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.