Unstoppable

Morning folks!  It's Kim here with today's art journal project!  I wish I had step-by-step instructions but I confess that once I got going on this baby...I didn't even think to stop!  However, I'm happy to share some tips on how this was created (and I'm working on some videos too!)

I ended up being able to take Catherine Scanlon's Gelli Plate class, held at our studio, a few weeks ago and let me tell you...it was fabulous!  If we have Catherine back for another round of classes...you need to attend!  She's an amazing artist and a great teacher, we had so much fun!!  Anyway...during the class (which was an all day event) I ended up making 23, yes 23, pages!!  This all served as backgrounds for what will be finished art journal pages.  (We used an inexpensive spiral bound journal book, which we took apart.  Once finished, I'll rebind the journal.)  So the background of this page was created using a Gelli Plate and stencils.  And see that light shine in the upper right hand corner of the photo...metallic paint!  Oh, man it's fabulous!

Once I got my background pages home, I spent many hours just staring at them...my youngest said to me one morning, "Mom, why are you just sitting there starting at those pages?"  LOL!  Seriously, I had a breakdown of creative mojo!  And then, just like that, during dinner one night...an idea popped into my head!  Actually, it was more of a thought that I needed to add a big text circle to this page (this background is one of my favs).  I found some heavy weight text paper that I had in my stash and cut out the circle.  Then I stamped one of Dina's new girlie stamps (links at the end of this post) on to the paper and colored her in with watercolors, which is becoming one of my fav new tools.  I attached the circle to the far right of my page and cut off the excess.  Then I used that "magic pencil"  (yes, I promise I'm getting these for the store!!) around the circle and used a waterbrush to blend the black...a strong black line makes everything better!

Then I remembered that I had one of Dina's text stamps in my stash and the shape of it fit perfectly around my circle...ohhh...journaling love!  I added the sentiment, cut apart of course, from Dina's stamp set and then I found a Blossom Bucket embellie hanging around and lo' and behold, it was the perfect hair accessory!

And there you have it...my very first completed Gelli Plate art journal page.  And I've had so much fun with these backgrounds...that I've made a bunch more pages.  Can't wait to share!  Want to grab some of the products that I used on today's page...See the links below:  Enjoy!

Gelli Plate (8x10)
Adirondack Acrylic Paints
Scribbly Women Stamp Set
Earnest Stamp Set
Antique Buttons (Blossom Bucket)

Practice

Hi all...Kim here, running late with my blog post once again!  So happy that our DT Manager, Bonnie Irvine, sends me early morning emails that contain gentle reminders of my memory lapse!  I'd be lost without her!  Thanks, Bonnie!  So on to today's project...let's start with the quote (written in my most awful handwriting...Donna Downey, I am not!) 

Practice is the hardest part of learning...

It's true, right?  It's not so hard once we've mastered a particular skill but ongoing practice takes a commitment.  Can I just tell you how many times I want to give up on trying to draw faces?  Ugh...I'm seriously horrible at drawing...like I can't even draw a very good stick figure!  However, I'm continuing to push past those annoying little "just give up" voices in my head and am moving forward with more practice and working to find what style works for me.  This journal project started in the midst of a big snowstorm, which, in my opinion, is the perfect time to create art!

I started by sketching my face with a "magic" pencil...and really, I'm going to get these for the store...I also used a reference photo that I found in a face drawing book I picked up.

I don't feel a real need for super perfect details on my face drawings and actually would probably like them more if they were more "sketchy," if that makes sense.  But my strong left brained ways has a hard time letting so of being precise...I'm working on that...hey, I'm publicly sharing my kind of crooked face drawing...that's a start! LOL!  (I do like the nose on this gal...)

I then added color to the face using Gelatos (links at the end of this post) and seriously...this is my most favorite way to use Gelatos.  Just scribble some color onto your project and using a watercolor brush to blend...LOVE!

