I started my September pages with an idea that I would sketch something every day, as you can see that lasted all of five days! The rest of the month is my usual hotch potch of sketching, testing new supplies, magazine cuttings and lots of messing about. Are you keeping up with a daily practice? Of any kind. How is it going? Happy Thursday x
I was on the way home to St Louis from Portland on the only direct flight I could find at the time I needed and I had forgotten to check in early so I ended up in the dreaded C boarding group on Southwest, there were 4 people behind and a plane full of people in front of me. I was not looking for a luxury window or a convenient aisle seat, no, I was looking for a inevitable middle seat but what I was really looking for was one with room to breathe! I spotted it, a seat I could fit in without (hopefully) having to fight the elbows or knees of my fellow travelers. I plonked myself down and get settled. Phone on airplane mode, what shall I do? Read my book which I had just bought and was only a few pages in? Listen to some music or a podcast? Start reading Kinfolk magazine which I had splashed out on just before I left Portland? While I was in Portland one of …
Tomorrow I fly from the mid-west over to Portland, Oregon and I am a combination of nervous (don’t travel by myself much) and super excited! I am meeting some of the wonderful ladies from the Get Messy Art Journal community who I have got to know over the inter webs and I am thrilled to be meeting them in person this weekend. As we are gathering to make art as well as see some of Portland and eat good food, I am taking a selection of art supplies and sketchbooks. How to decide!? Airline regulations help somewhat as I am not checking a bag so I have to abide by the liquid/gel rules so I am not taking any acrylic paints or inks. I am sure I could take a small amount but I don’t want to risk losing them. So I thought I would make a new watercolour set and team it up with a selection of pens, brushes , a water brush, some Inktense pencils, a glue stick and some hair bobbles! I …
We are in a new season over at the Get Messy Art Journal community and the journal is to be small, nay, tiny. Always up for a arty challenge I am going to try and do the tiny and see where it takes me (new glasses most likely!). I am not sure I am going to like working small, but I will do my best and I always have options to use a larger journal if I feel the need! In fact I am not planning to use a journal in book form at all, I am very drawn to using all kinds of papers, cards and ephemera of a small size for my tiny journaling. So what are my options? I could use a small journal, lots of brands make perfectly good little journals full of lovely paper. Or I could branch out and see what I can find and use. The more I looked the more things I saw that I could use, vintage photos are usually small, paint chip colour samples, …
This week I have embraced more collage in my Get Messy Season of Seasons journal and I have been messing about with spray paint, lace and doilies as I have been creating along with Caylee and Lauren in the Creative Bug daily practice classroom. I bought a pile of lacy doilies and vintage trimmings at an estate sale this weekend so I could wait to get printing and stenciling with them. Happy Thursday x
This month I have been playing along with Get Messy Art Journal’s Caylee and Lauren over at Creative Bug where they are hosting a fabulous daily class through September. Each day a video is released with an idea and direction to take inspiration from and make it your own. This week Lauren used some collage materials on her page in unusual ways so I thought I would have a look through my mountain of vintage National Geographic magazines and see what I could put together! I started by selecting a pile of ‘background’ images and a pile of ‘character’ or ‘foreground’ images. I cut out the characters and started to pair them with the backgrounds until I started to find some good matches. Of course they are far from matching but I like them together, so I call that a match! I like to use original images so I don’t copy them, I just get right in there, cutting, ripping and arranging. To add a little more ‘me’ I did some extra sketching on some …
Into August in my daily Moleskine planner where I make some kind of art (sometimes this word is used loosely!). I am still enjoying faces, mainly this month starting with an acrylic base shape and some ink for the features. I made a couple of new stamps and mess about with them. Some stuck in pictures and leaves along with some paint smooshes! I hope your month has been creative and your year continues in it’s creativity. Happy Wednesday x
What is marvelous this Monday? These things are! The Joy of Watercolor by Emma Block is a beautiful book from cover to cover, I even love the size and shape of it. I love a square chunky book! She shares lots of specific watercolor projects but they are not just step by steps, they are full of ideas and information which you can use in your own work. The most gorgeous jewelry from British designer Layla Amber. Delicate woodcut necklaces, pendants, rings and earrings galore for all seasons. I am reading the new Joanna Cannon book ‘Three Things about Elsie’ and really enjoying it, I am only about 50 pages in and already it is full of intrigue and characters. Tinkersketch August challenge is one I came late to, but I still jumped in even though I started about two weeks into the month! Rachelle of Tinkerlab (the host of Tinkersketch) suggested on her Instagram to combine prompts and used ‘building’ as an example. This got me thinking I could do the whole prompt list …
Week three of Get Messy Art Journal’s Season of Seasons is already here, we are almost half way through! I feel like I have just started which I am interpreting as a good thing! These are my art journal pages from this week and I have included repeat patterns from Alicia’s tutorial and of course I had to do more gelli prints using leaves and stalks from my garden. I picked some Magnolia leaves which I printed with and drew and cut out for collage pieces. I also snipped a couple of tomato plant stalks which gave me some very effective prints using the gelli plate and some Sennelier acrylic paint. Prints from the garden into pages in my art journal. I am enjoying using this old book for my journal and the addition of library cards in glassine envelopes. I am considering these tomato plant prints on the old library cards a success! Happy creating and Happy Thursday x SaveSave
A few pages and cards from week 2 of the Season of Seasons over at Get Messy Art Journal. In this found book as journal, I am covering some pages completely and some I am embracing the original page. Thankfully the paper is not too thin so it is pretty nice to work in and the spiral binding is not getting on my nerves like I thought it would. So hurrah! I have been making marks and using these pages as collage as well as using some flowers I have been playing with as a pattern on top of collage, paint and gesso (the page with the flowers was a hot mess and needed a layer of gesso very badly!). As well as the book I am working in, I have a pile of old library catalogue cards which I am painting and doodling on. I got hold of some glassine bags which fit the cards in perfectly so I am pleased with that. The season of seasons is rolling on and I am enjoying …
Clare Davis Etheridge 