Mixed Media Nature Journals

A step-by-step technique book for creating beautiful imagery and journals inspired by the natural world. Nature has been inspiring artists of all ages since the dawn of history, however, most books on nature journaling focus exclusively on drawing and watercolor painting, and therefore are intimidating or irrelevant to artists who don't feel confident in their drawing or painting skills. This book offers artists and crafters a wide range of experimental techniques for creating beautiful nature journals that primarily use imagery and themes from the natural world, but go way beyond mere drawing and painting. Creative twists on leaf rubbings, plant pressings, non-traditional printmaking, using patina solutions on brass or copper mesh, colorful photo manipulations, layering techniques, and clever ways of incorporating three-dimensional natural objects are just a few of the techniques that are explored. Inspirational writings, thematic sidebars, and related conceptual exercises all help readers create artwork that will resonate on a deeper personal level

Using a variety of formats, collaborative art projects result in wonderfully complex pieces, and often provide the glue between artists within a community. Heavy on visual inspiration, Collaborative Art Journals and Shared Visions in Mixed Media covers various organizational structures for collaborative art projects, offers instructions and tips for organizing such ventures, and includes interviews with organizers and participants of collaborative projects, as well as a healthy smattering of techniques including how to create books that can be added to as they travel and how to devise various binding structures for different paper projects.

Why did they stay? Despite the challenges of loneliness, drought, and political turmoil Kansas pioneers faced, many found and wrote about joy and beauty in their adopted communities. Letters and diaries describe the times that gave them reason to sing, dance, and celebrate – moments when their burdens were lighter. This volume brings together reflections of 50 individuals of different ages, backgrounds, and outlooks who helped shape the identity of the Sunflower State.

A lovely nature-inspired art and journaling book featuring the distinctive artwork, projects, journal pages, and unique techniques of artist Tracie Lyn Huskamp. Along with hints and tips for photographing nature, collecting, and preserving natural elements, the book discusses ways to capture moments and create memories through simple sketches from photographs, painting on fabric, creating journals and journal art, as well as with shadowbox assemblages to display and highlight particular found objects. The artist will share handwritten notes, drawings, poetry, and detailed techniques.

In The Vision Board, influential career strategist Joyce Schwartz describes a transformative exercise that offers a simple way to change your life for the better. As featured on the Oprah Winfrey show, vision boards are a practical, effective approach to identifying and achieving your goals. With a foreword from Bob Proctor, featured teacher in The Secret, and an afterword by Jack Canfield, co-creator of the hugely popular Chicken Soup for the Soul series, The Vision Board offers concrete advice and motivation anecdotes designed to help you utilize vision boards in your own daily life.

"We all have need to be trained to see, and to have our eyes opened before we can take in the joy that is meant for us in this beautiful life." Charlotte Mason ~~~~~~~ "Composition books and blank journals are readily available at every big box and corner store, available so inexpensively as to be common and ironic as we reach that digital dominion, the projected 'paperless culture.' Shall we despair the future of the notebook? Is the practice an anachronism in an age where one's thoughts and pictures, doings and strivings are so easily recorded on a smartphone or blog,and students in even the youngest classrooms are handed electronic tablets with textbooks loaded and worksheets at the ready? Or is there something indispensable in the keeping of notebooks without which human beings would be the poorer?" THE LIVING PAGE invites the reader to take a closer look in the timeless company of 19th century educator, Charlotte Mason.

Harness the beauty of the natural world to create unique textile art pieces. Learn how to create beautiful textile art inspired by details in nature in this practical and inspirational guide. Acclaimed textile artist Marian Jazmik shows how to use unusual recycled and repurposed materials combined with traditional fabric and thread. Marian reveals the secrets of her lushly textured and sculptural embroidered pieces, from initial photograph to finished object. Exploring nature as a constant source of inspiration, she shows how to turn a chance spotting of lichen on a tree trunk or a scattering of autumn leaves into glorious textile or mixed-media art. Marian goes on to explore the myriad of techniques she uses in her work, including: How to begin with photography, homing in on details in nature. How to manipulate images to create microscopic and surprising detail. How to translate the images into 3-D work, using an eclectic mix of natural and man-made textiles, as well as unusual recycled materials otherwise be destined for landfill (packaging, plastics and household DIY products). Hand and machine embroidery. Dyeing, printing and painting. Using heat gun and soldering iron to create heavily textured surfaces. Packed with practical tips, inspiration and illustrated throughout with glorious examples of Marian’s work, this book will provide you with endless imaginative ideas for distilling the wonders of nature into your own textile art.