Some free inspirations.....

I've been celebrating birthdays this past couple of weeks - mine and my younger son's. In my life that means lots of fun outings with friends and family gatherings, but also lots of organising and cleaning up - add to that some major projects at work = not so much time to art. There's lots of online inspiration around at the moment, and I'm taking note of these goodies to check out in my school holidays in July. I do believe in seasons of creativity and obviously I'm in a place where I need to fill my creative well. If you're in the same position or just want to look at some arty inspiration while it's cold ❆ hello Winter Solstice ❆ I hope there's something here for you to enjoy.

Laly Mille has a FREE 5 day video workshop in which she shares her favorite mixed media art supplies and how to use them. Read more about the contents of the workshop and sign up HERE. Another blogger, Catrina Giglio, has also just uploaded a video of her favourite supplies. I enjoy her work and thought you might like to look at hers too for comparison HERE : 

Tamara Laporte (Willowing) is also a great source of lovely free stuff. This week she's sharing some free lessons and some printable inspiration cards HERE, including this lesson available for a limited time as a promotion for her Ever After course.

Marit's Quirky Dutch Summer 2019 started on June 10th - all the information including previous years' posts are HERE. 

Jane Davenport's new FREE class has just launched : HERE.

There's a new FB group for people in NZ who love mixed media art journaling, altered books, artist books, making books and more. Come and connect here : MAJIC NZ (Mixed Media Art Journalers of Aotearoa in Cahoots)
And if you're a new visitor to my blog - welcome ♥ I also share on other social media : I post photos of my art on Instagram, and share links to blog posts as well as other inspirations on my FB Artist page. Check out my list of cheap and free online art classes HERE.  
Hope you can find a way to fit creative play into your week. 

Paint over collage and metallic watercolours

When I taught a class about Faces recently, one of the techniques I shared was paint over collage. Check out that previous post for details of the process.  I figured if I glued the magazine face I was demonstrating into my journal, it would be a page starter! 

She's on a double-spread so I can do a lot with her hair, and I was very inspired by a recent Book of Days lesson with Effy : (as seen on her blog HERE)

Really fun to combine both ideas and this is how mine developed

Added metallic watercolours over the top of both the watercolour ground and the black gesso. The photo does not do the glimmery shine justice. 

I love using the technique of good quality pencils for final face detailing (I use Polychromos by Faber-Castell)

and I used a White Uni-Ball Signo pen for the flower doodles in her hair

Left her for a day to see if she needed anything more since I usually add words, but she's telling me she's done.

You can still join us in Book of Days HERE. 

Teaching : Faces, Image transfers and useful links

I taught my monthly art journal class this past week and the topic was Faces and Image Transfers. I wanted to make sure that there was something useful for everyone, even if they didn't want to do human faces. Only a 2-hour overview class  but we covered a lot, so I thought I'd share some of what we covered here with links to the blog posts I've done in the past on these techniques. 
1. Transfer with a photocopied image - place face down on your receiving paper and rub from the back with nail polish remover (acetone). Works on good watercolour paper - results not guaranteed on other papers (eg. wouldn't work in my recycled journal)

2. Transfer with an image from your printer at home. Apply gel medium (I use 3D gloss super heavy Reeves) and adhere image face down without bubbles. When dry rub paper off with wet finger – gently. Demo with home printer (colour) and photocopy (black and white) Both worked. Great free images available from Unsplash. 

I should have thought about covering the background more on the right but will be interesting to see what I can do with this. I look forward to sharing how these finish up in my journal
These are some examples of my students' work with this technique - they make me smile

3. Paint over collage : my blog post HERE

and Tam's original free lesson HERE

This is also in my journal - I figured if I put the samples in there they would be page starters! 

4. Proportions of a face - in this section we also talked about different pencils including Stabilo All pencil and Dina Wakley's technique as seen in this blog post

Included some info about other watersoluble pencils for portraits as seen HERE

and how fun using just a charcoal pencil and a blending stump can be 

I thought I would reference here my favourite face artists so you can explore them if not known to you. 
I love owning this book by Tamara Laporte

and I will be getting this when it's released in August

Check out her Youtube channel for free inspiration HERE and if you join her newsletter HERE you get a free course called Art, Heart and Healing 

and also alerts to classes that are offered for free for a limited time. This one is currently through her newsletter as a promotion for her Ever After course : 

Jane Davenport's style is very clearly laid out in her book 

and she has a new FREE class coming up 24 June : HERE.

Description of the course : Making Faces is a unique collection of Art Supplies from the mind of Jane Davenport! In this free workshop we celebrate the global launch of the collection, we have gathered all of Jane’s videos and info for each element of the collection in this one spot to make a valuable reference and resource! Not sure how much will be about face making, but gives you a taste of Jane as a teacher anyway.
My other favourite teacher, and the only one I'm doing online classes with this year, is Effy Wild. Check out her Youtube channel HERE

her Free workshop which includes a face HERE

Artists for love (speed painting)

and this contour drawing HERE: 

And last for your inspiration, check out this selection of free tutorials that include some faces by some great artists : A thing called love - includes lessons from Toni Burt, Cary Cutler Scholes and Angela Kennedy - all of whom I've shared elsewhere on this blog. This is Cary's lesson : 

I love sharing my joy of art journaling and mixed media. If you're local you can ask me to come and teach at your club/group. You'll find the posts about classes I've taught under the teaching link below.