Eclectic Studio - Tammy Morrison-Koenig

I try and pull my sketchbook out every chance I get. Whether it is to create a background for later use or to create a study or painting from the pages that are "in waiting".  Using my sketchbooks regularly gives me the opportunity to intuitively paint. I grab whatever I have at hand and just let myself go. Because I work in a lot of portraits I find that these images just appear, others may find that this happens when they work with animals or landscapes or even abstract arts. This painting started with a background of stamps, dictionary paper cuts, stencils and wound up with very little if anything of that background showing through after adding some hard and soft pastels to finish it off. I guess it is what it is.

This painting is an example of recovering from a major disaster. Everything was going along wonderfully and I was using my black paint pen to add some details when it exploded - see the viewers left eye - and when I was sopping it up I touched the paper towel on the shoulder area. Ugh. As I had originally intended, this is a little demo on how I achieved the final painting even through adversity.   This art journal is nothing fancy, a plain lined paper notebook, it's about 5*8, with a tough vinyl cover, that I picked up from the dollar store. Some of the pages I have gessoed, some have been decoupaged, and some papers are Gelli print one-offs - like this one. The only reason I like to use this one is that I like the size of it.  I didn't have any idea when I started on what I was going to do with this sheet. I try and use the most patterned part of the paper as the focal point. So I took my blue watercolor pencil and sketched out a basic cat shape. Even when ...

Once upon a time I was a little nut and the older I get the more this quote couldn't be truer. This is another page in my inspirational art journal. My journey of what keeps me going from day to day. This piece is done on a gelatin printed background with some collage, ink and oil pastel.