Wanderlust : Marvellous from discarded

Another week in Wanderlust 2021 with our Recycled theme, this time with Marta Lapkowska (Maremi). Check out her YouTube channel for further inspiration. We're using vintage book pages, music sheets, old tags, pretty napkins and collage elements - all things I have in abundance in my stash 💜  

Recycling ephemera to build up layers of collage and adding modeling paste for extra texture. My art journal - a place to dream and ignite my creativity 

See all my other posts about this class HERE. 

Journal Jam 1 with Effy

Effy Wild is sharing a weekly Journal Jam live in The Wilderhood (her Monday, my Tuesday morning) and my last journal page following the prompts turned out so well I decided that after my work hours from home were finished this week, I'd join in again. If you want the replay go HERE. She draws prompts and shares how she works in response to those directly in her journal, and you can follow her lead or go in a totally different direction. I've re-titled this Journal Jam 1 since this is officially the start of a weekly offering by Effy. This was her finished page 

Here's what happened at my place : 
Blue Scraped 2 blues on with credit card and then finished blending with baby wipe

Drippage Effy used acrylic ink so I looked at my stash for what colour would be pretty... and if one is lovely 2 is better right?! 

Scrape paint with a gift card or other scrapey tooly thingy Using my rubber/silicone tool (No brand name) and some paint called melonball which I thought might inject a bit more yellow light

...not in love but it's a texture layer

Use a smudgeable pencil to outline something on the page and smudge it out Followed Effy's lead by reaching for my black Stabilo All pencil (very water reactive - some alternatives if you don't have one are HERE). One of my favourite things is "found words" - perfect to be using an old book for my art journal. Outlined and smudged Stabilo and then went over the words with an XS black Pitt Pen : dearly loved. There's only one thing to be done. art

Obeyed the impulse to add a bit more smudged Stabilo. Then sprayed with workable fixative so this doesn't react again. 

Add a leaf Yay - stencil time....and I know it says ''a'' leaf but my page my rules! I always like to inject something of my NZ into my art where I can

I know I'm going to have to add some injection of colour but I'm really liking this

Want to add some definition before I move to the next prompt so added brush Pitt pen to outline the ferns and then blended out with a wet brush. These pens are great in that there is a little time when you first apply when they can be shifted but after that they are permanent.

Add overlapping circles An opportunity to add a touch of bronze

And now I can finish the page as I wish. My first inclination is to add serviette butterflies and that made me feel the page was complete. The red ones are perfect to highlight the words.

I would never have created this page alone and enjoyed this process so much. Happy weekend to you.

Testing watersoluble pencils for faces

After my post on Friday about trying a Dina Wakley-style face with a Stabilo All pencil, someone asked on my FB Artist Page about the Stabilo pencil and whether we can get it in New Zealand. The short answer is that they are not easy to find here (please leave a comment if you have a ready source!) I originally sourced my one online from Fishpond, but they are not always available, and I was lucky to be able to purchase a single pencil. Often you have to buy in bulk which makes them a bit spendy and risky if you're not sure if you're going to like them.This is the particular one that artists (Dina Wakley, Effy Wild, Roben-Marie Smith) are referring to : Stabilo-All Pencil 8046 Black  (The number 8046 is critical to get the right one) Click on any photo to see it larger if you need details of the pencils.

It's watersoluble, it's very dark, it leaves lovely smudges/shadows on your work - you can use a blending stump or water. These were my faces using it and water on Friday

So with the question of alternatives in mind, I decided to do some testing for all of our benefit. When I originally tried to source the Stabilo I went to Office Max. They suggested the Staedtler lumocolor non-permanent (there is also a white which may be useful for sketching on dark backgrounds - purchased but not tested yet). Tried on another page from my altered art journal, but I sprayed first using a stencil with Dylusions ink - also very water-reactive. So this was a fun experiment in itself because the ink remains usable for colour in the eyes etc

But not very useful for how soluble that pencil actually is. So I did another face just with the pencil, and then decided I should use the same paper for a fair test so : 

Both the above were done with the Staedtler Lumocolor non-permanent pencil (purchased from Office Max) - the page on the left is thicker, but the pencil reacts about the same. Not as dark or as blendable as the Stabilo All 8046 below (same paper as above right) but depends on what you want : 

