Wanderlust : Texture intrigue

Our next theme in Wanderlust 2021 is Texture. As usual, we started with an inspirational lesson from Kasia and the following week was with Mystele. Kasia began by asking "What is your favourite texture?" and Mystele shared her favourite materials and applied them to a face. My work is usually very tactile so I knew I would love these lessons and decided to combine them in one spread. 

I started with lace, modeling paste through a stencil, masking tape, scrim, embossed card, recycled paper packaging, drywall joint tape and gesso. Very hard to restrain myself but my small Dylusions journal meant I had to edit. 

Colour from iridescent paints and some drippage with ink

I was going to add a face (as per Mystele's lesson) when I realised that I had the perfect textured alternative in the form of one of my paper dolls which I shared HERE.

Added some sari ribbon and stitch additions to my figure, and then more texture to my background including metallic leaves, white paint through a circle stencil, some serviette printed with silver stars and found words to finish.

See all my other posts about this class HERE.

52 Tags : Week 30

Almost at the end of my school holidays. The Independent school where I work gets an extra week off mid-year. I am so lucky! I haven't done as much art as I thought I would but am feeling very rested, my roses are pruned, my oven is clean and I'm all prepared for our eldest's 21st middle of August. It takes a lot of organising and energy when he's having a party, a special cake and trying to order gifts with uncertain delivery times. 

I will always make time for Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. You can view her demo each week on Youtube #52tagshannemade. Week 30 : A brooch. Keeping it fairly simple this week after the last couple of weeks which were quite time-consuming. I recycled a kilt pin from my old school uniform which mum somehow still had in her sewing box all these years later. I won't wear the brooch but I like how this attachment looks on the tag

Obviously no room for tying on my normal ribbons through the tag hole which has been covered in this instance. I didn't want to miss out though so just stitched the sari ribbon on the back so will show in the box

Took 2 photos of the box and can't decide which I like best. This project gives me joy from every aspect 💜

This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge.

Fodder Challenge : Paper Dolls

The free #FodderChallenge (details below) has lessons from 9 different artists. The first of these is Paper Dolls with Megan Whisner Quinlan. See examples of hers HERE and HERE. I thought I'd try some different faces and they need to be on cardstock so I dug through my stash for some suitable bits. I have an acetate one which I machine stitched onto the base before cutting around, a face from an old stamp catalogue, and an actual stamped face.  

I also copied and pasted some faces from my own art into a word document and printed them out to try as well.

These were so much fun. I love to see them all lined up and see how something on one inspired another.

Lessons available right now from 9 different artists. You can still sign up HERE with one week left to play. Free access to the classroom ends August 8.

Paint over collage

Sharing a page from my larger watercolour journal that I made during my blog break. This lesson was inspired by a session with Tam from Willowing in a free class in June which I shared HERE. You can see Tam's sample there. This was my base collage - I took a photo of myself specially for this page and just printed it on normal printer paper

This page faces my Journal Jam page that I shared HERE. I already had a tinted background to start since I had used this page as a paint palette and then felt I couldn't turn it into something lovely so applied gesso over the entire page.

This is an expressive self-portrait and not supposed to look exactly like me at the end. The metallic word sticker on the music says "today is full of possibilities". I always enjoy this process. See other examples of my work using this technique HERE.

52 Tags : Week 29

I'm participating in Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. You can view her demo each week on Youtube #52tagshannemade.Week 29 : Ort (scrappy). An Ort is a scrap or morsel left over, usually food, but a name for our collection of thread ends we'd normally throw away. Luckily Anne had warned us earlier in the year to collect these off-cuts for a challenge she had in mind. These are my threads

This is Anne's tag sample for this week:

I wanted to have a more defined design to my tag. My first thought when I saw Anne's was "What a bird's nest", so that's what mine became. 

Someone asked me what I do with these tags. They live in a box which currently fits but I may create a special holder at the end

They are also a weekly record of my activities on the back so will be a year's worth of journaling by the end 💜

Sometimes I add tape to cover knots of my stitching to the back, but not always. Sometimes my tags have machine edge stitching instead. The sari ribbon on this week's tag was also used on pages I finished in my art journal this week. I like that referencing. This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge.

Wanderlust - Poems & Quotes and Boundaries

Catching you up on my Wanderlust class work from my blog break. I really loved the Poems & Quotes theme last month and managed to complete 2 more spreads on this theme in my small Dylusions journal. The first was with Kate Crane - lovely playing with black framing and found poetry. 

