Love is Patient

I love my kids dearly, but some days it seems like they never stop talking :)

Maud Lin Mum

Introducing Maud...

I would like to introduce Maud, Miss Maud Lin.

Know when to fold 'em...

Well it seems that "You Suck Monday" is contagious - possibly due to post weekend exhaustion. Today I managed to draw an "old, mermaid prostitute" instead of a luscious siren. My second attempt was going swimmingly until I accidently gave her a black eye. Remedy- eye patch? Well I decided it was a sign of extreme tiredness and have put it aside. Perhaps a small dab of Titan buff will save the day?! But for now, I am walking away.

Finding your own style

You have to try many different styles before you find your own

I am on a journey of discovery; artistic discovery. I showed someone my art journey and they commented that it looked as though it belonged to several different people, because the styles were so different.  But I feel that the only way to truely discover my own style, is to try out as many different styles as possible. I want to learn as much as I can. I want to be challenged. I want to be excited. And in the end, I think that my style will be a merge of all the bits that I have come to love on this amazing journey.

The Adventures of Red Mole

This page was inspired by the lovely Goog over at Journey of a Mermaid.

Mr B goes to Sea

When my daughter was little I used to read a series of Mr McGee books to her (by Pamela Allen). Two of her favourites were Mr McGee and the Flea and Mr McGee Goes to Sea. When my son Benjamin was born, we would call him Mr B. Naturally my daughter would say Mr B Goes Sea. Well, Mr B is now three, and the name has stuck. It was the inspiration for this journal page.

I really like many of the pages I have seen online, that use a diamond stamp pattern. So I quickly cut one from an old eraser and using Vintage Photo Distress Ink, stamped up a border.

 

Because the Distress Inks are water soluble, I painted over the images with Acrylic Gel Medium. That way I could keep adding layers, without the ink running. I added a shadow using Red Tinted Graphite Paint.

 I added a twisted frame  - technique taught by Pam Carriker

I then drew my image using an HB pencil. I was recently watching a video by Suzi Blu (Self Guided Portraits) where she shows a technique using gesso over a drawn image. Well I adapted this technique and used my favourite staple: white gouache.

 I then coloured the background using a mix of gouache paint, and water soluble crayons.

 

 I used Derwent Graphitint pencils to create a "moody" sea and coloured the person with coloured pencils. The title was done using Collections Tiny Tiles.

Finally I added some journalling, and launched Mr B out to Sea.

Fairy Princess

The conversation started like this:  "Mummy, I have drawn you lots of pictures, and you haven't drawn me any!" And so began the process of doing a fairy princess, for my 5 year old princess.

	The image was drawn lighltly with w/c pencils on Stonehenge Paper. I chose this method, since incorrect lines were easily erased, and the outline would blend with the fill colour, once water was added. The picture  was then coloured using w/s crayons. A small amount of white gouache was added to the crown to increase its opacity.
	Wings added. Unfortunately I decided to try some alcohol on the wings (RHS) hoping for a suble mottled effect. Instead it left dark blotches.
	The background was added
	And then, Miss 5 pointed out that she was floating in the sky. And so, I added grass
	I am not usually a glitter person, but since this is for my daughter, and I wanted to obscure unsuccessful wings, glitter was added to the wings, crown, shoes and wand.
	A few flowers pencilled in, and voila, she is finished.

Gel Transfer Techniques

Having not been able to successful execute a Gel Transfer (to my satifaction) I decided to look for variations in the method that would give me a more satisfactory effect.

I found a technique at Dream, Create, Inspire which seems to work very well for me. Her tutorial is excellent, so I have only briefly outlined what I did.

I use Matisse Gel Medium, a product readily available here in Brisbane, Australia. Apply gel to surface of the picture (or book page) Lay image down on page Gently burnish (I used the back of a spoon) Immediately remove the paper.

I used the method to transfer a copy of my daughter's picture into my Mole

I also copied (another) pic of me. I really need some more inkjet images

Wonders of childhood

I am stepping out of my comfort zone and trying to capture the childhood delight of colour, and the freedom to express myself in loose drawings, that are not planned.

