The creative ideas for my paintings and collages come to me randomly.  Sometimes I may think of colors I want to use or materials and the creative process starts from there.  I thought for this collage I would like to use black and blue.  I really had no idea of which materials I would use until I had prepared the gallery board with several coats of black and blue paint.  At this point, I thought that I would like the materials to be primarily be black and blue tissue paper, aluminum foil, tracing paper and printed pages from a magazine.  I then decided that I would like to use phone book pages instead because of the small print, numbers, texture of the paper and minimal color.  I really had not idea of the subject or theme for this collage until I started studying the materials. Often the search for the correct materials can take awhile, but the more I explore the materials I have accumulated, I begin to form my ideas for the artwork.

Please visit my website, http://www.jancwatford.com for information on my paintings, artwork and children’s books.

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Every week I write about my art and how I create my paintings, collages or about my children’s books.  There are occasional posts about other topics in these categories that might move or inspire me, but the topics are usually about writing or art.  This week I feel compelled to write about something that has inspired me.  I will carry with me the rest of my life the wisdom that I experienced from a conversation I had with the mother of a friend of mine from high school.

Attending a get together  of my friends from high school while visiting Jacksonville, FL, I observed that two of the mothers also came.  They were both remarkable women for their age. I entered a conversation with one and told her how much I admired her shoes, which were very classy and stylish.  She started talking to me and was so alert and friendly, that I felt compelled to ask her age.  She said she did not mind telling me that she was 95.  She added quickly that meant in 5 years she would be 100 and asked me I realized that would mean she had lived for an entire century.  This statement was quickly followed by the declaration that she also still lives alone and drives her car.

Astonished by this lady’s spunk and honesty, I asked her her what she attributes to  her long life.  She stated that she knows she is very blessed and attributes this to three things;  that she puts God first in her life, others second and herself last.  She said she regularly visits the sick and needy and tries to offer encouragement.  She said she also feels that it is very important to eat healthy including a lot of fruits and vegetables.  I asked her if she felt like it was important to keep your mind active and she agreed most certainly and added that she writes poems about anything that gives her joy and asked  me for advice on publishing them.

Astonished by her attractive, well dressed appearance and her beautiful heart and soul, I told her that she would be my inspiration for the rest of my life and would place her picture on my dresser so it would remind me of her wise words on how to live a long life. I realized how much we can learn from sharing conversations with senior citizens.  Their wisdom of life can impart new meaning to anyone of a younger age.

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For this collage I decided to try a realistic style for my collage since most of them have been abstract.  I used some different materials also, including clippings from magazines, some of my own abstract drawings, fabric, and pieces of a paper tablecloth.  I first painted the gallery board solid black with several coats of acrylic paint. Although I had planned to incorporate more painting on top of the adhered images, it did not turn out that way.  I liked it the way it appeared with just the images and very little painting was done on top of the images. Many of the fabric pieces of the collage were from fabric that resembled screen printed image or in other words was a single image design instead of a repeated pattern.  The solid black negative space was planned to become a part of the final work with the addition of cutout pieces.  The collage process is an evolving exercise in creativity.  Some of the materials respond differently when combined with different textures so it is always an adventure in learning.

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All illustrators and artists seek to be more creative and search for new ways to spurn our inspiration for  our artwork.  On September 29, I met with a a group of illustrators from SCBWI for a sketchbook tour of Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta, Ga.  The cemetery is widely known in Atlanta and dates back to the 1800′s. Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with The Wind is buried there and also many other famous Atlantans.  There also are many graves of soldiers from the Civil War and a Potter’s field of former slaves.  The cemetery had been adopted by a historical society, which continually strives to raise funds to maintain and improve the grounds and landscaping.

As we explored the cemetery, their were many interesting tombstones and mausoleums.  One of our assignments to spurn our creativity was to find 3 interesting names and then create/sketch a character that we thought would be fitting of those names.  Since we had a time constraint of 20 minutes, I chose something close by me that I found interesting.  It was a mausoleum that looked like a small house with stained glass windows.

