1. Adult craft night at the library, we made mini books!
2. I volunteered for The December 5th Fund this weekend.
3. Whisk bakery on Cherokee Street.
4. Alexander, the man who knows. A great poster in an antique shop.
5-6. More antique shop views.
7. New pen nib from South City Art Supplies.
Happy Monday x
Here are some things I am liking this fine Friday –
I have been using smoked paprika a lot in recipes lately and I love to put it on fries, especially with an egg. Yums!
Zines and handmade books are the subject of a new Creative Bug class which has totally made me want to make a zine or two. I have been making sketchbooks lately and the zine format is very appealing.
The book I am now reading is Harmless Like You by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan and I am enjoying it so far. I started a couple of books which I gave up on, but I think this one is a winner.
Neocolor II crayons are my art supply of the moment. I used water soluble crayons in art collage about a hundred years ago but I have not revisited them until very recently. I have a handful of colours and I love to use them with a little water or gesso to spread them around.
Handmade jewels used to be something I made all the time, I even sold some! I haven’t made any jewelry for months and I had a root through my stash this week and pulled out some favourites to make into a necklace which can also be worn as a bracelet.
What are you liking this week?
Happy Friday x
I set out this week to follow some ideas from the tutorials over at the Get Messy website as well as a prompt or two. I even wrote down some ideas of things I could do in my sketchbooks.
Lots of contrast was achieved I think and I almost managed to leave part of a page blank, but I ended up with some gold and a black gesso ‘hole’ on it instead.
I had a go at contrasting patterns in my mini Moleskine and a page of black and a page of white with a little red flower.
There are some contrasting colours on the last page which is in my ‘The Shape of Towns’ altered book and I decided to cut a circle out of one page to reveal the head of a statue on the previous page. Of course once I had the head, I had to sketch in the rest of the statue onto my page.
I wandered off from the prompts a little and even got distracted from the tutorial I was supposed to be following, but my pages are all in the spirit of contrast and I learnt from the tutorials and prompts even though I strayed a little!
If you are interested in joining Get Messy Art Journal, pop over to the website here.
Happy Thursday x
21. Choose a page from a magazine and cover part of it with white paint or gesso. Cover half the page or just make a circle in the middle. When the white is completely dry, get a black pen-Posca pens are my choice-and make a pattern in the newly painted area.
22. Find an old used book at a thrift store or a yard sale. Use it as a sketchbook! Draw and paint in it as you would a regular sketchbook.
23. Pick an object. Set a timer for 1 minute. Draw!
24. Very loosely paint a group of trees along a riverbank on one side of the paper. Fold over the other side to get the ‘reflection’. I used coloured inks to make mine. Remember to work quickly before the ink or paint dries before you get the fold done.
25. Use dashes across the page to create wave-like movement. I used coloured pencils in a close colour palette.
26. Cut a photograph out of an old book, use an original vintage photo, or a copy of one. Draw a dramatic mask onto the face. This is one of my favorites so far, I just want to draw masks everywhere!
27. Draw some leaves, find reference in nature, a book, the internet or your imagination. Fill a page with lots of variety or all the same.
28. Draw a page of stylized leaves and make patterns inside each leaf. Black and white or colour, you decide!
29. Let’s play! Grab some paints and use your fingers to apply them. Have fun! Repeat as needed.
30. Write and send a letter to a friend or a family member. How about a letter to an ‘online’ friend? Snail mail win!
Are you doing the 100 Day Project? How’s it going? Very well I hope, we are nearly a third of the way through.
If you want to follow my creative ideas every day, I post on Instagram at #100daysofcreativeideas.
One photo this week! I can’t believe I have not taken any pictures apart from photos of stuff for the 100 day project to post on Instagram. I clearly need to get out more!
I took this very bad shot because I am having my hair cut this week and I have decided to get lots chopped off. Not super short but most likely jaw length, maybe a little longer. So I thought I would have a look at how it looks now before the cut!
I never ever ever wear it down because it gets in the way and I will tie it up within minutes and I am not sure about the long grey hair look for me. The grey hair in a ponytail or wrapped into a mini bun I like, but I want something different, so that means a few inches off.