	Images were added with a modified acrylic transfer technique, and then sealed with acrylic matt medium.  Blocks of colour were painted around pictures with gouache. Frames were added with panpastels.
	Paint pens were used to frame each picture and to add text to the pink frame.
	Final tweaking, including redoing the top lefthand border and my layout is finished.

In fleeting moments we glimpse the memories of childhood delight.

Honour your Inner Child

In Week 2 of Art, Heart and Healing Tam showed us how to alter a children's board book and do an acrylics transfer with an image of our baby/ toddler self. I decided that I wanted to do my art in my Moleskine since I have already experimented with altered books. As soon as I saw the video, I knew I wanted to do  layout on the "inner child".

I drew the design in my sketchbook	Transfered it to my Mole, added colour and a background
I continued with the background and then lastly added the gel transfer. I used Collections Letter Tiles for the title, and got Miss 5 to write the word "child" for me. I was happy with everything, except the Gel Transfer
But it ended up looking like the creature from the Black Lagoon
After painting over the image, I added a new picture. I applied Gel Medium to both the page and the image.	To secure the image, I applied pressure with a brayer
I painted water over the area immediately	At this stage the image is quite clear
The paper starts to lift quite quickly	I gently rubbed off layers of paper
As more layers are removed, the image becomes more blurry. It is also easy to rub too much, and holes appear. I decided at this point, that too much detail was lost.
So rather than do another (!!) Gel Transfer, I simply glued down another picture. When it was dry, I covered it with crackle glaze, then added some brown w/x crayon
The finished page.

Because some days are like that

It had been one of those days. The kind where you wish the world would stop spinning and you could get off. Major things...No. Its always the accumulation of minor things that drive you crazy. Anyway, I decided that I needed to distract myself, and direct my attentions elsewhere. So I decided to do a healing page.

I drew the picture with HB graphite, and then painted lightly over the image with with Gouache	I then started to add colour using w/s crayons. I usually use them as paint stick, but in this case applied directly to the paper
As one area dried, I added colour to the next	Finally I finished her hair, and added the background (green Gouache.) To tone down the colour I added cross strokes of white. I then decided that her eyes and nose were not right, so painted over them with white.
Once dry, I redid the eyes and nose, using a combination of Pencils, watercolour pencils and w/s crayons.	Highlights and tears were added using gel pens
Background was added to: imperfect stamping, Tattered Angels Chalkboard Glimmer mist -pink	I added a Pam Carriker inspired border and a title

And finally I did some subtle journaling on the RHS in pencil

November Calender

I was reading Goog's blog and found this lovely calender post. I really liked the idea of making a record of the month's most "stand out" events, by limiting the entries to one or two sentences. At the moment, I am working in a small Moleskine, so rather than inch size squares (2.5cm) I had to use rather smaller ones. As luck would have it, I had these tiny, varied tags downstairs in my stash, which fitted perfectly. I also finally got to use these gorgeous butterflies that I bought a few (er..ok, maybe about 10) years ago. They are actually the decorative pattern on serviettes that have been cut out. So now I just have to remember to write in it each day.

My Prince Charming

I have been dying to try out the Gel Medium Transfer Technique from the Willowing Class, however, due to technical difficulties, I have been unable to use my inkjet printer. And then, Master 3 came home with a really cute picture from daycare. I just knew I had to use it in my journal.

I am really happy with the result. The image would have been perfect had I not been a little impatient, and rubbed a little too vigorously. 

I then used water soluble crayons to add some colour. I also added some gel medium over his face to brighten it.

And then I was stumped. I really had no idea what else to add to the page. And then I stumbled across the journal pages of Teesha Moore. The whymsical style immediately appealled to me. I decided to finish my spread using the ideas I learned from Teesha's tutorials.

Border and whimsical person added

Doodling etc added to elements

Finally I added the journaling.