Twin-tipped Neon Markers offer brilliant, fluorescent colour in high quality Markers. They are pigmented and lightfast, making them perfect for adding vibrant highlights to art and design work.« May 2012 | Main | July 2012 »
For the past few days, I have been working with Creative Paper Clay. Here is one of the pieces that I just completed: a Wee Fairy House - Cinnamon Pink-Style (Pink & Brown).
The Fairy House is quite small, only 2 3/4" tall x 1" wide. Instead of a traditional roof, I made a swirled dollop of a roof. A tiny crown tops the door and a small bead serves as a door handle.
I do like to experiment with many different mediums. And today turned out to be an assemblage/sculpture day for me.
Blue Twig Studio recently celebrated their One-Year Birthday and owner, Deb, marked the event by offering some giveaways of her Club Kits.
I was lucky enough to win the Embellishment Club Kit in Orange. As you can see above, the Kit includes lots of cool embellishments. The colors are perfect for the Autumn season.
You can find more details about Deb's Club Kits here. Check out her Online Store too - She sells quite a variety of tempting products. Thank you Deb for the generous giveaway!
Here are two photographs of a bouquet of our most recent blooms of Hydrangea. We usually get pink blooms but my husband added different fertilizers - and the blossoms are displaying their beauty in a variety of colors - ranging from bright pink, to pale blue, to lavender and deep purple.
We have six bushes of the Endless Summer variety. Originally, we had eight bushes but in the first year of planting, two bushes succumbed to the hot, humid heat of North Carolina. I guess you can tell that Hydrangea are my favorite flower.
Image from melstampz blog
Yesterday, I pinned this link on my Pinterest boards but in case you didn't see it, here's a sweet selection of Wee Houses - 124 Links - Templates & Tutorials from the blog of melstampz.
I agree with Mel. My favorite house is also Victoria Magazine's Harvest House Template. There are three different house-style templates in one PDF.
It's already June. This is probably a good time to begin working on your Christmas ornaments/gifts. Check out the Wee Houses links and start creating.
Note: There's lots to see on Mel's blog. Take a few minutes to check it out on your next coffee break.
Image from Marie Claire Idees magazine site
I love the French Marie Claire Idees magazine. I just wish that there was an English version of the magazine. However, you can visit the Marie Claire Idees site - and translate the text to English.
I found these free Tag Downloads in The Bonus of the Magazine section. Here is the direct link to A Workshop Labled. There are four different tag downloads, including labeled tags and blanks.
Pour yourself a cup of tea and take some time to explore The Bonus of the Magazine section. There are many tempting projects and ideas. Let me know what you think.
Here is the finished, mixed-media painting of my Blue Bird. You can see how the painting looked when it was a work-in-progress here. I did decide to add some French text to complete the painting. But I didn't think a crown on the bird was necessary.
The colors of the painting are much softer than the image that you see on screen.
I'm currently taking the Portraits 2012 - Self-Guided Workshop with SUZI BLU. In this exercise, SUZI suggested that we create a portrait on an oversized tag. I highly recommend SUZI's online classes. I love the detailed techniques that she provides to her classes.
I'm a little behind in this class. I seem to get involved in too many mixed-media art projects at one time. My To Do List is endless. How does one fit it all in? Sometimes, I think I'm just too curious. I spot a new technique - or project - and I just have to try it out and experiment.
How do you fit in all of your art projects?
I was inspired by the Art Journal Pages of Teesha Moore to create this large head - small body character. I've always been an admirer of her colorful, creative and whimsical art. Check out Teesha's Circus for an eye candy jolt of inspiration.
I came across this ee Cummings quote online a few days ago and I knew it had to appear in my next Journal Page. What quotes do you you use in your Journal Pages?
Check out this online book, What to Draw and How to Draw It, written by E.G. Lutz - and published in 1913. Although the book was published long ago, there are still many drawing techniques that may be helpful to the contemporary artist.
The book is part of the Open Library which is a project of the non-profit Internet Archive. You can find more information about Open Library here.
Image from Me Making Do Blog
Many times I use craft supplies in my mixed-media art projects. However, the supplies can get quite expensive so I'm always looking for DIY Craft Supplies and Tools.
You can find a great tutorial on how to Make Your Own Alcohol Inks on Healther's blog, Me Making Do. You probably have all, or most, of the supplies in your stash at home.
Heather uses the Alcohol Inks to dye paper projects. I can't wait to mix up some of these inks. I think I'll experiment and try using the inks on my watercolor paintings too.
Image from A Lapin Life
Via Pinterest, (Yes, I'll admit it - I've been on the Pinterest boards AGAIN), I found a transfer technique that is new to me - and that I think is quite unique.
Dee, host of A Lapin Life, shows us How to Transfer with a Woodworker's Transfer Tool. Here's what she says about the technique:
"No more messy oils or trying to put your fabric in your printer using spray adhesive. You can now make fast and easy projects with a woodworkers transfer tool. *Make Pillows, Tags, Cards, Memo Boards, Ribbons, Shirts, Clothes, Team Logos, Drapes, Gifts, etc! You can also use it on wood. An Added bonus your fabric can be washed! ✓Please use cotton fabric!"
