Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Proof of a Creative Weekend Part I

Had a great weekend with my girls, three nights/four days of creative bliss!  Well, let's say I had two full days of creative bliss- the first night I was just not feeling it.  Once I unpacked, I looked at my table and went...nah.  So headed to the couch area and chilled with a bottle of wine, the hockey game and a few other girls that were in the same boat as me!

My goal this weekend was to work on these prompts from Rae Missigman's Art Marks 30 Day Challenge. As you can see from the picture, I didn't get near as many completed as I had hoped!



Woke up Saturday morning ready to go and did 7 prompts over the course of the day.  I was on a roll and am sorry to say I didn't not take many photos along the way.  I will do my best to list the products I used.

Prompt #1 - Clustered

I started out thinking I would just used gelatos, distress crayons &/or Art Crayons as my go to tools for this challenge.  I didn't last long.  I didn't like how they where mixing with my stencils, so out came my Dina Wakley Media Heavy Body Paints!  They make me happy.  I applied White using a keycard and really scrapped and scratched them into the base I had already started, it gave a muted look which I was happy with.  I them started pulling out some of my StencilGirl stencils (S330 Modern Buds, M080 Repetition S376 Hashmarks) that I figured would work for this prompt.  I used Lemon, Ruby & Night.  Once the colors were dry, I used my Sharpie Extra Fine Point Marker to make some marks (doodles and scribbles) along with my Pilot MultiBall Pen.  I do not carry these in my shop, but a good substitute is the Fudeball or UniBall in black.


Prompt #2 - Repeating

This next one I really struggled with and am really not happy with, but as you all know, I tend to just turn the page instead of worrying about a page too much....this is one of those pages!  I used Dina's paints in Magenta, Sky & Elephant.  The colors look off as I did not clean the stencil or the sponge after each application.  The stencil is from Carabelle Studio, Edge Template - Rounder (TEE0005). I then created a repeating pattern with one of my black markers.  This is the point when I simply decided to turn the page and move on.


Prompt #3 - Layered

This has many many many many and yes, many layers of paint and stencils.  I used more StencilGirl stencils in circular pattens and used a different color for each.  I started with Lemon, then went to Lime, then Magenta, Tangerine, Blackberry Violet and finally Night. The Blackberry created a bit of mud in areas, so I used White and rubbed it in with my fingers to soften it up in areas before I started my doodles. I doodled using my Sharpie Extra Fine Point in White and then a Pebeo 4Artist Marker in Black & Green. The fine doodles are of course the Pilot MultiBall.


Prompt #4 - Stacked

This one was a blast! I actually stacked stencils on top of themselves then applied the paint through what pattern it created.  Thankfully I actually took a few more photos of this one along the way.  Each time I used a color I either switched the stacking sequence or added another stencil. I used Dina's Lemon, Ruby & Black. Stencils were Crafter's Workshop (TCW547 Repeating Pods), StencilGirl (#L301 Circles Circles ) and Dyan Reaveley (sorry, will have to dig it out and find the product number).


Here I added for a finishing (almost) touch is another Crafter's Workshop stencil - Art Is in 6x6" then again just added some more black.  Really like how it completes the layers...oops, I mean stacks!


Thinking the page needs some pop, so I used the Sharpie Fine Point in White and Pebeo 4Artist Marker in Yellow to doodle a few of the patterns, happy with it and moving on!







 Prompt #5 - Round

For this one I really wanted to go out of my comfort zone and go more towards the pastel palette.  I used a fair amount of gesso so it was a good base of white and when I apply the Dina paints with a sponge through the stencils they tend to take on a pastel look.  I used the Crafter's Workshop stencil Positivity (#TCW687) with the following paint colors - Lime, Magenta, Lemon and Turquoise.
It was a little to blah for me, so I added some punched pop dots that I downloaded from Roben Marie's site and glued them down.  Once everything was dry, I began to doodle.  Again, using my Sharpie, UniBall, Pilot MultiBall &/or 4Artist pens/markers.


Prompt #6 - Black & White

For this one I used a stencil from StencilGirl called Circle Web (#L404), I gesso'd by page in white then applied a good coat of Dina's black paint with a craft sponge so it was very dark. Then I lifted the stencil and spritzed it with water and laid it face down on the opposite page.  The areas that did not come through I simply filled in with a black marker.  Once it was all dried, I used the White Sharpie on the black and the Stabillo All Graphite pencil on the white.  blended with my wet finger and called it done.  It was a pretty quick page and really like the results. 


Prompt #7 - Arrow like

For this one I once again used a variety of stencils - Crafter's Workshop stencils (TCW227 Chevron, TCW687 Positivity) along with StencilGirl (M077 Look Here Trio) and used Dina's Lemon, Ruby & Black for colors.  It was very dark and busy so I ended up adding white gesso over top that I simply applied using my finger just covering up in certain areas to create a look I liked in the end.  I then added doodles using my usuals - Sharpie, Pebeo & Pilot MultiBall.


That's it for Saturday - will do my best to get back on here tomorrow for Sunday's creations.  There were some good ones!

For now, thanks for sticking around - be sure to follow the links back to the shop for items used on these pages.  Have a great day and stay creative!!

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

I'm Alive & Kicking!

Yes, it has been that crazy round here.  Life in general has been hectic and then add a business into the mix...well it makes it pretty tough!  After taking the time to do Rae's challenge I had to make up the time!

Year end and taxes kept getting pushed off to the side in hopes they would just do it on their own - ya, didn't happen.  New product releases came fast and furious and you all kept me on my toes.  Had a few family things to take care of and course hope to get some arting in there (ya, that didn't happen either).

I was approached early last month to be a guest instructor at a local studio.  It has been something I have been asked to do many times but always turned down as I have always been so selfish with my family time - evening and weekends where always for hubby and kid.  Well kid is all grown up and no longer living at home, hubby says go for it - so that is what I will do.

Trying to decide on what to teach is always tough for me.  I am a firm believer in learning the basics first though, so decided on offering a two part Intro to Art Journaling workshop.  For any of my local peeps, Loopaloo Ceramic & Craft Studio is where I will be teaching.  Depending on how it goes, will determine on how I will proceed with future workshops. There will be an influx of several local 'Art'sy instructors offering a variety of classes and workshops.

Here is a sampling of what I will be doing:

For part one we will focus on creating amazing pages using acrylic paints and collage elements.
Then adding a creative edge with pens.  Along the way, there will be continued sharing of my knowledge on art journaling and everything that goes along with it - all the time making sure not to overwhelm the new artist.


For the second half of the workshop, I will delve into a few more techniques and products just to show you what ones imagination can create when provided with the proper tools and resources.


To see more on this event, please check out Loopaloo's Facebook page here if you are interested in taking part in the event, here is a link to booking a seat.

Another fun project I did was adding some of Roben-Marie Smith's free downloadable art printables to covers of sketchbooks and Moleskines. Roben had a mini blog tutorial showing what she was doing and I of course just had some fun with it.















  I decided to make a couple more too...

















I am heading out of town this weekend to a semi-annual crafting weekend, so plan on doing some major art journaling pages and maybe even a canvas(or two)! I want to work on Rae's #30artmarks30daychallenge Part Two and try once again to limit my product and tools. So with any luck, I'll post more next week, in the mean time be sure to keep an eye out on instagram and/or facebook for some pics!


That Other Neutral Triptych

  That Other Neutral Triptych wrapped canvases 10x10x1.5" (x3) professional grade artist materials I worked on this smaller series at ...