Diana Trout's blog

Color Mixing in My Art Journal

I had some leftover paints out in my porcelain mixing cups and figured I'd turn on the camera and use them up!  In my Dina Wakely Art Journal: 

In my Chunky. By the way, I've had many requests for a tutorial on making a Chunky journal. I am putting a class together. 



Watch today's video on YouTube here. (Like, Subscribe, Comment, Share)

Supplies: Affiliate Links. I get a commission on sales with no cost to you.

From DickBlick : http://shrsl.com/s8jq
Daniel Smith:
Lemon Yellow
Pyrrole Red
French Ultramarine Blue:
Burnt Umber
Ultramarine Violet
Pyrrole Orange
Teal
New Gamboge
Nickel Azo Yellow

Sepia (QoR)
Yellow Ochre (M Graham)

Fusion Mijello Palette http://amzn.to/2Eub6KT
Porcelain Mixing Dishes http://amzn.to/2EJnZQv

Dina Wakely Journal: http://amzn.to/2HiHiyy

How I Set Up My Travelers Notebook (and why :)

I love this planner revolution! I've tried out a few over the last few years, including the Recollections from Michaels. I've used Day Timers in the past. All great systems. But I've wanted a Midori for awhile now. They have a rustic elegance that speaks to me. 

I tried out the Recollections brand from Michaels last year to see if the system would work. And I liked it muchly. I have a 3 notebook system and you'll see more in the video of what, how and why. 

Just unpacking this notebook was a delight. And it's a beautiful thing really, but not precious. 

Enjoy the video here on Youtube (like, subscribe, share). 

Or here ...

 I ordered both the camel and brown and finally decided on the camel. They are both just beautiful. My son might get the dark brown for his birthday.

You can already see the signs of wear. The scuffs, and color shift. It will become more beautiful with age. If that isn't your bag, though, it seemed like the brown was less susceptible. 

I'm not a particularly organized person. Have you noticed? (LOL, Barbara M). But I'm spinning a lot of plates and my planner is a lifeline. When ideas strike, I have a Master List and sketchbook always with me. 

There are many deadlines and due dates in my life and I'd be lost without my planner. I use it in conjunction with my computer calendar since most of my deadlines come in on my computer. Every Sunday, I look at my computer calendar and put any deadlines (from others or self-imposed) into my planner. This is what works for me and maybe some of this will help you? 

Amazon sells this but doesn't stock them. They come from Japan. Jetpens does sell them and they have free shipping. I'm "friends" with JetPens - not affiliated. I have a special link you can use 

My Link to Jetpens.com

For the Starter Kit (the cover, band, and an single notebook) go here

The notebooks are all numbered.

Refill 012 - Regular Size - Sketch Paper
Refill 014 - Regular Size - Kraft Paper
Refill 019 - Regular Size - Weekly Planner Free

Plan With Me!

Hello everyone! Thank you all for so many good wishes. I am still recovering from my surgery last week and am feeling better everyday. The pathology reports were benign. We are slowly shifting into a lighter mood around here.

I was up in the studio today relaxing and playing with my planner so I turned on the video camera. Planning has helped me to keep my stress level down and be more productive. Like so many of you, I tried using my computer calendar. There is nothing quite like paper and pen.

 Using some fun stickers and washi in my planner keeps it fun. If it's fun, I'm more likely to do it.  

 On Sundays, I sit down with my computer and planner and fill things in. I keep a little notebook tucked into the back of my planner so that when, for instance I mention Patty Kelly's Etsy Shop in connection with some stickers I showed in my video, I can make a note to myself to be sure and link her shop.

These clip are simple to put together with die cuts, buttons, charms, tassels. If I'm using paper, I laminate it first so that it's more durable. If you don't have a laminator, put some Glossy Accents on it and that'll make it stronger. GA is a thick glue. It adds a thick, very clear, glossy coating to your item. I also used Superglue, a glue gun, regular paper clips and paper scraps to assemble. Washi tape makes quick page markers too. It's not high art but it sure is fun.

I hope that you enjoy my play session and that it's a help to you. I'm not exactly a "Planner Girl" but who doesn't love stationary? Enjoy the video! If you choose to watch it on YouTube, please subscribe and give me a thumbs up. That's how YouTube knows that you'd like to see more from me. And I love comments :)

It's Upside Down

So yeah. Funny story. The last show of the festival season (for me) was yesterday in Jenkintown. My hometown. The town I grew up in, the same one my Dad and his brothers and sister were born in. I was a stone even I could throw from my grade school play ground and bought a hotdog from my Dad's fire company, Pioneer, which is exactly one block from Independent Fire Company. In a town that measures less than a square mile that might seem like a lot of fire companies. One is Catholic, the other is Protestant. Just the way it was.

I was unaware of the presence of judges so was very surprised when one came along. I offered him a waffle fry but he wouldn't take my bribe. I was, therefore, very surprised to find that I had won a prize.

