Diana Trout's blog: Art Journaling

02/28/2015

Curious.com

Hey gang, A quick post here with a couple of links to Curious.com. They are an online learning center devoted to bringing students a broad range of classes.

I have a new Beginning Art Journaling lesson which is free to Curious+ members. Click here. There is more to come in this series.

My Mixed Media Watercolor 10 lesson has been very popular and you can get it included with the $60/year subscription. Click here for the first lesson (free).

There is so much on Curious! I've been watching Italian lessons, cooking and beading, DIY housekeeping and spa. LOVE!

Have a great weekend, friends. My back is steadily improving and I've been up in the studio this week a little.

Here are the links. (I'm uncomfortable with commercials but a girl's gotta make a living :)

Mixed Media Watercolor
Beginning Art Journaling
Tacket Stitch Photo Album
Doodle Bird Pattern & Card

Posted at 09:53 AM in Art Journaling, Online Classes, Watercolor, Workshops | Permalink | Comments (2)

02/25/2015

Guest Post at StencilGirl, Landscape With Stencils

Check out my blogpost today at StencilGirl Talks. Download Quotes About Women to celebrate women in your journal. Enjoy!

Posted at 10:26 AM in Art Journaling, Diana's Artwork | Permalink | Comments (2)

01/27/2015

Painting Landscapes

I've been noodling around with Pam Carriker's new line of acrylic paints and inks* and the just-slightly-earthy colors led me right to landscapes.

I decided that Landscape would be a really fun class to teach. It is coming in about 2 weeks with a different format than usual. More later. I'm excited!

In the meantime, here's a little video that will introduce you to some general ideas about landscape painting. Enjoy!

Here's the video

*Disclaimer: Pam Carriker sent me the paints for review. I used them for a while before reviewing them. I like 'em. They are very pourable and sheer, both qualities I like very much. The colors are earthy and there's a solid array. See buying information here. Thanks Pam!

Here's an art journal page using Pam's Whitewashed and Barely Black ink. I LOVE them!

Posted at 08:00 PM in Art Journaling, Art Supplies, Diana's Artwork, Fabriano, Paintings | Permalink | Comments (1)

01/26/2015

Art Journal

I've been sharing a lot of photos on Facebook over the past couple of days. Here are some from my art journal over the years

The snow is starting to blow sideways here. A good day to work in the studio.

Posted at 03:27 PM in Art Journaling | Permalink | Comments (2)

01/09/2015

In My Art Journal

Week of January 4, 2015. Loads of inspiration from Creative Jump Start with stencils from StencilGirl

Pouncing on spaces of time between planning for fiscal responsibility in 2015.

Round square and circles, those shapes of endless possibility.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

Posted at 10:06 AM in Art & Artists, Art Business, Art Journaling, Art Supplies, Diana's Artwork, Drawing, Inspiration | Permalink | Comments (4)

01/06/2015

Composition Book Art Journaling

What could be more humble and accessible than a composition book. *Video embedded below.

If you are a journaling newbie and are feeling intimadated, this is the way to go. Even seasoned journalists enjoy the freedom of simple materials sometimes. It can be easier to get to the bottom of things without all of the extra materials in our way.

The "Eye" was done with charcoal on a gessoed manila folder page. Years ago, Samie Harding aka Journal Girl had a fab bookbinding tutorial using old manila folders and I made one (or two) out of gutted composition books. It's a nice surface to work on.

A page from that book made with my teen journalers. I remember that hot summer night.

In the video, I talk about keeping it simple with stamps, stencils, a touch of collage and then writing. My dylusions journal is being pressed into action as my writing journal. Enjoy!

Posted at 08:45 PM in Art Journaling, Art Supplies, Book Arts & Binding, Drawing, You Tube | Permalink | Comments (7)

12/31/2014

Art Journal * The Moon

Happy New Year everyone. I hope the holiday season has been treating you well. While doing the studio purge, I came upon some sketches from a couple of years back from a project I worked on at the Japanese Gardens here in Philadelphia. You can read about that visit here. *Video below*

The place enchants me but this visit in the cold and snow when it's usually closed was especially magical.

Materials I used were

Stillman & Birn large white watercolor sketchbook
Pam Carriker's new inks: Barely Black and White
Watercolors in earthy brown and indigo
White oil pastel, paint marker
Silver Sharpee
Lately, I have been using artist tape to cover the spine area of the book. If the spread is one page only, I can then remove the tape easily.

Here's the video ...

Posted at 10:47 AM in Art Journaling, Art Supplies, Inspiration, Journal Prompts, Tutorials, You Tube | Permalink | Comments (6)

12/16/2014

Salt Your Watercolor

Hey gang, here's a fun technique to spice up your watercolors.

Get a good amount of watercolor on your brush and make a nice wet puddle on your paper, sprinkle in some salt while it's wet and puddly and watch as the salt crystals begin to absorb the color. This is one of the techniques from my Curious class.

Leave it alone to dry completely (or you can use a heat gun). Brush off the salt and lightly sand with fine sand paper.

You can use table salt, kosher salt and even Himalayan Pink Salt (ha!). I would love to know if any of you try rock salt. We don't have any around the house but it would probably be pretty cool!

I've been test driving some of the new Golden QoR watercolors (full post coming) and you can see them in action in the video. Also using Daniel Smith watercolors and fabriano paper. Everything is listed below the video. Enjoy!

Materials :

Watercolors:From QoR (by Golden):

Bohemian Green, Sepia, Nickel Azo Yellow, Rose

From Daniel Smith: Indigo, Magenta

Prang is a very nice beginner paint. Available at Amazon & DickBlick

I used 140# coldpress watercolor paper (slightly bumpy)

The Birthday Card tutorial is here.

Posted at 03:14 PM in Art Journaling, Paper Craft, Watercolor, You Tube | Permalink | Comments (4)

10/20/2014

Ink Washed Watercolors

Happy Monday Morning (*ahem, I heard that!).

Head's Up : Meetup on Saturday morning in SE PA at my studio. 10:30-1:30. You can go here if you'd like to attend. The class is $50 and all supplies (except watercolors) are provided.