The Decorated Page Book Review

Was so thrilled to finish reading a journaling book I have been savoring a few pages at a time over the past few months. Going to intersperse my review below with pages from my journals. Hope you'll share some of your journal pages and favorite journal making supplies with me in the comments...

The Decorated Page: Journals, Scrapbooks and Albums Made Simply Beautiful, by Gwen Diehn, got me with the cover! From postal stamps (I have a collection of about 1000 from around the world for my artwork) to watercolor illustrated pages to the ubiquitous Micron pen, the cover promised to help me turn my excessive supply of blank journals into expressive albums using Gwen's simple techniques.

The beginning of the book has an excellent description of different journal book types (with advantages and considerations of each kind) and a thorough discussion of mark making tools and paints; Gwen's favorite journaling paint is watercolor and mark making tool is the micron pen! My favorite tools are spiral bound Aquabee Super Deluxe 93lb paper drawing books (will take dry and wet media well), woodless dark/soft graphite pencil, Pitt black markers, Derwent ColorSoft pencils or Koh-I-Noor woodless colored pencils, and Penguin pan watercolors. Sometimes when I am travelling and don't want to take both the colored pencils and pan watercolors, I substitute water soluable Derwent colored pencils.

I love Gwen's 9 ways to prepare journal pages so that I'm not looking at a blank page to start. (A favorite of mine is to create a watercolor wash over a crayoned image to get a very interesting effect.) She later gives great examples of different page layouts (including text) such as bleeds, grids, borders, organic... Very well described and demonstrated with sample pages from many other artists. I especially like the idea of cutting and using my own stamps from wine corks (which I have a lot of after drinking copious bottles of wine!) which is beautifully described and demonstrated in the text.

One of my favorite parts of the book is a section called "Writing Small" by guest contributor Ann Turkle. It discusses ways to develop free flowing writing skills. She suggests springboarding by making mundane lists, describing everyday items in detail, observing, listening, and more. I learned A LOT here...

With so many pictures of journal pages from different artists, it was easy for me to get inspired to write, no matter what I think my handwriting looks like! As a bonus, I later found in Gwen's book a handwritten font I've fallen in love with!

Recently an arts magazine asked its readers if they were marooned on a desert island with only one art supply, what would it be? Mine would certainly be a big fat soft dark graphite pencil so I could journal on everything!!!

Happy Journaling!  Trisitna :)

Polymer Clay Class Today!

Today I am giving a free demonstration of working with polymer clay in the afternoon at Utrecht Art Supply in Fort Lauderdale, FL! Have clay, tools, oven, lotions & potions all over my kitchen table in preperation. Will let you know how class turns out... :) Tristina

Color Inspiration Collage

Wow! I was exhausted the morning after hosting a fun 4th of July bar-b-que at my house. So, while eating breakfast I began perusing the book 'Polymer Clay Color Inspirations' by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio as a way to wind down from the clean up that carried over from the previous day and reward myself for a job well done!

The pictures in this book are at once absolutely captivating and overwhelming! The thought crossed my mind, "How in the heck can I ever reproduce the fabulous projects in this book?" So, how do you eat an elephant? Of course, one bite at a time! I dived in determined to stretch myself to BEGIN the process of exploring color.

I was intrigued by the author's exercise 'Making Your Color Inspiration Collage'. The project called for working with magazine clippings to create a color collage that spoke to me and included the colors blue, red and yellow (primary mixing colors). I don't know about you, but I have piles of magazines and already torn pages containing colors, textures, words and interesting subjects as inspirational touchstones for creativity in my stash. About the color collage the authors say, "Having a starting point...helps you make the decisions necessary for developing your personal palette via an informed selectoin of your mixing colors." This seemed like the perfect place for me to start IMMEDIATELY!

Here is the collage I made on 14"x17" bristol paper using magazine clippings and a Uhu glue stick. (This project is really easy & fun!)

Now that I have made my first collage, I am addicted!

Reading on in the chapter, Lindly and Maggie suggest creating a reference library of inspirational color combination collages that please me. They say that as I create new collages I can increase my ability to discern subtle differences between colors. Execellent sample collage groupings appear in the book.

I can already tell making more collages will help me get more in touch with my favorite color pallets so I can bring these to my color mixing and painting... I've already begun a new bag of clippings with an exciting color grouping to start making another collage tomorrow!!!

Hope you will join me in this exercise. Post your picture in the comments area when you make a collage!

