Art making mania: Well, I seem to be on a roll with the art-making. I’m just in art obsessed mode. I never run out of ideas or new things I want to try!
I’ve been watching a lot of you tube videos on art making. This past week I have watched mixed media techniques, how to make collage fodder, and using Awagami Masa paper in collage because I just purchased some.
In one of the videos I learned to make masks out of cut up paper and then lay it on the art piece and then use gesso around it in swirling motions. Afterwards, I used oil pastels on the gessoed part, but that was kind of my own idea. “Swift Change” is the artwork that features that technique over a collage. I happened to do collage with my groups today and they were small groups, so I could finish my example where I showed them how to glue ripped up collage papers onto the watercolor paper. We used ripped up tissue paper, fiber papers, and decorative scrap-booking papers combined with the oil pastels. I added a black scribble over top of the collage and filled in gessoed parts because I saw him do it in his art, and I thought it looked cool! I must admit I kind of like it!
The second art piece is just my typical collage. I’ve been experimenting with ways to add script, so there’s some script covered at the top, and some partially covered at the bottom. I can’t remember for sure what I wrote at top, but I think it said, “The time is now!” Down below it said something to the effect of, “We are in a new beginning; a new era of breakthrough and deliverance.” I didn’t necessarily want the text to be seen that well, but to give it a hint of mystery…It’s there, but you don’t necessarily know it or see it. There’s a lot of mysteries God does which are that way…but we might figure it out if we are seeking and asking! I called it “Blue Break” because the blue really stands out, and “break” to represent something breaking; the hindrances and oppression breaking off of us. There could be more, but if there is, I would need to make a separate post. God often will speak to me following my art making, but He doesn’t necessarily speak on every art piece. Maybe He would if I asked, but it takes a lot of time to ask Him and write it all out, and I don’t think its necessary. I think God is ok with me just playing and making art. It doesn’t all have to have a profound message, but sometimes God speaks to me about something even when I don’t ask, and that’s when I know I need to follow that lead, and keep seeking until He tells me everything He wants to say. For this reason, I want to separate my art process posts from my prophetic word posts concerning any one art piece; so if God tells me anything more about these pieces it will be a separate post. The one from yesterday, I might need to make a new post on. I did an update to the “It’s Raining Joy” art piece from yesterday. I just added white and pink gels pens to make the black branch like structures a little brighter. I may just switch it out.
I’ve also been making a lot of collage fodder. It’s been insane! Today, I saw an unused Sani-wipe that had fallen on the table. So I painted it with tissue paper (I peeled off) and oil pastels. Then one of the scraps of paper laid underneath someone’s art work to keep the table clean had all these cool marks on it and a few random pieces of tissue paper which stuck. I saved it, too, and added my own marks and then gessoed over it.
Today in the art studio I experimented with Awagami Masa paper which I recently ordered. This is the first time I ever used it, and honestly when I ordered it it was the first time I had ever heard about it. I did 3 different 8×10 inch masa papers. I soaked it in water, crumbled it up, and then squeezed out the extra water. I tried dipping the wadded paper into acrylic inks, then on two different pieces, I used liquid watercolors. I also added some gold fluid acrylics to them all and other acrylic colors like white and lavender on some. I experimented with using the ends of a very textured ribbon for mark making. I did some spray splatters of a red crimson color. I had leftover paint, so I used it up on some random scraps of watercolor paper. It was a really pretty shade of corral pink, but more pink than corral. I tried stencils on the Masa paper, but honestly, the paint just seeped into the paper and diffused, so I wouldn’t recommend stencils until after they dry. I still think it turned out sort of interesting. I also experimented with coffee and bubbles on a piece of mail they printed on very nice paper and two other different kinds of paper. I’ll have to take pics of the collage fodder I made tomorrow. I think maybe it needs one more layer. Not only that, but my phone died, and I couldn’t get all of them photographed, plus I’m tired!
New things will emerge from all of this. God just keeps expanding me! I can’t wait to see what the masa paper looks like tomorrow. Oh, I want to get into journal making, too. I ordered some chip board and large binder rings. I’ve been watching videos on that as well! I’ve tried it in the past and couldn’t get into it. I usually end up making a bunch of separate art works, but I’ve been trying to figure out how I could end them in a 2 ring binder type of journal so I could take them in and out with an extra strip attached to them for the holes so I don’t have to punch holes in it or maybe I’ll encase them in sheet protectors.
Creative Passages 