/* */ Beulah Bee: paint pens
Showing posts with label paint pens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paint pens. Show all posts

September 29, 2018

Simply Discover


You'd think working in monochrome would be easy--yes? I have found it to be easier said than done.

And so, for this week's linkup to Simon's Monday challenge, I took the easy way out and went with a black and white theme.

It started with a background paper (Paper Studio B/W Abstract), layered under a page trimmed for the base from Prima called Epiphany.

The luna moth was printed from some clip art then cut-out and pasted and embellished with gray paint and black and white pens (Sakura gelly rolls and Pitt big brushes).

There's a little washi tape, some Remnant Rubs, and a stamp from a set by Tim Holtz called Stamp Collector.

One of my favorite tools used for the black shading around the moth is a Derwent Sketching pencil--Dark Wash 8B.

January 14, 2018

According to Value


Value is defined as the relative lightness or darkness of a color. It is an important tool for the designer/artist, in the way that it defines form and creates spatial illusions. Contrast of value separates objects in space, while gradation of value suggests mass and contour of a contiguous surface. (Read more, here.)

Of all the things I learned in art classes, the concept of value has been the most significant and perhaps the most challenging to fully understand and implement. I work at it constantly and it can make a big difference when you get it right.

I thought I'd use this tag (my first for 2018), to explain some steps I took to adjust the values which you might find interesting or useful.
  1. The lady's dress was bright orange and this warm, strong color was too dominant. To adjust the value, I tinted it with transparent blue (Tumbled Glass Distress Marker). Blue is the complimentary color to orange and when you mix compliments, they cancel each other out. So the bright orange now has a more muted value and settles better into the background.
  2. The flowers were very neutral. I wanted them to stand-out more and appear closer (plus they needed some detail) so I tinted them with lines of pink, orange and turquoise gel pens (Gelly Roll Soufflé). Warm colors appear closer, cool colors recede.
  3. The lady was grounded by using a dark tint under her feet (otherwise, she would appear to be floating). It's subtle, but you may also notice that the grey background is lighter near her feet than higher up. This is a way to create a sense of depth. Distance (like on the horizon of a landscape) is imitated with lighter, cooler colors.
  4. And finally, most compositions are best when there is a mix of bright, dark and medium values. Here, it's the dark greys and black text combined with the bright white dots (extra-fine DecoColor paint pen). The remaining elements fall into the medium range.
If this information was helpful or interesting and you'd like to see similar posts in the future, let me know by leaving a comment.

March 03, 2016

The Red Chair


The journal page I share today was prompted by Simon's Monday challenge, Take a Leap Into the Unknown, and it was all that and more!

I took several photos of each stage so my post is longer than usual but I hope you'll enjoy seeing the process. As always, you can click on the individual photos to see a larger version.

I found this lady's image on the net and know nothing about her but wanted to give her a bigger presence because she is so captivating.

I took a leap and cropped out the frame, reversed the image, then printed the photo in a larger size than I normally work with so she'd fill up the page.


I applied polymer gel medium over my trimmed laser-printed photo, placed it on the page and once dry, began the process of rubbing off the paper to transfer the image.



I penciled-in a scene then went over the lines with a black paint pen.



The next photo shows how I used various stamps with black archival ink to create a pattern for the walls, an orchid for the window sill, and a face and frame for the picture on the wall. I also filled in her dress using black and gray paint then took a leap and decided to add bits of tissue paper to her skirt to give it more interest.


Then I took another leap and decided to use oil pastel crayons to tint the window because I knew they would be easy to smear and help create the look of vintage glass.

I used chalk pastels to tint the wallpaper and brown acrylic paint on the wall base and floor. The orchid was tinted with colored pencils because the design is so small a paintbrush wouldn't be practical.

The wall base looked too plain so I stamped a row of images using brown archival ink. My last color decision was the chair and yes, I took a leap, and painted it with bright red acrylic.


I wasn't too happy with the lady's skirt so I dug out some black tissue paper which I added in strips and then finally opted to trim the skirt with washi tape.


Here's one more look at the final outcome (so you don't have to scroll to the top) and in case you're wondering, my journal is the large format Dylusions by Ranger (each page measures approx. 8" x 11").


To learn more about my image transfer technique, click here for a post that further explains the method I use along with some tips. Maybe you'll take a leap too?

January 28, 2016

Moulin Rouge

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The challenge at Simon was simple: "Love is in the air" + red. So ... Paris is known as the city of love and the ladies of the Moulin Rouge (that's French for red mill) are doing did their best to promote it.

 
 I began with an image of a medieval map of Paris and a silhouette of the skyline. And I couldn't resist the Can-Can girls so I looked for an image of the Moulin Rouge to accompany them.
 
As far as technique goes, I thought I'd explain the background. The map was busy and most often, artists will use a wash of gesso or white paint to blend back an image creating subtlety. But I wanted to try something different.

So I used white and red paint pens to draw lines over the surface of the map and I rather like the effect.

 
I always try to create the illusion of depth and the vertical and horizontal lines help to achieve this along with using lighter brighter colors in the foreground and darker colors in the back.

