Saturday, November 30, 2019

Robyns World of Fashion Journal Australian Art Swap Group round 7 By Meg Atkinson

Belle Of the Ball

By Meg Atkinson


This Month I received Robyns World of Fashion journal. beautifully put together. And wonderfully Pink ( one of my favorite colours!)

I Started the page by gessoing it first then collaging with floral magazine pieces .



Then i Stencilled some florals with texture paste and let dry overnight.


Next step i sprayed some Rose Quartz Dylusions around edges and dryed off.


I love Collage pictures with paper, so used a trusty heart shape punch to punch out an assortment of Music and textured papers to make the dress.

I warmed upthe page around the edges with some distress ink , Black soot and around the edge of the dress, finishing her off with some embelishments and letters.

Our photos never seem to reflect  the true fun of our pages.  Its always a delight to receive a travelling journal to view everyones beautiful projects!

 


Friday, November 29, 2019

Who Am I?

by Lisa for Sallyanne

Sallyanne's A4 size journal is a great chunky thing that she's going to love when it gets home!

Her theme is "Who are you?" which can actually be a daunting thing to journal about.  Pam's entry is now especially moving, as she's no longer with us 😢💜.

A few years ago I'd done a self-portrait as part of a weekly drawing challenge I was in, so I decided to recreate this piece but make it a bit smaller.

As usual, I forgot to take enough progress pics!  Jenny always puts me to shame!  My usual medium is watercolour, but for this journal I opted for acrylics.  I have stacks of stencils so wanted to use them in some way. 

So I ended up using all the colours!  😁

Afterwards, I thought it was a bit loud, so used another favourite stencil to add some white over the top, then spritzed it with watercolour.  Also added some white Molotow pen to make it whiter.  Can't please me!

Next I watercoloured strips of paper and wrote bits of trivia on each one, about myself.


And on the right hand side, I also added my little self-portrait, doing some of my favourite things - reading a good book, drinking a glass or three of chardy, and eating M&Ms!  Don't think wine and M&Ms really go together, but not letting that stop me.


So here are all my bits of trivia!  
Family - I've been married to Scott for 25 years and we have 2 kids - Riley, 20, and Mel, 18.
Home - Scott's family have always been in Melbourne, but I moved here in '91.  Before that I lived in Pt Pirie SA, Newcastle NSW, Golden, Colorado USA, and Mt Isa Qld.  We moved a lot with my dad's work!
Art - I've dabbled in different arts & crafts all my life, but it's only in the last 5 years or so that I've been happy to call myself an artist.  I love using watercolours and doing collage with teabags that have been recycled.  I try and make art every day!
Sport - When I was younger I played netball, softball and tennis.  Arthritis in my knees put an end to my sport, and I had a partial knee replacement almost 12 months ago.  Now I try to walk regularly!
Smells - I love the smell of brewed coffee, vanilla and orange.  In the supermarket, I love the smell of the tea aisle and shampoo aisle!  I hate strong smells like petrol, textas, oil paints, some flowers, and lavender!
Community - I'm the secretary of our local cricket club, the membership secretary of the netball club, and life member of the junior footy club.
Work - I've been in banking since I was 16, first with Commonwealth Bank, and now almost 17 years with Bendigo Bank!  I do Home Loans and other consumer lending.
Travel - Scott and I have been to Vietnam 4 times, the last in Sept/Oct this year.  We've met many wonderful people there.  We've also been to Cambodia and KL, and will hopefully go to Thailand next year!
Pet Hates - Rude people, people with no manners.  Please and thank you are important!  I also hate incorrect grammar and spelling!
Beliefs - I've never been religious.  I believe in treating people how you'd like to be treated.  Kindness goes a long way!
Music - I'm an 80s girl and believe this decade to be the best for music!  Love INXS, Cold Chisel, Fleetwood Mac, Human League, and new stuff - Ed Sheeran, Chainsmokers, Cold Play, Miley, Birds of Tokyo, James Blunt.  I love to sing in the car.
Food - Unfortunately I have a sweet tooth, especially for chocolate!  And caramel, and M&Ms... I try not to buy blocks of chocolate because I will eat the whole block...  My willpower is poor!
Books - I love to read and do it most days.  I prefer real books and have way too many.  Fave authors?  Diana Gabaldon, Stephen King, Melina Marchetta, JK Rowling, Justin Cronin, Anita Shreve, Geraldine Brooks.  
Movies - I love going to the cinema but Scott doesn't - Mel and I usually go together.  Love Harry Potter, Avengers, rom coms, thrillers but not horrors, lots of genres!
Left - left handed and proud of it.  One day we'll take over the world! 🙌


Hope you like it Sallyanne - happy arting!

