Today: What I made | 003

What I made this week: A crappy video.  Olé!  (I’ll embed it below for your viewing pleasure so you can mock me.)  I also made some other stuff.  Mostly all on the same night.  Nick and I caught up on Homeland (by watching 900 episodes), and I was afraid to go to bed since Carrie and Saul’s escapades usually give me ridiculous nightmares.  

So I made a bunch of stuff, and then went to bed.  And had nightmares about the toxicity of acrylic paint.  Whatever, man.  Here’s what I made.

What I made | 003

Materials used: Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen (blue) and Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors

This sketchbook goes from subdued (this page) to extra jazzy (everything that follows) very quickly.  The quote is from No Mud, No Lotus and the pen is from college.  Those things seem to last forever.  

Materials used: Sharpie permanent marker, magazine cut-out, the Wall Street Journal, Micron pen (black 01), acrylic paint, glue stick

We recently started receiving someone else’s WSJ.  After three calls to their customer service line and just as many promises that delivery would be stopped, it’s still showing up on our door step (and piling up in our building’s lobby).  

One of the Get Messy Art Journal program’s recent prompts was street art-inspired, so I used a page of our magically appearing newspaper as a background.   I’m quite pleased with the hand lettering and I’m glad I hung onto that random hummingbird cut out (which, I’m fairly certain, came from a car ad).  

Materials used: [Left side] Acrylic paint, Micron pen (black 01); [Right side] Strathmore Artist Tiles (black), Sakura Gelly Roll pen (white), foil sheets, Micron pen (black 01)

That’s supposed to say “trembling”… not t-r-e-m-f-l-i-n-g.  The b looks like an f… and I meant to fix it, but forgot.  Anyway, you get the point.  

The right hand page is another Get Messy-inspired page.  I loved scrolling through Instagram to see how everyone else used that same quote (hi, Julia).  And I love cutting up my sketchbook a bit so other pages peek through.

Materials used: [Left side] White velum, Micron (black 1), acrylic paint, Uni Posca paint pen (black); [Right side] Acrylic paint, magazine cut-outs, glue stick

On the flip side, a great quote about happiness and and door… and some of the coral acrylic paint that I accidentally spilled all over my palette, thus necessitating I use far more of it than planned.  (I sort of wish I had spilled the sky blue instead… can’t win ’em all.)  Plus a bunch of windows… and a door.

Materials used: [Left side] Handmade Modern acrylic paint (platinum, from Target), Winsor and Newton professional watercolor tubes (moved around the page with a paper straw), Uni Posca paint pen (black); [Right side] Winsor and Newton watercolor paint (black), acrylic paint, Gelly Roll pen (white)

Some brain wave-ish watercolors, a “good ideas” light bulb and more cut pages.

Materials used: [Left side] All pink everything… Winsor and Newton pigment markers, Sakura Koi brush pens, Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen, acrylic paint, watercolor paint; [Right side] Grey acrylic paint, paper scraps (cut into cone flower shapes), white Gelly Roll pen, glue stick

The all pink page is sort of a little sister to something I made earlier this month and the right side is evidence that I can’t stop making cone flowers.

Materials used: Gel printing plate, acrylic paint, string, cardstock circle, gold leaf, Uni Posca paint pen (yellow), Micron (purple, 01… I think).

Lastly, I’m finally starting to get a hang of my Gelli plate (used for making mono prints).  I’ve had one for ages, but never liked anything I made with it.  I think I was over-thinking the process… which is kind of how I roll.  

I really like these two pages though.  I added a bit of leftover gold leaf and some doodling to make the circle look more like the moon.

Ok… now for the video.

Art Journal Flip Through Video | February 2016

Art Journal Flip Through | February 2016 from Elizabeth D. on Vimeo.

I’m looking forward to making a few more of these videos and improving as I go.  I’m glad I managed to paint my nails before filming, though.  That’s got to count for something.  

Also On Tap for Today:

• An early birthday dinner with my parents
• Which type of exercise is best for the brain? via The New York Times
• Building your creative toolkit via Design Sponge

What did you make this week?