Tiny Tutorial: Layered Journal Page



When I taught in Orvieto, Italy, I prepared 5x7" pages for each of my students, using a map of Orvieto as the background to draw and paint on. Here's how I did it:

Materials needed:

• liquid acrylic medium
• Image: photocopy or page from book or magazine
• watercolor paper (I used 5x7")
• watercolor paints, permanent ink pen
• Golden Absorbent ground

1.Start with liquid acrylic medium and a credit card or palette knife.

2. Spread liquid acrylic medium on the BACK your your image. 

3. Thoroughly cover the back of the image with liquid acrylic medium.

4. Place image, glue side down, on watercolor paper

5. Smooth image completely flat, using a credit card or palette knife.

6. No need to let it dry, go on to the next step.

7. Spread absorbent ground over the image, using a brush. Paint thin layers until you are happy with the coverage. You want to be able to see some of the image, but not too much, since  it will be the background for your watercolor painting.

8. Let dry completely. It dries a milky white.

9. Now it's ready to draw on in pencil, pen, or watercolor!  

I used a page from a bird book for this background, then drew, inked and watercolored the birds.

A page from my trip to Italy, with the map of Orvieto in the background.

Drawn and painted.

The page started like this

Red Rocks

 Needle-felted/hand stitched piece "Red Rocks." Details here and here. I'll put this on JaneVille Etsy soon.
Also, tomorrow starts another Tutorial Tsunami with my very talented art friends! Stay tuned!

greens...

Inspired to Quilt

I've long admired Melanie Testa's work, both in her journals and in her cloth work (and as a friend!) In this book, she shares her inspiration, insight, process, and step by step photos of her gorgeous work. As I read through the book, I'm immediately inspired to try one of her techniques, in my own way with my own spin. Melanie is known for her layered complex compositions and as an experienced artist myself, this book encourages me to experiment, and play using her work as a stepping stone to improve my own work.

Inspired to Quilt is full of gorgeous images and both big and tiny ideas to inspire.

zinnia

 My friend Tracie Lynn Huskamp just returned from teaching in Orvieto, Italy. Make me year for that lovely city again...oh that's right! I'll be teaching there again in May 2012!

new boots

 I got new cowboy boots! So of course, I had to draw them. Used a water soluble ink pen and just water for this. And, it's a continuous line straight to ink drawing. (I'm preparing for my upcoming 'sketching & watercolor: journal style" online workshop and one in San Diego in December.)

give em the bird

 I did these monoprints on cloth in Jenn Mason's workshop at CREATE. Then, I recently bought a bird stencil and suddenly I was giving 'em all the bird! These are (4) works in progess, with more stitching to do.

Chad Alice Hagen, my new idol and Asheville

This is Chad Alice Hagen's work. and here is her blog. Just take a look at her work on flickr. I was lucky enough to spend time with her while I was in Asheville. She dyes felt, using a resist method. Her work is GORGEOUS. Not to mention she's a total kick. I hope to take a workshop from her soon!
And just one more post on Asheville, North Carolina. If you go, eat at Tupelo Honey Cafe, go to Blue Spiral Gallery, and Grovewood Gallery and the Folk Art Center. And you already know to visit the Biltmore Estate.

A wonderful message on hand work...

Basillica San Marco

I've completed Basillica San Marco! It's 37x21 inches. I started the quilt right after our return from Venice, Italy, in June, and in my usual way, created a piece at a time, joining them together until it was finished. As I'd written before, I'm proud of the content and intent of this piece.

Basillica San Marco~ detail

Like most of my work, this quilt is 'in the details.'

Basillica San Marco~ detail

I couched black cord around the horses, and now they are the clearly focal point of the piece.

Basillica San Marco~ detail

dupioni silk and rusted organza

Happy Day!

Creative is a Verb

My art is on page 146 of Patti Digh's new book, Creative is a Verb.

Random Arts

 While in North Carolina, I taught two workshops at Random Arts, in Saluda. A wonderful experience, thanks to the exuberant Jane Alice Powell, owner of Random Arts. I'll be going back there, in 2011 to teach again, and I'm already looking forward to it. I'll teach "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" again, but what else should I teach? Suggestions?
 You can see the rest of my trip photos here.
 

