Saturday, January 20, 2007

Cabinet of Curiosities: Prompt #2 {Curiosity}

Wow, the pages you are all creating are simply stunning! Great work and so much inspiration:) Sharon was nice enough to post this wonderful tutorial on starting an altered book using a children's board book. Go check it out! I'm posting this prompt a bit early, because the baby shower is tomorrow and I wasn't sure I'd have time to post. I can't wait! I'll be sure and take lots of pictures.

Now on to prompt #2......

cu·ri·os·i·ty (kyr'ē-ŏs'ĭ-tē)
A desire to know or learn.
A desire to know about people or things that do not concern one; nosiness.
An object that arouses interest, as by being novel or extraordinary: kept the carved bone and displayed it as a curiosity.
A strange or odd aspect.

As artists, we all have an innate desire to create. I know that my artistic curiosity is piqued when I see a piece of art that I really love and I wonder how it was made. I especially find myself baffled when looking at mixed media art that has so many wonderful layers and dimension and it almost feels like magic in how it all came together to make the finished piece.

Are YOU ready to make some magic?

For those of you that are lucky enough to have seen Sally Jean Alexander's fabulous new book full of eye candy and curiosities, Pretty Little Things, you may have tried some of these techniques already. Even if you have, the fun part is that your art will turn out different every time, depending on the order you do the steps. I first chose my color palette for the project. I was inspired by this picture in a magazine. I didn't use the picture in the layout, but it helped me to gather my supplies that all had the same feeling and mood that I was getting from the picture. Supplies you will need: pen, paper to work on, acrylic paints and brushes, gel medium or white glue, pretty papers that you love, old books (for text), magazines (for text or images), photograph, ink, chalk or oil pastels, baby wipes, pencil, rubber stamp and ink pad, sandpaper, scissors, 3D objects (flowers, buttons, ribbon, etc.) and charcoal pencil. Now write the words: PAINT, MAGAZINE, TEXT, PAPER, CHALK, PASTELS, CHARCOAL, PENCILL, STAMP, SCRATCH, WIPE, INK, PATTER, 3-D, WRITE, PHOTOGRAPH, SMUDGE, DRAW, SAND, SURPRISE onto a piece of paper. Cut out each word individually, put them in a bowl and mix them up. First, layout a piece of cardstock, watercolor paper, or canvas that is the size of collage you wish to create. Now you will close your eyes and pull out one word at a time and do that task on your paper. You can preset your limit (do the first ten tasks you pull out of the bowl) or do them all. The first word I picked was write. Write anything, a word, a phrase, or a single letter, any size with pencil, pen, ink, crayon, whatever! I chose to write a little bit about curiosity. Next I chose paint. Apply acrylic paints haphazardly on your canvas. Mix the paint up; don't worry about getting multiple colors on your brush. Next I chose picture/photograph. Tape, glue, stample, or whatever way you wish, attach your picture or photo to your page. This image is from Anahata Katkin. She sells some wonderful books with images to use in collage through her PaPaYa shop.Paper. Use gel medium or white glue to apply torn scraps of text, pretty or antique papers randomly. Use a paper towel to wipe off the excess gel medium so that the paper doesn't wrinkle.

