More dribbles….

You understand that all this dribbling is acrylic ink on my pages.  It’s not actually me dribbling.  I’m not that bad.

 

A simple painted background for this one then I got out my beloved acrylic ink to doodle and dribble.

In answer to the questions about the page I shared yesterday, the letters are indeed letter stickers.  Old BasicGrey Motifica one’s to be exact.  Now you know how long I have had them! So what are you waiting for, get all your old letter stickers out and create some texture with them.

now what…?

One of my problem pages. As I mentioned before I’m on a mission to add more texture to my pages, and this is one of them, but I’m stuck again.

 

I envisaged it being a black and white page when I started.  That alone is rare as I never envisage anything when I start a page. Needless to say I should stick to that as it didn’t work first time around. So it got covered with the trusty gesso. 

Then I added colour. Didn’t like it.

More colour. Yeaaah, that was ok.

Needed more.

More colour.

Now I’ve added black to it. Yes! Like it now.

But what to do next.  Guess for now it will stay as a background waiting for the next round of inspiration to strike.

loving texture…

I’m on a mission to bring more texture into my pages, along with more dribbles because I love them so.

My journal pages seem to be hitting a roadblock as a result though. I’m getting the textures I want….but then what? I have a few on the go at the moment that are just gathering lots of  layers of gesso as I white wash everything out and start again.  I’m not disheartened though, I’m quite liberated by the whole situation as it’s allowing me to free myself up and settle into my creative style a little more.  These things always take time….and paint, and LOTS of gesso!

Did I mention it’s my turn again on UKS Art Journey? No? Oh, well it is.  This time we’re looking at hiding your journaling in plain sight.

rubber and dribbles…

 

 

 

Finally I didn’t just find time, I made time to play in my journal. It was a page of layer as I started and liked, carried on and hated, got out the gesso and palette knife and covered up most of it.  The more layers I added the more I liked what was being created.

When I was happy I whipped out the rubber stamps as this page didn’t scream “write on me” and I had a nagging feeling that if I did I wouldn’t like it so much any more. 

Tim’s stamp said what I needed it to say as right now I’m working hard to follow some life long dreams. It’s hard work and I have been told that I beat myself up to much when something doesn’t go to plan.  And the little girl, she represents me, as well as being my favourite stamp.  She’s becoming a fond friend in this journal.

 

stars, stripes and circles

 

A work in progress, but I thought I’d share it all the same.  This one is using off cuts and chopped up tags to create of focal point.  The background was painted in with dabbers in aqua, pool and stream.

It still needs some work on it, but I’m waiting for that inspiration to strike. Maybe I’ll crack out the inktense pencils for it.

new beginnings

 

I’m not quite sure why, but last week I decided that I “needed” to start a new journal, and while having a tidy up (and I use that term loosely) I found a moleskine sketchbook. Perfect as I want this journal to just be double pages.

 

I’ve set to work in it already and have a bunch of pages that are all very different from each other.  One of them I’m already not to seen on, but hey, I wanted to try something, and I did, and now I know not to try it again.

 

Recently on UKStampers, a question was asked in the Art Journalling forum – “what gets a page started”. I had to think about it as often I don’t think about it. It can be as simple as what’s to hand.  Having had a bit of a tidy up has probably been a huge contribution to my sudden burst of creativity as now everything is to hand. All my paint, ink sprays, mediums, pencils…oh the joy. The page above was partly down to that.  The pink (Liquitex HB in Medium Magenta) is my current colour obsession, evidenced by the fact I have just ordered a pair of magenta nubuck ballet shoes from French Sole (another addiction I have). But that’s a different story.

 

Back to the page, I love magenta, and came across my Gold dabber when tiding them away. I love the metallic dabbers. They look like nothing in the bottles, but they are probably my to date, favourite metallic paints.

 

If you’re going to use your favourite colour, why not your favourite stamp? Simple page, full of favourites. I love this little girl from Stampotique and she works great as a repeated image.

Other occasions, it’s something I want to say that brings about a page. On this one, I wanted to express how the days just seem to running into the nights at the moment.  That good ole perennial struggle for more hours in the day please. So, I did a sun in the place of the moon.  The sun was done with Liquitex HB Cadmium Yellow Light Hue, Cadmium Orange and Red Pepper Paint Dabber, the sky with Jenni Bowlin’s Spice Tin dabber (It makes a great night sky colour). The whole page was then spritzed with Perfect Pearl Mist in Perfect Pearl, just to give it a starry shimmer without the pain of creating stars.

