Altered Book: The Road
Sun, April 5, 2009 at 04:00AM "Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again;
we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life."
~ Jack Kerouac
Experimenting with fluid matte medium this past week. Golden Acrylic Mediums thin fluid acrylics making them translucent or transparent the higher the ratio of matte medium to paint. Just a drop of Golden fluid acrylics mixed with a tablespoon or two of matte medium still gives fairly saturated color, so I'm learning to use just a tiny bit of paint to create the effect of a wash. Per the Golden site it is "a liquid, pourable acrylic medium useful for extending colors, increasing translucency and decreasing gloss."
In an altered hardback book, I collaged a number of images and layered acrylics thinned with matte medium, then added a little gesso, to create a tye-dyed look. Another layer of collaged images, neocolors, handmade eraser stamps, and a travel quote from Jack Kerouac. I like the impact and texture created by the layers of images and paint.
Hanna, of the fun and fresh Create and Live Happy blog, is a master of inspiration, layering collage and color to create subtle textures. Do you name your art? I name everything! It's more fun than having to come up with a descriptor like "the one with the girl in red with a gold border" when you refer to a page. Check out Step #847: Title Your Art in the step-by-step art journaling series. Last year Hanna asked readers to develop names for her daily art cards, you can read about it in Name Game - How to Title Your (My!) Art. Hanna's writings and creative adventures are so much fun and always give me a positive spin on life.
A little story for you... my younger daughter and I went to the grocery store Friday while my older daughter was at an after-school class. My daughter drank part of her chocolate milk while we were shopping. A kind grandfatherly gentleman helped load the groceries in the car (they help everyone!) he said, "What happened to the milk your daughter was drinking?" and I stopped, wondering if he thought we hadn't paid for it! We found it in one of the bags and he said, "That will be a nice surprise for her on the way home." How kind people can be.
Reader Comments (2)
Oh, Yes! I name everything too! When you've imprinted a piece with your artistic soul, I feel that it deserves to be christened with a proper name. Thanks for the intro to Hanna's blog! And, yes, there really IS a lot of kindness in the world!!! Isn't it refreshing?!? Hope you had a super Sunday! Hugs, Terri
I love the layers upon layers of paint and paper, and all the wild colors. I certainly don't have the courage to use color as boldly as you do here!