Biltmore Estate, Ashville, North Carolina

 I'd gotten it in my head that I wanted to see the Biltmore Estate, and that's why we chose Asheville, North Carolina for our trip. And it was spectacular! We spent the whole day, touring the house, and then the gardens--we didn't see the whole 8,000 acres, but we saw alot! Perfect weather, great day, and dinner at Corner Kitchen.

My birthday, with Patti Digh

Patti Digh, author of "Life is a Verb" and more, came over to our B&B to help celebrate my birthday. She brought wine, snacks, a cake and candles! Fabulous!!!

A Play about Gee's Bend at the North Coast Rep Theatre

If you haven't see the actual (or pictures of) the Quilts of Gee's Bend, you need to. Then, once you'll see them, you'll no doubt want to see this play in San Diego..And there's a bonus! I'll have an exhibition of my art quilts during the run of the play with a special Wednesday, October 20, 6pm reception/7pm play and you can get a discount on your ticket using the JANECODE. (I'm excited, I've never had a code named after me!) It can be used for Gee's Bend from October 17th-November 7th. If you go to the website and go to buy tickets, push on "regular price" and then it will ask for your code. 

here's the scoop on the play: A moving tale of three generations of women living in an isolated Alabama town chronicles the courage and resiliency of their life’s journey. Gee’s Bend highlights the life of Sadie Pettway, from her teenage years to her 70s, and the other women in her quilting circle. Their experiences inspired them to create magnificent quilts that were miraculous works of art, and inspired this haunting play filled with music that has swept the country. 

Interview on Style, Substance, Soul !

The wonderful women at the fab website, Sytle Substance, Soul, interviewed me. Please check it and leave a comment! thanks so much!

rusty stuff

 A challenge, drawing with pen (no pencil first) and a complex rusty something. Meditative, when it wasn't frustrating!

Tomorrow husb and I are off to Asheville, North Carolina for a week. I'm teaching two workshops and we're visiting the Biltmore Estate and artsy Asheville. Oh yea, and it's my (cough, gulp 60th friggin) birthday on 9/29, so 'observing' that milestone...
I'll post on facebook while we're traveling....

green leaf

 Greens. There are a million different shades of green. In preparation for the online "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" class, I'm planning a lesson just on greens.

Farmer's Market Tomatoes

 When I teach Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style, I often start with a continuous line contour drawing, straight to ink, to remind the students to really look at the object, and to draw slowing.

Art Retreat!

Tesoro del Corazon
Days of Art - Night of Altars
in beautiful San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

April 13-20, 2011

Indigo Moon

 Indigo Moon. Finished. You saw the start of this here. It's 16x14 inches and completely hand-stitched. You can see details of the finished piece here and here and here.

Houston Quilt Festival

I'm going to the Houston International Quilt Festival this November. I'll be doing open studios and for the first time, Make It University. Here's the project I'll be teaching at MIU, working with Shiva Paintstiks and you'll make your own rubbing surface. Come by, say hi and put your name in the lottery to take the workshop.

Mundo Lindo

Mundo Lindo! I created an afterschool art program 3 years ago, and it's one of the things I'm most proud of. It's free, to 4th and 5th grade kids, who attend Escondido schools, and are recommended by their teachers. Our new session started up yesterday with 27!!! kids! (The limit is 20) So, we'll be adding another session. I post pics and write about the project every week on my Mundo Lindo blog.

rusty bucket

 "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style"

The Small Art Quilt!

fruit

 Usually, when I teach "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" I start with either a leaf or fruit. I'm teaching a 2 day workshop on December 2 & 3 at the San Diego Watercolor Society. We'll start in the classroom, and then spend most of our time outside, drawing and painting small vingettes. It's geared for beginners, but everyone is welcome!

tiny pumpkin tree

 I'm preparing for the Sketching and Watercolor: Journal Style online class I'll be teaching.

garden sculpture

 San Diego SketchCrawl today, at Alta Vista gardens.
I'm teaching a 6 week online class in "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style," starting next month and also at San Diego Watercolor Society in December.

banana tree blossom

 Another from the sketchcrawl today at Alta Vista gardens. Years ago, I did a very large painting of a banana blossom, it was fun to revisit the subject matter, this time start to finish about 45 minutes in my Moleskine journal.

