Diana Trout's blog

Stencils and the Kitchen Sink

This post is also up at Stencil Girl's blog today. Stencil Girl Mary Beth Shaw asked me to do a blog post for her and here's what happened next ;) *Scroll down for the video! 

I went into this project with no real plan. Nothing new there. I wanted to experiment with Ranger Texture Paste, Gesso, ColorBurst pigments and STENCILS.

 

I had some unexpected turns with this projects but with my years of experience with art projects that go pear shaped, I applied a couple of my standard strategies and came out with a great prompt for my art journal and a couple of cards.

 

Texture pastes or grounds can be colored with a spot of dye ink and I’ve been itching to try tinting them with Colorburst pigment powder. This is a good choice because it won’t water the paste or ground (or gesso) down. I found that the tinted grounds dried pretty close to the wet color. Since recording this, I've found that Ranger Texture Paste is formulated to receive color the same as paper. I'm looking forward to more experimentation with Rangers Transparent Mat and Gloss Texture pastes which should yield different results.

 

 

I hope you’ll enjoy the video and feel the freedom to experiment and play with your art supplies. This is one of those #practice posts. When things don't go as expected, you have a great opportunity to get creative and see what happens.

Thanks  Stencil Girl for hosting me today. You can find all the Stencil Girl products here. 

Stencils Links: Lizzie Mayne's Corrugated Lines, Maria McGuire's Doodle It Bigger and Carolyn Dube's Wall of Words and Uplifting Words stencils.

Other Supplies:  

Ranger TEXTURE PASTE 4oz INK44444	Liquitex Gesso	Palette Knife, Plastic Offset	Ken Oliver Color Burst, Orange	Ranger Dylusions Ink Spray FRESH LIME Dyan Reaveley DYC33875
Radiant Rain Spray Mist Snap Dragon	Ranger Inkssentials Non Stick CRAFT SHEET 15 X 18 Reusable NSC20677	Memento TUXEDO BLACK INK PAD Full Size me-900	Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps 2015 BIRD CRAZY cms212

InLinkz.com

Make a Rainbow with Gelatos

Nobody practices art like a little kid. Todays post and video were inspired by a comment from a child and I ran with it. I broke out my never-used Gelatos. These were inherited art supplies and I like 'em. They are really silky smooth and mooshy. Like Portfolios, yes. But even more buttery and smooth. Really a great art material. However, the way they are packaged stinks. I don't need extra brushes or stamps. I just want a basic rainbow of colors. 

I ordered a pack meant for kids over here at Amazon that has the rainbow so I'll let you know how the quality is. 

Folding vellum produces a beautiful pattern. I'm using a heavier than usual weight vellum from Bazzil (linked below). You can make all sorts of patterns and starbursts, even crumpling. 

I hope that this is a simple playful art journal idea for you! You can see where something didn't work out and what I did to make it work. And so the idea - let's make it #practiceart - can be a revolution. Tell your kids. 

This video has more chat than usual. I'm not so sure if you really want to hear the ramblings in my brain. Let me know. I tend to want videos that are short and sweet myself. I'm trying to find a good balance.

Quick word on the mists I use. I put some (a good pinch) of PearlEx or Perfect Pearls into a mini mister. You can add water or reinker and water for a great spray. Extend your supplies. 

Design with Gelatos Set of 34	Faber-Castell - Mix and Match Collection - Color Gelatos - 34 Piece Gift Set	Faber-Castell - Mix and Match Collection - Kit - Designing With Gelatos	Faber-Castell DESIGNING WITH GELATOS KIT 770402	Caran d'Ache Neocolor ll
Portfolio Oil Pastels	Bazzill Basics - 8.5 x 11 Vellum - White - 40lb.	Bazzill 40 LB VELLUM 8.5 x 11 White 25 Sheets	Stillman & Birn Alpha 8.5"x5.5" Sketchbook	Tim Holtz Distress Paint CHIPPED SAPPHIRE Ranger TDD36340
Ranger Paint Dabber CARIBBEAN COAST RAD43706	Ranger Ink - Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Earthtones - Eggplant	Ranger Ink - Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Lights - Aqua	Ranger Inkssentials MINI MISTERS Set of 3 Spray Bottle Ink MIS22701	Ranger Perfect Pearls PERFECT GOLD Individual Pigment Powder PPP17721
Ranger Paint Dabbers	Pentel Pocket Brush Pen

InLinkz.com

Painting with Copic Markers

Over the winter, I discovered Spectrum Noir markers on sale at my local craft store. I started collecting and playing with them in a painterly way and love the results. 

