daily – Page 2 – Mixy's Art Blog

Frisket stencils, part 1

I do love stencils, and after watching this vid from Julie Pritchard and Chris Cozens I was inspired to follow their technique using my own stencils. (I especially like the way they recycle the colors from the stencils onto tissue paper to reuse later on in collages)

So, I got myself some Frisket Film (if you’re shopping in the UK I can recommend Artifolk.)

Frisket is a low tack film that can be be cut to shape with scissors or craft knife, made especially for airbrush masks. (although I’m not air brushing, I’m using a spray bottle with dye.)

Used on a flat paper it sticks just enough to withstand leaks and dislodging, but on the bumpy lumpy surface of my sketchbook page it doesn’t have enough ‘cling’ to make a completely water-tight seal, but I’m happy with this – where the color oozes under it makes for a deckled edge to the stenciled lines.

Building up the layers is a lot of fun!

Dabbing the puddles of color to soak up excess liquid keeps it (slightly) under control!)

After letting it dry I added a couple more Frisket shapes, re-sprayed and a sprinkling of Brusho powder.

Check back later and I’ll show you how it developed from here!

new things old things

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this was Monday’s page, recycling techniques in a new order, mostly acrylic with a bit of ink spray. Very much into stenciling just now. I’ve ordered some Frisket paper (and waiting on delivery as I type) and giddy with anticipation!!

layers on overspill

Sunday 29 April: This page started out with some overspill remnants from previous inky fun – the golden orange magenta dyes.

It’s been a while since I played with watercolors and the blue forms are today’s addition.

I’m messing about with different techniques – this time using a water brush dipped directly into the tube of watercolor paint.

The wonderful rich turquoise is from the Koh-I-Noor dye paint

I love the magic of colors interacting!

Watery puddles take the pigments in their flow. As the water evaporates the trails are left.

dot dot dot …

I’m so glad I posted the beginnings of Wednesday, cos all trace of that pink ricey start are now hidden beneath layers of acrylic dots!

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Using sequin waste (punchinella) as a stencil, I’m most taken by the white dots, raised from the surface with nice crisp edges, made with thick goopy printing ink.

a journey through color

As the cut out shapes from Sunday echo through the pages, Tuesday bore the same linear curves and disconnected egdes through which a glimpse of Thursday…

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Much coloring, inking, paint splatting later, the page evolves through different color groups and combinations. A journey of a day! 🙂

watching paint dry

…and photographing it!

As I type to you the final drippings and runnings of this page a doing their thing, which give me the chance to show you some more bits of page.

After scribbly ink and doodles I wanted to knock back some of the busy color and detail, which I did with a mix of acrylic and guache. Sliding and scraping with palette knife.

I wanted to liven up the texture, so used coarse pumice gel and – what’s to hand? – aha! leftover dyed rice! Then a swish of spray ink…

Only drying time will tell if the rice sticks, but even if it doesn’t, it’ll leave some nice rice-scars behind. Happy either way!

I love the way the wet media allow the pigments to travel, gather, collect together in bands. In these colors it reminds me a little of malachite

trekking round this learning curve

Embarking on a project like a page a day, without an aim in sight, more a stretch of the journey traveled in a new fashion, has to be done without expectations.

I’ve doodled and made art since before I can remember. Habitually, obsessively, because I love the process, and because (probably like all artists) I have to.

This is a different approach: One book that daily documents my trials and tribulations of the moment in color and shape, tone and imagination. Day in, day out. And then spilling out the results out into the interweb.

Having pondered if the pages might soon look samey, I’m starting to realise the range and variety of imagery that can be created.

By observing small slices of each page on screen, perspective changes. Fresh ideas emerge.

The inspiration from something touched upon days prior can be reignited afresh when a blank page beckons.

And an unexpected bonus is to be blessed by the delightful and encouraging words from folks who join along the way, Big thank you! 😀

the what and the why of ‘a page a day’

When I began this project (a month ago today) I had no idea how long I’d stick with it. Or how easy/difficult, much fun/much of a slog, it would become.
Or for what reason I wanted to do it.

But I did want to.

So I began.

A Page A Day, the project.

Ingredients:

New A3 sketchbook
All my paints, pens, inks, dyes, brushes, forks and sticks… if it makes a mark, it can join the game
This blog. To record and evaluate, to review and assess, keep track in a different medium of unfolding development. Regularly (I thought maybe daily, yeh…)
A spare 1/2 hour or so each day to fill that day’s page

That’s it, no rules.

Just one page at a time. One day at a time
(With maybe a little to-ing and fro-ing in between, but with the majority of today’s page being created today.)

Day 1: 16 March 2012. A Friday.
Home from work with the whole evening set aside to arty things, with the possibility to spill out over the weekend.

And wow did it spill! Everyday is painted, collaged, drawn on, doodled on, written on; dripped, splished and splatted on.

(I’ve posted previous pages if you’re interested here, here, here. And here n here!)

There are days that I’m more pleased with the result than others, but isn’t that a metaphor! If I find something really wanting on a page I’ll go back and add it. Using my sketchbook as a work surface (no drips of color go to waste in my world!) means some ‘new’ pages will begin with splishes and spills of color. S’okay.

Today ‘s page looks a lot like a page with inky paper towels stuck to it.

That’s cool. Cos I’m not so interested in what the page as a whole looks like.

These are the bits I like.

The miniature landscapes,

The inter-mingling of inks and dyes,

The light and the shade cast by wrinkles and dimples.

lost in color (continued)

I love the crinkles formed in tissue paper when it gets wet n painty.

and the rivulets of ink, dabbed in a semi-dry state, neatly outlining themselves and marking their dribbly paths
doodles run around inky tidemarks, colors blend and merge the disparate
layers piled high, paper takes on a feathery appearance, ruffled.
Not starting out with a ‘plan’ to how a page will take shape is liberating.
It’s not a piece of art it’s a page in a book.

It’s just for today. I offer no judgement.

Free to let the colors and shapes just happen.

another day, another page

I’m typing this as today’s soggy goo of a page dries ready for an evening’s doodles to pull together it’s constituent parts (dyed scrap envelopes). I took some more pics of the days so far, in a bid to catch you up on the project. Current intention is to post daily from now on (day 3 n going strong!)

Meanwhile, here’s some more bits…

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