The first sketch I did was a tombstone for Lulu Mae Henson and was to the right of this plot.  I pictured her as being a round, sweet very southern lady.  Since we only had 20 minutes to draw 3 different characters, I failed to notice from her tombstone that she only lived to her teenage years.  A mistake on my part, but the sketch was fun.

For my next sketch I decided to use the tombstone on the left side of this same mausoleum which was engraved with the names of Fielding Rucker and his wife, Louisa Villas Rucker.  I pictured them as a wealthy and devoted couple with Fielding Rucker being into horse back riding and Louisa as a pretty, demure lady full of grace and charm.

I enjoyed this event tremendously and creating the characters was a good creative exercise.  The visit to the cemetery was enjoyed by all and we are looking forward to the next sketchbook event.

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As my art and creative process progressed with my tissue paper collage, I decided after creating the tissue paper strips in the background that I also would include shapes.  For this collage, I decided that I only wanted to use the tissue paper as the collage pieces because I was trying to experiment and create a project that depicted transparency. Usually with my collages, I like to include a variety of materials.  As I worked on this collage, I noticed that sometimes certain pieces were more transparent than others.  I was puzzled by this at first, because I thought I was using the same process on every piece when I applied the acrylic gel medium to adhere it to the gallery board surface.  Finally I realized that there was a definite correlation between the transparency of the collage piece with the amount of water that was on the brush before I put it in the gel medium. It was a definite learning process for me.  I really enjoyed this tissue paper collage and like the way it evolved.

The Finished Collage.

 

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My fascination with collage is still strong in my quest to be creative.  Different materials bring different inspiration and the combination or a single choice for an artwork can be a completely different visual look to the piece.  In the past I have used tissue paper in combination with other materials for collage and also used painted tissue paper on another piece, but this time I wanted to use unpainted colored tissue paper and try to establish a very transparent look to the collage.  I prepared the background by using Cerulean blue,  and yellow ochre.  I painted two coats of these colors and randomly blended them together on a already prepared gallery board.  The tissue paper is inexpensive from a dollar store.  I chose to use only three colors and wanted them to coordinate with the background so I used dark blue, yellow and chartreuse green or yellow green. I prefer to use acrylic matte medium in liquid form as an adhesive to apply the collage pieces.

Please visit my website and check back for the second and third video/blog in this series.

 

 

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Recently I finished this watercolor. It came to life in an unusual way.  I painted the background without any thought as to what the painting would eventually look like.  Sometimes I like to do this to challenge myself from the usual method of planning the painting, drawing in the subject matter, and then painting in the background, followed by the subject matter.  By randomly painting in the background in a wet on wet method, the colors were established but also could be refined later if needed.

Recently on a trip to California, I made a photo of this yellow flowered vine and then decided it would look well on this previously painted background.  I used the photo as reference only and definitely took some liberties with changing areas that I felt needed it and also trying to explore the negative spaces that were present with the background.

This watercolor is 16 x 20 ” and is offered as a limited edition print for $40.00 on my website or by emailing me at [email protected].  You can get a discount of 20% off  this price by signing up for my newsletter.  The signup area is located in the red box to the right of this blog.

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September, 2012 is a big month for me because I have two books being published.  My first book, Drabsville was released last week as a hard copy.  My second book, Roland’s Stupendous Imagination And The Native Americans will be published as an ebook within a couple of weeks.

Roland is a young boy with a stupendous imagination.  when his imagination starts to fly, he is oblivious to anything else around him. In this book, he goes on a trip in his imagination to a Native American Reservation. He is introduced to new friends and to Native American customs and legends.   Full color illustrations and information on Native American symbols and regalia offer young readers a educational adventure in learning in chapter book format.  The book is first being offered in ebook format and will be cross platform, available on any tablet or smartphone. For updated information, please visit my website.

