Jenny's Bees knees.

With the hot weather not being very condusive to acrylic paint and glue activies. This truly is a mixed media piece. 

I started with a bit of acrylic paint but it really was to hot and went all sticky and lumpy. So I switched to a bit of ink and some Uni Posca pens.Now my dear friend Jenny is not a big fan of Gelatos but I find I can blend them quite well with a brush or finger,  plus use them with a stencil and baby wipe.  ( be warned they do take a while to cure ) All of which was easier to play with on my dinning room table, indoors with the aircon going.

Now every piece of mixed media gets to that,  oh help,  what am I doing stage. This is a mess!

However I find if I step away for a few hours, have a cuppa, then things generally sort themselves out. 

So once I returned I felt the need for some collage. So with a few images from an old calender and some painted letters, I was nearly done.

Just the face to play with and a few gold pen dots and swirls. 

Now what has all this to do with the topic of The bees knees. 

Well anytime I can sit and play with all of my art supplies, that's the Bees knees to me.

Buzzing around in Bees Knees!

By Lisa for Jenny

I'm just back from 5 weeks' holidays overseas and had not actually looked at which journal I would be receiving from Rozzie next: sometimes I like to be prepared, and sometimes I like a surprise!

Jenny's journal is a very  l o n g  journal made of great watercolour paper.  Unfortunately it is falling apart Jen, so you may need to get your trusty tape out when it comes home...

Jenny's theme is the Bees Knees and her brief was any insect, except those with 8 legs.  And she also added caterpillars are okay too!  So that got me thinking...  I only received this journal a few days ago so didn't want to start something that was going to take weeks to finish.  

Caterpillars made me think of Alice in Wonderland and then Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar so I decided to go with the latter!  

Eric Carle has lots of different pics on his blog, from all of the books he has written over the years.  He just turned 90 this year...!!!  He traditionally does his illustrations using tissue paper and collage, but I was too impatient for that.  

So instead I decided to do this homage in my trusty watercolours (since I knew the paper would stand up to it!).

      

First I did a pencil sketch of my spread and then inked it with a Uniball Pitt pen.  These are waterproof so you don't need to worry about paint making them run.

Then I got out my Micador paints, which are really bright and have great pigment in them, and used all the colours! 💜💛💙💚

I didn't want to include a portion of the book, or saying, so just decided on metamorphosis.

Hope you like it Jenny, I had fun with it!

Happy Arting, Lisa xx

Symbiosis

My journal play in Jenny's

'The Bee's Knees'

began with pulling out my acrylic paints stashed in the campervan and taking over mama's studio.

As I joyfully used every colour in the box my head was pondering how this could somehow relate to Jenny's theme. Minor detail I assured mum and reluctantly set it aside to dry.

Next stage was pulling at all together into some cohesive page. Out came black and white. I used posca paint pens and signo gel pens. I love this kind  of journal play and find it medative, even over the riotous colour play.  Its just like life really, it can be pretty chaotic and we need to find our pace or space to rise above it and make the best of it all. 

Overnight in the campervan I was pondering symbiosis and thinking about this journal swap, and our beautiful supportive art group and how good it is to be part of a community. The next morning the joural beckoned and it came to me that ants live symbiotically and  have done for ever. They work  together cohesively and have amazing  beneficial relationships  with various plants and other insects. So my page then became an ant colony abd I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.   

The Bees Knees!!! Jennys Journal Page by Meg Atkinson AAJSG round 7

The Bees Knees !!!

When I started on this Journal page I  seemed to be channelling a bit of Pro Hart influence ...Shame I didn't have some Spaghetti handy......
I Love Vibrant colours and had the idea to somehow use honeycomb.
Borrowed a friends punch and punched out some Gelli plate pages in Octagonal shapes to match my background
then added away on the journal page to create my tribute page to Jenny in her Bees Knees Traveling Journal 2019

 My Finished page

Step 1 Dragged paint down the page with a spatula

Step 2

 Step 3

Cut out Honeycomb pieces out of Gel plate prints

 Step 4
Stamped page, stuck Octagonal pieces and added detail
with White and Black Sharpies

The Bees Knees by AJ

OMG Jenny your journal is soooo big...

