Art Journaling: Altered Transparencies

I found a fantastic book by Traci Bautista, Collage Unleashed, that's full of ideas for creating art journal collages in unusual ways, including making transparencies of your own artwork.  

Above is a drawing I did of The Ink Queen, with ink on an old book page, and then photocopied onto transparency film.

Traci gives instructions and ideas for using your own drawings & doodles to make altered transparencies for your art journal.  

The most important tip is: use the correct transparency film for your copier or printer.  If you use the wrong film in a dry toner copier (which uses high heat to make the copy), it can melt inside the machine and ruin it.

Once you get the right sort of transparency film for your copier or printer, 

you can print your artwork onto the film, and then add color with acrylic paint as below:

 I painted the back of the transparency.

And flipped it over to reveal The Ink Queen in all her colorful glory.

I added the painted transparency to my art journal, gluing it in with Yes! paste, a clear, archival adhesive.

Here's one I colored with alcohol markers.

Alcohol markers allow you to blend two or more colors together, and even move the toner around (I used a dry toner, black-only copier).

I warmed up Marion by placing her over an art journal page painted with peach acrylic and white gesso.

I hope you take some time this week to play with collage, transparencies, or just to make doodles.  

When you create, you make your artistic vision -- how you see the world -- visible to the rest of us.  

If we each make art and share it with others, we can spark inspiration and 

celebrate our unique artistic view of the world.

Happy Creating!

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2023

Travel Journal Art Kit

Here's the final collection of supplies I chose to travel to England with:

• A Stillman & Birn Mixed Media Sketchbook

• A Winsor & Newton Travel Watercolor kit (Lemon Yellow Hue, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Hue, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue, Viridian, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber and Chinese White).  I use this tiny kit a lot at home!  It packs a wide variety of colors into a small box.  You can see the array of colors I mixed in "Discover New Possibilities with Color Swatching!"



• An Altoids Tin Palette with Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Permanent Blue Violet & Permanent Rose.  It's tricky to mix a rich, vibrant violet, and I love the rosy color of Permanent Rose. Also, I found I was using so much Lemon Yellow Hue that I emptied the well and had to refill it.  Since I had the extra space, I added Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue as a back-up.
• Faber Castell Polychromos colored pencils, 36 colors
• A selection of Derwent Inktense Colored Pencils for added pop.
• A Faber-Castell Pencil Sharpener.
• A Faber-Castell Kneaded Eraser
• A gum eraser
• Binder clips for clipping book pages open,
• A small sponge, a rag and a piece of paper towel for blotting.
• A Water cup for rinsing brushes,
• A Water spray bottle to wet paint palettes,
• Several fine point waterproof black pens: Faber-Castell Pitt pens, Winsor & Newton, and one by Bic.
• A mechanical pencil (Bic Velocity #2, 0.9),
• A Conte a Paris 2B graphite pencil,
• A Pentel India Ink Brush Pen with refill, &
• Sakura Water Brush Pens in 3 sizes.

I fit the little items into a small makeup case I found at my local Goodwill Thrift Store for a dollar, and stuffed it all into my carry-on backpack, ready for adventure!

It was thrilling testing out supplies, planning and preparing for this voyage.  And I find that having a small kit of materials makes it easier to create, even when I'm at home.  It prevents overwhelm in searching for the "perfect" material, as there is no such thing as perfect in real life and art.

What is your minimum kit of supplies?  Even if you don't have plans for a getaway, why not put together a grab-&-go kit that you can stuff in a backpack or purse for mini sketch expeditions?!

I hope you make an Adventure Kit & put it to use this week!