The scale of the objects also helps create some perspective since the ladies are larger than the buildings.

In case you are wondering, this is a two-page spread in my large Dylusions journal which is 9" x 11".

July 19, 2015

Renegades


The joy of play and uninhibited creative expression is the reward for keeping an art journal. The pages are not meant to be "works of art." Instead, the freedom to explore (and learn) elevates it to a much higher plane and the confidence gained may carry-over to more serious pieces. So I say, get busy and be a renegade!

Click to Enlarge

A new set of Gelly Roll pens, exposure to a couple of technique videos and a cool new song by X Ambassadors called Renegades fed my inspiration for this journal page spread.

First, the technique videos merit reference in case you want to watch. One is by Piarom (blog link, video link) and the other is by Jeanne Oliver (video link, requires creating a login to view).


Both artists use figures cut from magazine pages which they transform in different ways. Mine didn't go in quite the same direction but their videos did inspire me to try.

I also used some other magazine scraps along with paint pens, colored pencils, stencils, a Tim Holtz scroll stamp and some of his tissue paper.

I'll close by saying that I love, love, love my new Gelly Rolls (called Souffle). They write over anything including fluid mediums and waxy colored pencils and are waterproof. So useful!

I think I'll link this to Simon's Monday blog challenge - this week's theme is anything goes (mine will be entry #521 - whew!).

July 03, 2015

Swimming

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The daytime temps here in the desert have been hovering between 105 and 110 degrees for the last three weeks.

So, the only way to get outside and stave-off cabin fever is to find a swimming pool!

You have to park your flip-flops right at the pool edge because the ground gets so hot you can't walk barefoot.

I'm posting this journal page to celebrate a favorite summer pastime which was prompted by this week's theme at Simon Says Stamp.


The ladies are an image transfer and I used a variety of stamps, stencils, acrylic paint, colored pencils and ink pens to make it. My hubby calls my hobby "coloring" and the term really applies here because I did feel the joy of creating like a kid with this one.

I inscribed the words from a song by Loudon Wainwright III called "The Swimming Song" to decorate my pages and thought I'd post the lyrics below since you can't read them too well in the photos.

This summer I went swimming, 
This summer I might have drowned 
But I held my breath and I kicked my feet and I moved my arms around, I moved my arms around. 

This summer I swam in the ocean, 
And I swam in a swimming pool, 
Salt my wounds, chlorine my eyes, 
I'm a self-destructive fool.

This summer I swam in a public place and a reservoir, to boot, at the latter I was informal, at the former I wore my suit, I wore my swimming suit. 


This summer I did the backstroke 
And you know that's not all 
I did the breast stroke and the butterfly 
And the old Australian crawl, the old Australian crawl. 

This summer I did swan dives 
And jackknifes for you all 
And once when you weren't looking 
I did a cannonball, I did a cannonball.

December 31, 2014

Polaroids


It's cold in many places this New Year's Eve--even at my house (in the desert southwest) where my frost tender plants have been tucked in for the night with a layer of blankets and I'll be celebrating in a quiet way with the cozy comfort of a space heater.

I'm sharing a journal page (linked to Art Journal Journey, where this month's theme is Collage) that I made today with left over paper scraps pasted randomly to fill every inch of the background. I washed it out some, applied color, added scrolls, visualized a carriage, image transferred a horse, and stamped the face and wheel spokes.

I added the lines of script just to see what it would look like and it's an interesting effect. In white are the lyrics from a song I discovered this year that's become a favorite. It was released in 1992 (I don't know how I missed it) by Shawn Colvin called Polaroids. I wrote some personal thoughts about the new year in black.

This holiday is another reminder of how quickly time passes and I've noticed a common thread among the bloggers I follow who wish they had more time to make their art.

So, as I express my thanks to you for stopping by to see my creations this year (I really do appreciate it) I'm also sending my wish that you find all the time you need to be creative in the new year.

December 30, 2014

Rose et Noir


As the year comes to a close, I've begun my annual clean-up of the many bits of paper left-over from art projects made during the last 12 months that were saved "just in case." Some will be tossed, a few will be kept but most will be pasted on journal pages to commemorate, I suppose, what amused me this year.


This page began by randomly pasting old calendar stickers and later, dabs of white paint onto a pink tinted background. I used an adhesive silkscreen for the first time (by Martha Stewart) and it worked really well (lower left corner). You'll also see a bit a random stamping (Lace by Anna Griffin) and script (made with a homemade stencil) along with lots of tiny dots (Zig paint pens).

One thing led to another (which is my favorite part about working in art journals) and even though the end result would look better cropped, I'm happy with the color scheme just the same. The are no rules in art but I seem to prefer abstract collages with a stronger focal point than this one has.

I'd be curious to know if others save their scraps like I do and how they manage them. I could easily keep everything but the risk of being buried alive forces me to purge now and then. Now all I have to figure out is where to keep the accumulation of art journals that stand in their place. Pity the poor relation that will have to toss it all when I am dead and gone.

(I'm linking this post to Art Journal Journey, a blog I've just discovered that offer's monthly challenges for artists worldwide and a most clever way of displaying the work via Pinterest.)