Art Journal: Opposites

The February theme for the Sketchbook Challenge is Opposites, and this journal spread started with two halves of the same face glued on opposite sides of the page, with a vague idea of doing something like "Good & Evil" or "Night & Day" or an evil twin.

If you watch a lot of BritLit TV, you may recognize Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock in the 2005 version of Bleak House. Inspired by Pam Carriker's Recycled Journal Pages workshop on the Strathmore website, the background is torn rice paper left over from my book arts' group's 2008 gelatin printing play date. Then I went over the whole thing with a thin layer of gesso, oil pastels & oil color pencils, Permapaque marker, and acrylic paint stenciled through punchinella or sequin waste.

Finally, I decided that declaring things to be opposite created false dichotomies, as these two women were actually the same person, so my spread about opposites ended up with the text "Two sides of the same coin."

Art Journal for Feb. 3, 4 & 7, 2011