The above is the same pencil used in those original faces from Friday. The more pencil you lay down, the darker and more colour available to move around with water. Now using the same book paper for rest of tests. I really like Charcoal - below is my Derwent charcoal pencil (I think maybe purchased at Warehouse Stationery - they definitely have charcoal pencil options)

I usually rub the lines laid down with this pencil with a blending stump rather than use the water. I quite like this look - still not as intense as the Stabilo All but good coverage and can lay down more charcoal for more intensity. Then, just because I have them, I thought I'd test out the difference with the Derwent Inktense and Graphitint watercolour pencils. This is Derwent Inktense Ink Black : 

I really like the look of this - nice and dark and a bit more control with using the water with it than the Stabilo. Derwent Graphitint Midnight Black : 

Very disappointing - remembering that the graphitint colours are generally more muted than the Inktense, this is still what I would call grey rather than Midnight black! Perhaps if more colour was laid down in the future but I probably won't pursue it since there are some lovely alternatives here. This might be nice for general shadows since not so intense.
Hope that was a useful exercise for you to see as well. Apart from the learning about the pencils, although I didn't spend much time on these faces, the repetition was a useful experience. I'm feeling much more confident about eye position, and I like the nose and lip shapes developing naturally too. In Dina's class, she asked people to do a 'before' face for comparison. I didn't do one since I've been drawing faces since 2015, but often with a lesson for guidance/reminders of proportion. I did find this face from 2016 as a comparison - one I did quickly in my art journal without proper thought to eye position, for example.

Although she is a pleasant face, I would be drawing my eyes larger and a bit further down on her face now ♥ Practice - a lot - #arteveryday - and your skills will increase and your style emerge.

Two more things of interest : I haven't tested this with the other pencils but one advantage of the Stabilo All is that if you prepare your surface with gesso first, you can actually remove the pencil marks you don't want completely using a baby wipe - this is VERY useful as you can imagine and should work with the others since they are watersoluble too.
Remember most of these pencils will remain water-reactive so if you're going to continue to work on the art, you'll need to spray with a workable fixative and let that dry before continuing. This is what I currently use - 

available at Warehouse Stationery or Office Max. Shop around for specials/best price.
Ask me anything and I'll do my best to help :-)

Daily Journaling Week 17

A few things going on this week affecting my response to the prompts. This week's prompt from the blog for Life Documented 2017 HERE : Illustrate a quote (Earth Day Bonus prompt: use recycled materials). Technique: Drawing and shading a face (mixed media)

I've also been working with the prompts of the original Documented Life 2014 : Week 17 is to Photograph or draw your favourite shoes.
You may remember that Week 16's prompt included "add photos". I took the easy option with that spread and just added some photos as part of my daily journaling. But when I'd first seen the photo prompt, I'd had a couple of ideas which I'd left in favour of the easy option. I decided to include both of those ideas this week, and I'm actually going to include all 5 prompts (above in green).
To begin was easy. It's ANZAC day in New Zealand today and I had a lovely sticker tape of poppies I wanted to include on the spread - and obviously to include all those prompts I need a flap!
1. Use recycled materials  I was hoping the red ink on this underpaper was still water-soluble, and when I ran gel medium over the top as well it all blended out and onto the page ♥

2. Add photos  I decided to spread my day blocks out to give me space for larger photos with my journaling and I decided to feature art in the middle for a change. More on the poppy further down...

3. Photograph or draw your favourite shoes.This fun prompt made me photograph the beginnings of my next fabric project in a different way :-)

4. Add photos I wanted to use a photo as a beginning of a drawing. Here I've extended the poppy idea with charcoal pencil and a blending stump. 

Sprayed with workable fixative before adding colour with watercolour pencils. The finished poppy also includes the prompt Illustrate a quote.

5. Drawing and shading a mixed media face. I've been trying to complete my Facing Forward II class lessons from Effy Wild while I have time in the holidays. Popped down some more recycled under paper, and then used Effy's method from her final bonus lesson of using a photograph as the base of my mixed media face. I forgot to take process photos and I regret that! Traced over this photo of me to transfer with carbon paper

Then used charcoal pencil and smudging - when I sprayed with fixative though the blue carbon showed through...so she's ended up a bit more mixed media than first intended! Fits the prompt though. 