Cheers, Lisa xx






Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Inspired by Nature

Janie's Book of Nature is such a wonderful book of textures and colour! I found a sheet of beautiful rice paper from Stamperia featuring two hands inspired by Michelangelo's Creation of Adam that seemed perfect for this theme.

using Ranger gel matte multi medium to glue down Stamperia Printed Rice Paper
I trimmed it to size and glued it down with a gel matte medium using my trusty flat wide paintbrush.

overview of gesso white wash over the Stamperia rice paper print
Once the gel medium was dry, I mixed a small puddle of watered down white gesso to use as a wash over the background areas of the rice paper to calm down the contrast of the printed words.

Tim Holtz Stamps called Urban Tapestry printed onto tissue paper using Archival Ink
For this page, I thought I'd have a play with Tim Holtz's White Collage Tissue Paper using Ranger's black Archival Ink and a few favourite stamps. The idea was that the paper would disappear into the background and leave the printed image behind.

The birds, quote and grunge spatters are all from the Tim Holtz Stamp Set "Urban Tapestry". I love the typographic style of this quote. It says :
"The creative is the place where noone else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and venture into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there any other way, only by taking risks and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself."

closeup of the printed tissue being enhanced with white Prismacolor Pencil
After stamping onto the tissue, heat setting the ink and trimming to size, I then coloured some areas on the back with white pencil. The white would help the reversed and outlined words show clearer on the background.
Gesso would do the same thing but pencil doesn't crinkle up the paper or need drying time.

adhering printed tissue onto the Stamperia Michelangelo Rice Paper background
I used matte gel medium to glue down everything, both under the tissue and over it to seal all the edges.
stamping Tim Holtz birds and branches onto tissue paper with Archival Ink
The birds were also stamped onto tissue paper and heat set before being trimmed and glued down with the gel matte medium.
overview of stamped branches - art journal page by Jenny James featuring Tim Holtz Stamps
All the branches were stamped straight onto the page with black Archival ink after the birds were dry.

closeup of a bird - art journal page by Jenny James featuring Tim Holtz Stamps
Above is a closeup of how the tissue paper blends into the background. Sometimes. If you're not looking for it, you can't see it...! lol :) Still a fab technique for collage when you don't feel like cutting around every single feather, beak and foot.
Colour was applied to the birds using watercolour pencil (red and brown) and a waterbrush.
Being a translucent tissue, I was able to flip one of the birds to face the other way (perched on the hand facing left) without losing too much detail. Then coloured over him with black pencil to give his feathers more definition and darken the image.

creating the background of the page using Tim Holtz Stamps
The birds needed something to hang around with, so I stamped more branches in the black Archival Ink, then some spatters of grunginess in black and stonewalling in brown (Tim's background stamp "Slate and Stone").
The brown Archival Ink was only applied to small sections of the stone background stamp and pressed onto the page without an acrylic block, to give it a more rustic appearance.

art journal page by Jenny James featuring birds and insects from Tim Holtz Stamps
Black Archival Ink was used for all the beetles and ants from Tim's stamp set "Entomology". They're crawling all over the place!
I coloured the beetles and some of the ants with brown watercolour pencil then once dry, I drew on the white highlights and gave them a covering of Ranger's crackle medium.

closeup of wet paint - art journal page by Jenny James featuring Tim Holtz Stamps
The bees were stamped onto tissue paper using the black Archival ink, dried with the heat tool and then had their bodies coloured with yellow pencil on the back of the paper. After being glued onto the page with gel matte medium, I painted their wings with an iridescent medium to make them shimmer.
Their black stripes were enhanced using black pen and highlights drawn on with white gel pen.

closeup of an ant - art journal page by Jenny James featuring Tim Holtz Stamps
Above is a closeup of an ant after the crackle medium had dried. The quote was made into a wallhanging with nails drawn on with black pen and brown pencil.

art journal page by Jenny James featuring Tim Holtz Stamps
Lastly, I blended in a tiny smattering of blue ink around some of the edges of both pages.

Thanks for reading my blog post! Hope it made you smile!
:D
Jenny


Tuesday, November 12, 2019

In Meg Atkinson's Bucket List Journal I chose to illustrate through travel posters the places I would love to visit.

