Jennibellies Monthly Challenge

As I have mentioned before I am a member of Jennibellie's Art Community (which I highly recommend) Each month Jenni sets us a challenge, this month it was 'Branching out'. I must admit I struggled with this one, I couldn't seem to find any inspiration for it at all, but over the last few weeks I have been contemplating my career and thinking of ways to build it up and it struck me, I need to branch out! so I went with it, got stuck it and only just in time (the 31st!)

I don't think its completely finished, I think I may add some textiles/embellishments to it but overall I am very happy with it. I'm looking forward to what challenge April will bring. It's great to have the monthly challenge because although I am doing my own thing all the time, its nice to do something a bit different and if I am really busy with other things the monthly challenge makes me sit down and be creative at least once a month!

Workshop Session 28th March 2015

My Sample Page

This week I asked the group to choose a quote that they found inspirational. We created a background using masking tape to create texture and adding colour using soft pastels with a wash. I also showed the group how to use the soft pastels to flick colour on to the page. We then made labels out of cereal boxes and decorated these with paint, stamps, stencils, ribbon etc and added our quotes to these.

It has been a fantastic four weeks and I have really enjoyed seeing all the lovely pages from the different sessions. It is great to see how each person puts their own style into the various techniques that I demonstrate.

My quote was taken from Dr Seuss

Workshop Session 21st March 2015

My sample page

The prompt for this session was 'Something to look forward to' and we used book pages and finger painting to create a background and tried some parcel tape transfers to add images and text.

The session went well although a tip to learn, images taken from thick magazines like The National Geographic need much longer to soak!

The class in action

First Ever Vid!

Well here it is! I am pleased with it considering it is a first attempt but the camera I used wasn't great and therefore the image isn't as clear as I would like. Please have a look and tell me what you think!

Journal Page - Lost in thought

Last night I decided to start playing around with filming my journal page in order to make my first ever vid eeek! The camera I used isn't great but I'll see what I can do when I come to edit it. Anyway here is a picture of the resulting page:

more on this to follow once I get my head around editing!

Completed Inspiration Zine

A while ago I started the Inspiration Station project run by Jellibellie on her community site and I have just finished it....

I really enjoyed this project and love the result. The idea is that whenever I have a creative low I can use this little zine, full of inspirational quotes to inspire me and get my creative juices flowing again!

Workshop Session 14th March 2015

This week the prompt was 'Dream' and the techniques we used were subractive stencilling using baby wipes, drips and homemade washi tape.

My sample page

 We started by again gesso to our pages then paint. Placing a stencil over the wet paint we wiped the page with a babywipe which takes away the paint leaving a really effective background pattern.

We created our own washi tape and used this in our pages and added drips. Finally we added collage and text, further stencilling, doodling etc.

Workshop Session 7th March 2015

My Sample Page

 The first of my four week Art Journaling sessions went really well. The prompt for this week was 'I Hope' and I got the class to create their own collage sheets and use them in a rolled paper technique.

My DIY Collage Sheet

  I got the class to first pick out some paper pieces that caught their eye and we stuck then down randomly on an A3 sheet. We then stencilled, painted and doodled over the top. I love this technique as it is really free, It doesn't matter what it looks like cause it will be torn up anyway and you can really let go and just play with the materials.

The class in action!

The class rolling paper!

I got the class to paint a page in their journals, adding bits of collage and stencils then, tearing pieces from the collage sheet and rolling them, the class stuck them down in various patterns and shapes.

Embossed Journal

I decided to make another journal using the same folding technique as my recent zine for the pages. I made the cover from an old cereal bar box and decorated it with some embossing. It is bound with bakers twine.

The pages, folded in this way, creates lots of pockets which I love for adding tags and hidden elements. I haven't decided if I am going to sell it or use it yet, but I definitley going to make more like it!