Mixed Media Calendar Art

Recently I read a book that was very inspiring. In fact, the last post was about this book.  (See Inspiration and Ideas post).  The book has activities for you to do after each short chapter.  I haven't tried this, but think it might be a cool idea to try.  The author mentioned using old calendar pages to create art.  An artist, Josette Urso, uses old calendars to write notes, drawings, etc. in the day spaces or squares.  I immediately thought:  coloring in the day spaces or squares with markers, crayons, colored pencils, paint, collage, etc.  A real mixed media festival on paper!!  Art teachers could teach color mixing: tints and shades; primary, secondary and tertiary colors in the squares. Imagine the possibilities:  Vocabulary words, patterns, letters of the alphabet, etc.  The sky is the limit! 

I checked out Josette's work online. Here is the link.  What an inspiration she is.  Dare to be different!  
http://www.josetteurso.com/images.html

Try a mixed media--you'll be surprised!   I will definitely be trying this calendar idea.  Art is to not only experience creating it, but to have fun!  

Changing Your Point of View

Hey ya'll. This post is a shout out to a special group of Mrs. U's  high school English students! (You know who you are.)  Thanks for a good class today! 

And this is also for anyone wanting to change their **point of view. This is a fun activity to try.
It will get you to thinking with a different point of view. Yes, a point of view, your perspective, your take on a situation, story, poem, etc. 

You'll need: a magazine, scissors, glue stick, ruler, pen, and  a 9" x 12" piece of construction paper (your choice of color), notebook paper.

• Pick a magazine--any will do. (Keep it clean, though. LOL) 

• At random (without planning), quickly thumb through the magazine and find a page with only a photo--no writing. 

• Tear the page out.

• On the top half of your notebook page, write the name of the object or what the photo is, and a short description of the magazine page.  What is your point of view of this photo?

• Trim away any torn areas on the edges of the page with scissors. 

• With a ruler, measure across (horizontal) OR measure up and down (vertical)  and mark on the page with a pen to make 1 inch width increments. 

• With the scissors, cut on the lines to create strips. Put strips in a pile.

• Randomly (without looking), grab a strip from the pile.  Make sure it is face up (no writing).

• Add glue to the back of the strip and immediately (with the photo part face up) glue it onto the construction paper.

• Working quickly, do the same thing with the rest of the strips.DO NOT plan out where the strips go, just glue them on randomly.

• On bottom half of your notebook paper, write about your newly created artwork by answering the following questions:

What do you see? Does this remind of you someone? something?  What colors, or what image do you see?
How has your point of view changed about what the photo was before?   Why or why not? Does this change the way you feel about other things in life? Do we see things better or clearer  if things are presented differently?  Or does it confuse things? Why or why not?



**Point of view activity adapted from The Artist's Quest for Inspiration by Peggy Hadden. ISBN 1-58115-027-X

4/17/13 addedum to above:  An option to try would be to use two magazine images and combine the two.  If you have to, use a page that has text, but cut off the words; then make the strips.   I cannot emphasize enough, that random is the key to the success of this project.

Inspiration and Ideas

What to do?  Do I paint, draw, collage, or what?  Where does the idea or the inspiration come from?  As an artist, sometimes we all get stuck and can't decide what we should do.This was me yesterday.  

Yesterday at the library, **my husband flitted around me, grabbing art books, and I thought, what should I grab to peruse? Lots of books on watercolor techniques, color, how to paint this and that, etc. lined the rows of shelves. I finally  grabbed some pulling them out to look, but quickly decided they just weren't anything I was inspired by, or they had no ideas I cared about trying.

 Then, when I quit looking, I saw it:. A book entitled,  Abstracts 50 Inspirational Projects by Rolina van Vliet. Search Press, ISBN 978-1-84448-7158-8.  and I flipped through the pages.  "Okay, now we're talking," I said to myself.  Toward the back I found:  One hundred ideas to start.  As I scanned the pages (the ideas fill 4 pages), I  said, "Yes! I will try some of these." Here are a few of the ideas.  

* Draw several household appliances with your eyes closed.  Create a number of these drawings. 
*Make a painting without using a brush or a palette knife.
*Think of shards of broken glass and use them to create an artwork with this idea in mind.

Interesting ideas!!  There are more, of course, but you really need to check out the book for yourself.   The book cover (on the back) sports the message:  Discover what freedom of expression can mean for you in this book.  Guidance for seeing abstractly, creating your own ideas and concepts from a range of different sources.  

When I first read the "Draw several household appliances," I thought it said draw several thousands of appliances. LOL. Well,  If you have that many, then go for it.! I think I will concentrate on drawing my coffee maker, toaster, microwave, food chopper, etc.  As far as doing them with your eyes closed: this is a good test of memory.  What does it really look like?  Well....this brings to mind another thing about memory drawing, but I will wait to talk about it in another post.  

I guess I better get busy....I'm inspired! Now, where will I put all these drawings?  Another decision to make...maybe I'll have an idea inspire me. Like the photo below. This is my next collage when I make one.  It is calling me to it. 

photo copyright Lydia Gates 2012

**My husband, by the way, did not check any books out. Guess he wasn't inspired?!?