Sunday, August 2, 2009

the barely there


book

the little muslin book from last week's post... i said it was going to be my new 'wandering journal'. HA! i've hardly been able to pull myself away from it! six pieces of muslin, no paper - it's barely there...


i used oil pastels,


and a china marker.


i stitched...




painted with watercolors


and loved it when they bled through to the back side of the page.


colored pencil, watercolor paint, and a little plaster on the tree trunk.


i glued...


the black lines are from a china marker, smudged around. i discovered that you can use oil pastels with stencils. that's the stencil i used under the book -- i just filled in most of each diamond with oil pastels


then used tortillons to smudge it around until it totally filled in each spot. i used the totillons a lot to blend and smush the oil pastels into the muslin. the muslin gets wonderfully soft when you do this.


yep, i've already started another one! this one has 11 pages, which just about maxes out my sewing machine...

i've had some questions about what i do to the muslin, so in a couple of days i'll put up step-by-step directions for my non-picky, very unparticular process. i'm putting it in a separate post so i can put a link to it in the sidebar under 'tutorials'. thank you everyone for your kind words about these muslin pages!


this is the first time in my entire 50+ years that i've had a cactus that's actually *grown*. wow! that really impresses me...

danny gregory, 'the creative license'

this week's art wisdom comes from danny gregory in one of my favorite journaling books, 'the creative license'.

How many ways can you draw shadows, reflections, textures, and midtones?

Experiment with cross-hatching -- vertical, horizontal, thick, thin, overlaid, intersecting, parallel.

Stipple with dots, squares, dotted lines, hash marks.

Try drawing more details in the shadowed areas and leaving the highlights as plain paper.

XO

33 comments:

  1. I LOVE your little journal.
    I LOVE the shape the texture the colors the JOY that it expresses.
    I am TEMPTED to make one. Very TEMPTED, I am........... :)Bea
    //dog-in-the-hole-studio.blogspot.com//

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  2. Well you wandered all over those muslin pages in no time at all!! Gorgeous!! so funny, I just ordered several china markers last week! in white, black and red :) I really love the bleed through ghost images a lot, and the saturated colors of the pastels... mmm mmmm
    and yeah to cactus love!!
    xox k

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  3. Your work sings. It also makes me smile REALLY BIG.

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  4. You have found another perfect way to capture your creativity. I love every page!

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  5. I am so loving the muslin journal.
    I may have to make one and I can not sew but I may give it a try.
    Thank you. I do not think I have ever used the china markers.
    Katelen

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  6. Hi Lynne: you are having tooooo much fun, yippppppiiii : ) thank you for sharing your wonderful pages - and they are that - JUST WONDERFUL !!! love each and every one of them : ) have never tried the markers, will have to check them out. have been mostly just prepping my muslin not actually painting and playing YET - cause I had to stop and make a little booooook for a gift so now its back to FUN TIME !!!! have checked in everyday since your last post and waited with baited breath and it was sooooooo worth it - thank you : )
    Blessings, Sandra in AZ

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  7. siiiigghhhh. that's a wistful sigh. and then throw in lots of stomp! stomp! stomp! and clap! clap! clap! purely glorious.

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  8. Enchanting! Love the simplicity and the feeling of sheer contentment emenating from the pages.

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  9. Lynne Hoppe!! these are amazing books/journals - love, love, them :))

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  10. thank you, bea! yes, make one! it'll make you smile!

    hi karin, yeah, i love the bleed through images - no way am i gonna cover them up. red and white china markers? i must get some! i have become a china marker addict... xo

    hi kelly! and *that* makes me smile a big smile! thank you!

    thank you, seth!

    katelen, i strongly encourage you to make one! as for the sewing, my favorite part is making the stitch go from straight to zig zag and back... my machine is a $10 machine from goodwill, but it does a mighty zig zag. : )

    hi sandra, oh, yes, now you must play - enough non play time has elapsed! you'll have so much fun on your pages... you may even become as addicted as me. ; )

    heya kelly! thank you! i love a rowdy audience. ; )

    hi robin, yeah, i think pure contentment just about sums it up... it's easy when you're working of a surface you love... xo

    thank you jeane!

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  11. Ooooo so yummy. I wish I could run my hands over it.

    I am definitely getting more muslin. What a gorgeous inspiration.

    Thank you

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  12. Yep, yep...me too! First I have a few things I just have to finish but this is definitely on my "to do" list and I am looking forward to that tutorial in case I missed something. You are just great. I have never grown a cactus! Maybe it is just too cold here in the winter. I just might have to try one though. My friend has some in her ground and they seem to do just fine over at her place. Hmmmm....