 

I’m going to get back to some creativity now, but don’t forget to check out UKScrappers Art Journey where this week I’m looking at bring texture into your pages.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

finally….

On the way back from our trip to Edinburgh we stopped off at the Angel of the North. I have wanted to see it in person since it was commissioned, and all I have to say is “ wow”.  We even got blue skies for the occasion.

    

a couple of works in progress…

I’m still drawing/doodling, which ever you want to call it.  I’m not quite doing something everyday, but here are a couple of no where near finished pages in my A4 moleskine.  They are at the basic drawing stage awaiting lots more colour and me to have a clue where to take them next. Still gives, me something to do!

meeting a few friends…

Tien Tien (also known as Sweetie in english)

There is nothing like being back in your own bed, but we had a lovely time away in Edinburgh. Such a fascinating city and, in all honesty, we ran out of time to see and do everything we wanted to do. With two small kids in tow and a Panda’s at the zoo, Edinburgh Zoo was top of our list to visit. 

As lovely as Panda’s are, and we had a very enthusiastic guide, who furnished us with loads of information and made it great visit, my heart lies with the big cats.  In particular the Jaguar. Edinburgh Zoo even has a male with a black coat. Heaven for me.  I could have stayed and watched them all day.

be back soon....

water birds

One thing that I have promised myself recently is that I will draw more. A lot more, so my art journal is doubling up as a playground to experiment with my drawing.  First thing this morning I opened my journal to a nice new page and quickly sketched n some more birds, this time three of them tottering on top of each other – bit of a metaphor for how life is feeling at the moment.  But what to do with them… I had a little think about how I’m feeling at the moment, trying to stay on two feet, living like a single parent during the week with two kids in primary school whilst running the house and a business.  It can sometime feel like I’m about to be swept away by it all…enter waves crashing on the tiny island of sanity my birds are standing on.  

I’ll probably tweak this page a wee bit yet, and I’m not sure if I need to journal on it.  I’ve used watercolours on this one and I’m falling in love with them all over again.  It’s been a very long time since I last used any. Then again, it’s been a very long time since I stopped drawing.  Feels good to start again.

Thanks for stopping by!

mop up page…

This weeks class, by yours truly, for UKS Art Journey is now up.  I won’t show the page or the class here, but it’s all about using acrylic paints (Liquitex Heavy Body in my case) and other permanent medium to create layers. 

As always I had extra paints and ink so rather than waste them I used them on a second page, adding in the spare scraps of papers that I used. Now I have a finished page, which is waiting for me to add some journalling to. 

The bird (not the prettiest is he…LOL), was drawn and coloured with neocolor II crayons, with some extra detailing with posca pens. I’ve used Dylusions Around the Edge stamps for foliage, stamped with Archival Ink in Blue Violet. Followed by a quick whip round the edge with a Jenni Bowlin Dabber – Spiced Tin, my absolute favourite dabber colour, and there are a few to choose from!

Now, what shall I rant about on this page…there’s plenty of room!

Thanks for stopping by.

getting ready..

 

…for the next class I’m doing for UKS Art Journey….

makes for a nice afternoon of messing about with paints.

looking for inspiration

One of my favourite pass times is to spend way too much time online, trawling websites, blog hopping and generally letting myself be bounced around while looking for inspiration. Colours, textures, techniques, things to help spark my creativity, leaving me with pages and pages of notes and idea’s and sketches for future projects (some very future projects looking at my notes) . 

Today though I wanted to share this video with you from Brett Weldele, a US Comic Book Artist, using Distress Inks and Stains and produces beautiful work with them.   Enjoy!

 

Brette Weldele Distress Inks

Time

Not a lot of creating going on at the moment as the lurgy is still lingering and leaving me somewhat shattered.  It’s the second posting of the “Journal Your Art” CJ next week, so if I do nothing else I have to get my pages done so I can pop it in the post.  The theme for this one is “Time” and this is a peek of my page. There is another Time CJ in the group so I’m looking forward to seeing how people interpret, and having done this one I have lots of idea’s for the next one.