Here's this week's finished spread with flap closed

and open

There's some space left for my journaling of Wed-Fri this week. Friday we go to Wellington to watch my eldest son in a basketball tournament for a couple of days, and then we're back to school on Monday! Enjoy the end of April.
You can see all my posts about this project HERE and my Flickr album HERE

Daily Journaling Week 15

I'm following the prompts of the original Documented Life 2014. Week 15 : Monochromatic - use shades, tints and hues of one colour. And from the blog for Life Documented 2017 HERE : Add chalk or coloured pencil. Funnily enough, I had already thought I needed to do something different than floral themed this week, and hoped a face would fit the prompts somehow...When I went to Week 15 of the original 2014 prompts I found that a few of them had decided to do faces! Began by gathering my watercolour pencils to decide where I had the most shades of one colour - I have both Inktense and Graphitint. 

I've been so busy this week, I hadn't actually started this spread. It turned out to be a good thing. I had written an email this morning which I decided to print out and keep as a memory of exactly where I am as I start our holidays. Need a flap with a pocket to hold that. I used sprays for the colour here though 

Then it was time to make my monochrome girl - her hair makes the journaling spaces. All of this is done with the watercolour pencils blended with water. All my original work but obviously influenced by what I've been learning in Effy's classes ♥ Click on any photo to see it larger.

I wanted to include this lovely "Shine" quote from a recent Brave Girls Club email message

Added some more doodles with the same pencils and she's ready for the week's journaling

Here she is finished : 

I used various shades of green pens for the journaling. Here's how she looks with the flap closed : 

You can see all my posts about this project HERE and my Flickr album HERE.
Today marks the start of 2 weeks of school holidays for my boys and me. I have a looong list of what I want to get done : a mix of creative, home and work-related. I am going to try and do house & garden stuff in the morning, creative fun in the afternoon, and work-related planning for next term in the evenings AND I have a large pile of good books beside my bed to read at night. Doing this spread was my afternoon creative fun today so I've made a good start :-)

BOD : Sweetness

I won Book of Days semi-annual for July-December with Effy, and I'm loving her weekly lessons and the FB group. This is the first spread I've got completed in my journal from the first main lesson in July (week 27). I am working this year in a recycled art book that I bought at a library book sale for only a few dollars. This is what it looked like in June.

This means that sometimes I get blank pages, and sometimes I get pages full of text. 

I really love the look of that in my background so I always just start on the next page, even if a face falls on such a busy background. After drawing in the face and initial lines, it was time to block in colours and while sometimes I want to challenge myself to try something different, this time I just wanted to use my favourites, as seen when I created my Art Symbols Dictionary. Effy talked about using Tombows with iridescent medium to get a shimmery paint. I pulled out my Tombows and Aquamarkers - again my stash of these consists of my favourite colours plus a sensible brown for eyes ;-)

I did the pink with the tombow and the orange with the aquamarker and they both worked well with the medium. The other areas were too large to waste my markers, so I mixed dark purple paint with the medium, and then turned to my trusty iridescent paints for the turquoise and lime sections

Then we did the face in detail - I have been thinking prismacolors might go on my Christmas wish list since I have lovely watercolour pencils, but not permanant ones. However, I made a visit to our local art supply store (Ochre Art Supplies in Square Edge) and found I could buy Faber Castell Polychromos pencils individually. I bought 3 that I thought would be useful for face shading, and love them. Upon reading reviews, I have bought a brand that is fabulous - very expensive - but if I'm only going to buy them individually as I feel I need I am happy to do that, rather than spend $60 on a box of pencils that may contain colours I don't use. Anyway - here's how I shaded my face using Derwent Graphitint Slate Green and Ivy with water in the eye, and the Polychromos for shading - I rubbed with a blending stump, and later applied white paint in some areas.

Then the doodling began...Hair in progress.

Serendipity - the words grace and beauty were part of the background text so I kept them from the very start to inspire the entire piece. The theme for this lesson was Sweetness - I love the sweetness of creating with colours and symbols that make me happy. From a stressful week, I moved to the sweet spot that comes whenever I'm creating. I used a mix of doodles and my new stencils with gold in my colour block areas

I was thrilled with the look I got with my new star stencil in the sky area, and couldn't resist adding white pen dots for extra sparkle

It was worth doing this page after my art symbols spread. I felt that process added to the depth of meaning in this spread. She's all done here - all that shimmer makes me happy ♥

The time this lesson took was so worth it - I am very happy with the finished spread. Click on the photos to see them larger.

See the rest of my spreads in this year's art journal HERE.