Joanna Grant Mixed Media Art

COLLABORATIVE ART WITH BELINDA DWORAK - Part 1

Hi everyone;

Here's another fun collaborative project I was involved in, this time with the lovely Belinda Dworak.

Belinda sent me a small piece she had started on canvasboard. It's 6" X 8." Here's what it looked like when it arrived. She'd used some beautiful butterfly images on sheet music to start the piece.

My first step was to take some pink acrylic paint and do some mark making on the piece, using the edge of an old credit card. I love this effect!

Next, I added some neon yellow acrylic paint with a sea sponge, some neon green paint using a rubber stamp sheet (crackle pattern), followed by some neon pink with the sea sponge again.

After that, I used some cheap, Dollar Store number stamps with purple acrylic paint and a bit of doodling around each number. On the right lower side of the piece, I collaged a bit of a border (Teesha Moore image), along with one of my gelli print images (the flower face) in the upper right.

Next, I added another of Teesha's collage elements (pink flower in lower right) and did some doodling around my gelli flower face. I made the central image from assorted bits and pieces (gelli print scraps, recycled office supplies and some collage elements I had scanned from previous art I had made). Then more doodly outlining.

My next step was to collage on to the piece the upside down number border at the top of the piece. I also added the joker image (a scan from a playing card that I aged with a bit of walnut ink) and the alphabet text in the lower right.

I added another of my gelli print flower faces to the left side of the piece, over another collage element courtesy of Teesha Moore and more of my gelli scraps. More doodling followed. The pink flower in the lower right got a visitor about then too.

Next, the joker got some color added (Pitt Pen brush markers) and I did some doodling in the background of the lower left with gel pens. I created some 3D flowers in the lower left using handmade polymer clay beads for the flowers and miniature checkerboard paper for the stems. Our central image got a crown. Red stamp ink around the edges of the piece give it a finished look and I called it done at this point, feeling that it had become busy enough.

I really had so much fun with this piece. It took me a while to get going on it but once I was on a roll, it came together quite quickly.

Join me again next week when I will feature one of the pieces that Belinda transformed into something very special.

Have a great week, one and all!

Hugs!
Joanna

COLLABORATIVE ART PROJECT WITH JUDY WOOD

Hi again everyone!

Like my post last week, this project was another collaborative one, this time with my arty friend, the talented Judy Wood.

Judy sent me this beautiful background to work with. It's about 8" X 10" on watercolor paper. The colors are just gorgeous and the scans really don't do it justice. It has a beautiful metallic sheen to it. It's also highly textural. Judy said to me that she saw a beach scene when she looked at it (in landscape format, obviously). I turned it to portrait format and began to see possibilities of my own.

The first thing I did was take some of my gelli print scraps and collaged them on to the background (far left and far right of the piece). Down the center, I added some collage elements (courtesy Teesha Moore).

Next, I added a couple more of Teesha's collage elements to the bottom right and upper left.

The next step was to use an old credit card and white acrylic paint to get the streak effect running vertically down the piece.

I added my central character next. Her body is another Teesha collage element and her head is an image from an old catalog.

More collage elements (upper left corner and upper right of the piece) and some additional elements added to the body, including a black outline in china marker to make the central image stand out a bit more.

In the next step I added another character to the right side of the piece (she's made up of a couple of different elements). I also added some of my own handmade art doodle circles.

Next, I painted the stars in gold Silks (shimmery acrylics) and used some recycled scrapbooking supplies for the dangles the stars hang from. And finally I added some doodling to highlight areas of the piece.

I was amazed how quickly this piece came together. Very often when I am working on collaborative pieces with other artists, it seems to take forever to get going on it. This one came together in a matter of a few hours and was done. Obviously, I was in "the zone" when this opportunity came my way.

Thank you, dear Judy, for this fun project to work on together. I hope you like the final result.

Thanks for looking and I'll see you all next time.

Cheers!

Joanna

COLLABORATIVE ART WITH GINNY MARKLEY

Hi All;

A few months ago I posted about how my dear art pal, Ginny Markley, took a half-finished piece of my art and made a stunning finished masterpiece with it. We had traded each other a partially done piece of art for the other to finish and return. Here's the link to that post:

Ginny Markley & Joanna Grant Collaborative Art - Part I

Anyway, it's taken me this long to get time to do a blog post on Ginny's piece she sent for me to work on.

Here is what it looked like when I got it. It's about 8" X 10". Ginny used gelli prints and assorted collage elements to get the piece to this point.

I sat for quite a while trying to figure out what to do with this piece. There's more pressure on you than you'd think when it's somebody else's work and you don't want to mess it up with a wrong step. I finally just decided to dive in and not worry about that.

I started with a bit of doodling and then used a scrap of corrugated cardboard and white acrylic paint to make the marks you see on the left side of the piece.

