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Saturday, 27 October 2018

papercrafts in October...

October Daily

Started an arty journal called a 'daily' - challenge was set by Serena Bee Creative. Made a TN (Traveler's Notebook) and used scrapbook paper 'Jack's Revenge' by Reminisce, 'Dark Hollow' by Ella & Viv, 'Haunted House' by Carta Bella and 'Treat Bag' by Hocus Pocus. Papermaze is a good UK site to buy US papers. This page in my October Daily was about the Harry Potter postage stamp set that was released on the 16th.

Thingummyjigs

Found stripey straws at Poundland and decorated circular gift tags edged with metal to make some decorative picks. I could have done with a small label maker instead of writing the words.

Hallowe'en bunting

For the last couple of Christmases I've made bunting using cards and scrapbook paper so I translated that into Hallowe'en bunting saying BOO!. A gemmie makes the skull's eye pop.

Haunted House

Had bought a set of toy suitcases and reckoned they'd make a good Haunted House stacked on top of one another - this was a BIG project. I removed the hardware (handles, locks) and cut away the lids to leave the 3-storied house open on one side. Making the furniture was fun. I used small stickers and bottles on the scrapbook papers to decorate.

Pocket Letter Swap

As a member of PopFizzPaper's Crafty Club I did a pocket letter swap. with a US crafter called Kestrel whos jam-packed letter blew me away with little folders and stashes including stickers, bead mixes, embellishments and washi tape samples. Oh, and there was a bag of apple and pumpkin flavoured candy corn too. I stocked my pocket letter to her with a tiny painting, frames, stickers and die cuts. And blackcurrant lollipops and a bag of Swizzel's sweets dressed up as a mummy. Great fun.

Monster Paperclips

Had glued some paperclips onto felt balls bought at Sostrene Grene. To turn them into tiny monsters I added goggly eyes. Easy peasy.

Wand

Amongst the scrapbook paper was some photographic wooden prints. Folding this upon itself made a wand shape. Only effective from one side as the other revealed the folds. 'Illusionardium Woodenwandus'

FatBat Rosette Shaker

I wanted to make a shaker rosette and decorate it as a bat but I made the shaker so big that it resulted in a huge bat. Added a stripey straw, and behold, Fatbat.

Memorydex Challenge

A challenge set by Sabrina Ann. Memorydex is a type of journaling system using a filing card type of setup. Even without a Memorydex die cutter or punch it's still feasible to make them. We had to base our cards on either monsters or villains and I chose Winifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus on a bad day - 'when a spell runs amok'. The black cat Thackery Binx also runs fowl of the exploding spell.

PFP Crafty Club Shenanigans

Dani from PopFizzPaper ran a Hallowe'en fb page for the month of October full of mini challenges, treasure hunts and opportunities to post pictures of papercrafts. I won a mini Happy Mail (goodies decorated and packed imaginatively, put in a box and posted - there's always sweets included) currently winging its way to me.

I'm really hoping to do a video flip-through of the October Daily book I made and decorated AND I'd love to make a video on the Haunted House too. Although I'd started the Inktober challenge this year I only got as far as the fourth day - I instead focussed on papercrafting which is something I love working with. And that online course I signed up to (free on Kadenze) fell by the wayside - I'll pick that up again in November... hopefully...

there's a procrastination challenge that's starting on the 1st...

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Thursday, 11 October 2018

my creative planner...

I can hardly believe it was June, 4 months ago, since I last posted an entry in this blog. I have been in the throes of a dark phase but have and am still crawling out from under that particular stone. I have a couple of other blogposts that I might now be able to finish. For this one I've taken a few pictures of my creative planner without which I wouldn't be able to function as an artist/crafter.

I use a green Leuchtturm (how is that pronounced?) which I picked up at TK Maxx for half price. I stood there at the stationery shelves with both the green one and a grey one in my hands, trying to decide which to buy. I should have bought both.

The Leuchtturm is favoured by many bullet planners as the 249 pages are each numbered plus it has an index section at the front. This keeps me from losing track of what I'm doing when. The pages are nice quality though some pens are too heavy ink-wise. I like using a Papermate Replay as it's easy to erase mistakes, misspellings etc. My book has blank pages so I can sketch ideas in them.

I draw out a new month's calendar when I need it and prefer drawing boxes to write within. I do use a code to indicate whether a task has been achieved, decided against or pushed ahead to another time. However my writing changes depending upon my mood or emotion. It can be anything between neat and downright chaotic. I doubt if I will ever achieve the perfection of Kara Benz's careful yet artistic consistency, and yet I yearn to be able to do so.

Unlike my personal journal, where I revisit pages I've written again and again and add dated notes in the margins, my Leuchtturm is a working tool. It serves to organise the inspiration and excitement I feel whenever I have an idea and helps me translate that maelstrom into achievable working tasks.

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Sunday, 24 June 2018

designing a card...

Have had a rocky month but am back creating and doodling and meeting a challenge for a craft group I'm part of - PopFizzPaper Crafty Club via Patreon. It's run by an exceptional paper crafter called Dani. I love her YouTube tutorial videos - simple, straightforward, quality work which is full of colour. I like how she comes across - important for me as some of the more exuberant and flashy YouTubers can seem a little disconnected from reality. A lot of social media is illusion, which can be fun, but for me it's worth connecting with someone who presents a more real persona.

