Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.
/Samuel Butler

Here is another spread in my Art Journal where I’m using that yummy painted tissue paper:

Tissue paper experiment, spread 2, featuring stripes of tissue paper, both patterned and gesso painted ones. I thought the collage looked unfinished and not very cohesive so in the end I doodled all over it with crayons and then I liked it better…

Violette asked in a comment on my crazy journal drawings what colors I use. The acrylics are just cheap paints from all over, but some of my favorite colors are from the Caran d’Arche Water Soluble Crayons. I buy one every now and then because a whole pack is too expensive, but some day… Each color is so yummy! I really recommend you to try them out.

I know it’s hard to see how the layers are built up, but maybe a close up will help:

Layers of tissue paper. Åshild, can you detect the paper I got from you in the paper pack gift you sent me? :-) The white lace is one of my beloved deco tapes.

I love this image of three playing children, a dog and a blue bird. It’s a Chinese postal stamp that I once scanned, enlarged and printed in quite a few copies.

A photocopied photography. It’s a family photo from my grandmothers photo album

Dear Art Journal, I don’t know if I tell you this enough, but I love you!

XOXO to all of you, and a special b/w greeting for Michelle Ward: XOXOXO!

Have a great weekend!

Ah, tissue paper. It’s the wrapping tissue I’m talking about, that thin, translucent paper used for packing, wrapping, or protecting delicate articles. In Sweden it’s called silk paper (silkespapper). I don’t have a huge collection of it, but the plastic folder I have containing tissue papers is a little treasure among other papers in my stash. The reasons I love it so much are mainly:

* It’s transparent therefor perfect for layering in collage
* I like the feel and sound if it: it’s so thin that it rustles when you touch it.
* It’s extremely cheap if you’re collecting it at birthday parties and Christmas gift un-wrapping of gifts!

Plain tissue paper with a brownish tint (I think this one was found in a shoe box once), and some polka dots that I’ve actually bought at a craft store (not free but still I had to have it, I adore polka dots!).

Last month I made Paper Cloth using fabric and tissue paper that eventually ended up as really cool layered looking Postcards. If you want to make paper cloth check out my tutorial for inspiration! It’s messy but fun. And now I’ve got another reason to enjoy tissue paper - I’m paining it to make pretty background papers! First a layer of gesso, then some paint. Amazingly fun to do!

Look:

The crusade to paint on tissue paper has been a revelation. How can painting on something so fragile be so fun? I have no idea so don’t ask me. Its just fun. Fun fun fun! Just try it for yourself and see if you like it.

When the paper is wet its difficult to handle, but once it has dried it becomes stronger and more fabric-like. I bet it would be fun to sew into this material. I’m going to try that next. I’m also experimenting with the transparent gesso (!) I bought for Suzi’s class. Cool stuff. There are always many more experiments to try. I hope I will never sit down and say: what to try next? Horror!

Anyway, whats next? I once bought some big letter stamps and almost never used them. I tend to forget my stamps. Today I took them out and stamped some letters on the painted tissue paper because Michelle Ward suggested it. Her favorite way to used painted tissue is to cut out stamped letters from it. I thought that sounded like a fun idea.

Tadaa! With black acrylic paint I stamped these letters. You were supposed to “have a plan” for your page but I seldom do. I forgot what my plan was anyway when in the flow. I love getting into the flow process of creating a colorful journal page. The result looks like this:

Tissue paper experimenting, first page. More detail photos below.

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I participated in an annual zine swap set up by Alma Stoller called I ♥ zines last year. I got a whole package of zines and yesterday I talked a bit about the zines that has a clear Mail Art Theme. The Art subject is a bit more loose but evident in the rest of the zines I recieved. Let’s have a closer look at some of their ideas today!

Zines about Art

Art offers a great theme for any zine you make, and you can include just about anything inside. You could just pick any subject that you are currently in to, and make a zine about it, for instance your favorite artist, or a specific period in history, or art material, or mixed media or art blogs, or art museums or… Making a zine is an art form in itself if you ask me!

The zine “Shape” is a handmade zine “considering images, ideas, art, negative space, positive impact and creative living” made by Deborah that I’ve bought a zine from before, called Personal symbols. The cover is made out of a huge color chip and a cool Japanese stab binding. A zine can really be any size and made out of anything. It’s only your imagination that sets the boundaries.

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A tyvek envelope containing 10 handmade zines jam packed with goodies, articles and creative inspiration!

Going through my pile of zines, again and again.

I participated in an annual zine swap set up by Alma Stoller called I ♥ zines last year. I got a whole package of zines in the beginning of February this year (quite late but totally okay with me). All of them are just super cool, creative and wild. I had such fun reading through them, taking out the little gifts and finding inspiration. I couldn’t just file them away in my drawer so I thought I’d share some photos and thoughts about each one with you guys.

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Only cat lovers know the luxury of fur-coated, musical hot water bottles that never go cold.
/Susanne Millen

I have the privilege to share bed with this one beautiful cat lady. As a crafty blogger I feel it is my duty to share her with you all, hoping you know the joys of having an animal in your life, or that you one day will. I can’t remember who said it but it’s true that once there is a cat in the room there is no need for any additional interior design. Since it was a while since you saw new photos of miss Smilla I thought I’d share these today, where she is resting on my bed. Quite shabby chic if you ask me…

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You are an artist, if you want to be one.

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Dear, dear diary, I want to tell my secrets
Cuz you’re the only one that I know who’ll keep them
Dear, dear diary, I want to tell my secrets
I know you’ll keep them, and this is what I’ve done […]

I’ve been down every road you could go
I made some bad choices as you know
Seems I’ve got this whole world cradled in my hands
But its just like me not to understand…
/Pink

Scanned collage pages from my own Dear Diary where I write Morning Pages and Stupid Repeating Thoughts all the time. And glue stuff in. :-)

Pink and yellow goes great together, it just says spring to me.

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