just a Vlog - Day 8 Blogtober.

Evening loves...long day first day back at school for the little ones, and my workout...was epic..so I'm one tired girl...please enjoy tonight's Vlog, where I show you the current journals I am working on, and just chat for a bit! 



xx Courtney

Day 6!!! arty play and white pens.

The weekend is in full swing here at the Brook-Diaz house with daylight savings about to hit us, we have been packing boxes and de-cluttering for our impending move! I thought I would start my post with a quick snap of my dinner! garlic prawns, fresh strawberries a few almonds and a few roasted coconut chips! it was..devine. We are a paleo family for 2 months now and I can never see us looking back.

 

 today I jumped onto the Gulfsprite Ning to have a look at the beautiful Stardust course, Christy had urged me to give it a go, so I looked it over, got the image printed for it, and will be doing one on canvas, and a smaller version in my art journal. Can never have enough face drawings by the lovely Christy in my life.

my eclectic art journal is bulking up! I love flicking through to see the miss matched papers and the splashes of colour that are in my boarder bits.

Only a quick supply post tonight, White pens...as an avid doodler I use my black and my white pens, so many times a day, for those little details...highlights outlines and so forth. I have more than these three white pens, I just cant seem to track them down! so for now I'll talk about these ones. The sharpie poster paint with a fine tip is my fave for my finer details, the eye highlights mostly, there have been a few spillages because I've pushed too hard (be gentle handling this) next is the Sakura brand Gelly Roll white gel pen. This is a japanese brand of pen and is beautiful to work with! If I could buy a stack of these pens in different colours I would in a heartbeat! when you first start using the gelly pen I thought omg its not working! but as it dries it goes a beautiful stark white...also gives a little raised feel where it has been used so lovely for the textural factor. The last pen is my dot maker. a Posca paint pen, with a big chunky round tip. Posca make their pens in different colours and I am yet to try them, but if they are as good as their white pens, I'm all for them. Like I said I use this pen to make my dots and for my chunky highlights.

and a quick peak at my pencil case that goes everywhere with me, a lot of black pens of varying sizes and inks, a few bright coloured sharpie pens, a couple of highlighters, my white pens, a mechanical pencil, a little eraser, glue stick, scissors and a bone folder.

these things go everywhere with me, so that I can draw, and add quick details and pops of colour with no problems at all, meaning I can create art whenever I am out and about and have a spare moment to myself.

enjoy your night loves!

xx Courtney

Blogtober Day 5!

Day 5 upon us of blogging everyday in october, and its been a hot one.

Since spring ins now in full swing, out little garden the could..is doing just that...growing day by day we have onions, zucchini, carrots, strawberries beans and a few others...its been mine and the kids daily chore to go out and water them...amazing watching them grow from just seeds!

on the art front, I'm still working on building my pages of my eclectic art journal, bit by bit, last night I attacked an pizza add that came in the mail..no bit of paper is safe!!! I also used the odd bits of paper I was testing my foam stamps on and turned it into boarder sheets with a little bit of highlighter, a sharpie and some paint!

 I've left my post a bit late today, lots of cleaning and packing boxes and of course my workout for the day which leaves me feeling like I've been hit by a mack truck most nights... but it's for a good cause. I should make one hot bride one day...one day.

so onto supplies...today is Pencils..but not just any pencils...prismacolour pencils. Another one of my supplies I literally had to save for. I bought the box of 72 I think from memory and I haven't regretted them a day I've also bought a few new colours singly from an art store. So I dub these another investment supply. I've had them for about 3 years and only had to replace my white as it does all my blending. 

Prismacolour are a very waxy pencil, highly pigmented and go onto a page like butter. They have an amazing array of colours that would keep any artist happy.

because these pencils are so waxy blending with a light coloured pencil gives you a softened look without those pencil marks that most harder leaded colour pencils have to them. You can also use a  blending marker or a solvent to break down the wax to create an almost paint like effect. This part is magic! I have fun using my copic blending marker to smooth out all the lines to give a more polished effect.

a tip I found out from Jane, you can draw onto fabric with your prismacolour pencils,  using ur iron and heat set the pencil making it permanent! I haven't tried this tip yet, but I've seen a finished product and was highly impressed.