I can’t believe I have kept it long for such a long time, I usually grow it down to about shoulder length then get it cut short then grow again and so the cycle carries on. This is the first time I have had long grey hair and I am not sure I love it enough to keep. Lazy hair is my motivation for keeping it long I am sure, it is just easy to pop into a pony and be on your way. I am the laziest hair person ever and I am never going to spend ages styling my hair, so it still has to be easy but now I am ready for a bit different and easy!
Maybe next week I will have more photos and even one of my new do!
Happy Monday x
Isn’t it strange how seeing things or using things within a different context alters your approach and attitude?
I have been whining on about how I never know how to use inks and I can’t get to grips with them especially acrylic inks. I really want to use them because they have such great colours but I don’t know how – whah whah whah.
Today I watched the lovely Amy Maricle on the Get Messy tutorial page demonstrating a lovely technique using circles on a journal page. She uses Neocolor II crayons and I only have Neocolor I which are the oil pastels and not at all what we need for this. So I racked my brain, do I have anything else I could use?
Way back when I was a twenty something fashion student, I used some chunky water soluble crayons which I adored, so I went to dig them out.
In the same shoe box they were stored in were some card making supplies I used to make little cards to sell and send. Among the supplies were a few bottles of FW acrylic artist ink. Two are completely used and dry and the other three or four are well used but have some ink left. I remember thinking that these inks were the best thing ever when I was painting cards. I had never used inks like this before and loved them.
Fast forward a couple of decades, I find them today and my brain does all kinds of creative cartwheels as I remember the planet type designs I used to paint on the cards. I used a circle stencil and just filled it with the inks creating all kinds of cool effects.
I am super excited that I have rediscovered these inks and my confidence to use them again.
It just goes to show that if you just let yourself use a medium and don’t worry or think about it too much, all the wonderful things can happen.
This page was made in my altered book ‘The Shape of Towns’ and under all the crayon and gesso is a page about the interior of a cathedral.
I was inspired by the tutorial over at Get Messy Art Journal and I really enjoyed using my water soluble Stabilo crayons again alongside white gesso and gold acrylic paint.
So, if you have any art supplies which have not seen the light of day for a year or ten, go get them out and see what you can make!
Happy Thursday x
The 100 day project started on April 4 and I am still going strong! My little library of vintage cards with ideas on them is growing nicely. Here are cards 11-20
11. Go to the library and find a picture book in the children’s section. Pick one with illustrations you love. Sketch some ideas from this book – patterns, creatures, lettering, anything. Pick another book and repeat.
Some of my favorite children’s books for the illustrations are by Lauren Child, Oliver Jeffers, Chris Riddell, ‘Gaston’ by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Christian Robinson and ‘A lion in Paris’ by Beatrice Alemagna. I just discovered the Welcome to the Museum series and ‘Botanicum’ is just gorgeous, so don’t forget to check out the non fiction books too.
12. Take yourself for a walk around your neighbourhood or favorite place. As you go, notice all the circles and make a note, a sketch or take a photo. How many circles did you spot? Did you notice anything new about your neighbourhood?
13. Give yourself permission, allow yourself to be creative. Five minutes or a whole hour. Write, draw, paint, dance, bake, knit, crochet, weave, create.
14. Draw a free form mandala. Start with a circle or basic flower shape and keep adding layers outwards. Use triangles, circles, half circles, stripes, dots. Anything you like. Where will it take you?
15. Make a mini art kit. Gather some vital supplies in a manageable sized bag or pouch. Be sure to gather bits and bobs to use as you travel and remember to draw, sketch and write in your sketchbook. Create the memories with creativity.
16. Make a drawing of something in one line. Do not take your pen or pencil off the page. No room to erase, correct mistakes as you go. In fact don’t even use a pencil, just use a pen!
17. Go for a walk and photo as many flowers and leaves as you can. Grasses and mushrooms too if you see them. When you get home, sketch your discoveries or write about what you have found.
