Saturday, April 30, 2016

Silly Scraps Saturday

 
So far my Silly Scraps all have drawing on them.  This one has stamps by Kelly Panacci, too.  You just never know what silliness will happen!


Friday, April 29, 2016

Tutorial


I promised that I would do a tutorial on my process for the gelato and Inktense pages that I've been posting lately.  The finished page is shown above, and below are the steps. 

This journal is a Strathmore 140 lb. watercolor paper book, and first I painted it with Inktense blocks.  I wet the paper and used the blocks as a pan of watercolor:



After the page was dry, I drew on it with a Stabilo pencil.  Here is a close up of that:


Then, I began adding more Inktense to the background:


This final layer of greens and blues is added to the background only:


At some point (sometimes at the end and sometimes right after drawing), I make sure that I have gone over all of the Stabilo pencil with water.  This makes it blacker.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!




Friday, April 22, 2016

This is Fun

 
Inktense on Watercolor Paper
 

 I was drawing the other day and "I'm not having fun" went through my mind.  The results weren't fun either LOL  So, next time I had time to pull out the art supplies, I did these.  These are very fun.

 
Inktense and Gelatos on Canvas Paper
 
My sister asked for a tutorial on the layering process.  Until I can do a better one I pointed her here.


Saturday, April 16, 2016

Silly Scraps Saturday is Back!

 
4 1/2" x 6 1/2"
 
I've been thinking about creativity, (or in my case, lack thereof) a lot lately.  A few years ago I kept a scrap journal, inspired by Hanna's post here.  Each Saturday, I would post a page of these silly scrap collages.  My last Silly Scraps Saturday post was here.
 
When I filled up the journal, I thought that I would keep doing them in another journal.  Only I didn't.   My scraps are proliferating but my collages aren't.
 
What does this have to do with creativity?  I feel like I need a creativity boost, and I'm wondering whether consolidating all of those journals was such a good idea.  Each medium needs a different size or type of paper, and without a journal to do them in, I feel creative block setting in.  Too many choices!  If I have a journal for collage, maybe I'll do more.
 
Just as I was thinking about this I read this post over at Daisy Yellow.  (Tammy is also an accountant, so our brains might just work the same way.)  She says that a decade ago she would have found multiple journals too disorganized, but now she finds that it gives her energy.  That works for me!  I love it when I get "permission" to do something from someone I respect.  Tammy is the queen of creativity - she runs the Index Card A Day project.
 
This morning I made a new Scrap Journal and did this first collage.  It looks like Silly Scraps Saturday is Back!


Friday, April 15, 2016

Being Creative During Difficult Periods

 
 
There are times when I find it difficult to get inspired.  Right now it is tax season, and our home office is a zoo.  (In Canada, this goes on until April 30.)  I get to the end of the day before I know it, and enjoy a brief respite when my sister calls me on Skype. 
 
My pencil crayons are always on my desk, and sometimes I doodle while we chat.  In my desk drawer I keep a file of gelli prints and other painted papers waiting for the muse to visit and tell me what to do.  These days I drag a piece out and add a layer of pencil crayon.
 
This was a piece where I'd cleaned off some stencils.  A boring brown and red thing.  Now it has new life.  I have no idea what I'll do with it next, but I'm starting to like it!
 
 


Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Tulips Abound

 
Nature inspires my art, and it is tulip season in Vancouver.  This is a birthday card for my niece.  I drew the tulips with an elegant writer calligraphy felt pen and used watercolor to spread the ink and add just a hint of colour.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Doodles and Gelli Prints

 
I pulled out a stack of gelli prints recently and have started to doodle on them with pencil crayons.  The print inspires the doodles and the color choices.


Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Spring Exuberance

 
Inspired by Paivi at Peony and Parakeet, I tried a couple of these watercolor and pencil crayon flower sketches.  I did mine in my art journal.
 
Then, spring exuberance got the better of me and I did one with gelatos:
 
 
Evidently, I couldn't get enough.  I picked a few spring posies and did a couple more:
 
 
Watercolor, Pencil Crayons

 
Gelatos, Pencil Crayons
 

 Then, I did one on hot press watercolor paper and hung it in the hall.  Spring exuberance indeed!

 
Watercolor, Pencil Crayons, 5" x 7"






Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Testing, Testing, 1-2-3

 
My sketchbook is also a place to test out supplies and new techniques.  Here I was drawing with a Hunt 102 mapping nib and Sumi Ink.

 
This is a test of a background technique that I'd done before but forgotten about.  I scribbled water soluble markers on a baggie, sprayed it with water and then applied it to the page.  You can also use food wrap or thinner plastic bags, an acetate sheet, acrylic block or craft sheet to do a similar thing.


Monday, April 4, 2016

A Diary in Pictures

 
My sketchbook is also a place to sketch my surroundings and document my life - a diary in pictures.  I really need to get out more - I've drawn this scene many times!

 
What's on my desk?  A book I was reading (Heretic by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, highly recommended), and the cold pills I was taking.


Sunday, April 3, 2016

Charles Rennie Mackintosh


 
I read a book called Flowers: Charles Rennie Mackintosh.  Mackintosh was a Scottish architect and artist.  He was the primary artist in the United Kingdom who worked in the Art Nouveau style.
 
I thought that he made up these flowers, but no, the Fritillaria really are checkered!  They are a member of the lily family.
 
 
I love how he interpreted roses.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Doodling


It has been a whole month since we looked inside my sketchbook!
 

 
I finished the book I was reading on doodling.


I'm not really a doodler.  (I mean, really, if I had to read a book to learn how to do it, will I ever do it again?)  I think of doodling as something one does when in a meeting or at a lecture.  I'm much too focussed on the proceedings to doodle at the same time.  Or maybe because I never doodled all those years that I was in school, I have to focus on it too much to listen at the same time.  Maybe I just can't do two things at once.