Cabinet of Curiosities

This month's theme over at The Sketchbook Challenge is 'Cabinet of Curiosities'.  I would so love to have one of these, I love the idea of lots of interesting things all collected together in many different drawers and boxes.  How this translates into a sketchbook page is another matter but Jane Davies suggests a 'cabinet of curiosities' as a format which I rather like.

The idea is to focus on variety, and it really gets you thinking!  I kept feeling myself reaching for a colour or shape I'd just used, even when it was one I don't normally go for - I guess my brain had been recently alerted to it and thought it was a good idea!

I found it really quite hard to choose things that were different.  I know what I tend to go for (blues and greens, text, circles) and had to try and make sure I didn't keep reaching for these.  I also found myself justifying myself when I did reach again for a blue (it's a different shade) or when making another circle (it's using different supplies!).

This 'task' was part of lesson 4 of 'Extreme Composition' and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I cut snippets from magazines, old books, envelopes and bits of painted paper, and used rub ons and made marks with paint, pastels and ink and placed them in a grid format.  I then added 'one mark' to each of them, in the form of collage, printing, paint and drawing.

It certainly got me using supplies I don't normally reach for but will be doing in the future!  Have a go, it's fun!

some shapes and lines

I have to say that I'm looking forward to half term week when I can catch up with some work in the 'Extreme Composition' workshop I'm taking from Jane Davies!  This is week 4 and I'm only on lesson 2!  It's a great workshop though, just quite time demanding.

Although I like them, these pieces all feel a little 'safe'.

I had a play with the project on a manilla tag, adding in some felted pieces and some stitching..

... the photo doesn't do the texture (or the colours for that matter) much justice..

It was an interesting idea to explore though :)

extreme lines

Our first challenge on the Extreme Composition online workshop is to create lines.  After completing some of the tasks I turned to my journal and, finding a page I'd created from scrap paper, I started adding lines...

The page started out with some overspray, and some cleaning off of one of my favourite script stamps.

I added some lines using india ink and a kebab stick!

Then added some extra detail to some of the lines with a fine line pen.  I also did a little exploration of line across what was once a waaaaaaaaaaay to colourful page which I 'diluted' by brayering over with white paint.

The background colour was created with Dylusion spray inks and I love how the colour has come through onto the white lines created with white acrylic ink.

from doodle ... to journal page

After slapping a few shades of yellow and orange down on a page I decided I needed my main image to be in black and white...

... so I took some paper that I'd painted stripes and dots onto, and cut out some rectangular shapes in order to create a fern.  This was based on a doodle I'd done a few months back...

After sticking the rectangles onto the page I used a stick dipped in india ink (a favourite technique of late) and outlined the leaves and created the stem.

I added a few splashes of black ink in the background too, along with some textual stamping.

There are a couple of snippets of red paper in there too.  This page came about after watching some of Jane Davies' work on youtube.  I've just signed up for her 'Extreme Composition' online workshop which went live this week so I'm planning on getting some 'playing' done this weekend, between report writing that is!  Ahh, the life of a teacher lol