All posts tagged: handmade sketchbook

Sketchbooks

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I have been working and practicing in my sketchbooks a lot more this year. While I am still in love with mixed media and art journal type pages, I am really trying to improve my sketching, in an actual drawing type way! I have signed up for some classes, a couple I have completed and some (ok many) are in process and some (ok too many) are waiting to be started. Are you a class taker? Do you feel they benefit your skill building? I find that some do and some don’t. I particularly enjoy classes which are vague enough to let you run with your style and preferences and provide ideas and inspiration. Classes I try to avoid (no always successfully) are the ones where you end up with a very similar body or piece of work to everyone else in the class including the teacher. One of my favourite ways of working and learning in my sketchbook is the weekly (Friday at various times) art club held on Instagram live by The Good …

Get Messy, Season of Habit pages from my Art Journal

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When I made this art journal a couple of months ago, I was sure of two things, I loved the look and layout of it and it has way too many pages to fill in one season of Get Messy. Turns out I was correct on the first one, I loved this journal every time I worked in it. It transpired over the course of the Season of Habit that my second assumption was very wrong, I filled this treasure up with maybe one page to spare.  Not only did I fill it, I added a pocket full of art cards and two mini accordion books. I used all of my favorite techniques, starting with making the book itself, machine sewing, collage, simplicity, spray painting through old doilies and using old photos.  These are a few of the pages from my completed journal. Happy Sunday x  

A New Sketchbook for my Holiday.

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I am going on holiday soon and as usual I have to have a sketchbook ready and waiting, preferably one I have made specially. So I squirreled about in my old book stash and Enid Blyton’s ‘Five Run away Together’ popped out as bring just the size and thickness I needed.  I got this book from the library sale cart for nostalgia reasons although I never really liked the Famous Five, I thought the Secret Seven were way cooler! I removed the book block and kept a few illustrations for future art journaling use and added my own pages. These consist of watercolor paper and a few images from an old book of photographs. I used clear gesso on the photo pages so that I can add marks or paint when I am filling the book. Some pages are smaller, others fold out and I included a mini accordion page because I love to work on fold out pages of all varieties. I am hoping to find some book paper while on holiday so that …

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

Handmade art journal and Get Messy Season of Story

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Whenever I visit an antique shop or estate sale I am always on the lookout for old photos, books and ledgers as well as any interesting papers from days gone by which I can use in art journals as collage or inspiration. Sometimes there will be a box of photos to sift through but in my eyes, the real finds are the albums still full of ancient black and white images often with written descriptions on the back or front of the photos and on the album pages. I love to see the names, the date and often a little description of the image. Just look at the poses and the joy in the page of photos from 1916 shown above! I consequently have a lot of old pictures and I use them in my journals some, but I want to use more. One per page at least to and fill my journal with photos and the imagined stories that accompany these people and their clothes and cars and locations. A happy coincidence that the …

Art journaling, bookmaking and sketching.

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I felt like I was neglecting my little art journal for the Season of Play at Get Messy this week. So one evening I picked it up along with some collage pieces I had chosen, cut out and left to one side. Rather than wait for inspiration to strike I decided to just go for it and make a page with these ladies, a constellation map and some butterflies with a few swipes of paint.                                                                                                                                                        I have also just signed up for Sketchbookery so I did a little sketching practice on this page too in the form of a flower …

Handmade sketchbook for the Season of Nature

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I am beginning to get a bit obsessed with making books!  I love to make all the sketchbooks with different papers in different sizes with fold outs and accordions.  The more I make the more ideas I get for another one or two or three. We are about to start the new season over in the Get Messy Art Journal community and it is going to be The Season of Nature.  I found a book called ‘A Field Guide to Animal Tracks’ not long ago and thought it would be perfect to make into a sketchbook for The Season of Nature. Once the pages were out I was ready to go! I made two signatures and stitched one to each inside cover of the book so they open away fro each other.  I used pamphlet stitch to fasten them onto the edge of the cover. I have made a pretty backwards book which started by stitching the papers onto the opposite side than expected, but I like the way the two books are working together …

A month of creative lettering.

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During October I joined Pam Garrison and Creative Bug for a month of creative lettering.  Each day a new video was released on the Creative Bug site to instruct and inspire a new lettering idea or technique. I chose a handmade book which was waiting for the opportunity to be filled with letters and lettering. Inside are just over 30 pages of a variety of paper from navy thin paper to cold and hot press watercolour paper via a few sheets of brown kraft paper. Here are my favorite pages from the month.   I enjoyed the whole month but I think my favorites are the sumi brush and ink alphabet and the watercolor shape alphabet. I love a  monthly challenge! Happy Wednesday x