Artist Sam Jowers

"Visual Noise" is having interesting non related stuff in the back ground that creates an environment for your journal page.  Washi tapes, library cards, old stamps, playing cards and so much more can add interest to the background.  the key is to lightly paint over it so that it "peeks" thru but doesn't take over.  A lot of the envelopes that come to my house have bits and pieces of Washi tape. (washi tape is decorative tape that you can find in crafts stores.  I also have started making my own washi with hand carved stamps...more on that later.)  as the mail comes in, I layer it in.  one of my envelopes had Elvis stamps.  My mom loves Elvis, so I made him as little ghosts peeking thru the branches. Then, I found a great beer that had a label that said "angry orchard."  it inspired the whole page.  why is the orchard angry? could it be the crazy pumpkin headed horseman wielding a sword?  Is the horseman cutting off branches?  why!...

I love my altered book journals to have lots of interactive details.  I put pockets, slides, windows, tags, paperclips, etc. into most of my pages.   The theme for this envelope swap was "circus" and my partner sent me so much good stuff, it was hard to only use what I did.  I even felt I might have taken it too far.  Let me break down how I got this page pulled together.  I used markers to scribble all over my book pages.  I call this "visual noise".  My partner sent me a red and white striped drawstring bag, the yellow and white striped glycine envelope, almost a dozen computer prints of circus posters, the head of a clown sticker and so much more!  I painted "pop corn" all over the page.  I refashioned the red and white bag into a circus tent.  I drew scallops along the white stripe of the envelope and turned it sideways.  it became a popcorn stand and inside of the envelope is a tag with a picture of the ring leader.  I pai...

Sometimes simple imagery like a closet looses its impact if you try to draw or paint it yourself.  for this page, I wanted a closet for my monsters to hide in.  I looked for closet adds online (the inside of the closet and the outside).  I color copied them onto cardstock so they would withstand all of the open and closing interaction.  I then reassembled my closet onto the page after I painted the bedroom.  This page has a dark undertone.  there are monsters under the bed and in the closet.  I even have a monster tag for a monster who is afraid to scare people.  the monsters under the bed were made by putting my thumbprint onto book pages and gluing them into the book. you'll notice that the monsters are afraid of what is about to come into the bedroom of the little child from the world of adults.  those monsters are even scarier! I've been really lucky with this book.  I have found some really great paperclips that have fit with t...

One of my Envelopes from the altered book journal envelope swaps on swap-bot.com contained a lot of scrap book papers.  this wasn't really in line with the theme, so I looked up POP ART Letters and turned all of the papers into lettering with shadowing.  since pop art is just art about what is "pop"ular,  I chose my two favorite actors.  Here is an easy technique to get the look of printmaking images using colored paper and black and white print outs.  I found an image of Adrian Turner and Johnny Depp.  I copied each image about 12 times on 12 different colored papers.  I then cut out parts according to tone and re glued them together to reform the image of each actor.  It emulates the look of Any Warhol's prints of famous actors.

At one time, my local dollar store carried hard bound novels.  the one I chose for my altered book journal was called "the cryptos conundrum".  it just sounded right and the book itself was the perfect size for altering.  I checked to make sure that it was sewn together and not glued.  I kept the first pages all the way up to the table of contents and then I glued the first three pages together!  I tore out six and glued three more.  this became the first installment of my book.  because so many things will be added to the book, I needed to remove at least two thirds of the pages.  this will help my book lay correctly on the table and will also keep the binding from bursting.  At the time, I was part a group on swap-bot.com that exchanged full envelopes with images on a given theme.  my first page was about birds....not terribly exciting but it got me started!!!  the group on swap-bot is called "altered book envelopes"

I'm fascinated with techniques using mixed media and I love to alter old books to create a "reading" experience that is interactive for the viewer.  You can say anything with images. this is what I like to call a "sink painting" .  when my students leave paint in the sink, I like to capture it by laying a piece of drawing paper into the bottom of the sink.  sometimes I get lucky.  the white space is where the drain was.  I added the running woman and the orbs.  I also sharpied the area around the perimeter to create the outer space look.  This one is called "Girl Power!"  This page was easy because I simply folded it in half and glued it into my book.

just wanted to post my first blog of my life!  I am an artist living just south of Houston Texas.  I teach Painting in a High School in that town.  I absolutely love what I do and will blog about my projects and lessons that I teach. I'm wearing my mentor's hat.  She was my High School Art Teacher and she just passed away at the age of 92!  she was still making art, having shows and could remember students names from the sixties!  I want to be her when I grow up!