Photo Manipulation: Using China Markers

Shut Out Does Not Mean Shut Down

This is an experiment from an online course on photo manipulation (by hand) that I am taking. I took a photo from one of my trips to Mexico. Using a white china marker I blanked out the background in the lower portion of the gate. I like how it acts like a bit of wax paper covering a store front -- you can see something on the other side -- you just don't know what it is. Then I took a yellow china marker and colored in the middle section of the gate (originally white in color), then I took the red china marker and an orange waxy crayon and added more color the top and bottom portions of the gate. I went over everything with a graphite pencil (before adding color, and after), added the collage element last, blending the edges a bit with the white china marker.

Manipulating Photos: Blending

MizAdventures Altered Book: Rose Explosion

I have been experimenting today with a second technique from the course Manipulating Photos By Hand -- blending to integrate the cut edge of the photos. L.K. Ludwig showed us one way by running pencils around the edges; if you use Stabilo pencils, chalk pencils, or china markers you can then smear the color into interesting lines (if using other media -- oil and chalk pastels, neocolors, etc. -- use colors that mix in with your journal page background). Here I used two photos of roses in my garden. I cut them out of the original photos. I used some acrylic paint on the edges, then iridescent chalk, then oil pastels on top and smeared the heck out of them. Fun baby. This is an incomplete spread in my MizAdventures altered book.

Manipulating Photos: Vignetting

Altered Book Spread: Forms Real and Unreal

I am taking an online course with L.K. Ludwig -- Techniques for Manipulating Photos by Hand. This very cool lady has several books out on art journaling, and some very good online courses on journaling and working with photos for use in art journals. She's very thorough and inspiring. Just began the course and so far it's exactly what I was looking for...help in integrating my photos into my art journals and altered books.

This is a spread I created in an old altered book called Paranormal Dating (haha) using the vignetting technique. You create a type of tunnel vision around your photo to draw the eye in. This photo I took in Mexico in one of those beautiful Mexican graveyards. By accident I took it in black and white, and I love the perspective and the shadows. It seems to be very appropriate for my pale, dark lady. Who is she waiting for? Is she looking at her watch? She seems a bit impatient, yet very much grounded in her environment. Check L.K. and her blog out --The Poetic Eye.