Drawing Faces

I have really wanted to incorporate my own drawings into my journal pages but I have never felt that I could draw.  I recently completed Jane Davenport's Draw Happy Mini Workshop. Jane takes you through the process of drawing a face, and she does it extremely well.  I really recommend her course if your wanting to learn how to draw a face.

Here are some examples of what I was able to achieve in a very very short period of time.  Not perfect but compared to what I could do previously these are much better than before.

Next I want to learn how to draw a body......

Have a lovely day
Lynn

2nd Floor - Found Objects

Second Floor's next challenge is to incorporate found object (s) into your artwork.

For this I started off with a canvas that I made as part of Alma Stoller's workshop in 21 Secrets.  This was made from an old cereal box, covered in book pages and Modge Podge, then painted with acrylic paint. I sprayed some Dylusion ink on top in green and blue.

The paper started to lift off and rip so badly that I tossed that in the bin and started fresh with another canvas made the same way.  I put down vintage book papers form a 1920's book and a movie flyer from the 1950's, and a lovely little keepsake card with flowers on it, from the 1950's as well I think.  I then sprayed some Dylusion inks on top.

I dripped some ink and put a boarder around the canvas using black oil pastel.  I then stamped randomly in black ink and also used light pink pan pastel randomly on the piece and then sprayed some more ink on top. 

I had a rectangle of texture paste that I had made ages ago, I had coloured it orange at the time.  I hadn't used it as I really didn't like the colour of it.  So I decided to re-colour it. I sprayed it with Dylusion inks and when it was dry I cut out three hearts.  To finish the hearts off I put a layer of Crystalina Kindy Glitz (glitter glue) over the top.  I then found an old cross and Mary and Jesus medallion on a small beaded chain that I had in my stash.  I stapled this to the largest heart and glued the cross and medallion down.   I then went through the remainder of the book page that I had on my work table and added the words "solace is found in hope" to the two smaller hearts. DONE!!!

 What I learned .....

• It's OK to throw something away and start again if its not salvageable.  I struggled with my first canvas for quite a while before I decided enough was enough.
• I really liked incorporating found objects into my work, I will definitely do this more often. 
• I like Kindy Glitz, I have had it for ages but have never applied to a surface like that before, I usually just do dots with it. 
• I like adding words into my work as well.
• I don't really like the canvas' that I made.   Whilst they are sturdy enough, the book pages do not stay put.  The largest heart is strategically placed to cover up where the book pages started to shred and come apart.  I have a few more that I made at the same time, I think I will try and put a couple of coats of Matt medium over the top before working on them and see if that improves their usability. 

Have a lovely day 

Lynn

Design Challenge Aussie Scrap Source - Balance - Symmetry

Today I am participating in a design challenge from Aussie Scrap Source based on Balance - Symmetry.

This page is part of a series of scrapbooking pages that I have been working on.  The title is part of a verse from the Bible (Corinthians) which was read at my son and daughter-in-law's wedding.  I will post all of the pages once I have finished the series.

Have a lovely day

Lynn

2nd Floor Challenge - Circles

Hi There

The next Second Floor Challenge laid down by Julie Fei Fan-Balzer and Nathalie Kalbach is circles.

I started off with a background I already had.  I had just swiped a couple of different coloured ink pads down and across the page.
To start the challenge I used a toilet roll and painted one end with black Gesso and stamped all over the pages.

At this point I had no idea what to do next.   After a break and a bit of a think about it, I decided to use a few different acrylic paints colours and a paint dabber to dab circles inside the circles.

I then broke out one of my favorite supplies, oil pastels..... and coloured in the negative spaces between the circles with a light blue colour.  That didn't really turn out the way I thought it would.  I probably should have used a darker colour I think.  Then I coloured in around the inside edge of some of the circles with different oil pastel colours.   I am liking where this page is at right now.

I wasn't quite sure what to do next, so I had a poke around in my craft room and came upon some Zentangle squares that I had done previously.

I coloured them and cut them into circles and stuck them to the page.  I then used the oil pastels to draw in stem and leaves.

To finish the page off I used a Dylusion's circle stencil with black Gesso and bubble wrap with white gesso to carry on the circle theme.  I adhered two felt butterfly's and a white crocheted one that I inked around the edges.  Added some chipboard letters to spell the word "Bloom".  To finish the page off I edged the pages with a black oil pastel.

What I learnt from this.

• I really like circles. 
• It's ok not to have clue where things are going. Walk away and come back to it later, something will come to mind.
• I love oil pastels ... ok I already knew that!!
• I love bright colours, in particular bright blue is calling to me lately.... and of course red, my all time favorite colour.
• I have a lot of "stuff" in my craft room and unless I go digging, I forget what I have. 

