All posts filed under: CatsEatDogs

100 Days of Creating with Blue, Days 41-50.

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Half way!  Still enjoying working with all blue.  It is very freeing to only use one colour, it means I don’t have to worry about a new palette each time, I can just concentrate on the content, which this time has been a mix of collage and ink in brush pens. If you are doing the 100 day project, I hope you are still going and enjoying it. Find all of my project as I complete it on Instagram at #100daysofcreatingwithblue. Happy Monday x

The 100 Day Project. 100 Days of Creating with Blue 11-30.

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Just to prove how much I am enjoying the 100 day project this year, I got all carried away and forgot to post my 11-20, so I had to leap right to 11-30! I really am loving the blue.  Any techniques or ideas I learn, I try them in blue and frankly I am filling more pages than I had planned in my blue maths book, that’s ok though, I can tape/glue or sew more in. Are you doing the project this year?  How is it going?  We are over a third of the way now, hurrah! Happy Monday x  

The 100 day project 2019. 100 days of creating with blue 1-10

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    Pages 1-10 of this year’s 100 project from my corner of the universe, one tenth of the way in! 100 days of creating with blue. So far I have painted flowers, collaged, cut paper and made a terrible selfie!  I am enjoying it and I am also allowing myself to work ahead, if the mood strikes I will make a page so that I can have some in my pocket as back up for days when I don’t make my blue page. If you want to follow on Instagram, my hashtag is 100daysofcreatingwithblue Are you doing the 100 day project?  What are you doing? Happy Wednesday x

I tried Suminagashi and it is brilliant!

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I have tried ink on water marbling and it was ok but nothing spectacular, quite pale colours and I didn’t get great results.  Of course I most likely used the wrong ink and almost certainly an inefficient technique, but in the back of my mind I wanted to have another go as I love the effects of marbled paper. I saw a suminagashi class on Skillshare and it looked doable as I had all of the ingredients so I gave it a go. Tomoe River paper Top Strathmore mixed media, bottom Stonehenge warm white. Strathmore mixed media (front) Strathmore mixed media paper (back). I like that this technique is fairly unpredictable but not totally. Having said that, the final photo is the back of one of the prints and I really like how the ink has swished onto the back of the paper and created a very unpredictable effect. I used Strathmore mixed media paper which was very white and smooth, Stonehenge warm white paper with a slight texture and Tomoe River paper which is …

Mono Printing on a Homemade Gelatin Plate.

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Today I made a slab of gelatin (actually I made that yesterday) in a cookie pan and used it to make mono prints of bamboo leaves and crochet doilies! I was reading Courtney Cerruti’s book ‘Playing with Surface Design’ and she was talking about how a handmade gelatin plate behaves slightly differently to a commercial gelli plate.  I have been using and loving my gelli plate for a few years now, so I was keen to try! Making the ‘plate’ was super easy, I used 4 envelopes of unflavored gelatin according to the instructions on the packet (they suggested apple juice but I went for water!) and I left it in the fridge over night to set.  I forgot to remove any surface bubbles so I had immediate access to some extra texture (oops!). There are lots of videos and recipes for gelatin plates on the inter webs but I was happy with this one as it lasted for an afternoon of printing and I can make another one when I need it. This picture was …

The 100 day project 2019

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What to do when you can literally do anything, for 100 days? I have been deciding what to do for this year’s 100 day Project. 100 yoga poses? 100 found poems? 100 altered playing cards? 100 altered vintage photos? These are some of the ideas which have swum in and out of my mind, I decided found poems might be boring after about 27 and I did playing cards a few years ago. I enjoyed the cards project best out of all of my 100 day collections, so I decided to use them again but with other ephemera. ‘100 altered vintage pieces of ephemera’ will be my 100 day project for 2019.   I can use playing cards, flash cards, book pages, book covers, rolodex cards, business cards, library catalogue cards, vintage photos et al. I will allow myself to sketch on, paint on, collage on, stamp on and cut up the ephemera of the day. I will mark make, write words, splash ink and stick down stuff! In 100 days I should have a …

Have Art Supplies, will Travel.

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Every time I travel I give a lot of thought to my art supplies and not nearly as much thought to how many t shirts I will need! Clean shirts, jeans and a nice scarf. Clothes done.  Art supplies need way more thought. What will I be able to do? How big do I want my sketchbook? What paper is in it?  Wet media or dry?  Will I be able to use watercolors or acrylic paints?  How about water-soluble pencils? Some things always travel with me, my mini Moleskine Art Plus sketchbook, a Micron pen or three and my trusty Pentel Pocket Brush pen with a spare ink cartridge.  For this trip to New York City, I have added some Derwent Inktense pencils in a few favorite colors and a water soluble graphite pencil.  In fact as I write this, I have remembered that if I want to use water soluble pencils, I am going to need a water brush, so in that goes! The Field Notes book is for jotting down ideas and anything …

Daily planner practice 2019

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I wasn’t going to use a planner for my daily practice this year, so I started in a regular sketchbook.  Part way through January I realized that this was not working, I liked the dates and style of a planner. So after some investigating and deciding I ended up with an ‘EDiT’ daily planner to work in.  To be honest it was a little smaller than I thought it would be (even though I looked at the measurements!), but it turns out I love this size and the paper is like magic, it is so smooth and even though it is quite see through it still holds a little wet media and pens don’t bleed through. For the rest of January (I started on Jan 23rd) I sketched a flower a day with my Micron pen.  When February rolled around I had spotted a couple of collage challenges on the interwebs, so collage was in my mind.  I started sticking down some images and adding a little note which made me smile and I think I …

Wanderlust 2019

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We are now a month into Wanderlust 2019 and I am having a blast!  Wanderlust is a year long series of tutorials, ideas, techniques and inspiration for all of your art making and art journaling needs. I am biased because I am teaching this year and my class will be live in the Rivers theme in March.  Having said that I have no truck with a class I don’t enjoy and Wanderlust is so varied and prolific that if there is a class or a theme you are not feeling, fear not, another is just around the corner. I made my journal which should last all year and I am looking forward to seeing it fill up with a variety of work, ideas and art. For all the information and enrollment details, follow this link Wanderlust 2019 information  Please note that the above link is an affiliate link. Happy Sunday x