And the next with Vicky Papaioannou - I didn't know her work and enjoyed using modeling paste and sprays in my work again. This time I printed my quote on gelli-printed paper. It's an easy way to get colour for your word backgrounds and to use different fonts.

Now I've just finished some pages inspired by Marjie Kemper on the theme of Boundaries. Marjie demonstrated a mini tag book, but I decided to make 3 interactive spreads in my journal. I have space since I've skipped a couple of lessons that didn't inspire me. Using distress ink pads for the backgrounds, stenciling and stamping this time.

Our next 4-week theme is Texture which I am very much looking forward to playing with. See all my other posts about this class HERE.

52 Tags : Weeks 23-28

I'm still participating in Anne Brooke's weekly Tag challenge. You can view her demo each week on Youtube #52tagshannemade. While I was on my blog break, we reached Week 26 and half way through this challenge. Here's the collection so far : Weeks 1-13 

Weeks 14-26

So cool to see them all together. The last tag you saw here on the blog was Tag 22, so here's a catch-up for you.

Tag 23 : A bunch of flowers using a colour you don't often use. I love red but don't often use it in my art. Fun to use a mix of stitches and buttons and more lace.  

Tag 24 : Tatting. I cheated - I mean interpreted this in my own way! I didn't want to do my own tatting as the lesson demonstrated, so used a lovely old piece from my stash and celebrated my birthday week. Loving to incorporate more paper again in this one too.

Tag 25 : Woven threads. Loving the textures on this one.

Tag 26 : A medal for making it half way through the challenge and the year ♥

Tag 27 : Beads and Tassles. Discovered I already owned beading needles! Very cool to learn something new.

Tag 28 : Spider Wheel. 2 methods - woven and wrapped. 

This was last week's tag so now we're all up to date on this project. This link will take you to all of my posts about this challenge.

Sharing free classes - I'm back!

So I've reassessed what I'm doing and how I'm doing it as per my last blog post and I've decided I want to keep blogging. Instagram and FB have been great to get me to focus on sharing a photo of the finished piece without a lot of time taken on process photos, but I miss writing out my inner dialogue about projects so I can remember my thoughts at a later date, I miss having a place to look back on free online art class opportunities, I miss the way this blog can bring a whole project together with one click like my 52 Tags, and I really miss links - to artists, to classes, to bringing strands of my thoughts together for a project or sharing where I got inspiration. The beauty of blogging is that it's an online journal that captures my creative journey and also connects me with a global community. I really value the friendships that have evolved through that. Because of my labels, I can always find my way back to how I did something and I can investigate my past patterns of creating. I started my blog in July 2010 so this month is my 11th bloggiversary! But in 2014 I said Farewell in May and then returned in July. Four Years later in July 2018 I almost stopped again, but realised  it was because I hadn't been as productive....here we are three years later and some of the same issues have come up. Now I've captured this information it will hopefully support me next time - probably mid-winter - in realising that we have seasons of creativity and blogging is something that helps my process. 

I have a few projects to catch you up on. The photo above is my art created in June - some you've seen here, some I've only shared on my Instagram and FB. I will remedy that next week. I am nearing the end of my first week of school holidays and my husband and I are off for a long weekend to Napier leaving tomorrow. Before I go, I want to share a couple of free online art opportunities you might want to get in on. This first one needs quick action!

The Painted Paper Project is available again HERE. 

This Kindness Project, with the simple message of SPREAD JOY, has thousands of creatives making “heart bundles” to share with others. Featuring a number of artists, the doors are open to new sign-ups for only a couple more days. Rae Missigman announced 7 days open on Insta HERE - that was 5 days ago....you have anytime access once you've joined. 

You might remember I've previously shared that I was inspired by the Collage Fodder 100 day project - especially the work of Megan Whisner Quinlan and Willa Wanders. Willa then announced a FREE Fodder Challenge collaborative classroom.

Free access to the classroom June 7 - August 8. Lessons available right now from 9 different artists. You can still sign up HERE with time to play. 

I've been thinking a lot during my blog break about what I create and I've been missing creating little books. I really love what I've been seeing on both Megan and Willa's accounts linked above. Willa has recently announced a new class which has evolved from the above challenge - and while it's not free, I'm sharing as something that I'm doing next. It's good value for a year-long collaborative experience with 12 teachers that make me excited. 

You can sign up HERE. Currently US$147 until August when price goes to US$187. Registrations close August 31 and class start 1st October. I was gifted money for my birthday last month so I'm in. Might see you there. Talk soon - it's good to be back!