Trying Out My New Pens

For Christmas I got these Tombow Dual Brushpens 18 Colour Set (Primary) and have been itching to try them out ever since. Today I finally had enough time to play!

I had already created the background using watercolour paint, so I drew the figure using pencil, outlined it using a uni pin fine liner, then coloured it using the Tombow pens.

I love how easy they are to blend and am very pleased with the final result. I can see I shall be ordering some more colours very soon!

Soft Leather Journal Cover

Ever since I started Radiant 2 and made my own Effidori, I’ve been wanting to get a leather version for my handbag journal and have had my eye on a soft leather journal cover from YarnTreeStudioUK on Etsy.

And yeah – I finally have this one – it’s so beautiful! I chose the Quarto size which is 5.5″ x 5.5″ and am loving the square shape of the pages and the long landscape shape of the double spread.

The beauty of having a journal like this is that I can choose what kind of paper to use in it and can vary the size and shape of the pages. I stared by creating three signatures from cold press watercolour paper, and am loving the results!

I used the first three spreads to do the warm-up exercises in Iris Fritschi-Cussens lesson in Radiant 2.

Creating all these drips was great fun…

…and I love how this page turned out. Although it has been pointed out that my spelling is a little off!

Writing across the face on this spread was so liberating – I usually struggle to match the eyes on my faces.

For the main image in Iris’s lesson, I went back to using my Effidori journal.

I have resisted using oil pastels for so long, but really enjoyed using the technique that Iris taught us in this class. I will definitely be using oil pastels for faces in the future!

I loved Sarah Trumpp‘s lesson and decided to go back to my small journal and use my new watercolour paints to create some quirky people.

I called the first one Tagging Along…

…and created the second one to illustrate the fall I had a couple of weeks ago. I have really enjoyed creating these cartoon like caricatures and can’t wait to do some more.

There’s a good chance that this will be my last post before Christmas – so have a good one, and I’ll catch up with you when things calm down again.

Visible collage!

It’s been a while since I made a collage that stayed visible after I completed the piece. Normally by the time I finish the image, the collage is buried under layers of paint, stamping or stencilling or a mixture of all three. But the last two classes I’ve done as part of Radiant 2, both have visible collage in the completed pieces!

This first piece was my response to Dyan Reaveley‘s class.

Her lesson was so great, I especially enjoyed the things she shared about her process – thank you Dyan. Although I didn’t have many of the supplies Dyan used, I think my substitutions have worked well – I love the result and the quotation taken from Sandra Sturtz Hauss’s poem “These are my wishes for you”.

My second piece was made in response to Effy‘s interpretation of Felicia‘s class.

I loved the process, and learnt loads from the note writing. I found it really interesting to create a second image in a different style – thank you for a really inspiring lesson Effy. By the way – if you want to look up the quotation, it’s taken from “On Joy and Sorrow” by Kahlil Gibran.

I haven’t quite made up my mind what to do next, but I think I might start making postcards for iHannah’s postcard swap ready for the end of the month.

Loving the Effidori!

I am so loving my new Effidori! I always love learning new book making techniques and Effy’s lesson on how to make the Effidori was so easy to follow that I enjoyed every minute of it!

And I’m loving the results – both the way it looks and using it as a journal. Thank you Effy for an amazing lesson!

Having made the journal, I was ready to start the first guest teacher lesson on the Radiant 2 course.

Felicia Borges lesson was just so much fun and really messy. I love the way she works. I didn’t have all the supplies that she used, and my alternatives created a rather different look. But I’m really pleased with the result!

Which lesson shall I do next I wonder? Keep watching to find out.