Tristina :)

Review Encaustic + Paper DVD by Wax Works West

This past week has been intense (my 2 daughters had a charity fashion show this past weekend, the last class of the Artist as an Entrepreneur series was this weekend AND I had 3 paintings finished just in time to submit to the Broward Art Guild juried Summer Show this past weekend)!!! Needless to say, I have been itching to sit down at my computer and write this review of the exciting Encaustic + Paper DVD by Wax Works West that I finished early last week...

Actually, this DVD inspired me to take one of my PaperScapes(tm), where the paper had been deformed during the wet painting process and that had been rained on by a sudden storm while drying outside, and cover the entire dry piece in encaustic wax medium as they demonstrated on the DVD. LOVE the results! I created a unique way to mount the waxed paper painting directly to a clear acrylic sheet and submitted the piece to the juried Summer Show. I'll let you know if it was accepted for the show later in the week... Either way, I will take pictures and explain how I mounted the finished waxed paper when I next see the painting. Here are pictures of the freshly waxed PaperScape coming off the pallet, then I fused the wax into the fibers of the paper with a heat gun:

 Saturating the PaperScape with encaustic wax medium on both the front and back.

 Fully waxed piece is very sturdy. I love the luminescence of the waxed paper!

Fusing the wax to the paper with a heat gun. Was beautifully translucent when done.

OK, on with the DVD review! I purchased the Encaustic + Paper DVD at R&F Paints when I was at a class in their facility in April. The teachers on the instructional video are Wendy Aikin, Judy Stabile and Daniella Woolf of Wax Works West out in Corralitos, California. The DVD was jam packed with loads of creative ways to use encaustic wax on paper with project examples good for the beginner to intermediate wax artist.

One of the first things I learned on the DVD was that Viva brand paper towels are the best for working with wax paintings because they are the most cloth-like and really impart a nice shine when rubbed over a fused wax surface. The Viva paper towels do not throw off little fibers like other paper towels. Another very important studio practice suggested by the gals was to wear Nitrile gloves when working with the wax and any loose pigments. I have been using Nitrile gloves anyway when I work with acrylic and oil paints, so it was easy to immediately add them to my encaustic wax work safety routine.

An important point I found raised on the DVD is that water and wax don't mix, so remember to be sure all paper elements are dry before beginning to saturate with wax. There were many fabulous quick in-studio demonstrations by the instructors, the most intriguiging of which for me were: making impressions using colorful heat sensitive foil on already waxed papers; copy transfers with parchment paper onto waxed papers; batik style wax resist with watercolor on paper; and making scratch patterns in waxed paper, then highlighting the patterns with alcohol ink.

The techniques presented are given in nice short vignettes so that it is easy to stop and start the instruction and still feel like you learned something even though you may have only had 5 minutes to fit in a quick watch. This is one of my favorite features of the film. Another favorite is that there is a segment on studio safety and what to do if something catches fire (complete with hunky firemen!). Something else I found extremely useful was that at the end of the DVD Daniella Woolf shows some of the tricks and methods she uses to compartmentalize her work for ease of  shipping and interesting ways in which she and her fellow teachers frame or present their work.

I am thrilled to have just submitedt my first encaustic and paper painting to the Broward Art Guild juried Summer Show...as a direct result of having been taught and inspired by the ladies in Encaustic + Paper! If you would like to learn more about Wax Works West, simply look them up at WaxWorksWest.com.

Happy Painting! :)

Tristina

Living at the Speed of Light?

I can't believe 10 days have gone by since my last post!!! Well, I have in that time bought 2 new art books (Steampunkery by Cristi Friesen and Creative Illustration Workshop for Mixed-Media Artists by Katherine Dunn) and 2 new magazines (Crafts 'n Things and Bead Unique).

The Crafts 'n Things magazine has "Kids' crafts for summer camps" as an attention grabbing headline for me and Bead Unique has a spectacular polymer clay necklace on the front cover including a fabric necklace for which I want to find out the supplier (Silk Necklace from Class Act Designs). Also, the Bead Unique magazine has 2 polymer clay project articles, so I am going to take the magazine to Monday night's SouthEast Florida Polymer Clay Guild meeting in Delray to show my fellow members what's new in the press related to Polymer Clay!

Reviews of the books will be forthcoming. Also, I am almost done watching an encaustic wax instructional video I bought on my trip to NY to visit R&F Paints, Encaustic & Paper by Wendy Aikin, Judy Stabile and Daniella Wolf. Fascinating! I have learned so many exciting new ways to wax that I will share with you soon when I finish the video...

Here are a few pictures of my latest works in progress:

 Gluing my hand colored papers to canvas.

 Completed Paperscapes, waiting for edges to be painted...