And yes, I love how the water brush picks up and moves the black lines from the pencil...instant shading!  Since I wasn't sure what to do with the hair, I left that and added color to the background of both pages by applying acrylic paints, layering a stencil over the paint, and removing paint with a baby wipe.  (Thank you, Dina Wakley!)

Don't mind the lump on her neck...I'll fix that in a minute!  Once the paint was on the background, I remembered the Donna Downey class I had taken, where we layered flowers all over the woman's head so I thought I'd try my hand at using a stencil to create the same look.  Here's what I came up with...

This was a lot easier than hand drawing leaves and flowers.  I used a sponge to "pounce" the paint through the stencil...just like you would on a wall.  Then I added some flowers...

For the flowers, I traced (using pencil) through the stencil and then added the paint over the pencil lines.  Once the flowers were added, I needed to fill in those empty spots so I added lots of little dots and squiggles (that's a technical term) to fill everything out.

 

I also beefed up the eyelashes a bit on my model and then I stamped this great quote from Dina Wakley, "create with abandon, just put the brush to the paper and see what happens...." over my girl's fixed neck.  Lastly, I used India ink to hand write the practice quote...not sure I'd do that again as the ink really spreads quickly and I had a hard time controlling the ink.  I prefer either typewritten or sticker letters but it was fun to practice with the ink.

And there you have my snowy day next face project...I hope you enjoy and you find some time today to create with abandon!!

Supplies:
Dylusions Art Journal

Adirondack Acrylic Paints

Dylusions 9x12 Leaf Flourish Stencil

Dylusions 9x12 Dotted Flower

Create with Abandon Stamp

Archival Ink (Jet Black)

Gelatos (Neutrals and 50's Diner)

Create Art

Hey, it's me (Kim) again...and I'm late again and posting an older project, which I hope I haven't previously posted! LOL!  This is a project that I created to use as a make 'in take when we opened the studio (have you been down to visit us yet, if you're local?  Would love to have you stop by if you live in the NH, MA, or ME areas!)  This tag was really easy and fun to create so let's get started!

 

I started by using Art Anthology ink sprays.  If you haven't used these yet or think that they're just like any other spray...think again!  I LOVE this new product.  The colors are soft and all coordinate so well together...and the best part?  They react like Distress Inks!  Think of these babies like Distress Ink in a liquid...amazing!  You can move the color around with water and it reacts with water...that's right, water drops, picking up colors from a craft sheet, all possible with these sprays.  Awesome!  (See those fun drops at the top of my tag?  Achieved by drying the ink and then pick up more from the craft sheet!)

 Next, I used a few coordinating colors to add stenciled designs to the tag. I keep the background stencils fairly light so it wouldn't interfere too much with the face.  (Product links at the end of the post)

 

Here's the tag after adding the two stencil designs (and check out those water drips...fabulous!  That was achieved by adding water after the sprays were dry...Distress Ink in a can!)

 Next I grabbed one of my face stamps...Look at the size of that baby!  It's perfect for art journaling but I wanted to try my hand at using just a portion of the face on my tag.  Be sure to use Archival Ink when stamping images on backgrounds.

 

And here's the result!  Whoa, mama, isn't that amazing!  Looks like I drew it, which is even more exciting because I didn't need to draw (and never could have done this well!), Donna did it all for me!  (Don't you love how she has the word artist in her hair - over on the left.)

I add some color to the face, I used Gelatos.  I put a bit of color down and then used my finger to blend.  I love the addition of the color...even though there's still a strong yellow color to the tag, the eyes, lips, and checks really pop out.  So much fun!  I used a Catherine Scanlon stamp for the sentiment and a white gel pen to outline the word artist.

Enjoy today's post and find some time today to make art!!

