Abandonment #5: Dahlia

Hi, everyone! :)

Im sure plenty of you have gone to restaurants that put out those thick paper coasters with your drink. Well, I had gotten into the habit of taking mine home with me every time I had gotten one. I had a light bulb moment and realized that I could use them in my art.

So, I picked two of them out of my stash and painted them black. Initially, they were going to be made into book covers but I had decided last minute to nix that idea and ended up going in a completely different direction (because my mind makes sharp left turns without warning).

And then, Dahlia came about.

Not sure where I'll be abandoning her just yet. Probably somewhere at my school? We'll see :)

Here's a Video of her being made.

Have a great day!

-Alicia

Doodles, Doodles, Doodles...

Like many people, I've spent countless hours of my short life doodling mindlessly in notebooks, text books and the occasional school desk (sorry board of ed.). What is it about doodling thats so relaxing?

Recently I had taken my doodling to the next level and tried something a little more...formal? Not sure if thats the right word Im looking for (after all, Im not one for formalities lol) but I can't think of any other word for it at the moment. 

This piece was inspired by my love for maximalist art. I love busy cluttered art. 

I started off with a series of squares and rectangles of different sizes, then filled each one in with doodles.

The pens I used were the Pilot Precise V5 Rolling Ball in "extra fine" and a Sakura Pigma Micron pen in size 005 for the thinnest lines.

Every day I did two boxes until the entire page was filled in. 

Im really pleased with how this turned out. It was my first real, major doodle project. :)

Although this piece looks super complicated, anyone can create the patterns in this picture. You can find the instructions on how to create designs like this from here. 

I hope you find the site as helpful and fun as I did. 

Thanks for stopping by! :)

-Alicia

Don't Throw Away Your Scraps!

Hi everyone!

Now, I know every visual artist can relate to this:

You have worked on a project or journal page that called for paper cutting, tearing, punching, etc. In the end, your project comes out looking fabulous but then you are left with teeny tiny bits of paper pieces and scraps all around your art space.

If you have been throwing them away, you may want to reconsider. I save my tiny paper scraps in a small tin and use them for various art projects.

The array of textures you can get from incorporating scrap pieces into your journal pages are incredible. 

 Im not even sure which projects these scraps came from. I think the cream colored paper bits were left over from the first art journal page I had even done.

This page represents a destroyed raft floating on the ocean. It's appropriately titled "What Raft?"

It's hard to see here but I glued down a piece of blue tissue paper.

Heres a page with a background that was textured with scraps left over from cutting an index card.

First, I glued down the scraps with gesso, then painted over them.

Off topic but...TASSELS!! :)

What can your scraps create?

Have a great day!

-Alicia

Abandonment #4

Since Im newly addicted to giving my art away for free, I made another art tile to leave behind for someone to pick up:

For some reason, the name Blanch popped into my head when I was trying to figure out what to name her.

Blanch was sketched and shaded onto a dictionary page with Prismacolor colored pencils, then painted with Americana craft paint. The background is text paper and sheet music colored with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. 

Watch her being made!

Mini Journal Pages and Another Painted Sea Shell

So, this is what I've been up to today:

I was definitely in the zone today. I had so much fun with this piece. I didn't even realize that I was in my art space for 6 hours straight. I was working on multiple projects all at once. Needless to say, the journal page above pretty much summed up my day (I rhymed!!).

 This is my second altered  sea shell (say sea shell fast 10 times!). I wont be Abandoning this one though. Its up for sale in my etsy shop. ;)

Here, I played around with some collage on another mini journal page.

I hope you are having a great day.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Alicia

Happy Halloween!

Last night, my artsy fingers began to twitch. I had to create SOMETHING! Then I remembered that I had forgotten to carve my pumpkin. last night was the first time that I had ever attempted this. I wanted to take pictures as I went along but my hands were just too messy.

Here are my after shots :)

I've decided to name him Max (because why not?).

After carving Max and putting him out on the front steps, I still felt the urge to create. So, I grabbed my big art journal, paper scraps, stickers, pressed leaves and flowers, my gold marker, a wide ribbon, walnut stain distress ink, and a glue stick. About an hour or so passed by and this is what I ended up with:

For some reason this page reminds me of the Gryffindor common room. I think it's my favorite so far.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

-Alicia

Another Halloween Journal Page (plus my third abandonment)

A few days ago I was playing around in my journal and out popped another Halloween theme:

What's Halloween without old Frankie Jr.?

The creepy image I used to decorate this tag came from a Reader's Digest book.

I played around with some diamond glaze that I had bought to seal my paper beads. I think it made the bats pop off of the page a little. 

And here is a picture of the piece that I have newly abandoned.

To whoever has found it: I hope it brightened up your day. :)

-Alicia

Art Abandonment Update (Plus New Abandonment)

    While I was walking up the stairs at my school library I noticed that the broad banister would be a perfect place to leave behind the tag that I had made. No one was watching, so I quickly placed it there, took a picture and walked (more like sprinted) away. When I was leaving the library, I noticed that it was gone. I was so excited, I'm sure my grin exposed every single tooth in my mouth.
     That same night I was pretty surprised and super excited when I received an email from the finder. It read: "I found your art at the john jay library. Its beautiful! Thank you." How cool is that???!

     Sooo, the next day I made another piece to leave behind in a public place...

PUMPKINS!!

You can see the process here:



Hope you enjoyed!

-Alicia

Art Abandonment! What??!

Recently on Facebook, I had joined a group called Art Abandonment. Basically, the artists in the group create an original piece and discretely leaves it in a random public place along with a note letting the finder know that it is a gift along with the artist's contact email. I thought this was the coolest idea ever!

So, I decded to participate. This is my first piece to be abandoned:

     This tag was first cut out from packaging from a frozen pizza box. It was then wrapped with two different illustrations from an old reader's digest book. A strip of paper from the same book is used to connect the two pictures. I aged the strip of paper as well as the edges of the whole tag with Tim Holtz's Walnut Stain distress ink. 

     The text heart you see on top was made with cardboard packaging, paper from the readers digest book, Bic permanent marker, black chalk pastel, and diamond glaze. The bat was cut out from black cardstock paper and covered in Diamond Glaze. The dome shaped gold dot is made with a drop of glue from a hot glue gun and gold nail polish and the cylindrical beads tied at the top are paper beads. The edge of the tag was colored with a gold marker.

I hope whoever finds it appreciates it and contacts me to let me know that it was found. We'll see, I guess :)

-Alicia

My First Halloween Journal Page

Lately I've been loving Halloween more than ever. Im not sure whether its the season, the colors or the festive feeling of it. Either way, it just might be my favorite holiday!
Its a bit early for a halloween journal post, but I just couldn't help myself.

Heres what I've been up to lately:

Here is a video of the Process: