SJ's WIP blog

sometimes things I post here get finished

[sj-wip]

I’m SJ (they/he/she/xe) and I’m a 30 y/o artist living in mississippi. this is my side-blog for posting things as I work on them and talking about my process! I might also post some finished stuff here if I’m excited to share it but haven’t taken more profesh photos for my main blogs yet. I love chatting with y'all so feel free to reply and send me asks/messages.

for the finished stuff you can check out @silasjulian and @deepspacequeer! I also have an art inspo blog at @androgyne-android.

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I’m a normal person who is normal about star trek and can be trusted with a paycheck

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I applied for $500 in grant money for art supplies and got it again! just stocked up on some basics + the big panels that are usually too expensive for me to justify buying! the only annoying thing is that it is a reimbursement grant so I have to wait until August to get the money back.

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starting to think I perhaps have too many magazines idk…. (I’m reorganizing as much as is possible)

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basically moodboarding for a collage a little and picking one of these three 🥲 picking one doesn’t mean I’ll use everything or not add something, it’s about the vibe. the middle is def missing something but I love the rust textures…I might totally mix these up again idk…

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I’m feeling good about this!! it’s the first collage I’ve started in at least a couple of months!! pray, manifest, do a spell, ect… that I keep working on it and I break out of my art block fully, lol.

it’s about life, death, aging, mental illness, and transitioning of course (because it’s me)

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I’m about to be sealing these for a collage! yes, on my washer and dryer in my kitchen, lol. I have a door to the kitchen I can close and the vent over the stove really clears out any fumes!

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locked in on these two last night!! I’m excited to keep working on them. hopefully I stay focused and don’t abandon them for a year again…

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thinking about getting back into paper mache for a bit lol these WIPs have just been collecting dust for maybe a year or more…

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I need art sales fr 😂😭

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wednesday I taught some kids about symmetry by making some imaginary bugs with them 🐛

they don’t have art programming in their schools but this free after school program they’re in gets people like me from the nonprofit I work at to come do art with them ♥️

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message me for a link to my google drive full of PDFs of art books! just don’t post any link to it publicly, I’d rather you save the books then create your own drive to share them with whoever you want. thanks! 🤗

[deepspacequeer]

hey! Idk if you have this info available but I was wondering what adhesives you use when making your collages. there's so many options and research is....difficult.

yeah of course!! I don’t mind at all. I’m all about getting people into collaging and sharing what I know. I have some classes locally coming up even!! ask me whatever.

lol I don’t get paid for linking any of this but…

first off this is an ❌ anti-mod podge home ❌

I seal any magazine with spray varnish so that they don’t tear and turn to mush. I use delicate painter tape on the backs on cardboard then rustoleum clear satin.

then for adhesive I use some kind of clear acrylic heavy gel medium. I like this one that’s labeled impasto medium. there’s liquitex or golden brand if you wanna be fancier but it doesn’t really matter here!

then I seal my collages with polycrylic, usually satin but it depends on the vibe! I used to use semi-gloss the most. polycrylic also works as an adhesive, it’s just not as sticky and is thin.

final tips are use smooth wood panels and you can use your fingers but a brayer really helps!!

so there!! that’s just my method though. it takes a lot longer and is more expensive than others. there’s tons of ways to do collages! like if you just wanna use a glue stick and some cardboard then that’s cool too, haha.

btw I have a side blog where I talk about process stuff at @sj-wip !!

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I’m planning out this 16x20 inch.

this is 12am vs 1:23am vs 2:26am!! 🤓

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new collage sneak peek!! I’m posting it here until I take photos and edit them for posting on my main art blog.

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😔😔😔😔

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I got this huge blue leather bag with wheels (it has rainbows on it from my windows, please ignore!!) at an estate sale for $5…I think it’s from the 70’s? and it had rips in the leather so I bought some leather filler and leather paint. I really loved the original worn look tbh but I couldn’t figure out how to disguise the repaired parts….painting it has been really fun though!

I fear I’m about to fall into interest hyperfixation though because now I’m like wanting to get more paint colors… use some stencils…. do more bags…. I MIGHT invest, I’m gonna see if I can find more leather or hard shell suitcases at the vintage store tomorrow first.