Becoming a Naturalist

     Spring has finally come to Long Island, New York, and we're very grateful!  It may have been a snowy winter, but I kept busy taking online art classes.  Sadly this was the end of Misty Mawn's 12 week Full Circle Class.  Wow, did she teach!   I had such a great time, looking forward to at least three videos a week of wonderfully detailed and patiently taught painting, journaling, photography, clay classes and more!

      This wall hanging is my favorite thing.

But then again, the box of inspiration is another

Next time, I have to remember not to write anything until it's finished.   The box is bottom side up.  And I haven't even done all the lessons yet!   They're still available for many months.

     I'm so happy that I have already scheduled journaling classes with a few libraries.   I'll be doing nature, themed art journals and Steampunk!

   

     For Wertheim Wildlife refuge,  I gave a nature journaling classes for children on Saturday.  I thought with Earth Day coming up,  recycled cereal boxes would be a good idea.  Happily I was right, eight preteen girls worked together to cut, punch holes, and decorate a journal before we went outside for a walk.   I explained that this class wasn't about creating beautiful artwork or journals, but about learning to observe, and really seeing nature.  From my volunteering with Audubon's For The Birds! Program,  I was able to tell them about identifying birds by their field marks and using field books.

     I thought this was the best class I'd had at the refuge,  everyone was enthusiastic making their journals.  The best part for me may have been when I pointed out the osprey on the other side of the river, and one of the students quickly turned and asked how did I know from so far away?

    Last year, while taking Quality Parks Master Naturalist Class, I learned about Dennis Puleston's work to save the osprey.  Since then,  I'm always thrilled to see the growing numbers flying over the waters.    So I excitedly told the student some of what I knew about osprey,  I felt for the first time that I was really becoming a naturalist.

 

Paperclay sculpted book cover

I made this is for Michael DeMeng's Punkfiction class.  His videos are fantastic.  It's a fun class but I didn't have a lot of the metal objects or the tools to use them, so I worked with what I had.   The book is a moleskine.

The DecoArt website suggested using the metallic paint over a dark background.

After the gold background was dry I went over it with the green paint.  It dries quickly.

I started out with the red hair and then decided to mix it with the violet oxide, giving her red highlights.  The lips are questionable.

The face was very dull next to the metallic paint so I went over it with clear mat medium.

Gouache over acrylic.

Another homage to Van Gogh.  sketching "Boy with a Sickle".  The proportions still off,  I'm not a portrait painter, just a fan.

Inspired by Van Gogh

I was wondering what to paint when I saw my friend, Betty's Facebook post about a Van Gogh exhibit.   I have a large paperback book, "Vincent Van Gogh The Drawings" that I hadn't looked through in some time.  In looking through the book again,  I fell in love with his work all over again.
Everytime I see the movie, "Lust for Life", I'm amazed at the number of  paintings that were brought to life in the movie.  
I sketched from "Old Man with a Top Hat" and painted him in gouache,  then I covered the rest of the two pages in black acrylic.
I love the lines in the face of his "Head of a Woman".   I  started sketching with white pencil and wound up painting her with gouache too.   I highlighted with a white gel pen and stamped around the background.   I liked how the second painting came out better,  gouache over acrylic background.   I won't be putting this book back on the shelf for awhile now.

Steampunk Girls

I drew and painted these girls then printed them out.  I liked how the opened zipper shows she's not  empty headed!

 But I really like carving my own stamps! I used Dick Blick ready-cut plates.  The small one is from Teesha Moore, I highlighted it a bit.  

Making an Art Journal from cardboard packing materials

I'm not going to say this spoke to me, because it goes without saying.  Opening a box can be very inspirational, like when I found this gem.   A book cover, already folded for me.

I wasn't sure where to start, so I started gessoing both sides, one at a time.  I knew I wanted to have a hook and closure of some sort.   As I've become a fan of  Steampunk art,  I've been making my own stamps.   I drew a template and cut out a design for the cover.   I found a metal button on Ebay and poked a hole through the front to secure it.  I used a cord for the back cover, braiding it and using a glue gun on the back.

I used Fabriano Artistico hot pressed watercolor paper .

I found some old map pictures and sketched a Compass Rose.  The clock face is from Ebay.  I had the skull sketch laying around and I went over it with some acrylic.  The binding is duck tape painted with Lumiere Metallic bronze.   I sealed it all with Dorland's Wax medium, I only let it sit for about 4 days before buffing it.  

The inside cover wasn't smooth so I built up a light layer with a collage of tissue papers using gel mat medium.  In hindsight I could have used a black and white theme, or even brown tinted newspapers for the inside cover.     The tissue paper was a quick fix.

The book closed.   I like it better open.   A clip and chain from Tim Holtz and a key and clock face from Ebay.

Inside the front cover,  showing where I sewed the button.

The back cover where I used the glue gun to secure the loop,  it could have had a better fit.

Acrylic, Gouache and Collage Art Journal Page

One of my most favorite artists, Roz Stendahl,  rozwoundup.typepad.com does beautiful gouache work in her journals.
I was looking for some inspiration yesterday and found some of her you-tube videos that I hadn't seen.
I loved her latest journal from the 2013 Fake Journal.  The 2014 begins in April, (www.officialinternationalfakejournalblog.blogspot.com
I looked up one of my favorite shows on you-tube, stopped at spots  I like and tried different sketches with the Pentel brush pen.  Eventually I did one I was happy with and cut it out.  Then I painted it with gouache after I glued it onto the page.

I had already done a background page in acrylic.   I stamped the flowers and then filled them in with paint, it took awhile, I had fun doing it.    The Prince and his bride seemed a perfect fit for the background.