ART Party Time

Welcome.......It's a party today. Artsymama is at it again. She has invited all to a virtual Artful Blogger Party. She is serving cake and invites you to her studio for "a very quick and easy craft".

To participate, bloggers were invited to post something "artful", maybe a how-to or tutorial and then let her know. She has everybody linked up so you can just go over and blog around the world today and enjoy all the parties.



So, I decided to share with you a little inspiration today. I showed you "Timothy" back in late June but never managed to get back and tell the rest of the story. So here is the "how-to" with a little background about the way this came about.
I had been painting journal pages with my daughter and granddaughter in my "A Long Time Ago" journal. That is the one that is kind of a scrap book journal in that I use photos in the art. So it was time to do a "Timothy" page.


I selected several recent photos of Tim in action. You know, Tim just being Tim. One was a series of him chasing a yellow butterfly. Really cool action shots. Another was of him all dressed up after attending his big sister's graduation. Tim struck the pose with the gazing ball. Tim being, Tim the Model.

Using plain copy paper and my ink jet printer, I printed the selected images. I printed many different sizes. I cropped some and printed just the head or hands. I printed mirror images of some.




Here is the key to this fun bit of mixed media magic: Don't try to plan the composition ahead of time. Give your muse free reign. Just have the plenty of copies of the pictures that she might use. Next, cut out the pictures. If you are concerned about the ink jet running, I have found that you can seal the print with a layer of Golden's Soft Gel Gloss (not matte).

Paint your background. In this one I was drawn to the ball shape and so I used that element in the background. I used bubble wrap to stamp with and then anything circular that I could find at the moment. I did some collage of various papers and stuff. Let the background dry.

Here's the fun. First, send the inner critic, the one with all the expectations out the door. (If you've attended my workshop...you know how to do that) Then, invite your muse to play with the pictures that you have prepared. Start moving the prepared images around on the background. Play with the possible compositions and let magic happen. You will not end up using all of the prepared photos. When the magic happens, glue it down.

You may not wish to paint on the pictures but do give a few highlights or outlines to incorporate the image with the background. As you can see, on the left side of the spread, I used the head of one photo and the hand of another. The part in between is painted.

I really liked how each side of the spread was a complete composition and could stand alone and yet together told another story. This is one of my favorite pieces. Also, isn't it cool that little boys can make really cool pages too.

Chasing Yellow Butterflies

I hope I have inspired you to give this a try. It is really fun to Imagine and tell a bigger story with your photos.

If you do try....please, please, please show and tell and let me see too.

OK, I've got to get back to this desk. The party is over for me but do stay and enjoy.
More later,
Sharon