I admit I was overwhelmed, at first. 

So, how to create a spread that would fit with your cool theme?

 I began to muse about my childhood and how I loved to sit out in our backyard, studying the bees as they flew from flower to flower. Then, I considered the concerns about bees dying and the catastrophic effect it would have on our world.

My collaged pages reflect these binary considerations...the beauty and innocence of childhood and the mature adult reflections. 

I began by using gesso then collaging a series of torn pieces from very old children's encyclopedias.

 Next I sprayed using some Dylusion inks, Crushed Grape and Tangerine Dream. 

Trying to manifest the adult scientific approach I hand drew a bee with a 'magnified' drawing of its' knees'...a little humour intended. 

To show childhood I used a really pretty illustration from a children's book about

Heidi...I just love how it captures the carefree days of innocence and curiosity.

 I filled the page with flowers so that the colours would contrast with the adult page.

I love your journal Jenny and I found it a challenge...I hope you like my spread. xox

Janie's Bees Knees

Janie's March entry in Jenny James' "Bees Knees" themed journal; what fun !!!

On a double A4 format, the green watercolour background was created to emulate grass.

 All the flower, hands and insects were fussy cut from
 Google/Pinterest images.

 I find the exercise of fussy cutting, although time-consuming, relaxing, absorbing and rewarding. 

I hope you enjoy my double spread, Jenny.

AASJ7: Sharon's Pages in Jenny's "The Bees Knees" Journal

Hi Everyone!!

 

LOL I can't believe I am actually going to be on time this month!!!!!

 

I've completed my pages in Jenny's "The Bees Knees" Journal - a fab theme and I knew exactly what I wanted to do so it was put together fairly quickly!

 

'Bug'gered if I know what an Entomologist does?

 

 

I started by "gessoing" the pages although they are nice and thick so I wouldn't have had any bleed through! I then used a spatula to add different colours of "Chalk" paint randomly over each page.

 

 

While that was drying I printed my images - the main "bug" guy was printed on cardstock along with one lot of "bugs" and another lot of bugs was printed on tissue paper. Printing on tissue paper is always fraught with danger and I did have a few "incidents" but managed to get what I needed!

 

 

I started with the tissue paper bugs and tore them out and adhered randomly over the pages with gel medium.

 

 

Then I added some scraps of muslin cloth with gel medium - I thought that the muslin was a bit like a butterfly catcher net so I wanted to add that feel to the page!

 

I used a credit card and black paint to add a line across both pages about a third of the way up from the bottom. Then I added the main image, the wording printed on kraft paper and torn out and some fussy cut bugs from card and added them randomly.

 

Finished pages!!

 

 

Jenny also has some little black and white patterned cards for us all to colour/decorate and add some thoughts to the back. I ink sprayed the front of the card and added some collage elements and printed out a note to Jenny and adhered to the back!!

 

Hope you like what I have done Jenny!!!

 

Sharon :)



The Bee's Knees Book

My journal is ready for traveling around the country to be filled with art all about the Bee's Knees!

Well, not just bees and their knees... all insects except those that have 8 legs or more are welcome to join in including dragonflies, ladybugs, moths, dung beetles and caterpillars.

Above : the front cover is made of colourful collage paper with white texture paste shaped through stencils. Its my book and so have labeled it 'mine', as I usually do 😂 But just in case, I've written Jenny James as well. The inside pages are what Liquitex call their 'acrylic painting paper'. Its a versatile paper like a textured mixed media paper... you can add just about anything to it - watercolours, teabags, pencils, anything 😎

Above : the postal order, welcome note and all about my theme. I've created the tags amd notepaper from a little colouring in book that is full of beautiful floral drawings that suit this theme perfectly.

Above : the inside front pocket. I've reused the cover of the paper pad I'm using for the inside and extended it with collage paper so it wraps around, protecting the pages.

Above : The first page... handpainted bee and flower on stenciled, collage background. Just needs some words I think, then will be ready for posting in the morning. Any excuse to wander through my stickers and stamps! I'll do a separate how-to blog for my bee page.

I hope you all have a wonderful time creating inside my book. I look forward to seeing the pages unfold as it journeys around Australia.

😁

Jenny