Next, I added some of my gelli print flower cutouts to her dress to jazz it up a bit and legs to the little character on the right.

Then, I continued to work on the little character on the right, building up its outfit. I also added some black outlining to her dress to make it stand out a bit more and some highlighting of the gelli print flowers.

After that, I added some doodling and a funky little collage element for her hair. Some gold metallic acrylic paint went into the background near her right hand. Her bracelet got a facelift too.

Then, I stenciled some hearts in purple and red Silks (shimmery acrylics). They "hang" from some recycled scrapbooking sticker doodads.

Next, I added some funky flowers to the lower left, using reclaimed scrapbooking doodads and some checkerboard paper for the stems. She also got a groovy necklace (more reclaimed scrapbooking supplies).

Lastly, I added a funky border to the top of the piece, along with some collage elements on the left (blue and white squares). The quote was the very last thing to be added.

This was a very fun project to do with Ginny, even though it took me a few months to actually complete it. I'm glad she was so patient with me. If you'd like to see more of Ginny's wonderful work, you can find her blog here.

Playing With Paint - Ginny Markley

I hope you enjoyed seeing the process this collaborative piece went through from start to finish.

Cheers, my friends!
Joanna

LIMITED EDITION ART PRINTS now in stock!

"Honor" (Namaste - I honor the light in you)

Etsy Listing - "Honor"

Hello friends;

I thought I'd share with you some of my recent listings in my Etsy store of a new line of limited edition art magnets I have had made.

These are all reproductions of my original mixed media work. Each magnet is about 4" X 5.5" and has a semi-glossy professional finish to it.

They make great gift ideas (easily mail one in a standard No. 10 envelope). You can jazz up your kitchen appliances or those boring office filing cabinets too!

More designs to come so stay tuned.

Thanks for looking!

"Enjoy The Journey"

Etsy Listing = "Enjoy The Journey"

"Sing Your Song"

Etsy Listing - "Sing Your Song"

GELLI PRINT PACKING TAPE ART MAGNETS - HOW TO

Art Magnets Made With Gelli Tape Transfer Technique

Hi friends;

Here's a long overdue post for you on how I make those art magnets, using my gelli prints on packing tape.

If you haven't see the Gelli Arts video on how to make cool, arty packing tape with gelli prints, then go here first to see what I am talking about:

Gelli Arts Packing Tape Video

So, here are some photos of two of my Gelli plates with acrylic and dimensional paints.

12 X 14 Gelli Plate With Acrylic & Dimensional Paints

6 X 6 Gelli Plate With Acrylic Paints

And here is the tape I made from those two plates:

Gelli Tape - No Glitter Or Pearl Ex Powder Used Yet

Gelli Tape With Teal And Purple Glitter Added To Fill In The Sticky Areas

The tape was just about the perfect width for me to make backgrounds for my art magnets I create so often. I use those sticky-backed business card-sized magnets you can buy at the office supply store. They are 2" X 3.5" and are great for making small-scale art magnets.

Sticky-backed business card magnet blanks

All I had to do was peel off the white paper from the magnet, put the gelli tape on the magnet (remember, it's VERY sticky) and then trim the edges.

So now I have the backgrounds of the art magnets ready, what am I going to put on top of the Gelli tape?

I started by adding some of my doodly flower collage elements. And then I added even more doodling on them with my Sakura Moonlight Gelly Roll pens (this step not shown).

Next, from my ever-increasing stash of stuff, I pulled some cute vintage-style graphics that measure about 1" X 2" and which I had already put under those sticky-backed resin pieces you can buy for such purposes. They are great to use for making pendants and domino art. I believe these images came from Lisa's Altered Art.

Resin Blanks (left) and Vintage Images Under Resin (right)

I used some E-6000 (similar to GOOP) to adhere the vintage images that were now under resin to the magnet backgrounds. Clothes pins held them in place until they dried.

And here are the finished pieces. The scans really don't do them justice as they are very bright and shiny because of the packing tape and the resin.

If you go back to the top of this post, you'll see a couple of examples of another style of magnet I made using some sweet vintage images of ladies and their dogs, and with this same technique.

I hope you've enjoyed this little tutorial and I'd love to see what you create with your gelli packing tape.

Until next time ...

Joanna

PRIZES, PRIZES, PRIZES to be won by YOU ... at GELLI JAM this summer!

Hi all;

Well, we're winding down the last two weeks before our ONLINE workshop "Gelli Jam" premieres with Artful Gathering.

Just in case you missed the details, check this out. In addition to all the fun we are going to have in the workshop, you can win one of over 20 different prizes that will only be available to those who are registered in the class. All kinds of original art by me and other cool stuff will be available.

Sure hope you'll join us. More details at:

Artful Gathering 2014