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!

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!

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!

Happy Christmas!

There’s just time for one more post before Christmas – my Christmas angel wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas!

I like to paint an angel card each year at a this time but often have difficulty getting started. So Effy’s Soul Friend Angel Mini mixed media class was the perfect inspiration I needed to create this year’s angel. Thank you Effy – the class was amazing and I learnt so much in such a short space of time.

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 from Amazon…

…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!