'Buried Treasure'

Over on 'The Altered Page' Seth Apter is featuring his buried treasure idea and will publish a list of participating blogs, the authors choosing their own favourite post to re post. Should be interesting.

So here is a link to a short tutorial which I wrote, on request, about using bleach on paper and I think this eventually lead to my participation in the popular Sketchbook Challenge, then to be a contributor to the book and many happy contributions to the themes for the Challenge.

http://stitchworks-jackie.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/tutorial.html

So many blogs...so little time. With so many wonderful art blogs to follow, it is difficult to always find the time to keep up with every new post -- let alone have the time to visit the posts that were put up before you discovered each blog.

So...six years ago I started an annual treasure hunt. Buried Treasure is about digging deep to uncover some hidden gems. The premise is simple. This Thursday, July 23rd all participating bloggers will re-post one (or more) of their favorite posts that ever appeared on their blog. As you might already know, I don't like too many rules when it comes to art. So anything goes.

http://thealteredpage.blogspot.co.uk/

Sketchbook Challenge

Unfortunately the time has come to roll up the Sketchbook Challenge Blog, since its start in  2011 I have been a contributor to the themes set each week and have added photos to the Flickr blog, more recently I was invited to contribute to the Challenge and had to come up with my own theme ‘words’ this year. Most excitingly I was asked by Sue Bleiweiss to contribute my chapter to the Sketchbook Challenge Book and chose Rhythm from the topics on offer; many thanks to Sue for coming up with the main idea, which I am sure has given pleasure to a lot of people, and especially to her for sharing her own excitement and satisfaction as the book came together.

Above is my first contribution to the theme Highly Prized in 2011. If you want to see the tutorial that went with this post it is Here. This is not the last chance to see the work on the main blog as I understand that it will stay up indefinitely.

Tutorial

I am taking part in the 2011 Setchbook Challenge;see the badge in the side bar.
Each month there will be a new challenge set by a different artist. Images are
uploaded to Flickr. For January the theme is 'Highly Prized'.
I have been asked for a tutorial on one of the images I added, so here it is.
Bleach discharge as a sketch technique.

Colour you sketchbook page using ink. I applied mine with a piece of sponge.

I used a blue/black drawing ink, but try what you have.

Decide on your subject matter and make a quick sketch.

I cut sponge shapes using the sketch as a rough guide. I have used compressed sponge, which looks like sheets of thin cardboard but when soaked in water expands and has an interesting texture. You can, of course, cut up any cheap sponge.

Next pour out a small amount of bleach. You may like to wear gloves for this part.

Dab the sponge into the bleach and make marks on the coloured page.

As you watch the bleached surface will change colour, in my case from green to white.

Apply the bleach gently. Try not to dribble the bleach and beware of getting it on your clothes, as it will quickly discolour whatever it touches.

Additional marks may be made using a cotton bud.

The next step is get out your pens and work into the sketch outlined with bleach. Try out various pens and see if you can get some interesting results. My white pen resulted in an attractive blue line on the ink. You need to experiment here.

Enjoy.





©Jackie Bowcutt January 2011