Thursday, April 30, 2015

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Capitals, Colour, and White Space


This month the Westcoast Calligraphy Society enjoyed Cheryl Tasaka's presentation on capitals, colour, and white space.  It will be fun to use these in my journal/sketchbook, and on cards and envelopes.


Saturday, April 25, 2015

Postage Stamps


I've been playing around with postage stamps recently.  I bought a grab bag of cancelled stamps years ago, thinking that they would make good collage elements.  In the recent spirit of "using up stuff"  I got them out and made some artist trading cards.


Friday, April 24, 2015

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Using Up Stuff


Some of my most creative moments lately occur when I'm determined to "use up" stuff.  It seems I spent 20 years accumulating paper craft supplies, and hoarding them because they were scarce.  Now I'm looking for ways to use them up.

At the same time, my current sketchbook is almost finished, and I planned on purchasing another just like it.  It wasn't expensive, and the paper is not ideal for wet media, although it will take some.  It has 160 pages of 128 gsm (72 lb) paper.  I've been finding it a good compromise because it doesn't seem too precious to use - If I just have time for a quick sketch I'm loathe to use the watercolor journal.

Today I decided to use up some paper supplies and make a sketchbook.  I gutted a hardcover book that the library was giving away and then sewed six signatures into the spine.  I used up a lot of flimsy card stock that I purchased several years ago when it was on sale at one of those big box craft stores.  (That was definitely a bargain that proved to be a waste of money.)  But it will be good enough to sketch on and there's plenty more where that came from!

Sunday, April 12, 2015

American Widgeon Coot


I think this watercolor sketch of ducks will become planner pages.



Saturday, April 11, 2015

Off on a New Tangent

 

I'm beginning to take my gelato pieces in a new direction -  making marks while they're wet and experimenting with new media.  I've used a dip pen and acrylic ink to draw here, which allows finer lines than the Stabilo pencil does.
 
 
 I've also layered pencil crayon on top of the gelato.




Friday, April 10, 2015

The Tulips are Up!

 
 
The tulips are in full bloom in Vancouver.  They're my favorite flower, so I couldn't resist another gelato piece.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Quilt Block Cards



I found some great patterns for quilt block cards on the Bow Valley Calligraphy Guild website.  Lynn Slevinsky, the contributor of the project, is a talented lettering artist who publishes some great books on easy marker lettering.

Edited to add:  I started with white piece of cardstock 3" square.  I cut patterned paper 1 1/2" square and then cut those into triangles.  This is a standard 1/2 sheet of cardstock card.

Even with a pattern, this took longer than I thought it would, but I love the finished result.  They're a bit fiddly but I just might try another!





Saturday, April 4, 2015

Before the Grand Mal

 
My computer had a grand mal seizure earlier this week.  OK, I'll admit it, there was a glass of water involved.  I'm up and running again (sort of) with a new laptop and I found these unpublished gelli print scans.

 
I'm not quite sure what I'll do with them yet but I had "masterboards" in mind before my seizure sent all art related things fleeing from my brain.