Magazine. Tear a part of a page out of a magazine. Use gel medium or glue to adhere it to your collage. Wipe with baby wipes to remove areas of paint and ink. The more you rub the magazine, the more ink comes off and the more distressed it appears.
Sand. Sand the surface in various spots to remove layers. Select the grade of sandpaper you wish to use. Be sure and sand when the paint is dry.
Text. Tear a page from an old book. Use a sentence with at least three consecutive words from anywhere in the text. Also, create a new sentence using individual words that you cut from the page and rearrange.
Pattern. Create a pattern with any medium. A pattern is something repeated at least three times.
Chalk/oil pastels. Use randomly to color areas or create lines and shapes. 3D. Add a dimension object (or two..or three..) to you page. Let your imagination run wild!
Charcoal. Create depth by sketching, outlining, drawing or shading with a charcoal pencil. Rub it on the edges of the torn paper. I first used charcoal pencil on a piece in my class with Carolyn Peeler at Silver Bella. She said she had learned it from Sally Jean. Wow, what amazing depth this gives. I love it!!!
The final slip that I pulled out was stamp. Choose any rubber stamp and any ink and stamp as many times as you like. I stopped here, feeling like my page was complete. The remaining slips are: Smudge- wet your finger and wipe your artwork to create smudges. Draw- use pencil, pen or ink to outline something already on your collage, or draw a new shape. Scratch- scratch your artwork using a awl, craft knife, scissors. You may scratch randomly or a pattern in the surface. Surprise! This is a freebie, you choose the task. Do something you've already done or something you've never done. Explore!
That's it! Here's my finished piece. Have fun and let your curiosity run wild! Be sure and post your link in the comments so that we can all take a peek at your wonderful creations. We'll see you over on Bonnie's blog on Thursday for prompt #3.

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

It turned out beautiful! I think I just may have to try this soon. What fun....

Monica said...

Oh my! This is awesome! I can't wait to follow these steps and see what I get on my page!
Love your art!

Anonymous said...

Phew, glad you posted early - now I hve all afternoon while the sprogs are swimming to play! Great challenge.

Anonymous said...

Whooohooo, I love that this challenge is based on Sally Jean's process because it is so incredibly inspiring! I can't wait to play with this one today!!! smiles...

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Kari! love the way it turned out. I will give this a try! Thanks for posting the steps and photos to show your "work in progress"-this is amazing!!!

Sharon Tomlinson said...

Thank you Kari. Oh Brother! This will truly be Magic for me to get all of this on my little mini 3+ inch board book. But fun I know.

The results on your page is fabulous. I have a hard time with collage so I'm really thinking I need this.
Thanks,
Sharon

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!
I have Sally Jean's book and I am obsessed. I've been making soldered pendants since I got it.

Anonymous said...

I had my doubts when you described the process .... but WOW! What an amazing idea!! I really want to try this!!

Anonymous said...

Challenge posted on my blog - can't beleive I did this one so promptly!

beth said...

This is just wonderful and beautiful. I'm glad that you also did a tutorial. I think for anyone working on anything, that this helps to visualize art in a whole new way !!!!
I'm off to get started on my new page !!!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome idea and looks wonderful. I'm off to start mine too.

Anonymous said...

Wow!! Your work is stunning. Thank you for this instruction in technique. This will truly be a challenge for me!

Anonymous said...

Kari!! Ohh What a FABULOUS post!! Really really love it!!

I cannot thank you enough for all that you share with us. Such care goes into each and every post! You are such a sweetheart!

Thank you!! Thank you!!

xoxo Jenny

Anonymous said...

Looks amazing!! I have that book at home too, its a clever concept to pull out random letters to spark creativity!!

Kathy said...

I'm looking forward to trying this technique - the end product is so inspiring! Thanks for hosting this challenge.

Anonymous said...

That turned out wonderful! I've been meaning to try this ever since I got the book, now I know that I have to try it. Thanks for the inspiration! And thank for leaving a comments on my blog! Laurie:)

Anonymous said...

How beautiful! Thank you for sharing the process! I love to see art come together :-)

Anonymous said...

I am juts finding you all! Love the challenge and this tutorial is just great! I would like to join in (albeit a bit late). I hope it is OK. I will try to catch up on missed challenge as well, if I can. More later!
Carol
http://terranovadesign.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's impressive. Thank you so much for sharing. I really enjoyed this post.

Anonymous said...

Okay. How cool is this?!? Love seeing the steps in your creative process.

Alex S said...

I'm just discovering your blog today via Wish Jar Journal's and am inspired so much by reading this post and the others below it! And Anahata's art! I envy those just discovering her work. Her stuff has been all over stores here in Portland, Oregon for a couple years at least. Look forward to returning!