I have a couple of pencils that I take in my pencil case at all times, to add little touches, mostly face tint colours...they are the rolls royce of pencils! I don't have my expensive 'label' branded supplies but the ones I do have...are totally worth it.

 

enjoy your nights my darlings 

xx Courtney

 

Foam Stamps of Win!

Hello hello!!! lots of pictures today, got carried away with images representation of my supplies. Today while I sat again avoiding my workout...I was in my scrap bind and found some fun foam. Now I only have this because of an art geeks video I watched quite a while ago now! but I thought why not have a play, so I started cutting...and using a ballpoint pen to indent a pattern into them.

above is just cutouts..and below is using the pen to make a design etched into it. I backed the foam onto some thick chipboard and away I went! making random prints for the basis of my eclectic journal.

I used paint with them first, but wasnt crisp enough, my favourite was using a black stazon ink pad with the 'stamps' they came out much clearer almost tribal like.

 

I am also low on patterned stencils, where its just a pattern not just one element....so I thought to myself, make my own very diy basic one out of scrapbooking paper. I mean its pretty rough but it was fun playing with it. little bit of paint and a sponge and you've got me entertained for a least an hour.

I did crack open my raindrops stencil which doesnt get used often but sometimes I give it a run

 

 And today's supply...is Markers! yes I am still a novice when it comes to markers! as I only learnt to really wield them last year I think...but I do have a small collection of them due to an awesome marker club I used to be in, getting 7 colours a month shipped to me...so I have a little stash.  Now dont get me wrong...markers are flippin pricey! the copics which many call the creme de la creme range from $9 to $11 AUD depending on where you are buying them! and for me...thats pretty epic. If I wasnt in the marker club..doing it monthly...I would not have as many as I do, I was lucky.

there are many cheaper just as awesome brands that are now readily available...such as the letraset markers and the spectrum noir pens, also distress markers have busted onto the scene just recently. 

all fantastic and great quality. Much of a muchness. 

 I store mine lying down in an ikea tub, which isnt ideal but hey what you gonna do. My collection is all copics except for a few Touch markers I got from an aussie art store. They are dual tipped, a brush tip and a chisel tip. very very juicey and very vibrant. (can you see a theme here with my supplies it has to bust open with colour or I'm not interested)

 

 see dodgy photo of the tips, the light is shocking but you get what I mean. I have several shades of the one colour family to help with the blending aspect of these markers, and blending is where they come into their own. Miss Jane Davenport taught me how to use markers in Supplies me..and I've grown from there here are some of my works using my markers both alcohol based and watercolour based

 laying the colour down then using a slightly darker shade they blend on the page as you work, giving your drawings depth and a richness that I cant go past.

 I worked alot with these markers in my fashion drawing class with Jane, I loved how solid and deep they looked at the same time, I use them at least once a day even if its just for a little doodling on my page.

above are some of the Touch markers I own, costing me around $6 on sale at the time.

Some of my first faces during my learning of them...using up to 4-5 shades in the one face! it blew my mind when it all started coming together.

and leaving you with a face that was part of a gulfsprite course but was hand coloured by me with my markers.
If you are considering markers, and you draw portraits, my suggestion is to get a few base skin colours and an eye and lip colour. Don't think you need the whole range, start with a few colours get your bearings learn to blend them and then expand your collection...these markers are an investment and they arent cheap...but they are beautiful
xx Courtney

Eclectic Journals Blogtober Day 3

Hello again!

Day three of Blogtober, and I am busy at work playing in the papers! I am currently taking a class by one of my favourite teachers who if you havent checked out go do it now! Gulfsprite she has just opened her own ning full of all her courses! I am currently immersing myself in her Eclectic Art journal class, which by the way is sooo good! I was ment to work out today ( I did finally get around to it) but it took me ages to go and actually work out, I started watching the first vid before I know it I was scrap bin diving looking for an old catalog to start using to alter! 

I have a scrap bin and a half, so this class is perfect for it...above is the start of mine, I've only done a few pages..workout interrupted my play! but it is very fun!!

