21 Secrets of art journaling.

 I hadn't realised that I have been a little slack posting to my blog. I have been doing a lot of art in the 21 Secrets class but neglected to share it. Over the next few days I will try to get it uploaded.

The first class I will share was a lesson with Kelly Barton. It was a simple little journal done with any acrylics that inspired. I chose to do a little poem about a very hot summer. Keeping the drawings simple made the pages quick to do and fun to play with.

It was a great lesson and I will do it again when I feel like playing with colour. I like to have some less cluttered  pages in my journals.

The next lesson was with Martha Lever. We used credit cards to make flowers. It was not
 a technique that I will probably use again. I like painting flowers realistically and the abstract nature of these ones does not really appeal to me. At least I tried it out.

 

That is it for now but expect more from me soon.

Is that an angel I see?

I have a lot of pages from 21 Secrets online class that I have not shared with you yet. I will try to get them on the blog over the next week or so.

The first two pages are from the class with Dina Wakley. They are mostly acrylic with Conte pencil outlines and some glitter sprays. Both pages started off with the same colours but then I finished them quite differently. I love experimenting with techniques on my art journal pages.

 

The next class was with Dion Dior who has a very inspiring blog.  We did Mandalas and I used Luminarte twinkling H2Os to colour the green one. 

 I used my new Silks acrylics on the second page. I then used dimensional paint for the outline. It is a nice effect.

Stretching myself with colour

I have decided to use colour palettes that I wouldn't normally choose for the rest of my Life Book lessons this year. It is a good way to experiment and have some fun.

This lesson was done with Adriana Almanza. It is meant to be a doll fairy, not really my style at all but I had a go with it. Initially I drew the face low on the page like the original lesson but decided it looked unbalanced to me so I ripped off the top of the page and put it back on at the bottom. I had to add an extra piece of paper because now it was too short. You can't tell in the photo but the wings are shiny too.

The next page was a lesson done with Samantha Kira. It is a collage style background that is more random and messy than my usual style but I like it. I chose a different colour palette this time. I picked 3 colours from my paint stash and went with those.

The last lesson was with Willowing. I used a transfer paper to apply the photo to the page but didn't put enough alcohol on it so it is a little patchy. The butterflies and flowers are serviettes. I used some dimensional paints for the metallic outline. This is another unusual palette, I got this one from Design Seeds (link is on the right).

Something a little different.

I woke up early this morning and when I looked outside I could see frost on the lawn. It is winter here and I like trying to get photos of the early morning light. I grabbed my camera and jumped in the car. I went to a lake that is not far from me and was not disappointed with the scene I found there. The lake was covered with a heavy layer of fog that I knew would be very atmospheric in photos.

I took this first photo as I was walking towards the lake. I could see rainbows in the mist and tried to capture it with the camera. It is not a colourful as it was in person but it is pretty close. The next image was taken a little later on.

My hands are pink!!

Actually they are more magenta than pink but I think it will wear off soon. I was playing around with the paint on my latest 21 Secrets page and it seems to have stained my hands. I even used the industrial hand cleaner we have with little effect. I guess I really look like an artist today, ha ha.
I did a quick page this time. It is not meant to be a beautiful page, just a page of play. I was inspired by the colours of the image I chose to work with. In fact I like the lime and magenta so much I will use it again.

The next workshop I did was a little book that holds 7 postcards. It was a great little project that could easily be adapted to hold photos or more cards. I will be doing this one again sometime.

The postcards were stamped images that I painted with twinkling H2O watercolours. 

If you want to learn how to do this project 21 Secrets is on sale at the moment. It is $45(U.S.) for 21 lessons and is open until 1st January. Even if you don't want to do all the lessons it is very good value and a lot of fun. I have learned a lot from the various techniques in the classes that I will continue to use on my art journey.

Getting messy...

I have been getting a lot of art done lately because it is winter here and far too cold to go outside and do anything else. This is the latest little workshop I did at 21 Secrets. It was called Child's Play 2 by Alma Stoller.

I made some canvases using cardboard and paper. I have never been a fan of oval shaped canvases because I can't seem to balance the drawing properly. I did do one because it was part of the workshop but I don't think I will bother making any more of them. The other canvas was easier for me.

 Both are done with acrylics and marker. 

The next part of the workshop was an art journal page. I am making a landscape journal to see if it is easier to design pages for. I started with a collage of paper and a light coat of gesso and blue paint. 

Next I used spray ink with a stencil to make the background. I sprayed over it with water so it blended together in some areas. 

After stamping the page with some copper paint I stenciled the birds and swirls with more acrylics. They didn't stand out enough so I traced around the birds with pen. 

The birds still didn't stand out enough so I dry brushed a little blue paint over the background. Happy with that look I used a marker to write on the page. The final page has a little bit of the copper paint around the edges.

The second page I did for this class was done over a gessoed collage background. I made the tag and painted the face on it. I like the way this one turned out. The cut outs on the background were done from magazine pages. 

Busy with Life Book

I have finally had some time to myself this last couple of weeks and I have been doing a lot of online class work. Today I will share the latest few pages I have done for Life Book. 

This page is almost entirely acrylics, only black, white and cream. The little bit of colour is watercolour pencil applied when the page was dry. It is my favourite page so far. Hmm...I might have said that before, lol. Seriously though I am amazed that I was the one that painted this picture. I have learned so much this year.

This next page is a pocket page. It was bright orange with a little blue around the edges but it wasn't making me happy, so I sprayed the whole thing with blue glimmer spray and now I love it. Sometimes it is okay to keep messing with your work until you like it. The butterflies were cut out and stuck on with foam tape so they are raised.

The last page is not really a page but a series of ATC sized cards. They are meant to be little pieces of inspiration to look at in my studio. They are embossed cards with several layers of paint that has been sanded to expose the underlying colour. The images are magazine cut outs.

I have realised that I have not been sharing any of my techniques of late and that was the main reason for starting this blog. I am going to start taking more photos as I work so I can share techniques that are not specific to any class or teacher. If the technique I use was not learned in a class then I will try to remember to share it. I have learned so much from other generous artists that I want to do the same.