Supply List:
#8 Manila Tags
Gelatos (Neutral& 50's Diner)
Unity Stamps (She Is)
Journal Words (Catherine Scanlon)
Classic Words Stencil (Wendy Vecchi)
Burlap Layering Stencil (Tim Holtz)
Art Anthology Sprays (Timeless and Guacamole)
Distress Inks
Archival Ink (Jet Black)

Be Fearless...

Hi folks!  Happy Saturday!  My apologizes for the delay is posting today...I confess that I totally forgot.  I think the holidays have created a sleepy brain...LOL!

Today I'm sharing a project that I created during a recent class with Dina Wakley.  The focus of the class was on understanding color, which is definitely an area where I struggle with when it comes to art journaling, which makes me giggle since I have no issues with this when it comes to card making.  I think much of has to do with me being so darn excited about creating journal pages that I grab way too much stuff and struggle with knowing when to stop applying color, design, and layers!  WooHoo!

During the class, Dina talked about the color wheel and using colors that complimented each others and those that were on opposite sides of the color wheel (if you don't have a color wheel, get one, it's really a helpful tool!)  We created a bunch of color combinations in the beginning of the class before we started working on the journal pages.  We created two pages and this one has become one of my favorites...I love the background color and contrast of the deep blue.  Hey, I did it...two color families and a neutral!  Yippee!

We started by using deli paper (get some of this stuff, it's awesome!), paint, and stencils to create a sheet of patterned paper.  Once that was dry, we cut out random shapes; since I'm a fan of circles, that's what I went with.  Then we created the background of the journal page, using a contrasting color.  (Orange and blue are on opposite sides of the color wheel).  I used only colors next to each other on the color wheel to create the background colors (yellow, red, orange).  Once the color was dry on the page, then I added the deep blue/purple circles (again, colors that are next to each other on the color wheel).  Then it was time to add additional designs and neutral colors.  Black is my favorite neutral as it really pops on a page.  I used paint in a bottle with a pointed tip to draw the fern image and write the words "be fearless" and a watercolor pencil to draw around the circles.  I then cut out text paper to fill in the leaves.  Lastly, I just added some stenciling.  Again, using black and my background orange color.  (Oh, and I added some tiny white dots 'cause I like dots!)

This was a really fun project...learning to play with color is great stuff!  Grab a color wheel, art journal, stencils, and some paint and experiment...be fearless!  (Product supply below)

Supplies:
Dylusions Art Journal
Adirondack Acrylic Paint
Classic Words Stencil (from Wendy Vecchi)
Various Crafters Workshop Stencils

It's a Wonderful Life

 

Hi all!!  It's Kim today with a project that I'm really hoping I haven't shared with you yet...LOL!  That's what happens when you create a bunch of projects and then fail to post them.  You can't remember which ones you posted and which ones you still need to post!

When Tim first introduced his burlap panels, one of his samples included some of his Distress Paints and I absolutely loved the look and the color combo.  Once I finally got my hands on some of the panels, I did a big 'ol CASE to create this project!

I started by putting down a few pieces of tissue tape and then applying some random spots of gesso, using a palette knife.  This gives the paint something to "cling" to when it's applied.  Once the gesso was dry, I stamped a sentiment (from Tim) on to a #8 Manila Tag (using Jet Black Archival Ink), attached it to the panel and then used the sponge dabber top to add some Distress Paints all over the panel...even on the burlap itself.

 Once the Distress Paint was dry,  I layered a piece of filmstrip, overlapping the tag.  I then added my photo, black and white is perfect for such a colorful tag, and then added a bunch of Tim embellies!  The metal key was aged with more Distress Paint.  The tag was from my stash.

I had some of these tiny bottles in my stash and I added some random pieces of designer paper to give the bottles that "note in a bottle" look.  Tiny pieces of twine around the neck of the bottle was a perfect finishing touch.

My last step was to stamp these sentiment, from the Way With Words stamp set, on a manila tag.  I then cut the words apart and inked the edges with a blending tool and Gathered Twigs ink.  Cutting the sentiment apart allowed me to put the words where they fit best.

