Getting in a groove with #100daysofcollage

So for those of you out there who haven't read my blog before, I just wanted to say welcome, glad you stopped by. You have found me in the midst of the #100dayschallenge where I have dared myself to complete 100 collages in 100-ish days (you can find other participants on Instagram by searching #100days). 

While I am still in the first quarter of this challenge, I thought I would begin to cover some of the basics about my process so far. For starters, the paper. I knew that I wanted to work in a relatively small scale because my studio space is rather small and a lot of artists will tell you that the scale of their work is often informed by the size of their work space. 

This 6x8" pad seemed like it had the perfect dimensions for what I had envisioned. Ideally, I would have purchased Arches paper and cut it down, but I was looking for something more low maintenance. I then made myself a view finder so that I could have a better idea of how my finished piece would look while I'm still in the layout phase.

Here is my rough draft of a collage. I can adjust the layout, change proportions and switch out papers before settling on the final design.

Already, I'm accumulating quite a stockpile of scraps. Think I'll have to start using these up soon before they totally take up my work space!

Any of you big Snap chat fans? I just joined up and am posting there on a somewhat regular basis. I'm rachelloewen with no spaces if you wanted to add me!

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Biting off more than I can chew? (100 Days of Collage)

For those of you who are addicted to Instagram like I am, you are all probably aware of the #the100daysproject. For everyone else, it is a sort of challenge to creative people to do what they do for 100 days in a row. I found out about it's launch date just before it happened and made an impulse decision to join in by focusing on #100daysofcollage. At first I used papers from my collection of magazines, but then switched over to my hand-printed ones on day three. 

Old palette paper + drawn tissue paper.

Monoprint + layers of drawn tissue paper + acrylic paint

My stash of monoprints was starting to get low so I started cranking them out!

But then making them started to feel more stressful, and I was becoming more fixated on the end goal instead of enjoying the process of making them. I mean, this should be fun, right?

So now I am taking my time making these prints and giving myself permission to take a day off if need be. 

I still plan on completing 100 collages, but I'm ok if it takes more than 100 days. Emily Jeffords talks about sustainable creativity on her blog and started the #doitfortheprocess hashtag on Instagram and those concepts are really resonating with me. 

Are any of you participating in the #the100daysproject? 

To see my work, follow me on Instagram or purchase prints here! 

When life gets crazy, I collage

The past nine months have been kinda crazy for my extended family medically speaking. Biopsies, cancer diagnosis, myasthenia gravis, feeding tubes, hospice care, heart transplant, infection, DNR, DNR repeal, DNR again, more biopsies, no cancer but abnormal cells, autoimmune responses, vitreous detachment, and on and on.

This week my grandfather-in-law finally passed away. He was a dearly loved man and left behind an amazing legacy of love and family. We are all taking comfort in the fact that he is no longer in pain and was fully ready for things to end. That being said, is is just hard and sad right now.

As we run around trying to get ready for the 10 hour drive that awaits us, I stepped away to have a little time in my studio to collage. It is what I do when I need to work with my hands and engage color but am a little bit of a mess inside.

What do these textures look like next to each other? How does this color relate to that one? This is my favorite kind of therapy. 

Prints of these and others are available here in my shop. 

What are your favorite creative coping mechanisms? Would love to hear your stories!

In my sketchbook: playing with borders

This is just one of those weeks where I am having difficulty getting any studio time. Sketching time, however, has been much easier to come by. 

(Look how nice and sweet our cat looks! Don't be deceived!! He loves to drool all over my sketches! Yet another reason why I am not much of a cat person.)

I really like to have parts of my designs go off the paper so that it feels like they extend beyond the work itself. Sometimes this can feel kind of awkward as I haven't always got the feel for a shape down before my pen hits the paper. I had the idea this week to draw a border about 1" around my paper so that I could have those initial movements outside the finished piece. 

Then I thought it would be interesting to do two pieces side by side on the same sheet.

After that I tried to see what would happen if I had a piece in the middle overlap both working areas. I already had multiple shapes down so it didn't work so well. 

The next time, I drew two shapes overlapping both work areas. The final design in the left one ended up being significantly stronger than the one on the right. 

Lastly, I kept things simple and had just one shape overlap. That gave me much more freedom to then work on each side individually because I want both sides to be interesting. 

Left side:

Right side:

This whole, "What happens if I try this?" process is what really fuels my creativity. It keeps me from getting stuck in a rut and keeps my curiosity alive!

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Watercolor race prep

There is just something about springtime that always makes me pull out my watercolors. I think it has something to do with how light the paint feels. Does that sound weird?

Watercolor is also a very portable medium which is nice because this weekend is the first road race (cycling) of the season in Nebraska and if the weather predictions hold, I will be rooting for my husband from the car. I've got quite few of these pieces started and filled up a pencil bag with markers, pens, and pencils to take along. 

I also have like six books from the library that had been on hold for awhile that all became available this week! Anyone else have this happen? 

