Jane Davenport Stencil Blog Hop! and GIVEAWAY

When approached by the lovely Jane Davenport to be part of her new stencil blog hop, of course I jumped up and down and fist pumped..then politely accepted. I loved watching what people created with her first set of stencils when I worked with her at the Sydney Craft fair this year, to watch people's personalities just jump out of the page as each woman took the stencils and created something wildly different...


I myself never got to play with the first set, but I have enjoyed coveting the second set. As have my teacup humans.

When the package arrived at my house, little Lily Boo was just as excited as I was.  As was master Elijah, who just wanted to be in the photo shoot...this stencil has been used just a little bit!

 Lily wanted to try them straight away, and for me, I'm not going to deny her using them, what harm could she do to them, I always want her to feel like she can use as much of my things I as use myself.

She may have squeeled when she worked out what happens once you lift the stencil, it was ADORABLE to see the glee on her face,  once she coloured in all the lines..what would happen once she peeled the stencil off.

but of course you are hopefully here to see how I used the stencils... Lily is just an added bonus.

So I wanted to make the stencils still look like 'my style' and I hope that by now I actually know what my style is, so I got to work making something that I felt represented me as an artist.
I worked in two journals, my actual art journal and my written journal which is a Midori Travelers notebook.

A simple and more understated approach then something a little more WILD and bold.

I also had ideas of making my own Gift wrap paper using the face stencil in a repeated fashion, but time got away from me!

I wanted to create bold lines, since a black paint pen has fast become one of my most relaxing things to do in my journal...just draw lines, I like to create worlds with just lines. I also wanted to use lots of colour, so welcome to my 'Twisted Sista' spread.

Using paints, and copic markers, paint pens, washii and a few bright distress stains to create something that is uniquely me...and yet show how amazing Jane's set of stencils really are. I used black gesso and a make up sponge to get my girls down and tried to be rough so they didn't look so perfect. My scale like women have become some of my faves things in my journals to date.

In my Midori Journal, I used some distress stain just to give a little colour, a black ballpoint pen and some prisma coloured pencils to create something simple and yet beautiful. I also matched up some washii tape, and of course my written journal contains photographs.

so there you have it...my take on these amazing stencils!
below is something I haven't finished, but she will soon be transformed into something...

I am allowed to give away one set of stencils! so leave a comment below and thanks for stopping by! please leave your email address in the comment so if you win I have a way to contact you!
or if you are just as excited as I am about these stencils and cant wait...you can get them from these places

The stencils are available here:

Northern Hemisphere:  http://www.artistcellar.com/stampstencil/acSignatureSeries.html

Southern Hemisphere:  http://www.instituteofcute.com/stencil-series/

More chances to win a set of stencils! pop over to the other bloggers doing their take on the stencils...these lovelies are also giving away a set each!

The blogging schedule
September 28 - Artistcellar (www.artistcellar.com/wp)

September 29 Jill K. Berry (http://jillberrydesign.com/blog)

September 30 Dawn DeVries Sokol  (http://www.dawndsokol.com)

October 1 - Joanne Sharpe (http://joannezsharpe.blogspot.com/)

October 2 - Connie Hozvicka (http://www.dirtyfootprints-studio.com/)

October 3 - Effy Wild  (www.effywild.com)

October 4 - Tamara Laporte ( www.willowing.org/blog)

October 5 - Dion Dior (http://www.diondior.com/)

October 6 - Courtney Brook (http://ravenscauldron.blogspot.com/)

October 7 - Kate Palmer (http://www.sparkletart.com/)

October 8 - Jane Davenport (http://janedavenport.com/)

enjoy and have fun 
x Courtney

The Artful Journey - Day 18 - new beginnings.

Can you tell I'm tired? when I use instagram as my way of taking my photos, it means I have no energy left to photograph my stuff. So tonight after I packed all day with some dear friends who have made me less stressed, they worked like trojans, getting almost everything packed up for the removalists this Saturday.

I have gessoed a canvas ready for me to start sketching onto it in the coming days....I am nuts can you tell? I'm moving house but I sit and gesso a huge canvas like nothing is happening in my life.

tomorrow I will photograph my easel in its true form..because it needs to be reconized for what it is..amazing.. My dad made me a custom easel, I was sick of leaning big canvases against my desk bookshelf. My darling dad has made me the most beautiful thing ever...complete with flourishes etched into the wood and with love from dad up the top..its one of my very cherished possessions.



and on the art journal front, I started working on my mixed media homework for Jane's class since it was the simplest thing I could cope with tonight after such a day... I gessoed the pages and started sketching but I'm not happy with it, so I think I'll rub it out and start again either tonight or tomorrow sometime during the day in between the last of the packing.
I'm going to curl up in my empty bed (first time without my man in two weeks and read until I know hes home.
pop over to traci's blog to see what shes creating for her get your art on.
xx Courtney

a journal - the rainbow yum

I was very excited to get my hands on some Fabriano 290gsm watercolour paper from the Art supply store Gallery 126, I was hoping to get a pre-bought journal already for me to dive into, but I was rather picky, and nothing jumped out. So..crazy me decides to buy the huge stack of 100sheets of paper and bind my own.

and here are my results...the cover is canvas, which I sewed up with the lovely help from miss lily who was my pin taker outer. (as I came to a pin she took it out carefully and put it in the pin jar, she also was my backs stitching lever pusher when I asked for it, maybe one day she will want to sew or be creative.

I used watercolour crayons, watercolour paints, indian ink, prisma pencils and gesso to create this cover.. I was also inspired by Samantha Kira's work the angel image is adapted from one of her beautiful prints.

I hope to fill this journal with brightness, and beautiful words....as my days are alot lighter and more happy than ever before, and all I want to do is get that down upon my pages..so I know when I look back...it is possible to be this happy.
enjoy your Thursday night, have a cup of tea and snuggle with a loved one in the chill of the night.
xox Courtney

a glimpse...

Even though I haven't been posting my pages as of late, I have been creating them! So I thought it was time to show off a few of my faves. I did get a few days behind with my stupid cold! but I caught up and I am back on track!

I started working on a few double page spreads, for things that I liked to show off a little, so I worked on them two days running to make them one complete work. Below is a double spread, gessoed pages, old book pages, a magazine cut out I'd been hoarding in my folders of things I like. Inks and penwork.

another double spread, this image I found in one of the many homey magazine I read, I cut it out and filed it away maybe a year or so ago, it became a beautiful backdrop for a work on changes, perspective and direction. A photograph of mine features on the left hand side the weather vane

a little bird house image, some stamping washii tape of win and some penwork.
I've been practicing my drawing as of late, getting my faces right...soon I should move onto bodies lol, cant have books full of floating heads! so did a little collage work, using one of my drawings, the face was coloured with Prisma Pencils (which oh my goddess are the absolute sex of pencils) some random scrapbooking paper, some prints from frankie pages and of course penwork.
and last one for this post, more of my girls, in this face I used Gamsole to smooth out the pencils to let it blend in, it was a new experience and Im still unsure if I like how it looks or not, but its growth artistically. Involved in this page are the following - Book pages, Distress Inks, prisma pencils, Gesso and penwork.

that is all from the collage book for today, I shall be back with the progress of my lily quilt. My dear friend ellie is waiting to see how I'm going with her!

xx Courtney