On my computer, I resized all the travel posters  to fit the double spread. I sprayed the background with metallic ink and glued the posters into a pleasing composition, leaving some tiles blank for quotes etc..

right hand page

left hand page

Sunday, November 10, 2019

The Paper Tree

This is my page in Lisa Jones' Book Page Art journal. Layered 4 book pages together and cut out a tree. Girl on swing is a stamp I stamped on book page and coloured it in. Bunnies, bird and shrubs are book page images. Flower blossoms and leaves are punched from book paper and background is book Paper gessoed and coloured with ink. I also made a boo boo and did it upside down. Sorry! Hugs Robyn

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Bridal Fashion

When I received Robyn's wonderful journal I really found it difficult to decide on what to do. The countries that fascinated me had been done. Then, as we had been having so many weddings in my family with another to come early next year I thought...why not?

Fashions in wedding wear have changed over the years so I chose that as my theme. I wanted to use lots of fabric to highlight bridal fashion. 

First, I gessoed then I lay down some lovely white fabric and overlayed that with lace.

Next, I arranged four pictures  from the 1950's/60's/70's/80's with the final representing today.

Inbetween the pictures I placed some lovely appliques. I also created three rolled roses using wedding fabric.

Robyn I hope you like my contribution. xox


Friday, November 8, 2019

The Galaxy Song

My galaxy art journal page ... by Jenny for Amanda

As some of you know, my first attempt ended in disaster after smooshing gesso through a stencil and stuffing it all up... I thought the background was so pretty before I did that. Lesson learnt, use either a foam blending tool with such runny gesso or use thicker gesso...! Or use paint like I'd normally do...

a galaxy background made using watercolour paints by Jenny James
This was actually all watercolours... started off as a wash using blue, then add some purple. Then reverted back to my fave techniques of putting paint to the craft mat, spritzing with water, placing paper onto the ink and lifting upwards trying not to slide. I applied blue, purple and black each separately, drying inbetween using the hot air tool. Then I splattered all that black everywhere and sprayed the edges with water... then waited for it to dry again.

I made such an incredible mess on my mat, on my hands, over the paper! It was so awesome :D

The idea was that the galaxy of stars and spirals would then go diagonally across the page from bottom left to top right, with some of the Galaxy Song words weaving in and out of the stars.

Ah well... the next attempt turned out ok in the end. It was created on the back of the first sheet of paper so Amanda has both versions!

a galaxy background made using Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains by Jenny James
Starting on a messy page, Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains came to the rescue!

I sprayed the whole page with water, leaving it dryish in the centre (the water and ink blended towards the middle anyway which was fine, just trying to keep it lighter).
Started with Peacock Feathers (blue), then some Candied Apple (red) and splash of Dusty Concord (purple). Then around the outside, some Ground Espresso (dark brown).
I then placed another sheet of paper over the top, lifted off again then. Before it was dry (I had plenty of time as it was so soggy! lol), I sprinkled a sparkly white embossing powder, imagining that it could be visualised as distant stars.

closeup of a galaxy background made using Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains by Jenny James
It took a few minutes to dry with the help of the heat tool... mostly drying from underneath so as to not blow away all the powder. This pic is me waiting for the ink to dry showing close up of the embossing powder looking like star dust.

a galaxy background made using Distress Spray Stains and Embossing Powders by Jenny James
Once mostly dry, I used gel matte medium blended through Tim Holtz Layering Stencil "Falling Stars" to recreate the Milky Way. I made a bit of a mess but put blinkers on and kept going. I think next time I'd use a white paint or ink instead of a clear gel so I could see where the stars appeared!

Anyway, more embossing powder was scattered over the whole page and tapped off. I heated the page from underneath as well as on top as before. You can see I should have waited a bit longer for the ink to be more dry ... I've created a few huge clusters of stars, but they're so far away that they look squashed!

Check out the beautiful colours that are created from layering the inks. Sometimes they don't appear til they're dried completely.

adding the lyrics for Galaxy Song on the galaxy mixed media artwork by Jenny James
I've featured a song from Monty Python's Meaning of Life... its been flying around in my head since the swap began... The Galaxy Song. Its right at the end of the movie :)
The lyrics were borrowed from the internet, restyled and printed, then sliced into strips.

