lara

For the Tangled prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal:




I dont *think* i need an acrylic paint intervention yet ... this was done with alot of that and Liquitex Pouring Medium and Gesso.

for my art journal, prompt from oneyearartjournal.blogspot.com. The actual prompt is "tears" but i took it to "cry" after i finished the page and stared at it. It's my first page really experimenting with all my new acrylic paint mediums...




Mediums/Gels used are from Golden: Pumice Gel, Clear Tar Gel, Heavy Molding Paste

Once a month, Gauche Alchemy has a theme day where the design team plays with the same theme or supplies to show all the various ways they can be used. This month we played with Ouchless Cardboard, one of my favorite materials to make all sorts of textural things with.

But, of course, me being me, I went with cutting it up and putting it back together all funky to make a canvas - something i've been wanting to do for months now but never really had the motivation until now. And I've been obsessively painting these days since i splurged and bought a wide variety of different painting mediums and gels. I decided to experiment with the two together - to see what kind of texture the paint and the corrugation could create. Hence my "Be" wall piece:



The alpha letters are also corrugated cardboard from Joann's. There's also screen from the hardware store i put paint on.



The acrylic paint is mixed with Liquitex String Gel which gives it a bit of a honey-like consistancy and makes it super glossy.



Check out Gauche Alchemy for more AWESOME and awe-inspiring ideas!

A months worth of photos for the 365 Project - WOW! I made it half a year!!! Thank goodness for my iPhone - dont think i would have without the convenience of the camera on it. And the new 4g's have flash built in!!! (Although i won't be getting one for some time I'm sure)

Another project I just did is a card for my Mom's birthday. I'm so geeking out on Acrylic Paint mediums these days - its all over this. Might look a little messy as i was having some inspiration problems, but the heart texture is super cool. I used a combination of "Pouring Gel" to make the outline and "Light Molding Paste" with Punchinella for the inside.

Now for some Milan photos ... just the beginning :)

The thing that struck me most straight out of the box is how much graffiti there is EVERYWHERE. I've never seen anything like it and i live in downtown Atlanta! Alot of the graffitti are just "tags" - not really arty, just names and labels. Anyways, here are some shots from all over the city:



This is by the canals. I am soooooooooo inspired by graffiti like this!!!!!



Just a street corner.

Another street corner. Love the juxtaposition of the tenet making their balcony all pretty and naturesque with the gritty city graffiti!



Now, onto a little bit of architecture. Being from a country that wasnt built but within the last three centuries, it's crazy to think I was walking by and under structures built 8+ centuries (if not more) ago!






Finally, like any good tourist, we visited the Duomo in Milan - the fourth oldest Catholic Church in the world. Legend has it, it took 500 years to be built, was completed in the 17th century. Everywhere you look there is a scultpure or stainglass that all pertain to bible stories. However, since i've never cracked open a bible I couldnt tell you what anything is - and i hope none of the photos i took offends anyone in a religious way! I just thought they were pretty and fascinating to look at!















Just a couple of miscellaneous things:

CHEESE!!!!!



and a manhole:

the first of the photos from London.
I took about 2,000 photos and am in the process of trying to figure out what to do with them now! But here's a start of some of my favorites...



This is one of my favorites! It's from a gate at Hyde Park. These others are also from Hyde Park:







(someone recently got a nosejob :D)

These next photos are from our afternoon on Brick Lane in London - a funky/arty neighborhood:













(no, i dont know who these chickies are - they were taking photos in front of the graffiti so i snapped a shot as well)



Going on London Bridge :)



Painted wall in a tunnel in London.



Last but not least in this set, the Swiss Alps and clouds seen from the airplane from London to Milan...



More to come...

Two years ago I made this Pre-art Journal Art Journal for a friend, and I always meant to make more as people seemed quite enthusiastic about it, but, well you know, life gets in the way.

Last week I took an eight day vacation to London and Milan and spurred by a new comment someone left on my LiveJournal out of the blue, I decided to make one to use as a prototype of sort. I think maybe now may be the time I can get my shit together and make these to sell!

Here are "before" photos I took - after photos will come shortly after I get some embellishments on I collected on the way.



I used a bunch of different envelopes that were perfect for stuffing things into and i also added some sheets of paper here and there and in envelopes that i could use to journal on. I used Punchinella to use as stencil with spray paint (which i now know not to use if i don't want the envelopes sticking together) and then I also used acrylic paint and white stamp ink.



I learned from Sarah's Journal that ribbons for binding weren't the way to go. I grommeted everything and put the binding rings through. Then i tied them with ribbon to the envelope to keep it all together.



So, if you read this, you know I'm thinking about selling these but i need a couple more testers who can also offer me opinions and constructive criticism about how to make it better. If there are two readers out there (living in the USA - sorry), email me (1lara1 at gmail dot com) and I will send you one to test.