…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.
Blogging Along With Effy!
I’ve been thinking for a while that it was time I started blogging again – its hard to believe that its over a year since I last wrote a post – so when I saw Effy’s invitation to blog along with her during September, I thought it would be the perfect time to re-start my blogging practice!
So I’m kicking off today with some of my digital playing. I began with the cute insect I spotted on the path while walking in our local park. I thought he’d look happier if I added him to a flower, so I removed the path and added him to the pink flower. Then I thought I’d like to play with him as a shape, and created the mandala at the bottom of the picture. I really like how that turned out – what do you think?
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!
Anticipation
I’m really grateful for the inspiration I have had from Effy Wild and Sarah Trumpp this year. This page was inspired by both of them. The idea for the spread came from my response to Effy’s Book of Days prompt for the 29th April, and Sarah’s week 18, Journal 52 video inspired me to try drawing with my watercolour paints.
Although it’s not perfect, I’m just loving the result and will definitely be using this technique again. Thank you both for your combined inspiration!
At last my postcards for the iHannah DIY postcard swap are ready to send.
Here’s a quick sneak peak at them before they start winging their way across the ocean.
This next image is a bit of digital wizardry.
It started out as a photograph of some bare stems in the evening light. I desaturated the colour to make it black and white, then inverted the colours. I really like how it turned out.
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?
The last of the Faces
I can’t believe that a whole month has gone by since I last posted anything here. I’ve made plenty of art – just haven’t got round to sharing it. So here goes. I’m a bit late uploading them, but here are the last of my faces for 29 Faces 2016. Yeah – I made it!!
They’re created with a mixture of watercolour, oil pastels and pencil. I really enjoyed the challenge of drawing so many faces.
I’ve also been playing along with the Journal 52 prompts. This is my response to Sarah Trumpp‘s prompt for week seven using a mixture of tombow brush pens and posca paint pens – called “Nerdy Love”…
…and for week eight using a mixture of fluid acrylics, distress ink, collage, tombow brush pens, posca paint pens, stabilo all pencil and calligraphy pens – called “Listen to Crow”.
This next spread was created in response to the prompts for week eight of Effy Wild’s Book of Days. I created it over the course of a week using tombow brush pens and computer generated text, and was amazed by how it all came together over the course of the week.
I was continuing to think about spring and all the new growth starting to appear while playing with acrylic paint which led me to create this spread. I just love the vibrant colours on this page.
I love the word emergence, and had great fun creating this spread in response to Effy Wild’s prompt for week ten of Book of Days. I used acrylic paint, fluid acrylics and a collage of computer generated text to create these pages.
I have lots more work to share so keep watching … here’s just a sneak peak of something a bit different that I’ll show you more of in the next post.
Having Fun and Getting Messy!
I thought it was about time I caught up with posting some images; I’ve spent so much time having fun and getting messy in my art journals that I’ve not got round to uploading any of my work.
This image was inspired by a Journal 52 prompt to pick a zany word and illustrate it. I chose ‘exuviate’ which means, apparently, to shed or cast off a covering. I liked the idea of emerging into a new reality.
Returning to the 29 Faces 2016 challenge – I can’t resist playing with the oil pastels. I created the colourful background using Tombow brush markers – I just love those bright colours!
Effy Wild inspired this next piece with her class, based on Nolwenn’s lesson, taken from the Radiant 2 course.
This last piece was created in response to two Journal 52 prompts – ‘above your head’ and ‘below your feet’. When I saw these two prompts it occurred to me that depending on how you looked at things, they could either be pointing in opposite directions or the towards each other. This was how I saw it.
I still have more to post – I’ll try to create another post tomorrow. Keep watching!