January 2011 Challenge on Melange

This is the beginning of another art journal so it is also my submission for the January Melange Mixed Media Challenge Beginning.  Strathmore is running a series of journaling classes to promote their new journaling notebook made from cp watercolor paper. I could not find one in my area before the classes started, so I used sheets of 140lb cp from Strathmore that I had, cut the pages in 1/2 and will bind the journal later. One cannot beat the price of the classes they are free!  Pam Carriker taught the first series of classes and there are 2 more artists in a set of 2 more series.

Pam's technique was to use pieces of art we'd already created and dissect and recreate it into a new journal page. I really didn't have any art to start with that I cared to dissect, so I altered a photo of a listing in my etsy shop of my mixed media fabric hearts, cut it apart and used it as my base.  I learned some new techniques through Pam, including using oil pastels; mine didn't work as smoothly as hers, prolly because I bought the cheapest set I could find, not knowing if I would like working with them. Several in the class wrote in the forum at Strathmore they had difficulty with smoothing them to the wonderful consistency Pam did in her videos.  Experienced pastels artists said to warm them with a hair or embossing dryer, I tried but I'm afraid that didn't help my pastels, they still tended to clump But I will use them in my mixed media work being a proverbial experimenter.