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  13. I adore your work in muslin Lynne. I would certainly love to know how you prepare the pages as my attempts to paint on muslin (many years ago, it has to be said) always ended up as a pile of mush! Love from France x

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  14. that book is delicious Lynne...and i love the way that whatever you do is very you :o)

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  15. Thank you LH for sharing. This project is so wonderful. I have started one glued to a watercolor page. I just started using my Intense pencils on it with water and I am just staring at it wondering what I should do next. I think I will start with watercolor crayons now I will have to try everything on it. How fun this is.

    Looking forward to your reading/seeing your process!

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  16. The muslin is just co-operative. I love, love, love these pages and how you have just used *everything*. It makes me happy looking at these wonderful pages.
    I will keep a look out for those china markers.

    Fantastic, free-spirited art.

    Jacky xox

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  17. Beautiful, Sweet, little book. Everything you have done is just wonderful. I can see why you can't wander away from it.

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  18. Oh the muslin pages ! They looks so soft, and it almost feels like they fell down from a different place...Heaven maybe? Love the birds and the bleeding through...Just beautiful, beautiful play !

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  19. The pages are amazing! But,my favorite thing is the higgildy piggledy arrangement of the pages - the erratic structure which would translate so beautifully into so many mediums.
    But my REAL favorite thing was the photo of your hand - makes me miss you even more.
    sending love to you my sweet friend

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  20. original art books; my favorite picture is the close up of the tree trunk; you can see all the detail.

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  21. Lynne it is gorgeous. Oh my God I love it.

    Fantastic.

    Love Renee xoxo

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  22. at first I thought the colorful sparrow (?) had found a lovely heart to bring back to its nest and then the thought came to me that perhaps it's really bringing it's heart to you ... in thanks. yep, that must be it.

    it's hard to express the wonder I feel looking at your work. the pages of this barely there travel journal is no exception ... you make magic happen. I can only imagine what it feels like to hold this in your hands (and try not to drool). :)

    looking forward to your tutorial ... I actually believe I have a bit of muslin just begging to come out.

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  23. so wonderful, so exuberant!
    That is the hand of exoblessings!

    can't help thinking you are tying up stitching up prayer flags; longer more elaborate texts...

    exoblessings to you

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  24. hee, patti! yes, more muslin is in order! you need to make a nice big stack of pages to run your hands over. : )

    okay, teri, don't take long on those other projects... as for the cactus, you've got me wondering if what spurred this one's growth is the hot weather we've been having. wow,that could be it... xo

    thank you, lumi... sending love to you in france!

    thank you, kate! it's the funniest thing but i can't see my 'style' at all...

    hi janine, i used 'inktense' pencils this morning on a page -- nice! i'm sorry you never got the e-mails i sent...

    jacky, that's it in a nutshell. the muslin is downright cooperative... it works with everything. xo

    hi leanne, thank you! xo

    thank you, kim... yeah, it's beautiful play made manifest...

    hee, kathy! and my favorite thing about the hand pic is that my feet are in there -- they look so far away though! higgletypigglety is always good i think. : )

    thank you, ludid... i like that pic too... the surface really is so gorgeous close up.

    smiling and blowing you kisses renee!

    yeah, michelle, i wonder where that sparrow is going? i think she's flying off... and uh huh, i think i *do* hear some muslin calling you! thank you for your very kind words... i appreciate them...

    my dear m., yes, exoblessings were showered down on me and came out on the pages like this. exoblessings made manifest... and i think you're right about the prayer flag thing -- somehow it all goes together...

    i think i see... yes i do! an exoblessing shower falling on your shoulders this minute... xo

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  25. What a fabulous journal, so painterly and dreamy, love it.

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  26. i am drenched with exoblessings and i hope you are all drippy too!!!

    xoxo

    such bounty

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  27. Lynne I used your painting today. Thank you so much.

    Love Renee xoxo

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  28. Oh Lynne, I could spend all morning here. I am home from BC and want to tell you all about it... this morning I am devoting to wandering around blogland. What a wonderful traveling journal... I love how you explore and dive into different mediums... it's as though they become a part of you. The art of danny gregory and his quotes... I love all the textures. Have a beautiful day. Roxanne

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  29. LH me too, sorry I didn't get them...where did you send them? my addy is j4ybean@aol.com if you are interested in resending. If not I will wait for you tutorial, (anxiously waiting)! LOL!

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  30. I would just love to touch these pages! They're so beautiful Lynne!

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  31. you are amazing! thank you so very much for the inspiration!

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  32. yummy yummy. unlimited gorgeous potential!

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  33. Hello People, just passing by read this interesting post its great to see that every thing here is getting more lively...thanks a lot for these.... keep them coming....

    --
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