The Start of Spring ~ detail

 Finished this one. Details here and here. You saw the start of this here. I'm going to the Houston Quilt Festival in November, and I'll teaching two Make It University workshops...I'm thinking of doing one with needle-felting/embellishing...I'll keep you posted.

basillica di san marco~ detail

basillica di san marco ~detail

 Almost there........

Me

 Wearing my Punjammie pants (buy some, it's a good cause) and the scarf I tye-dyed.
 

creating ART

 Here's another section of the quilt I'm working on, "Basillica San Marco" and I'm pretty proud of it. I wanted to depict Byzantine brocade, as I imagined it in Venice in the middle ages. Starting with dupioni silk, I overlaid rusted organza, then free motioned stitched it, cut it to expose the silk, then hand stitched with gold thread. One of the hallmarks of making ART is that first, you think of what you want to say, or portray, THEN you select the materials to create your content. That's what I've done on this quilt, rather than let the techniques drive the piece. And frankly, I very much like the way the piece is coming together. It's very true to my goal, which is to portray my impression of Basillica San Marco and old Venice.

red rock ~ start

 Another needle-felted start. I free motion stitched some shapes to begin. Now to the hand sewing.

Come and hear me speak September 19 in San Diego

Quilt Visions Annual Member’s Meeting

Quilt Visions members and guests are invited on September 19th for our annual meeting held in Room 1 in the Command Center Building next to the Visions Art Quilt Gallery, in San Diego (Point Loma area). You will meet the new Quilt Visions Board members and hear about exciting changes for Quilt Visions and the Visions Art Quilt Gallery.
After the meeting artist Jane LaFazio (that would be me) will give a presentation about her role as the SAQA SoCal rep and her observations on current trends in art quilting. She will also talk about the benefit of social networking and how she has used it to her advantage.
If you haven’t already seen the terrific traveling exhibition, “Transformations: Reflections” from SAQA,(Studio Art Quilts Associates) you’ll want to give yourself plenty of time to see the 34 breath-taking quilts in the gallery.
1:00 Annual Meeting
2:00 Jane LaFazio

esperanto chinese ~ start

WORK in progress: I did some machine stitching on this monoprint, now I'll start hand stitching. (this is a gelatin mono-print..several sessions worth of printing.)

BIG BOOK

 Just finished a proposal for this workshop, entitled "BIG BOOK." You can see the pages of the book here. Hope to be teaching it, near you, in 2011.

Needle-felting

 This is how all my needle-felted pieces begin...with color! Some bits from Suzanne Morgan's everything kits, and sheers, ribbons etc from my own stash.

The start of Spring (working title) ~ in progress

 I'm starting a bunch of new pieces. Four needlefelted pieces, and two monoprints on fabric. They are all ready for me to begin hand-stitching. And, I'm preparing another 'machine needle-felting tutorial' so stay tuned!
Meanwhile, this one started with a beautiful 'everything kit from Suzanne Morgan (Roses). I don't usually work in pink and green, but it looked so good in her little bag, that I went for it! I'll keep you posted on the progress. Oh, and you can see details of this here and here.

airplane doodles

 Doodling on the airplane. I will probably add some color to this page....I'm working on some proposals for workshops, incorporating elements of nature.....I'll use these designs, somehow, in my sllyabus..

detail in progress

 Remember, I tried my hand at a Gloria Hansen inspired digitally printed quilt. Here's a corner of it. (It's only 8x11") I have a new appreciation for Gloria's work. I've stitched the heck out of this, and you can tell, it's just not makin' it. No "reason for being" as I tell my students. I did add some additional color, with color pencils, but I need to rethink this piece. It's in seriously need of a focal point!

By the way, note on the upper right hand corner of my blog, you can sign up for my emails. I'm sending occassional art-related spiffy new email newsletters now, so, if you're interested, please sign up. THANKS!
 

Me and Melly at CREATE

 Clearly this photo was taken BFP (before food poisoning) at CREATE, by Pokey Bolton no less. Melly Testa has created a way cute video of the CREATE experience, and since I'm was lame at documenting it, go check out her take on the fun.

Tree of Life: Oaxaca needlework

 This is a needlepoint (partially stitched) based on my original painting . My friend and needlepoint designer Cassandra Prescott created it. She is Sundance Designs and you can see the canvas here. Cool huh? I did needlework for nearly 25 years--from kits--and now I have one created from my artwork! cool!