…and More Doodling!
Doodling has always been my ‘go to’ art form in times of stress, and the resultant images tend to reflect what’s going on at the time for me.
I think the eyes say it all in this image!
I created her in the same way I did yesterdays image: using a collage of book pages, followed by a watercolour wash and clear gesso glaze, then doodling using pitt pens and a bit of shading with a water soluble graphite stick. The only difference was that I coloured her face using tombow markers.
Doodling…
I’ve been creating fine pen doodles, sometimes known as zentangles, for years now and have sketchbooks full of them. When I started creating these, the originals were always black and white and if I added colour I did it digitally after I’d scanned the originals. I was very precious with those originals – too frightened to experiment in case I ruined them. But just recently I’ve started adding them into some of my mixed media work…
…and I’m quite pleased with how they’re turning out.
This one was created using a collage of book pages, followed by a watercolour wash and clear gesso glaze. The doodling came next. I don’t plan this, its totally spontaneous and I’m always surprised by the end result! Lastly I added some colour to the doodling using pitt pens and a bit of shading with a water soluble graphite stick.
Virtual Reality!
I’d been reading online about Tilt Brush the new virtual reality 3D painting app by Google, thinking that it looked like a lot of fun. So I was really excited yesterday at work to be given the opportunity to try it out – absolutely awesome!! This is a picture of me creating my 3D landscape – totally oblivious to the world around me!
Back in the real world I’ve been busy creating lots of physical artwork as well.
When I finish work late at night, I often play with paint in my everyday notebook just to let off some energy and get messy. This is the result of one of those playings.
This next image was completed over a week – playing with the techniques taught in Effy’s Book of Days week 18 lesson.
I really enjoyed learning these new techniques and found the whole process very therapeutic.
Back to the notebook again…
… I had great fun using the wrong end of the paintbrush to scratch some texture into my image.
Staying with the same colour palette, I moved over to my small art journal…
…and had some more fun playing with textures.
This next spread was inspired by Tracy Verdugo‘s lesson from the Spectrum 2016 course.
It was an amazing lesson and I loved the process. I really like the Alan Alda quote that I found to go with it too.
And finally, I’ve just finished this last spread, inspired by Effy’s Book of Days week 20 lesson.
Following the BOD prompts this month has really taken me on an amazing journey and I’ve been continually surprised by the synchronicities that have appeared in my world as a result. Thank you Effy!
Nearly May
Nearly May – and the weather’s still no better. We’ve had a mixture of snow and hail storms this week! But it hasn’t stopped me making art.
I’m really loving working in this A6 journal – it’s perfect for those days when the big journal is too intimidating!
I created this spread using watercolour paints, tombow markers, a stencil and a gel medium resist.
This spread started out as a collage which then got covered up with layers of paint, ink and paint markers. I love the richness of the colours.
I started this next spread by covering the pages with washi tape, then used thin washes of acrylic paint to colour the page and create the ‘green girl’ on the right.
My ‘I Believe’ spread was inspired by Effy’s Book of Days spreecast about wonder. I really love how it turned out.
In this last spread I decided to play with some rediscovered hand made funky foam stamps that I made quite a few years ago. I had so much fun – I’m planning on making some more stamps to add to the collection!
I’ve almost finished making the postcards for the iHannah DIY Postcard swap so keep watching for some pictures of those once they’re done.
April Showers!
So far this month has been living up to it’s reputation for April showers. Puddles like this have been everywhere. But we have been blessed with some wonderful sunny days as well.
I began April by creating a couple of backgrounds in my new A6 art journal.
For this first one, I started off by using watercolour paint, then used some stencils with acrylic paint to add some interest and depth. I love the way it turned out.
This next spread was created using just watercolour paint and a stabilo all pencil to outline the circles.
Sarah Trumpp‘s quirky lady in her spread for Journal 52, week 14, inspired this next image which I created with a mixture of watercolour paint, acrylic paint and stencils.
I created this last spread in response to Effy Wild’s Book of Days class at the beginning of the month. The image was inspired by a combination of the Kuan Yin Oracle card I selected for the month and a photograph of a peacock displaying his beautiful tail that my brother uploaded to Flickr. I’ve been working on the spread for just over a week now, using a combination of tombow brush markers and Posca paint pens. I’m really pleased with how its turned out. I may well add some text to it later, but I haven’t quite decided yet.
That’s all for now, but I have a pile of postcards to prepare for the latest iHannah DIY Postcard Swap. So watch out for some more artwork soon!
My Story and Spooky Images!
A few weeks ago I attended the last of a series of Person Centred Expressive Arts Workshops with Dinah Brown up in the Lake District. One of our tasks over the weekend was to create a loom from natural materials into which we wove words from stories we had written. This is my story loom.
Going back to messy paint, I’ve managed to create a couple of rather spooky images in the last few days.