I hope you enjoyed today's project!  Supply list below:

Burlap Panels

Way With Words

Distress Paint (Seedless Preserves, Broken China, Wild Honey...my fav combo)

Manila Tag

Blending Tool

Distress Ink (Gathered Twigs)

Film Strip Ribbon

Metal Keys

Tissue Tape

Finding Inspiration

If you're like many crafters, grand ideas don't always easily pop into your mind.  Many struggle with spending too much time staring at a pile of cardstock, paints, and embellishments.  True, there are times that the light bulb goes off, an idea hits, and I can barely wait to get into the studio to create.  However, due to tight schedules and a mind that is already full to the brim with a large "to do" list, too often I sit down at my table, ready to create, and find that I'm struggling with what to make and what products to use.

I often will start a project by simply putting color down on a few pages and an idea will formulate but when I hit those times of crafter's block (think writer's block) I find that nothing works better than watching some videos or looking through galleries/books of my all time fav artists.

For today's art journal pages I took some of what I learned at a recent Donna Downey class (use masking tape!) and combined that with one of my favorite Donna images...her fun and funky flowers.

To start, I covered two pages with masking tape, being sure to overlap pieces of tape and to make the pieces uneven.  I even left some white space.  After the tape was down, I covered both pages with gesso.

I then used Distress Paint (links to specific colors at the end of the post) to cover the top and bottom of the pages.  A good spritz of water made the colors run together beautifully (drippage!)

The next step was to add a few stencil designs.  I'm really working on trying to get a good mix of images as I find I get carried away with the stencils and I can't stop!  I'm trying to stay with a specific color family, for example, colors in the blue/purple family, and ones that compliment (why is it I can easily pick colors for a card but struggle with paint??) each other.

 

This page got some Seedless Preserves Distress Ink and silver paint...that's it!

Next, I sketched the flowers using a Stabilo pencil (these pencils react with water and then dry smudge free...I adore them!).

 

Once I was happy with the designs (these are totally Donna...I LOVE them!), I used acrylic paints to color them in and then a text stencil to add a little design (again, an idea inspired by Donna).

 

Then I added my pop of color...bright yellow!  And I can hardly live without splatters so I watered down acrylic paint, loaded up my brush, and tapped the handle on the side of my hand...perfect splats!

 

All that was left to do was to add a sentiment, on a manila tag, and the date.  This has to be one of my favorite art journal projects to date!

 

I will say that I'm looking forward to continuing to grow as an art journal artist (I am so in love with this art form) and developing my style.  At this point, I feel like much of my work is too closely like my art heros (Donna, Wendy, Dina, etc.) but I'm ok with that.  For those of us who don't have art freely flowing from their heads and fingers, I think imitating styles (note, this does not mean copying anyone's work and putting your name on it!) is a great way to learn and through imitation and experimentation you will find your own style and the art that most speaks to you.  (Click on the first photo to enlarge and get a good look at all that texture!)

Enjoy and here's to making art!!

Supplies:
Dylusions Journal

Adirondack Paints (Sunshine Yellow)

Distress Paints (Seedless Preserves & Broken China)

Golden Paints (Titan Buff)

Archival Inks (Jet Black)

The Crafters Workshop Stencils (Quartrefoil & Chevron)

Gesso

Create Art

Today's post is about being inspired by art wherever you find it!  My kids belong to a monthly subscription plan from Kiwi Crate (if you have kids, check it out...great stuff) and last month's projects were all about modern art. 

One of the projects was to create a Mondrian painting.  About half way through the project, I realized I could create the same look in my journal!  I love how it turned out...so different than the free form of many art journal pages but it's great to have a different look gracing my journal pages.

 

 

 I started by painting two pages with gesso.  You'll always want to prep your pages with gesso whenever paint is involved.  (Using Dylusions Ink Sprays, don't gesso!)  I then used low tack tape (you could use washi or tissue tape) to create my boxes.  I actually used a Configurations Box for the design!