For those of you who do watercolor more often, I'm in need of a making fluid recommendation! I usually use rubber cement, but it kinda turns my paper yellow and I don't like that!! Thanks in advance!!

Hope you all have a blessed weekend!

More ink experiments

A few weeks ago I was messing around with ink and watercolor paper and decided to try a few more things! For instance, what happens when you combine ink, copic marker, a felt tip marker and then spray it with water?

Or when you spray a leaf design you drew?

Or a surface design... 

Or an absract landscape of sorts!

Happy creative experiments to all of you!

A little crayon therapy

We spent Independence Day at my husband's grandparents house in Langdon, ND. This quiet little town is the perfect escape for our little ones who are not big fans of fireworks. Also, my Grandparents-in-law are just wonderful people. They've set a great example to the family of how Christians should live and love people, warts and all!

It was really hard to say goodbye to them on this trip because Grandpa's second round of cancer is finally catching up with him, and we don't expect to see him again on this side of eternity. We are filled with a mix of grief for our up-coming loss but also a hope-filled peace that he will soon no longer have to feel the effects of this disease. 

This up and down of emotions has just made me just not want to work on anything I've got "in process" for the moment. I knew that I just needed to work on something so I was thankful that Jane Davies posted this showing her latest pieces using crayons. Given the ages of my children I'm sure you can imaging how many crayons I have!!

I ended up using a combination of crayons, oil pastels and watercolor. The pastels and crayons work as a resist for the watercolor which can created some interesting pooling of color.

The older I get the more I appreciate these times to just experiment and play. They help keep my creative energy up and any negative inner criticism down. Using cheaper materials also takes off the pressure to create masterpieces each time I'm in my studio!

Speaking of tough critics, my four-year-old told me that she thinks I did really well on these pieces. She is not known for holding back negative reviews of my work so positive comments are always appreciated! :-)

Trying something new!

When I collage, I have a tendency of using small pieces of paper. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this method, but I wanted to try to maintain some larger areas in these pieces.

In an attempt to be more organized, I've already uploaded these to my print store for sale! 

Happy making!

More naptime making and interruptions!

Well, it looks like all these "Naptime Collages" might become a series since I keep making them! I've even toyed with recording myself making one until I realized how many times I have to stop and check in on one of my sleeping kiddos. (going to pause writing now to do just that!)

The one from the previous post and the three pictured above are all made on these pressed wood boards that I purchased last year at a school closing sale. They are a nice size and make an excellent substrate! You can see in the one below where I used a thick paper as a substrate how it curls up on the left side a bit. That won't be noticeable if I scan it in for prints or frame it for my own wall so I'm not worried! 

If anyone knows of any amazing tutorials for how to record yourself making art, please put a link in the comment section in case I decide to try it anyway!

Happy making!!

What I'm Making: a naptime collage

I really needed to make something. I mean, REALLY needed to make something. As much as I love having my living room painted, the loss of making time over the past two weeks was really taking a toll on me. 

Past experience has taught me that one of the easiest ways to get back in the creative mood is to piece some collages. There is something rather meditative about cutting up paper and you can always glue over the parts you don't like. For example, I thought for a little bit that the piece was complete as it was below. 

But then I thought that the proportions were a bit off so with a little bit of tweaking I ended up with this! 

I wish I would have used a gel medium  instead of a fluid medium so the wrinkles wouldn't have been so bad. Live and learn!

What I'm Painting: Walls and Watercolors

This past week I've been occupied with the oh-so-fun task of painting the living room. My goal was to get it done by Memorial Day, and it looks like I might get it done with a few days to spare. 

Progress has been slightly hindered the high ceiling on half of the room, but I borrowed my mom's ladder so I should be good to go from now on.

And as great as the crisp white walls look, it will be nice to have my paintings back up!

 My kiddos paint with watercolors everyday and I've been feeling a little jealous since all of naptime/maketime has been devoted to wall painting for over a week now.  

I started painting shapes that I have been drawing for awhile and then starting to play a bit more. 

The design on the bottom middle seemed sort of botanical so I tried it out in warm colors.

And then I just had sort of a doodle page. Who says sketches have to "be" something!

What I'm Drawing: convalescence catch up

After three weeks of being too sick to sketch or really anything, I am having quite the surge of creative energy. Hope to use some of these sketches as inspiration or larger works.

Jury duty sketches

A few weeks ago I received a summons for jury duty. My to my dismay, having three children in diapers will not earn you an excused absence. Rats! I keep telling my husband that as long as I have to go to the courthouse, I hope it is a "big" case. Famous last words.

After a few hours of the general hurry up and wait that goes along with jury duty, we are told the name of the case and the charges. Sure enough, it is one of the biggest cases of the year for our city. It took a day and a half for the prosecutors and the defense attorneys to whittle our group from 28 to 12, and in the end, I did not make the cut.

I did try to take advantage off all the down time we had and ended up with these sketches!