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Today, September 7, 2012 is a big day for me.  My first book, Drabsville is published.  After several revisions, I received the hard copy in  a package yesterday and quickly checked it over and over.  To my delight it passed the final inspection, but to make sure I reviewed it  again this morning over my morning coffee.  With one click of a button on my laptop, I approved it and it became available for purchase. The idea for this book was conceived over 30 years ago, so it is especially meaningful for me that it has finally given birth.

Drabsville, is a picture book about Matthew John Paul Abernathy, a bright boy that lives in a very drab town.  After he dreams in color of how to change his surroundings to a more colorful environment, he succeeds in making his home, and town a brighter more colorful place.  This educational story introduces the primary colors and shows how to mix the  secondary colors.  The importance of color in our environment is shown visually through  a comparison of dull gray and colorful environments.  This paperback book is available on my Createspace page and will be available on Amazon.com in a week.  It also will be available as ebook within a couple of weeks.

 

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Progress is continuing on my large blended colors abstract and my push to be more creative with my painting. The progress in the painting may not be quite as obvious in the video as it is in person. I am working hard to establish different subtle tones and values. This requires a lot of blending because I am also trying to not make sharp lines of color distinction. This is tricky and requires a lot of thought and brush strokes. The use of acrylic paints and their fast drying nature, requires that previously painted areas, be first applied with water and/or very wet applications of the desired color of paint. This process would probably be easier with oil paints or a medium that slows down the drying time of the acrylic paints. Although this process of blending all the colors without obvious sharp lines is challenging, the results will be very nice when the painting is finished and I am learning a lot.

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I finished it.  The Be Creative – Realistic Abstract Floral – Part 3 – Creative painting is complete after some delay from working on other projects and going out of town.  I had fun with this painting and it has spurned a new interest in painting realistic abstracts.  I first saw the term in a book I am reading on abstract painting.  This classification of art is not as well known as other categories and is simply a combination of both abstract and realism, with part of the painting with recognizable forms or objects and the rest of the painting being abstract in appearance.

This painting is painted on stretched linen canvas with wrapped and painted edges,  No frame is necessary. Acrylic paints were used exclusively. The size is 16 x 20 inches and is available for sale for $150.00.  Please contact me at [email protected] if interested.  It also will be available through my website.


 

 

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Today I was on a quest to find a new and entertaining app for my little grandson, 4 years old.  In the sea of apps for children it is difficult to find age appropriate children’s book apps quickly.  I had heard of Free App Friday and visited the Moms With Apps website for today’s listing of free apps for children.  I found free apps described on the website as promised, but the since this is the month most children are starting back to school, today’s apps listed were for school age children.  I did, however,find a listing of the best apps for toddlers.  On this list I found the app, My Underwear.   The app does not disappoint and is an assortment of different activities about underwear.  My grandson was mesmerized.  There is a game involving monsters eating underwear and another selection in which you can  decorate underwear, save and share your creation.  Other selections within the app, include an activity of putting underwear on an animal, and a matching game.  The app was created by Todd Parr and is illustrated with simple, whimsical, bright colored illustrations. It is $ .99 and available in the Apple App Store.  Good job, Todd Parr!

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The big torn paper collage project is finally finished.  My creative idea for this project centered around the idea of torn edges of different colors and textured papers that were displayed in a pattern. The logistics of tearing all the paper and gluing down each layer took longer than I had anticipated.  There also were a few other problems that I experienced such as trapped air under the collage pieces which had to be taken care of because of the building of the layers.  I found that the best way to remedy this problem was to take a very sharp Exacto knife and cut fine marks in the area right on top of the trapped air then apply more of the acrylic medium to push it flat.  Many layers of the acrylic medium are required to finish the project and coat all the different layers of the collage pieces.

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The world of apps is growing by leaps and bounds.  Every day thousands are released for use.  Unless you read Itunes daily, it can be difficult to keep up with all the new releases. Among the also growing number of categories are educational apps.  There is a definite market for this category and app developers are quick to admit the horizon for educational apps is promising, however, there is also the realization that they should meet educational standards.