 

 Then I got busy with paint!  I chose four colors that worked well together and then added two neutrals, black and cream.

 Once the paint was dry, I decided to decorate the boxes.  Now I would normally use Archival Inks with stencils but I adore Wendy's new ink colors and they were the perfect match for my paint colors as I wanted more of a watermark look.  I used a bunch of new Wendy stencils as well as a few of Catherine's new stamps.  (See supply list links at the end of this post).  I kept the tape on when I was stenciling.

 

 Once all of my boxes were decorated, I removed the tape!  WooHoo!!  I was so excited by the final look...so different than what I normally create but it was so much fun!  (I need to go back and clean up a few of my lines...makes me twitch that I had a little paint sneak under the tape!)

 Here's the full journal spread.  Super fun and quick project...what have you been inspired by this week?

Supplies:

Dylusions Journal

Adirondack Paint Dabbers

Wendy Vecchi Stencils (2 Fancy Flowers, 3 Flourishes)

Crafters Workshop Stencils (Well Rounded, Cursive Alpha)

Catherine Scanlon Stamps (Journal Words, Random Shapes)

Adventures in Drawing

 

Friends...Today I'm going to share all of my latest drawings...my new obsession...drawing faces.  And yes, I'm even going to share the "ugly" ones! LOL!  Now, according to Dina (Wakley) I'm not allowed to make negative comments about my art...so....I'll try and behave!  Actually the reason I want to share my first attempts is to encourage you to keep on working at your art, at what you love...it will improve and you will grow as an artist and crafter!  I seriously can't believe the difference in just a week - the before (on the left) and after (on the right) is what you see above...and that's after only one week!  Giddy!!!  (A product list of what I'm using in my journal is listed at the end of the post...and the new 5x8 Dylusions journal is PERFECT for this type of practice...LOVE it!)

 So what got me started?  I've long admired all of these great faces you see in mixed media projects, especially the sketching line drawings that are common in Dina's work.  Last week she posted a new online class...Facing the Facts on starting to learn how to draw faces.  I signed up on the spot (and I highly recommend the class)!  At the end of the introduction video, Dina asked us to create a sketch..this will be our before sketch and this is the sexy mama (see, I'm not being critical) that you see above.  I actually didn't think she was that bad...at the time...

This is my second sketch...just the second one and already my eyes look so much better!  Dina is an amazing artist and instructor...she makes it look so easy and if you sketch while watching the video you really "get it."  I like the face shape on this one much more as well and I'm kind of understanding how to do the hair.  (Hair is way harder than you might think!)

Here's attempt number four...this was my first attempt at just drawing on my own, without watching Dina at the same time.  I also jotted down a few notes from Dina's video...reminders to myself about what to do and what not to do.  This one...her neck is way too long but I'm still happier with the eyes and found that sketching them was a bit faster and easier.

 

Our next project was to paint!  Ugh...painting is super hard...at least for me and I'm finding that my real preference is for just the sketches.  I love the work of sketching and adore the look of the journaling showing through the face...definitely my favorite look!  However, it was great to learn more about how to create shadows and highlights.  And I even mixed my own skin color...not too bad!  Of course this girl's head is enormous (I mean delightfully brainy) but I was happy with the end results.  I need to learn to not be so precise...

And then there's this one...this "they can't all be winners" one! LOL!  I was actually experimenting with putting paint down first and then adding the sketch lines...yeah, not so much, but it's good to try things to see how they'll turn out and I confess that I'm having a BLAST with my stencils and paint!  Making the journal page backgrounds is so much fun!

