Citra-solv

Using Citra-solv with National Geographic pages is a great technique for making collage papers. Paint Citra-solv to one side only of a National Geographic double-page spread, place the "wet" side face down on the the other page & rub the back a little. Use a heat gun to dry the back of the wet page and pages are ready in a minute or so. Peel the pages apart before they stick.

In the UK Citra-solv can be bought online from 21st Century Health - I get the large 32oz bottle, expensive but works out more economical in the long run.

http://www.21stcenturyhealth.co.uk/productdetail.asp?category=&prodid=30

National Geographic pages work the best because of the ink that is used in the printing process - possibly a base of gold?

Single Page Book

The final assessment piece for City & Guilds was to create a design for my chosen craft with Living Forms as the inspiration source. I decided on a handmade book from a single sheet of paper with seashells as the Living Forms (more like dead!). Photos of Tenby, Wales, were the image sources. My Canon printer can print on paper that is 21 x 56cm, which gave me scope for a book that was cut and folded to a page size of 10.5 x 14cm.

It took a few tries to get the layout correct but it worked! The images show the on-screen layout and the completed book. It was printed on thin card that had been coated with InkAid.

The quote is from the painter, Augustus John, who was born in Tenby: You may travel the world over, but you find nothing more beautiful. It is so restful, so colourful, so unspoilt.

Creative Computing

Hurrah! I've completed and passed City & Guilds Creative Computing. This was a great course for me, although I am competent in using Photoshop, I was not using it to full advantage as a design tool. I have learnt a lot of new tools... sometiems it was tricky as the course was written for Paintshop Pro users and I had to "translate" the terminology into Photoshop speak!

The montages are of Kiev, which Ivisited in April 2008. The background is pomegranates photographed in the market. In the image on the right a Ukranian newspaper was scanned and "clipped" to a large pomegranate, a cupola represents the stalk.

The student exhibition is at
http://www.lindakemshall.com/OnlineCoursesStudentExhibitionJenniferHenleyComputing.htm

Must get into this blogging thing... & a killed catalogue

Long time since the first post. Obviously not totally taken with blogging. However, as Maggie Grey had posted a photo of my altered catalogue on her blog http://www.magstitch.blogspot.com/ I feel encouraged to add the same photo here.

It was great fun killing the catalogue and then creating a rather nice 3D work from it. Maggie has such great ideas -- I'm a real fan.

Have a look at the Catalogue Killers group for more photos http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cataloguekillers/

Why clog up cyberspace with yet another unread blog?

Have decided to join the blogging world - musings may be short and infrequent but thought this would be a good place to post some of my dabblings in mixed-media art.

The image is one side of my final assessment piece for City & Guild Creative Sketchbooks. I had to make a zig-zag book inspired by architecture -- this is my take on the Vienna Secession, which houses Klimt's Beethoven Frieze. The course was taken online and was great fun to do. Highly recommend it for those of you who cannot commit to taking a regular class. http://www.lindakemshall.com/linda_kemshall_online_courses.html

Am now taking Creative Computing with Linda Kemshall.