Last week a new educational app was released called Smarty Britches – Nouns by Sascyn Publishing and Cyndie Sebourn.  A National Board Certified Teacher, Ms. Sebourn has aligned the app with educational standards, (Common Core State Standards).  It was created for teachers, home schoolers, and parents of students in the age group of first through third grade.  The app has been designed as a story, but also offers special activities that stress the different types of nouns and offer chances to practice choosing the different categories.  Brilliantly conceived and written, this app is a must have  for teachers and parents alike. Apps offer the inexpensive option of learning on the IPad which previously was only available with the more expensive option of educational software.

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In this second part of my blog series, Be Creative – Torn Paper Collage Part 2 – Creative, I show the visual progress in the process.  After creating a pattern for the shape I wanted to use, I traced and cut out the shapes in three different kinds of paper.  The quality of the paper varied from a thicker, metallic paper, to an inexpensive paper that was very easy to tear.  To be able to tear the metallic paper more easily I clipped along the edge and then tore it. I arranged the pieces of paper in a pattern and then proceeded to adhere the pieces to the surface with acrylic gel medium. Because of the different qualities of the paper, great care must be taken in gluing down each piece. Some are easier to apply than others.  It is very easy to get air trapped underneath each piece.  Once the piece is glued down it usually can not be removed without destroying it.  I use the handle end of the brush and multiple strokes with the brush to help smooth out the air bubbles.  Please check back for the next part of the series, Part 3 which will show the finished collage and discuss the steps I took to finish it.

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I have a new creative idea for a collage in my quest to be more creative with my fine art. The idea I will be working with this time is created with torn paper.  I am using different kinds of wrapping paper, including green, a red orange metallic and a muted white floral print.  I cut the pieces all the same size after first drawing a simple pattern and cutting it out.  I wanted a shape that would be easy to tear the edges.  I also knew that I wanted pattern to play a important role in this project.  The surface I am using is a gallery board not stretched canvas.  Although collage will work on stretched canvas, it is my opinion that it is more difficult than a hard surface because it is easier for air to get trapped under the collage pieces as you apply the adhesive.  Instead of glue I use gel medium as an adhesive and find that it works well.  To prepare the surface, I painted black.  I did not use any other color to mute it because I know I want the strong contrast of the black between the collage shapes to show off the torn edges.

Please check back for the next segment on my blog for this project, Be Creative – Torn Paper Collage – Creative.


 

 

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Over thirty years ago, I knew I wanted to write and illustrate a children’s picture book, but I kept  putting the dream aside.  While I was an art education student at Georgia State University, one of my professors gave us a project and offered several options to complete the project.  One of these options was to write and illustrate a children’s book.  The goal of the project was to teach one of the elements of art.  I jumped on this chance to follow my dream and create my picture book.  I had no idea what I was doing, but did have an idea and feverishly turned out my first picture book, Drabsville.  I remember at the time I was trying to finish it to turn it for my grade that it took lots longer than I anticipated.  I received a good grade and was told that I should see about getting it published, but some how in the business of every day life, my little picture book instead landed in my closet.  The years passed  and my little book survived through four or five moves over the years.  It had one emergence when my son and daughter gave me a class on writing children’s books and I once again was told by the instructor that it had merit and to see about having it published, but I never did. It landed back in the closet.

I never forgot that dream though, and when I retired in the spring of 2011,  I excavated Drabsville from stacks of other forgotten treasures  and decided this time it would make it out of the confines of my home.  I joined SCBWI and took some classes on writing children’s literature.  I reworked the text several times and redid the illustrations, but I am proud to announce that my first book is on its way and in the process of being published.  It will be available on Amazon.com and eventually as a story book app.

Drabsville is a story about Matthew John Paul Abernathy, a bright boy living in a very dull, gray town. After he dreams in color of how to change his surroundings to a more colorful environment, he succeeds in making his home, and town a brighter more colorful place.  The story involves introducing to children the primary colors and how to mix the secondary colors.