This first one was created using collage, washi tape together with some distress ink and fluid acrylic paint. When I had finished playing I noticed this strange looking person looking out at me so I used a white posca paint marker and some light coloured very dilute acrylic paint to bring the figure out from the background. Then I noticed three more shadow people standing by.
This second image started out as just playing with tombow brush markers distress ink spray and dripped fluid acrylic paint. I decided to make the drips look 3D by highlighting and low lighting them with posca paint pens. When I’d finished, I noticed that I’d created another spooky image. Not my usual style – will there be more?
Inspired by Challenges
Since the beginning of this year I have been inspired by so many challenges and classes. Although I haven’t necessarily completed all the prompts and suggestions, I’ve found that having so much inspiration has enabled me to maintain a much more consistent artistic practice. I have been making art every day – and am definitely feeling the benefits.
I’ve been working in a number of different journals and have been playing with lots of different styles.
This first piece was inspired by Effy’s Book of Days theme for the month of January. The background is a created with lots of layers of acrylic paint, then I added the bird and the lettering as collaged cutouts which I created using tombow pens. I like the subtle contrast to the bold colours of the background this creates. I wrote the quotation using a dip pen and indian ink.
“Transformation” is my interpretation of Tam’s lesson from Radiant 2. I used Tombow pens to colour the lady and the phoenix and watercolour paint for the background. I added the text digitally after scanning the completed spread.
Moving on to challenges – I thought I’d try to include some male faces in my responses to the 29 Faces challenge this year – this is my first four. I’m really loving using oil pastels for the faces.
Finally, as a result of following the Journal 52 group on Facebook, although I haven’t got around to journalling any of those prompts, I was inspired by Sarah Trump’s work and checked out her blog posts. As a result I discovered the “Together We Letter” challenge by @lissletters on Instagram. This is my response to the prompts for the first four days – so much fun!
Almost Winter Solstice
It’s almost time for the Winter Solstice and I’ve been starting to reflect on this last year in readiness for the new cycle about to begin.
I’ve also been making a fair amount of artwork inspired mainly by the amazing lessons in Effy’s Radiant 2 course – I thought it was about time I posted some of the work online. I have found it really interesting going back over my work from the last few months to notice how much my work has been changing.
This is the oldest piece, and was inspired by the lesson from Tangie Baxter. I really enjoyed using her cut-out techniques to create these pages and am sure I will use this technique again in the future.
I had so much fun creating this next piece. It was inspired by the lesson from France Papillon – I learnt so many new techniques from this class. Simple, but so effective!
Nolwenn Petitbois‘s lesson inspired this piece. It has so many layers – and i got so messy creating it – great fun!
At the end of November, I treated myself to this Winsor & Newton Cotman Half Pan Water Colour Studio Set
…and I couldn’t wait to try them out when they arrived!
This was result of that first play with my new paints! I enjoyed using them so much that I think I’ve used them in every picture I’ve made since!
My golden haired lady was inspired by Marieke Blokland‘s class – such a comprehensive lesson – so much detail. I really enjoyed creating her – especially using the gold flakes in her hair – I love the way she sparkles!
I have a load more work waiting to be uploaded, I hope to get it done before Christmas… so keep watching this space.
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.
Getting messy…
I’ve been getting messy and having fun! Not content with having recently signed up to 21 Secrets Fall 2015, I’ve just signed up to Effy Wild’s Radiant 2 Course which started on 1st October. So much juicy, messy goodness to choose from! I’m loving every minute of it!! And just for good measure. I’ve signed up for the iHannah DIY Postcard Swap – Fall 2015. Yeah! – got to share the abundance that I’m creating.
So far I’ve been playing along with two of the 21 Secrets classes, and experimenting with some of the techniques in my everyday journal.
On this first page, I was trying out a letter transfer technique from Catherine Anderson’s class. Her lesson has so many cool things to try.
This is another technique from Catherine’s lesson – a really cute mini book. It’s only 5cm x 7cm but it was so much fun to make and decorate. I think I might try and incorporate some of these into my postcards for the swap at the end of the month.
I made this image while I was watching Orly Avineri‘s class video from 21 Secrets. So many great ideas to try! I still have loads more to try out yet – but I’ll use my watercolour journal next time. My everyday journal is only made with ordinary printer paper, so it doesn’t cope very well with too much wet. This page bled quite badly through onto my handwritten notes on the previous page – oops!!
This last page started as an excuse to play with my latest washi tapes. Then I added some messy paints and ink to finish it off.
Right now, I’m busy making my journal for Radiant 2. How to make the Effydori journal (Effy’s version of the classic Midori notebook) is the first lesson Effy teaches on the course. Once that’s done, I can get started on the rest of the classes. So keep watching this space to see what I get up to next!