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!
Postcard Swap
Life has been a little manic since my last post. But I couldn’t resist the call to the latest iHannah’s DIY Post Card Swap. If you love mail art and receiving beautiful works of art through the mail then you really should try it! Just click on the link above or the link button in my sidebar to join in the fun.
Since I started the Art Psychotherapy course just over a month ago, I haven’t managed to do very much art work at home – I’ve been too busy trying to get to grips with all the new information my brain has been receiving. But we do create art at uni as part of the course, and I photograph it. I still take photos on the occasional days out we have. And I still can’t resist the urge to do a spot of digital blending to see what happens.
This is the result of a digitally altered piece of artwork blended with a photo of an piece of underwater paving. But I have ten hand made postcards to create for the swap – so I’d better get busy creating! Keep watching!
Digital Blending!
As promised yesterday…
…today I played with a spot of digital blending! I blended the original photograph together with a scan of the blue green mail art I created a few days ago. I’m quite pleased with the way it’s turned out. What do you think?
Playing With Paint!
It’s less than two days now before we get the keys to our new home and it’s getting to the point where I will have to seal up the boxes with my paint in. But I was determined to have one last play before that happens.
As you can see by the state of my hands, I had a lot of fun!
And this is the new mail art! I really wanted the colour to be all blue, but as you can see… the red and purple just couldn’t help but creep in! I used acrylic paint with stencils and fingers and home made stamps, and lots of layers – so many layers, that I don’t think any of the original envelope shows through at all!
I hope to be back with the paint by the weekend, but till then I’ll be playing with photos and blending and possibly some words!.
Purple Mail Art!
Four days left and counting! The packing is done except for the last few bits, all the boxes are taped up except for three of my art supply boxes, so we’re almost there!!
Carrying on the addiction, here’s another recycled padded envelope. This one originated from my pen supplier!
I started out with the ‘Fragile’ tape again – I do like how that looks through the paint! Then I added a couple of small gel medium transfers, and followed it up with lots of acrylic finger painting, recycled stamping, homemade stamping and stencilling. I finished off with a little metallic paint drippage. I think this one may have a face lurking in its depths … keep watching to find out!
More Mail Art!
Moving day is less than 5 days away. Almost everything is in boxes, but I keep delaying sealing them up so that I can keep painting! We’re moving into deep clean mode now – cleaning out cupboards, washing down paintwork and stuff like that. I ache all over from all the unaccustomed exercise!
I think I may be getting addicted to painting on recycled padded envelopes! They are so much fun, plus they’re about the only things I can find to paint on at the moment! After the move I’ll have loads of recycled cardboard – but for now I’m really enjoying my mail art.
I began by adding some “Fragile” tape to the envelope to get it started, then added lots of layers of acrylic paint with my fingers. I originally intended to use ink pads to do my stamping, but they are packed too deep for me to get to them right now, so I used some more acrylic paint on my homemade stamps. I finished off by adding a bit of drippage – very watered down acrylic paint. I’m not sure if it’s totally finished yet, but it felt like the right place to stop for now.
Mail Art!
I’m never quite sure what qualifies as ‘Mail Art’. Does it have to be something you make to send through the post, or can it be recycling something that has already been sent through the post? I’m sure someone will enlighten me, but in the meantime, I’m calling what I created today ‘Mail Art’!
We received it in the mail a couple of days ago when it contained some computer memory for a computer Bry is currently repairing. Knowing my acquisitive habits, he gave it to me for recycling. I originally intended to put it with my collection of padded envelopes, but it never got that far. It’s been sitting in a pile on my desk, and this evening when I was wanting to paint something small, it seemed the obvious choice of canvas.
I decorated it using acrylic paint applied with my fingers and an assortment of my recycled ‘stamps’ (sequin waste, old cards, creamer sealers, washers, etc). I finished it off using the waste from a die-cut alphabet as a stencil. I really like how it turned out – maybe I’ll re-use it as an envelope now it’s finished!