The challenge was to create a rainbow themed card. I decided on a greetings card that said 'rainbow angel you add colour to my world'...yes, a little cheesy. I had an image in mind of a daft looking angel with cherubic wings (angelic L-driver?) and wanted to use a shaker-rosette that Dani shows how to make.

Printed Dani's paint&salt rainbow downloadable and made a rosette with small backing card. Measured the depth and cut a small band of card to prevent any shaker beads from escaping through the spaces.

There's nothing worse when you drop the only bit of clear acetate you have onto glue and have to improvise. Found a really old stash (1988) of gel samples and choose a very pale pink to make the window. A circle of card hides the joins.

By now I knew exactly what I wanted to create - a dorky angel with an oversized askew halo and tiny wonky wings. Drew the figure and attached moveable wings to the back. After placing onto the rosette/halo I added a loose rainbow of sticky gems.

FInished off the card with the message written inside in an arty font. It celebrates all those of us who share and spread a little colour in the world - I reckon we're Rainbow Angels...

Watch the video of the finished card:

VIDEO

Sunday, 3 June 2018

a little poetry...

mini artbook May'15

I also write but haven't written much in the last year. Today I remembered something and words fell into place. I'm not a poet but this is more poetry than prose...

You have no idea of the land within me

A slight move of my hand to you

Is my huge self covering vast swathes of hill and flatland

Lakes rivers forests

Are all moved by my presence

Leaves shiver

Waves build

Clouds skit across undulating skies

When my self casts her eye

And when I close my eyes

Night falls as the sun blinks out

But before you I've hardly moved

I remain inactive

Perceived imobile

In my mind and heart I know

I've travelled the world

Sunday, 20 May 2018

watercolour paper, alcohol blender and Polychromos...

Sketchbooks aren't the cheapest when you're going for decent quality paper. And I'd recently purchased The Langton (10x7ins) by Daler Rowney which cost just under a tenner. I'd gone for the rough version instead of the smoother and that turned out to be a mistake.

I really didn't like the texture although I could see how it would be good for watercolour paints. Tried drawing a bumblebee but just had to give up. It was more than my simply not persevering, it was that the paper didn't suit my use of colour pencils. Back to the art shop! This paper won't go to waste though as I can dig out my watercolours.

The alcohol blender marker worked a treat. It created a smoother blending of the Polychromos pencils than water does with the Albrecht Durer pencils. Both pencils are by Faber-Castell.

At this stage I stopped working on the Langton paper and went back to my sketchbook (Winsor & Newton Heavyweight) and instead began working on a swimming turtle. During the eye drawings I posted on Instagram last month I acquired a lot of turtle-loving followers - it was in my head (the power of social media). I used the blender after the first couple layers of Polychromos pencil and applied more pencil.

I had thought about making the background more abstract but instead went with an impression of sea. I had sourced a photographic image to work from online and I think the photographer may have used a flash which lit up the underside of the turtle...cross looking turtle

Wednesday, 9 May 2018

UNIQUE

There's an art&design shop situated in the University of Ulster's Belfast campus called UNIQUE, a means of connecting the public with the Belfast School of Art student body, recent graduates and alumni. Works of art and fine craft can be viewed and purchased there plus the space is also used for events.

As an alumni member I was included in an email shot for an upcoming event called Secret Card Exhibition. I was posted a card, heavy watercolour paper, understanding that if it were sold the proceeds would go to support UNIQUE. Everyone's cards are exhibited together, the signatures unseen on the card back...so if you took a chance to purchase something you liked you might well end up with a card drawn or painted by an established or upcoming NI artist.

I've no problem donating a little artwork to help support current art students. Putting something back (I hope it sells).

at the rear of the art college building, with St.Anne's on the LHS

So, because it''s a secret exhibition, I can't post an image of what I submitted. However, if you do call in to have a look and you follow what I doodle then you'll probably spot it...

'Ulster University’s Secret Postcard exhibition will be open to the public from 5.30pm on Thursday 17th May at the Belfast campus on York Street.'

https://www.ulster.ac.uk/artshop/secret-card

Wednesday, 2 May 2018

Days 22-30 Eye Doodle Challenge / Sea Lemon

By day 26 I was beginning to slow down - sometimes completing a challenge reaches a peak and it can be difficult to finish. I posted the squirrel drawing late in the day to Instagram and pushed myself to start the cheetah eye.

After watching a few Youtube videos by artists who use coloured pencil I picked up some tips:

The Strathmore artist pad is a good choice for coping with layers of pencil. My local art shop didn't stock it but I had a chat with an artist who works there and who uses pencil as her medium - she recommended using watercolour paper. I chose The Langton by Daler Rowney - the rough version over the light.

I also picked up a Winsor & Newton Brushmarker blender normally used with alcohol markers but I noticed that some coloured pencil artists use it to help blend layers together before adding more layers of pencil.

I'm sticking with my sketchbook to finish this challenge but am keen to try out the Langton and brushmarker on a future drawing.

Final 9 drawings:

octopus

lemur

turtle

mouse

squirrel

cheetah

giraffe

baboon

llama

Plus a robin's eye promised to a friend:

It was important to get that surprised look that lemurs have and I liked working from the photograph of the mouse which shows the reflection of a barn in its eye. That's it for this month!

May is around the corner and I'll be having a break from art challenges. Looking forward to trying out more coloured pencil techniques.