Mixed Media Collage with Tissue Paper

Hello creative friends!

In previous posts I shared my process of making my own hand printed tissue collage papers or painted papers. It's an addictive activity and my stash was getting too big for my storage box - high time to use them in my art!

I selected a few papers that appealed to me in color and pattern, tore them into irregular pieces and adhered them to the page with gel medium. I always like to add a thin layer of the gel on top to seal the papers. Below I'm demonstrating the step-by-step process.

I used some fun leaf-shaped stamps and acrylic ink to create a design on top of the tissue collage. It's important to wipe the stamp immediatly after use to prevent the ink from drying on it. I usually use a baby wipe, but water and a kitchen towel does the trick also. 

I like to go in with additional mark making using a variety of stamps, crayons and ink splatters. I also used a regular pencil to outline some of the leaves in a "scribbly" fashion.

I enjoy the process of collaging tissue papers, as they are very thin and depending on the tissue type used mostly transparent, which create exciting effects when they are overlapped. There is a lot going on in the above image which keeps the eye moving from one area to the next. If you want to re-create this art journal page you can watch the full video tutorial here:

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Thanks for stopping by and reading along!

Art Journal Page with Tandi Art collage

Hi lovelies!

How is it November already? I feel like I haven't done as much art this year as I had envisioned. I did complete this cute album, which I'm happy about, as well as participating in this year's postcard art exhibit. So there's that.

This past weekend I created another art journal page using the cute images from Tandi Art Cut & Collage book. I wrote about it in my previous post.

These are hugely popular in the mixed media / art journaling community, so today I'm sharing my fun (and easy) journal idea. 

For my background I applied white gesso mixed with light turquoise, olive and gold ochre acrylic paint. I used a color shaper to smoosh the color around. This is such a fun process - no skill required. The color shaper pictured bottem left is a tool like a brush, but with a silicone piece attached, similar to a spatula. I also dripped in violet ink and made a few splatters with pink ink. I was going for a painterly effect.

Next, I fussy cut a few Tandi Art collage images which I thought would go well with the background. I then proceeded to glue them on the background along with some neutral papers from my stash. I used gel medium to glue them down. I also stuck down a few torn pieces of washi tape here and there.

 

I continued layering with more collage bits and pieces and arranged them in a pleasing composition. I used one of my favorite stencils to add pattern in some areas with white paint. Lastly, I highlighted some areas with crayons.

 

Thanks for reading. Have a beautiful day!

Creativity is Magic

Hello Blog Friends!

It's back to art this week. With the shortening days I had almost forgotten how quickly it gets dark in my studio downstairs. Currently, it's also quite noisy as there are new people moving into the house next door and these past two weeks my art making has been accompanied by hammering and drilling sounds. I wish they would just hurry up, move in and get settled already. ugh.

On to more pleasant things.

I created this set of Washi Tape Artist Trading Cards (ATC). They are incredibly easy to make. Just grab your favorite tapes, a botanical stamp and a bird image. Start with neutral tapes, then add one or two colorful ones (tiny pieces suffice), stamp the leaf image and stick down the bird. I made a process video here.

I'm not sure if I have shared the following page before. I played around with acrylic inks, diluting them to make them very flowy, almost like watercolors. I painted random shapes and achieved an interesting layering effect. Just for fun I painted a face with flowy hair. There's a video in my channel, if you would like to see the entire process.

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I also enjoyed creating the following pages in my small art journal. The collaged images are from Polish illustrator Sylwia Gryczuk, who resides in Ireland. She draws these quirky, colorful, childlike images for her brand called Tandi Art. I had purchased her cut out and collage book a while ago, but only got around to creating with it now. I like supporting artists who do not use AI to create their work. I painted backgrounds that matched her whimsical style and added a few of my own sketchy elements and doodles. What do you think?

 

By the way, this blog post took forever, as blogger refused to upload my pictures. I had to try several times. Is anyone else experiencing this issue?

Anyway, thank you for reading along and your lovely comments. I really appreciate them! Have a good week.