The valuable lesson I have learned through finally reaching this goal is to not put off dreams and to act on them when they enter your mind.  Time waits on no one and we never know how long we have left to pursue our dreams.

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Working on this painting has been a nice diversion for my creativity.  I have been working on very abstract subject matter for my paintings and collages for several months.  I enjoy shaking up the subject matter every once in a while.  I have never been one to like to dwell on the same subject matter for long periods of time.  This goes back to my childhood when my first private art teacher I had required that her students always have florals as the subject matter for their artwork because that was what she was most proficient with.  Maybe this should be a tribute to her, because I have reverted back to a floral.  Flowers are always good subject matter, but I feel that as an artist I should push myself to try as many different  points of reference as I can.

As you can see in the video, I have developed the different areas of  painting and layered the different colors.  I am close to being finished and only need to refine some of the areas and layer a few more colors.  Be sure to check back for Part 3 and see the finished painting.

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For the last few months my focus has been on exploring abstract painting. I recently saw a reference to realistic abstract paintings and  decided for this painting project I would like to explore this as a different approach working with my acrylics.  The term realistic abstract is described as an abstract painting with small areas of realism.  This is the first video in the series.  The first thing I always try to accomplish is to cover the canvas with paint.  This helps me as the artist to establish the direction in which I want to go.  This does not mean it cannot be changed but at least gives a foundation on which to grow and develop the painting.  I try to establish major areas of color and build from there.

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One of my most recent efforts to be creative and try different approaches with my painting was a large 20 x 30″ painting that I tried a very loose painting techniques and also incorporated the use of foil and plastic wrap for texture.  I had no idea of where I wanted to go with it when I started other than I wanted it to show texture from the application of the foil and plastic wrap.  I had to play around with the materials several times before I got the type of effects I had wanted.  Since I had never tried this approach in painting before I had to experiment to see what worked best.  I found that the texture is more interesting if you have several layers of paint already on the canvas that are dry.  With the foil, I painted the acrylic paint directly on it and then applied it face down onto the canvas/painting.  Then I rubbed over the opposite side all over so the paint could be encouraged to stick to the canvas. Once I had rubbed the foil with my fingers, I then left it to dry.  When you lift it after this process, it will pull some of the under layers of paint up revealing some interesting patterns.  The process I used for the plastic wrap was to paint the paint of a contrasting color directly on the plastic wrap while it is flat against a hard surface, and then turn it over and press it on to the canvas rubbing out the areas to emphasize and then pulling it up.  This created more of a linear effect. The texture created from both of these processes was very interesting and fun, but you have to remember to not create too much texture; just enough to make it balanced and interesting.

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All my life I have always had an undeniable passion for art.  It is something I have been conscious of from the earliest age I can remember.  I have continued to work with my art through my life, with more frequency sometimes than others.  It was easy to tell myself at times that there were other things to do with raising children, household chores and other tasks that we know are our responsibilities to handle. I always promised myself I would eventually get around to allocating more time for it. I also had dreamed on creating a children’s picture book, but never had known how to put one together. Not a clue, but when I was give a college assignment in art education with one of the choices being to create a children’s book as a option for the assignment, I jumped on it and created one the best way I knew how.  It was well received by my professor and he said I should see about getting published.  The years past and my children as teenagers gave me a class for my birthday on writing children’s books.  I showed my book, Drabsville, to the instructor, and she also said that I should try to publish it.  That was over thirty years ago.  Time goes by so quickly.

Last year, I retired from teaching art in public school.  I now have all the time I want to do the things I love.  I paint regularly and have a closet full of paintings that I have painted in just one year when it used to take me several years to produce just one.  I also dug my book, Drabsville, out of my closet, revised it and redid the illustrations and it will now be published this summer, 2012, and be available on Amazon.com. Drabsville, is a story about a bright boy, Matt, that lives in a dull, gray town.  He begins to dream of a more colorful environment and discover a way to make this become a reality.  The story also teaches the importance of color and how to mix secondary colors from the primary colors.