The first and last paragraph I left straight, but the rest was glued down as if following the Milky Way across the page. I used Dylusions Glue Stick and scissors to stick one or two words at a time, weaving and waving as it went.

adding the title for Galaxy Song on the galaxy mixed media artwork by Jenny James
Once all the words were stuck down, I used a white gel pen to add a shooting star, few spiral galaxies,  filled in some stars and add the title in groovy starry lettering.

adding the title for Galaxy Song on the galaxy mixed media artwork by Jenny James
Then decided that I should emboss the lettering as well... so dragged out my embossing pen and wrote over the lettering, added the powder and heated it. Also added a slight shadow with a black fine felt tipped pen.
Then I simply had to draw in vintage fridge... at the beginning of the song, Eric climbs out of a fridge to sing the song to Mrs Brown. Totally looks like a real one hey? lol :)

closeup of the lyrics for Galaxy Song on the galaxy mixed media artwork by Jenny James
Being a song all about time and speeding lights, I drew a pocket watch flying across the page...

closeup of the Earth for Galaxy Song on the galaxy mixed media artwork by Jenny James
And added a tiny little mini Earth on the bottom right hand corner...

overview of the finished galaxy mixed media artwork by Jenny James
All finished. It was also going to have a tape measure but I don't know how to fit it in without covering the words. Must be the fastest page I've made but I like it and enjoyed making it. I hope you like it too!

On the right hand side are the legals :) I'll have to find the musical version of this song so you can all have it spiralling around inside your heads too! lol :) I love it, one of my fave songs, along with the Butterfly Ball by Roger Glover, Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog and Movin' Right Along by Kermit and Fozzie.

Happy Creative Day!
:)
Jenny

Galaxy Song by Monty Python ... Songwriters John Du Prez / Eric Idle. Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Janie's Nature Journal

Another lovely topic close to my heart. 
I'm an avid gardener and love to spend as much time as possible in my garden. 

I'm also a member of a sustainable living group, whose  aim is to encourage everyone to plant a tree in their garden, no matter how small. Even if you only have room for a small citrus in a pot. 

I have a large lemon scented gum in my back garden which I love. Infact I love all trees. So with that in mind, I started Janie's pages by laying down a base of recycled papers. 



I cut out a cardboard mask of trees and scumbled the whole area with a mixture of blue acrylics. 

Once the mask was removed, it looked rather funny but once I added a bit of shading to create some definition it started to take shape. 



I then added a few branches and a suggestion of leaves.





I lighten the sky alittle and added a few dots because I like dots.






Lastly l added a message dear to my heart. 








Plant more trees. 


Friday, November 1, 2019

A Bucketful of Art for Meg

My Bucket List is art, art and more Art!

Art by Jenny mixed media journal page artwork featuring the theme Bucket List

A bucket list isn't something I've ever really thought about until now. It turns out that dreams are just like a bucket list and I've had plenty of those... as you do! They've changed over the years but there seemed to be a reoccurring theme...! lol

At 4 or 6 I was going to be a prima ballerina! At 9 I wanted to be an artist, writing and illustrating books. At 16 I decided I wanted to work as a designer in any full colour magazine (and wrote to lots, ending up with an apprenticeship as a compositor (typographer, graphic designer) at the local newspaper then eventually (many years later), as a designer for an embroidery magazine). At 20, I wanted to travel around the world and climb huge mountains, go on a cruise ship, read more books and colour, stitch, paint and draw. Thanks to a fab paying job, I saved up and at 23, I did all but the cruise ship, unless ferries count! lol :)

Fast forward past the dark years to a "few" years ago... 2006 ... started working towards a new dream of working for Pixar or Aardman Animation as a digital artist, illustrator, clay modelling sculptor and animator. As much as I loved what I was learning, I'm not quite good enough and don't live in the UK or USA (and wasn't moving).

So now I have a new bucket list... one that I'm now working on creating. Business mentors call it a goal, people in the real world call it self employed... I call it living the dream!

Have an art gallery and studio, guesthouse B&B for art retreats, online and real world classroom, and little shop. Creating, sharing, teaching, inspiring, healing and helping. By the seaside, anywhere in Australia. I'm getting there, one tiny ant sized step at a time! So, a life of art, art and more art :) Why not!

So that's what I've created for Meg - thoughts about art. Its more like a sampler the way it got created but art doesn't have rules or must have any particular look.

I shared a pic on Instagram the other day but blogging has been delayed due to work and life interrupting. Time is so precious as it goes super fast - and I'm not the best at managing how I use it. Its on my to do list, or rather, my Bucket List, to manage time better.