18. Another day for a walk! This time look at colours and make notes or take photos. When you get home, mix colours to match the ones you have seen and give them names. Be imaginative!
19. Buy some paint in colours you would not usually gravitate towards. Get out your sketchbook and play around with them!
20. Find 5 – 10 blogs you have not read before. Read a couple of posts and maybe leave a nice comment. Blogs are often full of great inspiration.
Follow along daily at 100 days of creative ideas on Instagram.
Happy Wednesday x
1. Mushrooms hiding in a fallen tree.
2. More mushrooms.
3. Dandelions and dandelion clocks at the park.
4. A lovely blue door spotted this weekend.
5. Ant art!
6. I went to a lecture given by the wonderful Stephen Jones this weekend at the St Louis Art Museum and it was so interesting. I could have listened to him all day.
7. A bridge at Forest Park golf course.
Happy Monday x
I let this page guide me as I made it and I love how it turned out. Almost the opposite to last week where I layered and layered, this page has lots of white space left which I like.
I started by making some plain gelli plate prints using the colours I had chosen. I printed blocks of colour on dry wax paper and old book pages. Once I had my pages I cut out some shapes as neatly as I could and I tore some shapes to contrast.
I wove the green and aqua torn strips, both of which were on wax paper to make the grid on the right page above.
The aqua circles are torn out and also printed on dry wax paper.
The copper and gold shapes are cut with scissors and were printed on the book paper.
I like to see the pages close up, the gelli plate gives an interesting print even with one or two colours.
Thanks to Get Messy Art Journal and Jules Tea for the inspiration!
Happy Thursday x
This year will be my third time at participating in The 100 Day Project and we are at day sixteen already. Having said that, sixteen seems very ‘still at the beginning’.
I am keeping up which is a marvelous thing, I have a little list of ideas which I jot down as they come to me, so that if nothing pops into my mind, I can refer to my idea bank.
If you want to see my project as it emerges day by day, you can follow along on Instagram at 100daysofcreativeideas.
Here are my first ten days of ideas –
1. Take up challenge. A monthly or a daily challenge. Search Instagram, it is full of them. Don’t be discouraged if a ‘challenge’ has finished or is part way through, do it anyway. The 100 Day Project is a great one. Other challenges I have done are Tinkersketch drawing challenge, Rae Missingan‘s mark making challenge, Fat Mum Slim hosts a daily photo challenge and Susannah Conway also has lovely photo challenges.
2. Go to the Art Museum or any museum you can get to. As you walk around, sketch all of the eyes you see. In paintings, photographs, on ceramics, sculptures, anywhere you see an eye! Notice how they vary in expression and emotion and how you sketch that.
3. Make inkblots and make lots! Drip a few drops of ink or paint onto one half of a sheet of paper. Fold it over and squash the paper down. Open it up to reveal your inkblot. What do you see?
4. Make some book spine poems. Choose some of your most lyrical titles, pile them on top of one another until you have a beautiful poem. Go to the library and see what amazing poetry you can make! This idea was inspired by the fabulous Rebecca Johnstone.
5. Fill a page with dots. Just use the end tip of a marker and dot dot dot. Close together, far apart. Fill the page or fill part of the page. Be amazed at the movement you can create just with a bunch of dots!
6. Find an old photo, a family photo, or a random old photo. Write the story about the image and it’s participants. Paint or draw a copy of the photo. Old photos can be found at thrift stores, antique malls or flea markets. Make up all the details including names and family connections!
7. Make a pattern using the same shape across a page. Use circles, triangles, squares etc. Make them uniform or random. Join them up or overlap them or space them out. Use the same colour or a rainbow of colours. Vary the sizes or keep them all the same. Vary the medium or mix it up. Watercolor with pen, acrylic with collage. All the possibilities!
8. Choose a figure from a magazine, stick them into your sketchbook or journal and give them wings!
9. Draw a page from a magazine or a catalogue.
10. Meet up with a fellow creative, artist, writer, art journaler or a friend who likes to make stuff. Make, paint, knit, write, sketch or create together. What will you learn from each other?
Happy Creating and Happy Wednesday x
Clare Davis Etheridge 