This time I mixed in paperclips, which added some interesting texture. I do, however, wish there was a way to make the paper clips stick to the paper without having to tape over them. Glue just didn't work, probably because paperclips are both thin and metal.

Painting faces, yet again. I do not know why, but I cannot seem to stop! Not my favorite painting ever, but I cannot quite put my finger on the reason why.

This is one of my favorite spreads thus far. First, I put down a thick, textural layer of gesso. Next, I rubbed black paint on to accent the texture of the gesso. A photo was then glued on and watercolor painted on the photo. The image was printed on an inkjet printer on regular copy paper, so when the watercolor was applied, the ink bled a little and softened the shapes in the photo. The effect was astounding to me and the concept is something I may play with further.

This was actually created last week, but it was only just inserted it in my sketchbook. This was a rather chaotic day. There are just days when my thoughts do not make sense, and this was one of those days.

A crumpled paper towel with acrylic paint was taped into the left hand page to add interest and texture.

The page on the left is simply the silhouette of a face created with acrylic paint along with pieces of images from magazines and other sources. The page on the right has the images as well, but in this case I used gesso to add texture to the piece. The words are my own thoughts on the day. I have also incorporated duct tape, which is such a fabulous tape in my mind. It can do just about anything, and it visually interesting, at least to me, all at the same time--I love it.

I am really pleased with the way my experiments with acrylic paint came out in this piece. The contrast between the curvilinear yellow forms and the more geometric, rectilinear blue and green forms adds interest. The process of mixing paint and text--meaningful text that relates to my thoughts and feelings about the day--and photographic images, which in this case came from a magazine, is both fascinating and enjoyable to me.

Art Journal

In class today we talked about art journals, among other things, which I found slightly amusing because this is something I already do. Well, maybe that is not completely accurate. It is something I did consistently my senior year of high school, as a part of an assignment, and something I picked up again last year, but not to the same personal level as in high school. It is also something I started again this past week--and this time is is immensely personal and cathartic once again. All of that being said, I am going to begin posting these pages as a create them.

I am back a school and painting again--finally! Hopefully I will be able to post some soon.