I've taken a gazzilion photos so will do an easier to follow tutorial soon on my blog but here's the long story short...

art journal page background preparation using acrylic paint by Jenny James
Smoosh and blend green and blue paint over the background using my fave little tools, the Mini Ink Blending Tool from Ranger - fyi, the foam discs are washable if you wash them at the end of the day, before the paint is dry!
The large Darkroom Door "Crackle" stencil was used to add a bit of yellow, and the Tim Holtz "Grime" (my new favourite) and "Splatters" stencils were used with blue paint. And some green and yellow...

art journal page background preparation using acrylic paint by Jenny James
I've blended paint through all the stencils using the same foam tools, one for white, the other for everything else.
The wording stencil is from Darkroom Door called "Creativity". Its perfect for this as its all about art :) Blended over the whole page using white paint. Then I added Maisie, a Dylusions stencil and mask set (this one's the middle child), also using white. Then more white to create definition in her hair, skirt and boots.

Above : Art is the window to the soul ... I saw this as I lifted off the Maisie Stencil after painting her basic shape - so of course it had to be photographed :) The border or rather, window, is the stencil of her head. Seemed perfect at the time! lol :)

art journal page wip showing how to make pencils with collage by Jenny James
Making pencils... in the past I've used skewers and tooth picks to make pencils and paint brushes, coloured with paint and for the brushes, squishing the ends to make into faux bristles.
This time I've used skinny flat sticks (spatulas or thin iceblock sticks) and cut to shape using scissors.
I coloured each with the Distress Crayons, then blended the colour into the wood using my finger.
I wanted shiny 3D pencils, so gave each a coating of Ranger's Glossy Accents then left them to dry somewhere flat and level.
Of course I forgot they were on my book when I put something down on top of them! whoops. Didn't matter, they still dried shiny :)
I've glued the pencils and paint brush (its only about 15 years old) using gel medium and held them in place with pots of paint.
Had to leave that for a while cos each time I tried to do something else, I moved the brush.

art journal page with embossing powders and acrylic paint with collage by Jenny James
I much prefer using embossing powders for abstract art and creating raised layers. Its certainly much easier than how they're used in cardmaking and scrapbooking. Plus, if you get spatters, it doesn't matter!

How I coloured the lettering :
1 ... apply some embossing ink, glue, paint or gel medium to your die cut shape (I smoothed out the squiggles but for something different, they could be used as they landed).
2 ... fold a sheet of dry paper in half and unfold, pour on some embossing powder.
3 ... dip your sticky shape into the powder. I jostled it around a tiny bit and lifted and patted it into the powder, making sure a really thick amount was stuck. If you find its too thin a layer, repeat the process. Fold the paper and pour the excess powder back into the jar.
4 ... using your heat tool (also called a hot air gun - not a hair dryer, its too blowy and not hot enough), gently hover over the powdered piece until the colours melt and blend. Careful not to get too close or stay in one spot too long - but then, charcoal is a nice colour too!
You will need to use something to hold the piece as you're heating it, so you don't burn your fingers!
If using glue or gel medium, the powder seems to melt better if left to set but not absolutely necessary.

art journal page with embossing powders and acrylic paint with collage by Jenny James
Above... Maisie's boots were created in the same way as the alphabet. I painted on an abundance of gel medium and poured on some powder. Pink for the boots, yellow for the trim, then lifted the page to let the excess powder fall back onto the folded sheet of paper.
Rather than wait for it to dry, I heated and melted the embossing powder straight away. It only bubbled a little bit, hardly noticeable.

To cover up my embossing splatters, I painted in the ground using green and white acrylic paint.
While the paint was drying I added some stickers, words and a butterfly.

art journal page with embossing powders and acrylic paint with collage by Jenny James
Accept who you are and revel in it.

Wise words stamped onto plain paper using Tim Holtz rubber stamps. The words "to do" is a sticker from Dylusions Dyary collection (hoping it makes it look more like a proper bucket list) and the "Create Art" banner is an Idea-Ology embellishment from Tim. This is a better photo of Maisie's boots :)
The flowers are hand painted after using foam daisy stamps for the initial placement. Sometimes its easier to just let the stamps go where they want and then alter and add to them. All the spots and dots and splatters are from the ends of my brushes and tools being dipped into paint.

So much for long story short...

Have a happy creative weekend!
:)
Jenny