Friday, June 27, 2008

Learning Curves

I was thrilled the other week, when one of my favourite artist/authors, Cathy (Kate) Johnson announced she had a new Ink & Wash Slide-Show Workshop on CD. Immediately I ordered it, for I have long been an admirer of the ink and wash technique :)

It arrived fast, and was in my possession just a few days later, and I watched it immediately! What fun...

So this week, I finally put it all into practise. Sort of.


We were out, and I had yet to do my daily drawing. I blame Julie Oakley... Kate mentioned her on the CD, and I was hooked into her old One Mile from Home blog ;) rather than drawing! So when we went to the grocery store to pick up some conditioner, I drew it. I forgot, however, to draw a little faster and I attempted to finish it as we drove away. And I messed up completely on that part- the lower right hand corner. I could not get it right- and later I messed it up even WORSE than it had been, so I decided to just leave it and learn.

Lesson Learned: Do not attempt to finish an intricate piece of architecture or anything else that might be intricate from memory. Leave the picture unfinished... no-one else cares!!!!

Another lesson I should have learned from Julie, is the art of leaving a picture unfinished when necessary!

I am still rather pleased with the wash though, and I love Kate's CD- which I highly recommend for those out there who are interested :) She has several others at her Cafe Press site, including watercolour and sketching CDs, and a couple of CD versions of her books- updated and with new information. I have several of her artist books, which are great and well worth looking at too!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

More Artwork

Eventually I will have a few blogs about other things in my life. Like the kids and schoolwork ;) Or a couple of books I want to share :) In the meantime, here are two more journal pieces.

This first one is in memoriam of Tasha Tudor, who died last week (June 18th) at the advanced age of 92.

She was a wonderful artist, and I have mentioned before how she inspired me :) I am not sure I would want to live as she did, but I certainly understand the lure of the time period she chose :) I found an image of her online that I liked (I think it was from one of the books about her because I vaguely recognised it), and used that for this entry.

This was drawn yesterday at the park. I took the kids there for nature club (all afternoon), and drew this while they played in the creek. They were both exhausted by the end of the day (not to mention soaked... thank goodness the hot weather dried them so fast!). I remembered that 'Draw a Bridge' was a recent EDM challenge, so I did...

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

C'est Moi...

Yes, I have been off the blog for the last couple of weeks. OK, one of those we had Rebel's evaluation. The other couple I was just being lazy ;) And reading for the summer reading program at the library!

I just uploaded REAMS of pictures I have done. Well... maybe not REAMS precisely... ;)

And here you go :)


Periwinkle... Vinca major

Easter Lily

Things out and about

Nature sights.

Thunderhead

Sights from the garden

Drawing a sunset from memory (I shared the photo before ;))

Daily art journaling can also include the news... :)


Smoky evening air... from wildfires in North Carolina... a whole state away!



More daily sights...

and journal entries.


Daily art journaling can include things found in a handbag... or food!

Daily art journaling can include pictures of the books you read...

Or those artist's friends... your hands and feet :)


Catmint close-up.

Daily art journaling can also include pictures of things you get or see...


...Like my new pigma pen, bone folder and the weird, bald cardinal.


Or perhaps just things you see in the garden whilst spending a day out there ;)

Daily art journaling might instead include tips for making sketchbooks :)

My artwork this month has been inspired by a couple of fellow Everyday Matters artists... but two really HUGE contributers were Liz at Borromini Bear and John at John-A-Lookin.
But although I mention them specifically (Liz for the illuminated letters/food and John for the mower/colour ;)), there are some wonderful people over at the group who are constantly inspiring to me and giving me ideas. I have a few in my sidebar, and I think a few more will make their way there soon ;)

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Some Art

So after making my new journal... I had to make a title page. And with coloured paper... you HAVE to use white pencil right? :)

Title page with a quote from Leonardo Da Vinci... to remind me to draw daily! "Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses it's purity and in cold weather becomes frozen Even so does inaction sap the vigours of the mind."

When M'Lady brought her nature box in, and showed me this shell, I wanted to draw it. I liked the colours and the idea of putting it in my new journal really appealed...

Sea-snail shell in different poses and media

So I experimented with ink and colour pencils, and positioning.

Poppies nodding in the noonday garden

Today I headed outside into the garden to draw. My picture is not as finished as I would have liked... I can't tolerate 90 degree weather for long! Luckily though, the blue page doesn't reflect like the white paper did!

How to Make an Art /Travel Journals

How to Make a Simple Art Journal/Travel Journal


The wonder of drawing, is that you can capture the feel of a moment. Most cameras cannot do that as well as a drawing can, although an experienced and talented photographer can certainly capture it better than most!
But lets say you want to go on vacation, and make momentoes of your trip... why not make your own journal to do it?

This way is surprisingly easy :) You will be able to make at least 2 journals out of the stuff described below.

All you need:
1 sheet of uncut matt-board (from a craft store that sells matts for pictures)
2 sets of 2 large sheets of matching scrapbook paper (i.e. 2 of one and two of another)
4 pieces of plain paper
Your choice of filler paper... I used 3 large sheets of mi-teints paper in different colours, and one pad of 10 sheets of watercolour paper (130lb)

1. Cut the mat board into 4 covers. Mine all measure approximately 6.5" x 10".

2. Cover one side of these with the scrapbook paper. Use a white glue such as Elmer's or Tacky Glue, and cover the paper. I mitred the corners by pushing the corner down BEFORE the sides.

3. Cut the plain paper so it is just slightly smaller than the matt-board, and cover the other side of the covers. This is the endpaper. You can just see the cover and the endpaper in the photo below. You might like to add an elastic cover closure before gluing the endpaper down. Those are made by gluing a piece of elastic the appropriate size to go around your completed book, UNDER the endpaper. They are quite useful if you glue things into your journal.


4. Cut the paper into sizes just slightly smaller than the matt board covers. You can see my paper as I cut it above. Given another chance, I would use a paper cutter/guillotine and measure it rather than folding it and cutting as I did :) I would also cut them slightly bigger than shown!

This picture shows you the different papers... three different Mi-Teintes (black, blue and sand) and white watercolour paper (cold press).

5. Use a spiral binding or comb binding machine to punch holes in the side of the papers and covers, and bind with a spiral or comb. A copy place will do this for you at a reasonable price, if you don't have access to a machine.

Why make your own?
Because you customise the paper. My has paper capable of holding watercolours AND different colours/textures of paper. This is actually a very enjoyable thing to play around with... after all, whites will actually SHOW on coloured paper ;)

Why comb/spiral?
Because it allows you to add things your book. The combs and spirals allow you to paste things INTO a book- a map of your trip, ephemera you collect AS WELL as the drawings and paintings you might make :) Not to mention you can easily adjust the bound side or size of your book. This one is bound on the short side:

While the one at the top was bound on the long side :)

Why Matt Board?
Because it is nice and thick... which means maximum protection for your work AND it is easy to get! One sheet did both these books, with enough left over for maybe two more!!

And there you have it, a simple book for using as an art/travel journal. You can also use it as a nature diary if you like, or a simple sketch book... your own preference :)

Sunday, June 01, 2008

The End of Everyday in May!

But not necesssarily the end of daily drawing :)
First up is a drawing I call "The Grey Streak". Which is to say that on our way down Broad Street, a grey streak ran across the road in front of us... too fast to be recognisable! We think it was either an opossum or a cat!


Then there is my last drawing in May... this is another picture of the very first thing I drew in May... our creamer. This time I added colour ;)


And finally, my first June picture... this week we harvested our peas for the first time (this year). I harvested a few more today and drew them after shelling the rest ;)