Anonymous said...

Kari- I love the way it turned out and what a wonderful idea. I'm bookmarking this post in the hope that I will have time to attempt this some time soon. Jen

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to try that at home!!! Looks fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Oh man!!! Thanks for showing each step. I can't wait to do this later!

Anonymous said...

Done with day two.

Anonymous said...

whooohooo! My page #2 is up! http://alteredambitions.blogspot.com/ smiles...

Anonymous said...

aaaaaaaw, I failed misreably at this one...but love seeing ya'lls!
digi is not good for this...well not at my level of expertise.

but I tried...see my blog for utter frustration...lol

Anonymous said...

I'm a real newbie to collage, but loved this process even if I'm not very satisfied with the result. It's posted on my blog, and I would love to hear some constructive criticism.

http://pammc.typepad.com/my_christmas_journal/

Kathy said...

Hooray I've finished! You're welcome to take a peek ...

Anonymous said...

I've posted my attempt
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83858473@N00/

One of the hardest things for me was placement of images and text, although the discipline of following a certain order was very challenging!!!! Thank you Kari, I will definitely be using this technique in the future - I really need the practice!!

beth said...

My page is done and I had so much fun working on this one !!!!
So when you get a chance, jump on over to...
www.seasidedreamer.blogspot.com

I'm loving this challenge so much...perfect for these dreary months of January and February !!!

Julie Collings said...

your finished piece is really wonderful! it was so fun to look through your photos of the step by step process and arrive with you at the lovely end.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I really love your piece, Kari. It is so beautyful, and it relly made my curiosity and creativity run wild. I have now made my page # 1 and #2, and they are posted at my blog.
I'm sorry my english is rather poor, but I will try to write in both norwegian and English during this artjournal. ;)

Anonymous said...

I love what you did with this. Unfortunately as a digi-scrapper this failed miserably for me and after 3 days of attempts I ended up posting to the blog something totally off topic with my favourite curiosity quote - if only I had the space to set up all my tactile craft stuff but that's not an option right now so I'll see you all back at Bonnies blog tomorrow. PS I love what everyone has done - awesome work ladies.

Boxwood Cottage said...

Nope I haven't yet tried this technique, but I read about it in Sally Jean's book and I thought about doing it when I find the time. Kari your result is just stunning, very well done and I feel really inspired!

MyMosaicMind said...

Kari, I love, love, love your collage! I also totally loved this prompt and had a blast doing mine. Thanks for showing your step by step process, too. Such fun! I just posted my page on my blog:

http://mymosaicmind.blogspot.com/

Lisa Marie said...

I'm not much of a collage artist, but I like to play with it from time to time...so, here's my attempt for this exercise:

http://creativespirit.typepad.com/cs/2007/01/cabinet_of_curi.html

Anonymous said...

Kari! Your piece is gorgeous!!! Love it! I finally finished this challenge... This was a tough one! It's up on my blog:
http://lizzymrandomhappiness.blogspot.com/
Can't wait to see Bonnie's challenge tomorrow. FUN!

Anonymous said...

Your work turned out beautifully. I love the soft color combos and the large image. I'm tring to get mine posted. I've been having problems with blogger/google. So glad I've decided to do this.
Nerissa

Anonymous said...

Hi Kari
I finallly just started a new blog. Here's the link: http://kateveeme.blogspot.com/
Would you change the link on the side of your blog when you have a chance.
Thanks
Nerissa

Jodi Ohl said...

I love your collage, I'm trying 2 of them myself :) I had a little trouble with the pen/marker I used smearing but I've worked out that hurdle....LOL. When it's done, I will definitely post it for you to check out! Thanks for allyour inspiring and thoughtful posts, love your blog!

lucy

Anonymous said...

I love how your page came out Kari. It has a very gentle and harmonious feel to it. It's truly gorgeous. And thanks for this prompt. I so enjoyed the process!

Latharia said...

I tried it ... it was LOTS of fun! :) I just updated my blog with the results!