Have a lovely day.
Lynn

Art Journal Pages

I discovered Art Journaling in December.... I had never heard of it before then. 

I wasn't sure whether or not to post my journal pages as my journals are my private space.   I use my them to record my days, work through things as well as try out new techniques and ideas.  

But what the heck...... here are some that I have done in the past. 

The ones below were done while I was completing my first online course.... Julie Fei Fan-Balzer's 10 minute journaling a day.  I really enjoyed this course.  It introduced me to art journaling and  it allowed me to create pages over a few days without any pressure on what it would turn out like. I pretty much just did what Julie did, while I got the hang of things. She is a fantastic teacher.

Here are some that I did myself, working along the same principle of 10 minutes or so a day and letting things develop over a few days..

and a few more.....

On the one below, I worked with journaling first, then gesso, then tissue paper background, with tissue paper balloons and washi tape on the top of the page.  I find jounaling first a fantastic way to get all the stuff out of my head and onto the page, empty myself and then create something over the top.

I love houses....

and then I was drawn to faces and hair and colour.... obviously :-)

 then eyes....

then flowers.....

 And hearts and stars.

Then I got my Dylusion stamps and inks..... I am in love....

More to follow in a future post.

Have a lovely day.
Lynn.

Thought I would share this art journal page that I have recently finished.

I decided to do the "Second Floor" Challenge run by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer from Balzer Designs and Nathalie Kalbach. This first challenge was to create something using Gold Acrylic Paint.

So here is what I did.

I already had the orange, flower, tissue paper background in my art journal ready to use.

When I heard of the challenge, I immediately pictured gold hand prints.

So off I went and painted my hands with gold paint and slapped them down on the page...... mmmm not what I expected....   the hand prints just looked like globs of gold paint and definitely not hand print, they didn't stand out as I wanted them to.  The background is to busy.... so what to do.

I decided to spray on some hearts using from a Crafters Workshop Stencil using Adirondack Color Wash Spray ink  in a few different colours.   The page was getting there but the gold paint was even more hidden.

I then painted the word Believe on black card stock and when it was dry covered in crystal Kindy Glitz, glitter glue, cut it out and stuck in on the bottom of the page.  I was not happy at all, with where this page was at.

I left it for a day and then came up with the idea of drawing some leaves on the page and painting them in Gold.  This was much better, but the page still wasn't done.

I added a Dylusion stamp, Tallulah Tripp, and coloured her in.   I then started doodling with a white out pen and finally added some words to the page to build on the word Believe.

I finished off using my Inktense Blocks to do a bit more highlighting.

Now the page was done.... well for now anyways :-).

I am quite happy with the way the page turned out.  The lettering could have been neater but it was the first time I tried lettering with a white out pen so overall I am happy with it.

I really enjoyed this challenge, it made me push myself and to use gold paint, which is a new thing for me in my art journalling.  I am really looking to the next the next challenge by Julie and Nat.

Have a great day
Lynn

Blog 10.2.12

Hi There


Well I finally got up the nerve and created my Blog site.  I have wanted to do this for the longest time.  Bit of a procrastinator as you can see. 


Anyways....., here's a page I have done for a Sketch Wednesday site, (my first one too).  A day of firsts for me!


I used Tim Holtz Distress Reinkers (aged Mahogany and Spiced Marmalade) with Biscotti Perfect Pearls powder and water to make my own spray inks and coloured the card stock and tags, my handmade flowers and lace.  


If you look closely you can see a faint image of a cherry tree branch in the background.  I achieved this by laying  a stencil from The Crafters Workshop, on my card stock and then  spraying water over it.  I then removed the stencil and let the water sit for 30 seconds or so.  Then with a paper towel roll, I rolled over the card stock to remove the excess water.   (I love this look, I think it really adds interest to the background.  I learnt this technique from Dyan Reaveley from Dylusion Stamps on You Tube.  Its a favorite technique that I like to use a lot.) 


Behind the photo I started off with a book page aged with coffee stain and then laid a very light watered down layer of gesso on top of it to blur the words (it was from a very boring book!!).  


On top of that I put down a couple of patterned papers and Washi tapes, alternating between the two types.  Then rubbed over spiced marmalade distress ink to give it an aged look.


I then inked around the photo edge with Jet Black StazOn ink. 


I hand wrote on the tag (I am doing a lettering course at the moment and need the practice) and glued it down,


To finish off I added some ephemera that I had on hand. 


.....I apologise for my very poor photography.  I really need to get lessons......