And then there's number seven...I love number seven...Polka dots, sketchy lines, highlights of bright pink...yeah, it's all good and I'm happy!  I followed one of Dina's tips...use a reference photo, don't try to make up a face in your imagination...I mean I'm sure some people can do this...I'm not one of those people.  So I used one of Dina's sketches as inspiration and decided to try more of a tilted head.  My eyes are finally more realistically sized (and they were super easy to sketch), my nose actually resembles a nose, and the hair looks like hair...not some weird 60's wig!  **giggle**  (She's still rockin' some big 'ol lips but that's ok...) 

I'm seriously so darn excited about Dina's class and learning these new techniques!!  When I tell you I can barely draw a stick figure, I'm not even kidding!  If I can do this, you can do it!  Go for it!!!  Supply list below:

5x8 Dylusions Journal
Adirondack Acrylic Paints
Golden Acrylic Paints
Crafters Workshop Stencils (Well Rounded, Striped Leaves, Messy Circles, Echoes, Life Months, Tiny Circles, Swiss Dot, Cursive Alpha, Chevron)
Turkish Grunge

Archival Ink (Jet Black)

Believe Every Day

Hi there crafty friends!  Kim here today to share a quick Pan Pastel project I worked on last week.  I still need to work on using this product but this was a bunch of fun to create...and easy!!

 A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a Donna Downey class (call me EXCITED!)  It was an amazing class and I got to attend with Donna Marie, which made it even more fun!  The class was the Big 40 and including a book with 40 (yes, 40!) techniques!  One of the products we played with were Pan Pastels.  I've had the Pan Pastels in my stash for awhile but confess that I haven't used them much.  Donna Downey had a few canvases with her in class and they were stunning.  She said they were so easy to create and could be made it just about a half hour so...when I got home I decided to break out my new 5x8 Dylusions journal and my Pan Pastels to try to make some tress of my own!  (On a side note...I've decided to use my small Dylusions journal as my test journal.  It's the perfect size for practicing and then I can move on to my larger journal and a larger project when I'm comfortable with a certain technique).

So...to start I grabbed my Mixed Media I and II Pan Pastels, some sponges (they come with the pastels and we sell them separately) and my small journal.

The first step was super easy...just apply a color!  (After the fact I realized that I should have applied Gesso to the page first as the pastels need something to "grab" onto.  Leaving off the gesso meant that my pastels remain a bit too transparent for my liking...live and learn!)  You do need to apply a fixative in between each layer of pastels.  My favorite fixative?  Hair spray!  It seems to work and seems quite nice...LOL!

Next I added a few layers of ground...these colors were a bit too bright for me so you'll see that by the end of the project I had managed to tone them down a bit and blended everything together a bit better.

 I then used the white to lightly add the tree trunks and created the basic tree shape with the lightest green shade.

I outline the tree trunks with my "magic pencil"...this is a pencil that reacts with water and one that I'll be bringing into the store because you need one of these pencils...you might need two or three or...(I LOVE my pencil...a recommendation from Dina Wakley!)  I also added more color to my trees and more blending in the ground.  See how my trees are a bit too light?  I think that's because I left off the gesso...don't forget the gesso!!

 

Since everything needs "splotty dots" I had to add some to this piece.  This is just some watered down paint that I picked up with a paint brush to flick the paint on to the page.

 

 Then i just added a sentiment (from Sweet 'n Sassy) and the date.  Since this is more of a "practice" page for me, I didn't add a ton of layers. I more wanted to see how I did at laying down colors, created the tree shape, etc.  Next step is to try another page with the gesso as I think I'll get more depth of color.  Did you know that you can also create your own pastel colors by mixing in white for lighter shades and black for darker?  This was a tip Donna shared in her class.  This means that you can do a ton of work with just her Mixed Media I and II packages without needing to purchase a bunch of extra pastels.  I love those kinds of tips...helps you get more out of what you already have!

I hope you enjoyed today's project and you're encouraged to get out there and try some new products and new technique!!  Something wonderful does happen every day...especially when it comes to making ART!

Supplies:

Mixed Media I 

Mixed Media II

Dylusions 5x8 Journal

Archival Ink - Jet Black