I love what Dee did with the wood board shown above. On her blog, she even has a video explaining her technique as well as individual project tutorials.
I enjoy collecting various transferring techniques. If you know of any other unique transfer projects, please share.
All morning, I have been playing around with PSE, downloads and PDF/JPEG files. Needless to say, things did not work out well.
But I did get some doodling in. Sometimes, a simple pencil, micron pen and paper can be very relaxing tools to spend some time with.
Image from Green Wedding Shoes
Things have been hectic around here lately so I missed posting for a couple of days.
In case you haven't seen this on the Web, these huge Roses are gorgeous. The site, Green Wedding Shoes, even provides a tutorial entitled, DIY Giant Paper Rose Flower.
Although these roses are suggested for weddings, I think the flowers would look beautiful in a Studio, Great Room or Bedroom.
Every time I see DIY projects that catch my interest, I add them to my To Do List. I'm sure my list is probably as long as your own project list. So I wonder, "How will we ever find the time to make these gazillion DIY projects?"
Today is Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy. To create this 5" x 7" collage, I used a Black & White image of a Vintage Couch from The Graphics Fairy Blog. I handcolored the couch a shade of soft blue.
Take a few minutes to check out the other lovely entries from the many talented artists and crafters. Karen is also featuring beautiful, DIY Wedding Nesting Tables and a pretty Butterfly Globe.
Here is an Art Journal Page that I worked on today. I haven't finished it yet.
However, it still surprises me how Art Journal Pages can help you see what's going on in the inner depths of your mind - or even assist you in working out issues.
When I was sorting through my ephemera stash, the phrase, Where to Go Next attracted my attention. And then the door also seemed to call to me.
After I pasted all of the images down and did some basic embellishing, I realized that I had been thinking of taking a different path with my art. And somehow my thoughts had magically manifested themselves on my Journal Page. I don't have the answers yet but it was an enlightening experience.
So far, I haven't figured out the meaning of the roof tops, buildings or birds. Maybe they will eventually tell me something - or maybe they're just decorative images.
What do your Art Journal Pages tell you?
When I began creating this Doodle/Handlettered art piece, I decided to use a handful of bright colored markers. My color choices tend toward the pinks, browns and blues so working with all of these bright colors was definitely outside my comfort zone.
It probably is a good exercise to try as a challenge. I think my favorite part of this piece is the polka-dotted word ART. Hmmm. Black and White - No Color in that word!
Image from demilked site
During my continuing research into Fonts and Handlettering, I came across this post on the demilked site: 20 Beautiful Handwritten Fonts That Shouldn’t be Free. You have to check them out. The fonts can be downloaded - or you can practice your lettering by copying them by hand.
Tom is the host of demilked. I love his description of the site. Here it is in his own words:
"Demilked is a design milking magazine. We milk the world's most creative minds and make you tasty inspiration cocktails by mixing industrial design, technology, concepts, advertising and a little bit of web design. Don't be afraid to take a sip - the drinks are on us!"
Explore demilked - You won't be disappointed. It's my personal belief that mixed-media artists can learn a lot from other disciplines - and then apply this knowledge to their own art. What do you think?
In case you haven't seen this application: Via Pinterest, I found this free, cool tool called CHIP IT! created by Sherwin-Williams.
According to their site, "CHIP IT! is an online tool that lets you instantly turn any picture, from any website, into a beautiful palette of Sherwin-Williams paint colors." You can even save your results on their site. I used one of my mixed-media art pieces and came up with the colors above.
Next, I used my photo of a Hydrangea plant. Love those pink color results.
I think this is a great application to use when you're creating color schemes for new art projects - or even for your interior decorating needs. Check it out!
Here's my watercolor painting of a Blue Bird. It's still a work-in-progress. I may add a Crown or some Text to the image. I'm still thinking it over.
Introducing the newest of the Cinnamon Pink Girls! Her name is Anna - and she is the smallest one of them all.
Lately, I have been working on a variety of mixed-media art projects. It's good to get back to drawing and watercolor painting.
For the past couple of days, I have not been able to post due to a modem problem. The Cable Guy finally came today and did a temporary fix which means the modem could stop working at any moment. A new modem will arrive at my home tomorrow - and hopefully my ISP issues will be resolved. Now on to better topics:
Many times, I like to do quick Collage Studies in a small format (about 6" x 4"). I usually look through old magazines, and catalogs, and cut out images that catch my interest. These completed Collage Studies usually give me ideas for larger art works. Sometimes, I also discover new techniques or different ways of combining images with various art supplies. Here are three Collage Studies that I completed yesterday.
The Venice image actually came from an ad in a magazine. So far, I think I like the Venice Collage the best.
Take some time today to create some quick Collage Studies. Choose random images and then use art supplies that you haven't worked with in a long time.
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