Bookmaking

Mixed Media/Collage

| Gina Lento

Well, it turns out that the Inchie challenge was only 11 days, not 12. I was surprised when I pulled up emails Saturday morning and there was no prompt. Well that was a bummer because the Inchie challenge was fun. I’ll probably keep 2×2 squares with me to work on when I am out of the house. They would make cool thumbnail squares and I have plenty of art that I haven’t posted yet.

That being said…

Several years ago, before Teesha Moore had her stroke, I was a member of Teesha’s Artstronauts Club. I really miss that club. It was chock full of mixed media collage (MM/Collage) goodness. I started a few mixed media collage sketchbooks that I still have to finish. Some morphed into my Zombie doll Sketchbooks and my creepy portrait sketchbooks that I did finish. I never really thought of myself as a collage artist until I took a few of Carla Sonheim’s classes and things started to click. I have been playing with patterns, lettering and other techniques that gave me the skills I need to finish some of these unfinished sketchbooks.

Most of my MM/ collage sketchbooks are home made and hand stitched so that they would could be a specific shape or size and they have a theme. Most have a limited amount of pages which makes the project easy to finish.

This sketchbook is a mixture of cut collage from pretty much anything; some collage is home made from paint drips and such. I used Teesha Moore’s “Amazing 16 Page Journal” format. It’s a full sheet of 30 x 22 hot or cold press Fabriano watercolor paper that’s cut into 3 10×22 pieces and are folded into pages and stitched to create the 16 page sketchbook. On my mixed media pages I use paint markers and gel pens, fortune cookie fortunes, cut out lettering and quotes, basically a miss mosh of pieces assembled to make a whole page.

This has been in my “to do” pile a long time and I and finally posting some of these pages. The page size is 8×10 and the excess wasn’t trimmed, it is a flap that became a design of it’s own on one side and on the other it was part of a full page spread. I had a ton of chihuahuas from a 365 desk calendar that I save and used in various art projects. Lots of paint marker embellishments.

8x10 Mixed media collage sketchbook page using various bits and scraps of collage. Chihuahuas, old ticket stubs, embellishments with paint markers. The Chihuahua heads were added to "bodies."
Pages 2/3 Mixed media collage
8x10 Mixed media collage sketchbook page with lavender background using various bits and scraps of collage. Chihuahuas, embellishments with paint markers.
Page/Flap 1 Mixed Media Collage

The finished kitty book

| Gina Lento

I have been busy working on a few projects that have deadlines, so I haven’t been on social media very much.

I finally tweaked this sketchbook so I could do the video of the completed book. This sketchbook is handmade. I usually use the Strathmore 9×12 watercolor paper for these 6×9 books. They don’t take much time to make and I love doing them!

The interior was done with pan pastels but I had to do the exterior with acrylic because pastels can rub off. That’s why there are dividers between the pages.

Enjoy the video!

Kringle Kitty Sketchbook

| Gina Lento

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the first few days of the new year. I closed the studio down for a few days so that we could just enjoy the holiday and hang out with family. (Don’t worry, mom was still getting cards!).

John and I went to Florida to see our daughter and other family members. It was nice and warm. We played card games like Cover Your Assets and Skull King. We were having a great time. We were thinking of extending our stay but we got a call on New Year’s morning from my father-in-law that the roof was leaking on our house.

Happy New Year, eh?

😱😱😱😱😱

He said the roof leaked all the way into the living room and basement….again😱😱😱😱😱

Our wonderful neighbors threw a tarp on the roof. We weren’t in Florida but for a few days and drove back up to NY that weekend (ugh). Today the solar people came to remove a panel to assess the issue. Apparently a RACCOON was trying to eat his/her way into our house. It somehow squeezed under the panel. My husband repaired the roof. Solar panel was replaced. Now we are on critter watch.

In the meantime, as promised, I added embellishments to my Kringle Kitty sketchbook. I created a video to show a flip through of the book and if you look closely your see that each page has something more 3D-ish added to it. I haven’t done many videos so forgive the abrupt ending.

As the weekend comes to a close….

| Gina Lento

June was a full month preparing for my sketch club’s show, Arts on Terry, Father’s Day, etc and it all ended today.

This weekend was the reception “It takes a Village”, where two of my sketches were juried into that show, held at Roast Coffee and Tea House, (a PAC sponsored venue) in Patchogue. Several sketchers have pieces in the show and it looked great!

Here is my sketch of Mademoiselle Patisserie, one of the two. I did a smaller sketch with a cat back in the beginning of June, this one is approx 6×9, minus the kitty.

Another show that went up last week is PAC’s juried member show, “Patchworks,” where my submission, “Nod to O’Keeffe” was accepted into that show as well.

This is an abstract sketchbook that I worked on in between everything else. The idea grew from a smaller project and I just kept going with it until I had a full piece. I was really excited about it getting accepted.

Also ending today is my weekly doodle page for the week.

Lastly, today’s postcard, inspired by a kitty John and I saw on Friday. He was out on a hunting expedition on a rock jetty. He went all the way out until he found some goodies. This is him on the way back….we couldn’t believe he went all the way out. The seagulls all left when they saw him coming.

Sketchbook & Sketches

| Gina Lento

I recently made another sketchbook. I really love the cold press Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper so I buy it in bulk and make my own sketchbooks. I recently filled a Handbook sketchbook and didn’t have any other landscape format sketchbooks so instead of buying one, I made one.

The cover is a copy of two plein air paintings that I did in pastel.

I also made two pamphlet style sketchbooks using Strathmore 400 series drawing paper. I am saving those for International Fake Journal Month.

Lastly, a few sketches I did at breakfast this morning…..

Making sketchbooks

| Gina Lento

Recently I have been spending some time making my own sketchbooks. I like making my own because when you make your own sketchbook, you can customize it any way you want.

There are several going on here….the following photos give you an idea of the process…

Below is the inside of one book….this is just before stitching the text block

Supplies

You can see the stitching below….I am using the long stitch.

This a completed book below….

Another book all set up to be assembled. I used copies of art from my sketchbooks as covers. I use a good inkjet printer and good paper.

Here are three covers drying. I give them an overnight or a full day for the glue to dry.

Sketch from Wednesday

| Gina Lento

Good afternoon!

Below is a sketch I did with my sketch group this past week. We get together once a week, pick a subject and we bring in those items to sketch. I didn’t get much sketching time this week because I was taking care of some administrative stuff for the group, but I did get a little bit of time to do this sketch of a can of WD 40.

Also this week, I have been busy with projects and I have been making some sketchbooks. The second photo is of sketchbook covers of in progress. They were wet so the paper was still bubbly, but like stretched watercolor, it evens out as it dries. I blew up my own sketches to use as covers. I like to make my own sketchbooks because I can customize the sizes and the paper in them.

I will try to remember to post some of the finished books.

Have a good weekend!