPepperPress.com
 

ruby tuesday, winks, and spells

 
 

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a journal spread about this....and of course I have to blog about it too.  I was so thrilled with the Artist Portfolio in Art Journaling.  I was curious about what pages they would choose to present from the handful of journals I sent them that spanned several years.  Those of you who know me well can imagine I squeeeeed when I saw all the evidence that I'm a fan-girl turn up in the publication.  They certainly captured the real me, don't you think?  But I'm wondering....is it possible that Stampington & Co. is under the spell of the heartagram? 

For the uninformed, the Heartagram is the logo for my favorite band, HIM.  We have been fans for years, have seen (and met them) numerous times, and serve on their street team.

 

So what makes me think Stampington is under the spell?  The proof is in their magazines.  It started with Jenny, who deliberately printed these *winks* between friends.  I write about it in this blog post about Altered Couture (April 2007), and this one about Somerset Studio (August 2007). 

 

But then the heartagram shows up again in Art Journaling.  This time Jenny wasn't responsible.  It was a committee, headed by Kellene Giloff, owner of Stampington, who determined the visual content.  I recently asked Amber Demien, editor of the magazine, to share some insider information....did they realize what they were doing?  Was it serendipity that these images appear in print, was it another wink, or had they fallen under the spell?  Amber is an enlightened girl, and knows the heartagram, so she imparted the knowledge to Kellene, who freely selected the pages you see.  It's obvious the emblem has either cast its magic....or maybe they simply believe.  *grin*

 
 
 

Be careful when you look into the eye of that partial portrait stencil.....you are getting sleepy....very very sleepy.....sleepy....  

how about a little break?

It seems most of the country is suffering from extreme heat.  I believe it got to 105* here today.  Hope you are managing to stay cool and hydrated.  How about a little exercise in visualizing lower temperatures?  This might help.

 

 

 

ruby tuesday: me first

 

 

I have probably mentioned this at least once...Me First Journaling is when you score some new stuff - like paper, or ribbon, or another cool supply, and you take clippings for yourself.  This is an important part of my ritual as it frees me to USE the rest of it.  None of this 'save it for the perfect thing'.  I used to be that way.  Then I learned that if I take a sampling for myself in my journal, and make a note about where I got it and why it appealed to me, I was more inclined to actually employ the material.  My hoarding habits are less severe now.  It feels good to come across pages like this in my journal - it is a record of my interests, and was fun and easy to make. 

Have too much stuff that you are afraid to use because you don't want to part with it?  Take some Me First cuttings and set yourself free ;)

craft/kraft

Have you noticed that lunch-bag-brown type of paper is sometimes called 'craft' and sometimes called 'kraft'.  Which one is it?  Does is depend on how a brand names a product?  That's what I had thought until I strolled over to wikipedia and learned there is an actual kraft process of making this type of paper.  It was invented in Germany, where "kraft" means strength or power.  I did not know any of this!

 

When I first started visual journaling my go-to surface was a spiral bound, heavy white paper journal by DMD, sold at Michael's in the scrapbook section.  When those were no longer available I switched to my current favorite, made with kraft or black paper, by Paperchase.  I could always count on getting them at Borders but recently they are harder to find.  Since I like working on a non-white page, and I'm beginning to panic that my stash of Paperchase journals will run out in the next year, I started making my own.

 

Staples carries a file folder made of recycled material in a craft/kraft color.  You can get a box of 100 for $12.99.  I wish they were a little heavier but the economics works for me.  I cut down the folders into a page size of my choice, then punch and coil bind with my Rubicoil from Bonnie's Best.  If you are thinking of trying this keep in mind the page holds a dampness when painted so you should allow a full day of drying before you continue working or it will make you crabby. 

I also like to make journals from cardboard.  I cut down boxes and make pages - paying attention to the direction of the corrugation.  I like to peel away the top surface to expose the grooves.  I like to have pages with both horizontal and verticle orientation of the corrugation.  I cut strips of tyvek to hold it together.  I will present a tutorial on that another time if you're interested.

 
 
If you have a favorite source for kraft paper journals share it with us in the comments below.  We'd love to hear about it!
 

ruby tuesday project pages

Sometimes my journal pages show evidence of a project before, during, and after.  Here I show my sketches, notes, remnant materials, and photos of completed project for the memorial boxes seen on the current Somerset Studio cover.

 

 
 

 

 

 

I've been asked about the poppy pods.  Got them from ebay some time ago and was pleasantly surprised when they arrived as they were much larger than I ever expected.  Couldn't resist spraying them red, especially for my memorial boxes.  The red poppy signifying eternal sleep. 

 

 

 

remembering....

Three years ago, July 10th, my sweet sister left for heaven.  This week I have been thumbing through my journal of notes where I record special memories of her.  Thoughts channel in and I try to capture them with words until I can make visual pages in my Sister Journal.  The littlest thing can trigger a memory.  Yesterday, it was the phone ringing.  I try to fend off the blues by pulling up the things that fill me with joy.  Like this:

   

 
 

Here's Bo....because he's part of my Shannon-Memory.

 

in the mix

 
Over on the Street Team we are paying close attention to the mix that occurs when we work with paint.  Sometimes you start with two colors but end up with a whole range in between.  While we look at those blends we are also noting how much fun it can be to observe color naming, and will attempt to claim a few names of our own.  Hop over and see the creative mess I made on the living room wall trying to find the right color, with supplies from my studio.   Come over and play!

 

With color mixing on my brain I decided to pull out some old work - from college!  I had this phenomenal teacher who taught me so much - not only about the properties of color, but of perception.  It really was theory and practice*.  She required that we mount our work on gray mat board, type the objective and analysis, insert all in plastic sleeves and present in a three-ring binder.  It seemed like a pain at the time but I am so happy to have these past assignments.  Thank you Ms. Fargo.  She also made us use gauche vs. acrylic, and we had to purchase sable brushes ($$$ for a college student) so we would leave no evidence of strokes in the work.  I appreciate having learned that discipline but love bending the rule now - the strokier the better!  I want my work to look like a person made it, textures and all.  Why try to make a perfectly smooth swatch of painted surface that could easily have been cut from colored paper?

Here are some of those assignments....This first one had a limitation that we choose a hue on the opposite side of the color wheel than our favorite.  My old fave was red so I went with green.  That began a new love affair with green.  It lasted for nearly twenty years until I went back to red.

 

Then there was this one - created from magenta, yellow, cyan, white and black.  You should have seen my work table.  Hundreds of scraps of painted stripes of color and then heaps of cuttings and retired exacto blades.

 

And this...the Chroma Bridge...such a fascinating exercise to blend two hues to find all the middle steps.

 

I faked out the Chroma Bridge below with photoshop.  A few steps of hitting gradation between two colors then isolating into rectangles.  It is a quick cheat...but like I said earlier, I really appreciate that I had the opportunity to learn the rules the real way first.

 

I have to name 2 through 8 for Crusade No, 53.  Any suggestions?  Take a stab at it.

Thanks for all the kinds words regarding my articles in Art Journaling and Somerset Studio.  I will be talking more about it soon - so stay tuned.  Have a good weekend.

* in theory and practice may sound familiar....it's part of the subtitle of the recent HIM album ;)

happy 4th!

 

From my favorite American Idol, James Durbin, before he was a contestant.  Not slick, not even in focus...but remarkable, and so him.  Wishing a safe and happy day to you.