In my previous post, I mentioned that I keep what I call a studio book - I keep swatches of art mediums, as well as notes about art tips/experiments for future reference. These are some of my watercolour supplies :
And the swatch samples don't have to be fancy to be useful...it's really great when you're wondering what the colour is really like :
The Koh-i-noor samples come in the circular containers above. These are my caran d'ache crayons and 2 kinds of watercolour pencils.
I've also fairly recently acquired Tombows.
I had some questions about how I might use them. Of course the best way is to test them out for yourself. It's so great to have a studio book where you can do this kind of thing. Click on any photo to see it larger.
I used them on different surfaces, and tried out a blending pen as well as water. They handle quite differently on the papers that I use compared to aqua markers :
I think the water is fine for blending the tombows, but the blending pen might be fun for lettering : try out some fun lettering techniques with Tombows HERE and HERE.
If you like lettering you might also like to explore my recent post which includes free online lettering class information HERE.
And I did a couple of other searches and found that I should have been blending on a separate page - how to blend with the tombow palette. I think I might just try freezer or baking paper since it should sit on the surface. There's another similar technique here.
You can also use your studio notebook to decide whether you actually need to acquire another new product. I was considering absorbant ground for using watercolours on different surfaces. However :
Now I've decided for the papers I currently use as substrates I'm good as I am.
I hope if you don't have some kind of studio book you're inspired to start one.
This is last week's daily journal spread. As I shared in my previous post, we've started May with both highs and lows and I'm VERY busy so when I got a window of time, I did something easy to keep up in my daily journal. I'm following the prompts of the original Documented Life 2014. Week 18 : Add an inspiring quote to guide your week. And from the blog for Life Documented 2017 HERE : create a swatch page of your favourite art medium/s. Stamp and colour in.
I already keep what I call a studio book where I keep swatches of art mediums (will share in another post) so decided I'd just stamp some pretty flowers with one of my favourite ink pads
The prompt was "Stamp and colour in" so I did that with some pretty twinkling H2Os which I don't use that often.
They are shimmery loveliness that doesn't photograph well here.... Then they needed additional doodles
and my other prompt "add an inspiring quote to guide your week"
A good reminder that if you don't actually set a time, things can just drift and never get done. This is the finished spread with very quick journaling record this week.
You can see all my posts about this project HERE and my Flickr album HERE.
Happy May Days. We are entering the last month of Autumn for us - leaves are changing colour, temperatures are dropping but still mainly sunny days so far....I've started the first week of our new term with highs and lows and not much finished art, although I'm working on a couple of things I just can't share properly yet....
Instead I thought I'd share some of what's going on in my life around the art.... High - my eldest (#10) made it into the top Basketball team at his high school and they won their first tournament in the holidays. Looking forward to watching live basketball for the next 2 terms on Wednesday and Friday nights.
Low - farewelling a friend at a funeral during the week. Be grateful for every day - hold the people you love close and tell them how you really feel about them ♥
Busy - I am running a Book Week at our school next week - loads of activities that launches tomorrow with a school quiz. It has been a lot of work and I've felt overwhelmed at times, but it is going to be so worth it....finishing with a book character dress-up day next Friday.
I don't know what I'm thinking, but in that same week I decided I'd join in with this even though I'm so busy, and I'll be wearing my Joy in Autumn!
I did her original "Wear your joy" class at the beginning of last year when I won a free pass for a month to Brave Girls University. Although it's not currently available there, if you join this "Spring" offering Kelly offers a 50% discount to the original class - you'll get the discount code with your confirmation email. You can read about my experiences of that original class HERE.
High - I'm teaching again soon...my star book class locally later in the month
and also a fabric book class in early July. Will share more closer to the time.
Happy that Book of Days Session 2 has started, there's a new challenge up for One Little Word, and I'm continuing to write and explore in my Inner Work Journal. More of all of that after Book Week! I'm also running Craft Club at school this term - starts Week 3 and I'll share our project as it happens : we're going to make a book out of recycled materials.
Celebrating : we are spending this weekend with lovely people staying with us for my father-in-law's 80th birthday. AND I've got an "0" birthday coming up next month! Can't believe I'm reaching it, but planning a bit of a do to celebrate so quite excited.
Hope you have a weekend of love & laughter as I hope to. Talk to you again soon...with art I hope ♥