Now I am happy to say after living six plus decades that all my dreams are coming true.  The joy I feel from getting to work on things I am passionate about every day is a fantasy come true.  I am so thankful and hope all of you reading this will be encouraged to seek out your dreams and live them to the fullest.

 

 

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As I look back on this project, I can summarize by saying that I improved some previous creative collage methods I had used before and tried a couple of new methods.  With previous collage methods I have learned some important things to remember when applying the  collage pieces.  In review, I use acrylic matt medium to adhere the pieces instead of glue.  I have used both Liquitex and Winsor & Newton brands.  The Liquitex is a thicker consistency and works better on some applications depending on the thickness of the paper of the collage piece. It can be thinned with water if necessary.  The Winsor Newton matt medium is thinner and is adequate, but I found that it took several applications when I tried to glue down the mesh and I had to wait for it to dry between applications.  A thicker coat of the Liquitex however would have clogged between the mesh causing it to not dry as clear.  Thinner materials like tissue paper can only be glued down by first applying the matt medium to only the surface of the gallery board.  Other thicker papers need the matt medium applied both to the surface of the gallery board and the back of the piece itself.  With tissue paper and thinner materials this will not work because it dissolves.  Another helpful tip is to make sure you do have very little water on your brush when you apply the matt medium, because the water increases the chance of the paper dissolving and/or ripping.


This was a collage project that I really enjoyed.  The materials I used are just a few of the many that can be used to create interesting collages.

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In the second part of this series of the Be Creative – Varied Materials Collage, I have begun to adhere the different collage materials to both surfaces.  Two separate studio boards are being used since it is a diptych.  It is important to remember that so the collage can be considered coordinated and balanced that the surfaces are placed next to each other during the creating process.  It would be much more difficult to accomplish this if they were created at separate times and not viewed as one piece.

The materials I chose to use with this project are mesh from a fruit bag, a printed plastic bag, scraps from student paintings and shapes cut from designs I created on my IPad and then printed on my printer.  I have never used the mesh before in a collage but like the way it looks.  It is a little tricky to get it to adhere to the surfaces and more of the acrylic medium must be used to get it to stay in place. By taking enough time to carefully consider the placement of each piece, you can avoid mistakes, because errors can not really be removed without damaging the piece and the surface.

Please check back for Part 3 which will explain the completion of the project.


 

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Another collage is in the works.  This time I am going to create a diptych, which is two pieces coordinating art that can be hung together or separately.  The idea I have for this collage is to use varied materials such as different scraps of colored paper, tissue paper, plastic and painted paper.  I have a large basket container with a lid where I store assorted materials that I find that I think would be interesting in a collage.  The collection includes fabric, tissue paper, scraps of paper, metallic scraps, plastic, mesh and anything else that seems interesting.  I accumulate this as I find it, so when I am ready to create a collage all I have to do is open up the container and compare and choose the materials.

For the background I used raw umber, titanium white, cobalt blue, and ultramarine blue.  I use acrylic exclusively for these projects.  I muted the colors by combing them as I painted randomly.  The surface is two studio boards, 12 x 16 inches.

Please watch for the next installment of this series for the progress of adding the collage pieces.

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As I was finishing this collage project, I realized that I had learned so much in the process.  I feel that I need a disclaimer on each painting and collage project I attempt, because they are creative approaches I have  never attempted before so most of the time I can not adequately predict exactly what the final artwork will look like. There were several changes in the materials I was using for the reason that some were not working out as I thought they would.  The final choices for materials for the the collage pieces were tracing paper and plastic from a photo sleeve.  I had been trying to use an collage pieces from an old plastic shower curtain but it was not adhering to the surface. When I started this project, I had intended to use only background color only, but when I was working outside I noticed the shadows that were reflected on top of my collage and really liked the way it looked. Consequently, I ended up using part of the shadows in the piece.  I think it is important to be open to new ideas as you work and more or less go with the flow.  That is what creativity is all about.

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