I found old book pages, letters, scrapbooking paper..an index card with some free motion sewing on it, magazine pages...you name it! I even rushed out to buy myself a glue stick...(yes I didnt own one) so I could get right into it! Below is just the top of my scrap bin...eye spy the fabulous wallpaper that Tinniegirl sent me...which I now covet to death.

So  yesterday I said each day I would do a supply thing, and today is no different...I sat long and hard thinking about what I wanted to introduce next, that I use alot. I looked through the pages in my journal to find things that got used alot..and there was a clear winner. Distress Stains by Tim Holtz and the ranger label. I'm not one for label dropping, my craft paint resides at the dollar stores. Im not even sure what made me buy my first colour...I think my mum was the first to show me...then Jane Davenport rocked them aswell. I only have a handful of colours and that suits me just fine. They are like liquid watercolour in a bottle, with a dabber top for easy application. It swooshes onto a page very easily, and with several applications you can get varying shades of the colour. They do react with water, so if you put them down and use a wet paintbrush they will move about, just like watercolour. They go a long way. I am a colour girl, so my products need to be vibrant..and these babies are very pigmented and very bright.  The colour featured is Broken China...and it gets used and abused VERY heavily within my journal.

Below is an example of it being used in my art journal, as you can see, the layers of the colour give it more depth and darkness. I've used three stains on this little art card. I sloshed them onto the page then drew over it with an inky black pen. When you are looking to be lazy and want to get colour down fast, these are my go to.

So thats all from me, tomorrow I'll bring you more progress from my eclectic journal and bring you another supply favourite of mine.

Take care lovelies!

xx Courtney

BLOGTOBERRRRR!!! Day 1 & 2

I'm a day late but I've been gently nudged to do a blog everyday in October challenge. So here I be! I haven't blogged that much lately, and I honestly have not much of a reason! About two months ago, my partner and I embarked on the Paleo way of life and cleaning eating, so my focus and time has been spent doing a lot of cooking! ( A LOT OF COOKING), but it has totally been worth it, and some posts during the month will be on food, and our lifestyle. We are also moving house..yes again. The landlord wants to move back in, so the nook needs to be packed up...but that's ok, in my new place...I'll have my very own studio! detached from the house and everything, so that will be a very exciting feeling.

 

My desk lately has been a crazy mess, but just recently I got given a parcel of lovelyness, a journal and a little bag cover made by the delightful Tinniegirl

It's going to be my on the go journal, as my current journal...is much much to big for travel now.

 

 as you can see...its a shoulder ache to carry it in my bag. So she stays at home on my desk and get's worked in almost daily. I don't know how I will deal with more than one journal, I know so many do it, but I'll give it a whirl. 

I've been bookbinding a lot lately, just making journals out of book covers that I've been saving for a rainy day...I have this little one almost finished.

a journal spread in the big girl. Playing with new stamps my mum and I ordered from Elise Joy the you are here stamp and you're my favourite (yes I spell it the Aussie way) are my faves by far. Ive used them quite a bit since getting them. Playing with new pens in this page my mumma gave me two big brush pitt pens and I do love them! they will be something I will look into getting more colours of. A photograph from one of my old letters from Miss Sophie over at her library adventures. We used to send each other a stack of photos from our week (back when we weren't so busy with life) So sometimes, some of her old photos make it into my art. I'm sentimental like that. We may even be embarking on a traveling moleskine in the coming months...just a maybe at the moment.

  

now I have been asked to do a supply video by many people and maybe in time that will happen, but for now I want to highlight one supply a day that I use more than twice a week...there is no point saying to you..here use this amazing expensive supply...and I've used it once...If Im going to tell you what my fave supplies are...I need to use it almost everyday. And these do get used ...HEAPS.

They were my first supply that I literally had to save money for. That time in my life, supplies weren't important at all...so I had to save on the side for them on the sly. I finally had the money to buy the Caran D'ache Neocolour II's They are a watercolour wax based crayon. Very high pigmented and very easily moved around with water. I bought the 40 colour tin, and I've had them for almost 3 years now and they are still going strong. You don't need to use a lot to get results which is why I love them, I'm all about budget budget budget!

So I've made my post long enough to compensate for the fact that it's day two of October here! 

have a fantastic day, and I'll be back tomorrow with more art, and another one of my budget crunching favourite supplies.

xx Courtney