 ELEMENTS II (each component 8in x 8in)

 Untitled (each component 5in x 5in)

OCEAN  BLUE (8in x 8in)

Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute and ArtWalk

June 4th...Busy day! All day at a program sponsored by the National Endowment For The Arts called Artist as an Entrepreneur to help me accelerate my understanding of the business of Art. It is a 4 weekend program only offered once a year in my area; tomorrow's the first day.  I love making art...and I want to learn the best way to get it into the most people's hands so more folks can ENJOY what I make!!!

After class, the Broward Art Guild (http://www.browardartguild.org/) is holding their first opening reception in their new gallery space at 3280 NE 32nd Street in Fort Lauderdale from 6:30-9pm. I have an underwater scene made with encaustic wax encasing 8 jellyfish that I drew in the show. The opening corresponds with the North Beach ArtWalk where other shops and restaurants in the area will also be open. I'm grabbing a couple of friends to join me for some fun out there...

Tristina :)

Mulberry Paper Experiment

Today was another picture-perfect Florida day! Just the right amount of sun and breeze (not too much) to make more colored paper outside. I decided to experiment with a rough surface Mulberry paper; I love the texture of the surface and the tattered edges of this hand-made paper. It took the watered down acrylic colors beautifully! Here are pictures...

Happy Painting :)

Tristina

Review Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch DVD

Last night I watched Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch's DVD 'Encaustic Collage Workshop'. I love it when I am able to pick up new techniques from a DVD in the comfort of my studio!

Besides having an excellent introduction in the beginning third of the workshop re tools and using/creating beautiful encaustic paint colors from oil paint and R&F Paint Sticks, the video showed me how to finish off the sides of my encaustic painting panels and how to glue 2 panels together with gorilla glue to get a stacked effect. Patricia also gives a demonstration of how to install eye hooks and wire to make your encaustic painted panels gallery ready!

My favorite demonstrations on the DVD were when Patricia shows how to do paper transfers and rub-ons to add surface interest, how to use an oil stick to highlight texture incised into the wax surface and how to stain the wax with the same proceedure, then in the extras at the end of the workshop she shows her signiture shellac burn with beautiful powder pigmented shellac.

All of her demonstrations were very informative for me and inspirational. I'm looking forward to trying her paper collaging techniques out later this week...

Tristina :)

Submitted to BAG Landscapes Show

On Friday I submitted 4 encaustic wax pieces to the Broward Art Guild's Landscapes show. This is a juried show, so I'm not sure how many will make it in!?!?

One of the pieces I created at the workshop while in NY at R&F Paints...it reminded me of tree bark, so I created 2 other tree bark paintings to go along with it for the show. The 4th is an underwater scene with 20 different layers of wax featuring jellyfish that I drew, colored and transfered onto the wax at different depths.

Below are some pictures of the process; I'll show you the finished piece(s) that get into the show after the opening reception June 4th being held at the new home of the Broward Art Guild at 3280 NE 32nd Street. Very Exciting!!!

This is a detail of the wax painting I did at R&F Paints titled 'Chestnut'.

 Detail of recent wax painting titled 'Birch'. Lots of surface texture here.

 My photo and pictures from the internet of Jellyfish, my drawings colored with Pan Pastels and Colorsoft pencils, and a sample painting I did trying out different media to see what I wanted to put in my final painting.

The underwater painting titled 'Teeming' in process... There are already 5 jellyfish transferred into this picture on different layers of wax! Because the wax was warm when the picture was taken the surface is cloudy. After the painting cures (several days to weeks depending on how many layers of wax there are) the wax layers will become translucent and give the water depth illusion I'm going for.

Hope some of you can make it to the show opening next Saturday from 6-9pm. I will be going straight from the Artist as an Entreprenuer class at ArtServe being given by the Broward County Cultural Division . They will be teaching: Career Planning for Artists, Developing a Brand, Pricing, Understanding Customers, Building a Product Mix, Identifying Useful Resources, Writing a Business Plan, Working with Lenders, A session with Successful Artrepreneurs, etc. It"s not too late to sign up for this class if you are interested...simply register online at www.broward.org/arts and select workshops. The fee is a very reasonable $100 total for 4 Saturday classes (all in June).

I watched a new Encaustic Workshop video today and will give you a review of it tomorrow.

Tristina :)

Feels So Good!

Very exciting to hang my first solo Art Show at Java Boys coffee shop in Wilton Manors today with the Broward Art Guild's Executive Director Gerard Delaney. Stop by anytime to view the artwork on display from now through mid July at 2230 Wilton Drive. Will post when I schedule a Coffee Talk reception!

The Java Boys painting is theirs, other 2 are mine!