I'm not really great at winning prizes. I had to get up on stage and forgot to wait till the picture was taken and then held the prize upside down. Dang. Jon was really happy and proud and so were my friends so that made me happy. I don't really understand prizes though. Especially in art. But it was still nice.

Fun times. Unruly Post.

 

Adventures in Arting, Podcast with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

I had a great chat with artist, teacher, creator, business woman, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and her super cool mother last week and you can listen in here. We got into all sorts of topics and surprise! I have more to say about almost all of them.

I'll save my rambling for another day. I mention in the interview a  series I've been working on. It's been a LONG time since I mentioned anything the Eco Dye series with paper. I'll share a couple of images here that you can ponder while you listen to the chit chat. (Yes, you can open 2 windows at the same time. It's a wonderful world.)

I have to say how much I admire both of these woman. They are strong, beautiful people and it was an honor for me to chat with them. So many thanks, Julie. 

 

Who I Am

My business plan for the coming year has been elusive. Everything has changed so I needed to adjust things. I will be doing some local shows, teaching from my studio and online at Curious. I've been feeling a little confused and overwhelmed so, yeah. One thing remains the same.

My Mission Statement.

Great things are happening! 

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.

Time Keeping: Planners

 

It's that time of year when I review my planner from last year and decide whether it's working for me. This system is working really well for me.

Several years ago, I went paper-free. It was  inconvenient and unsatisfying. One day in Office Max I found Avery's 5.5." x 8,5" binder and all of their planning and calendar inserts and grabbed it.

The folks who are using their planners as little daily journals inspired me to make planning a bit more fun so I dug through my stickers and post-its and some Smash book stuff to add to my planner.  Here's the video and below I give a bit more explanation. 

I trimmed pieces of scrapbook paper for some of the tabbed pages. 

Avery's plastic envelope inserts are great for reminders, business cards, notes-to-self. 

Smashbook envelopes were hacked off and adhered to the inside front cover. A small composition book fits nicely for brainstorms. That book and the Frixion erasable pen (which comes with an extra refill) are both from JetPens.

All in all, this planning system is flexible, fun and working for me. The only drawback is that I can't find a set of weekly calendar pages with the dates/months already entered. I have to do that myself :(

As emails come in or appoinments made, I enter them directly into my computer calendar and then either Sunday night or Monday morning, I transfer everything into my paper calendar and plan my week. 

If I'm planning a long term project, after the initial brainstorming, I break everything down in dates in my Omnifocus (this is a great app for businesses). Omnifocus is hooked up to my iCal. 

 I slipped a piece of paste paper and a tag into the plastic covered front cover

I hope that some of this info helps you. Small business owners have a lot of plates spinning. My system works for me and it's been a long time in the making.

Let us know if you have any ideas about organizing your time. 

If you want to make this more of a hobby, there are TONS of videos on YouTube. Search any of the following: Filofax, Midori, Erin Condren, Kikki K. 

Teaching Art, again

Lessened

Continuing from here, let's talk some more about teaching. Saturday's class at The Ink Pad was a great success from my point of view. After each class, it's good to do a thorough review of the class you taught. 

What went well? What could you do better next time? I try very hard to be organized throughout the class. My table winds up a complete mess and when I do a demo, though I try my best to keep things organized, they go astray. I need a system other than my students helping me look for things. I've given that some thought today and next class I will have a series of empty boxes or trays with the list of items needed in the bottom of that box. That way I can neatly set up my demo. Whew. 

I will make a note of that in my "Packing for Classes" file. It may seem like geeking out to you, but for me every single second I waste is a second for teaching and making.

Encouraging dialogue at the end of each class is a skill that I've been developing. It's difficult because of those horrendous art school critiques we suffered through. What were they trying to do to us? 

This is going much better for me now. I'm able to encourage intellectual dialogue using the vocabulary that we've established in the class. So kudos on that one. As each student shows her work and talks about the different technique and theories (which they like best) other students are remembering and it solidifies the day.

I still love him

Packing and Unpacking: Ugh. I stink at that and since my husband was with me (he's been involved in organizing  corporate exhibits for some years now) my weakness was abundantly clear.

But I'll think about that tomorrow. Maybe. Happy Monday all. 

Archeology, Art Dig

Oh! And a new class in NYC, Beyond The Background at the Ink Pad.

I may have mentioned the unearthing of artwork around these parts. The trouble all stems from the fact that when called upon to make 2 pieces of art for a show, I start 4 pieces and see what shakes out. 

These piles go unsorted because, naturally, there is always something that comes up: A wedding, more artwork, a whim or classes. And I'm thoroughly excited about my latest class, Beyond the Background. Because there is not much in the mixed media art world addressing composition and it will be helpful to all levels of crafters and artmakers. 

Graphic Japanese compositions will be included in the syllabus (which is ALMOST complete) and these are some ideas that I'm SUPER excited about sharing. There is a lot of work, research and pushing that goes into the development of a class. There is more information about Beyond the Background at The Ink Pad, NYC.

Maybe it would be helpful to  some of you to write a post about class development? Would you like that?

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