Copie, SN and Sharpies are all alcohol markers, I'm not sure about all of the differences are between the  brands. SN has a chisel and fine point, Copic has a brush and fine point and Sharpie has different pens with bullet or fine tips.

I've been using these markers on Yupo paper. They pool a bit and if you use lighter colors over darker, the lighter color "pushes" the darker one away. It's a  cool effect. I love those little watercolor-like edges around the pools (of course).

I decided to make Project Life format cards for my journal. I trimmed the cards to 3"x5" (or so) and rounded the corners.  With the big chisel end of the marker, it's easy to print words that are meaningful to you. If you want to stamp, use pigment ink. 

This was a fun project. You could also use glossy photo paper. It doesn't work as well as the Yupo but well enough. Try Sharpie markers too. Let me know how they work! 

Enjoy the video. Scroll down for a supply list and special note. 

July 17-20 is #SUMMERARTLOVE even over at YouTube. We are trying to raise our ratings over there by encouraging viewers to subscribe, share and Thumbs Up their favorite videos. I'll be sharing a video a day so watch out for that! 

Use what you have. The following are affiliate links. I get a percentage of the sale at no cost to you. Thanks for helping support my channel/blog this way.

Yupo Paper	Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers	Sharpie Marker Set	Copic Markers	Fiskars ROUND THE BEND Easy Squeeze Punch 1/2
We R Memory Keepers Cropadile CORNER CHOMPER 70904-6

InLinkz.com

Writers Gotta Write

Who needs something else to do? I thought so. But how often do you get sucked in anyway? Yep. Me too. 

YouTube is killing me, man. I've got a case of sticker envy after watching The Reset Girl's video and browsing through her online shop. She's got a challenge called Listers Gotta List. I'm not a lister but I do love to write!

After watching her video, I remembered that I know how to bind books! Despite the array of books that I already have, I was up in the studio late last night binding.

So, I'm going to give it a turn and see if I can get some writing done. The first prompt was Why Do You Love to List? Well, I don't love to list so I'll be answering that question in a way that might make me think a little bit. In fact, lists scare me a little. Do I have to accomplish all of those things? Aaaaaack! 

As far as stickers go, I do have stamps, avery labels and punches so ... stickers. 

So Happy Monday all. As usual, your thoughts and teasing will be full appreciated. 

Art Journal Movie Night

The weather here is frightful; a good time for a cup of tea and inspiration. I've gathered a few videos here. Enjoy! 

In my Big Stillman & Birn Journal. I love this because of the heavy page weight. It is the Beta Series.

A very easy journal to make from one large sheet of paper. Here is the original post where can get the pdf download.

This is a great way to relax with your journal. 

Spring is 17 days away.

PS: I just came from my follow up with the back doc. Things are going well! I'm finally catching up to my life. Or maybe it was just patiently waiting for me.

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 ... 

Lettering

Playing with lettering is fun and easier than you think! It's like drawing and doodling with forms you are very familiar with. Jenny Doh's book Creative Lettering (link below) was my source of inspiration.

Use words and thoughts that are meaningful to you. I worked on Strathmore Bristol. Use a pencil to sketch out the words then go over them with pen. You can erase any mess ups, just draw lightly!  I used Pitt Pen markers and Tombow's for color - any markers would do. 

Here's the link for Jenny's book which is great for beginners. Like Zentangle, Lettering is something you can easily begin with a minimum of fuss. Brainstorm some words and phrases and keep that list handy while you lay out your page. It's really easy to make a spelling error (*ahem).

You Can't Draw

Or can you?

It's hot and humid here and most extraneous thoughts are just blowing in and out of my head. I had an interesting discussion with a friend the other night though. We wondered (again) why people "can't draw."

Here's one story of why I thought I couldn't draw:  

One Halloween, when I was small (4 or 5) my mother asked whether "someone" would make a drawing of a witch on a broomstick. The idea was that she'd have my dad jigsaw it out of wood, put it in the window and backlight it. OOOOO scary ;). I was jumping up and down: "I'll do it, I'll do it." 

The job was given to my 14 year old brother. And so it begins. Chipping away at our natural confidence in mark making. I could go on but the real point of the story is that we all have these stories. Lots of them. That's at the base of why we "can't draw." 

What's your story? Can you think of one? It's helpful to start writing - pull out your journal and write. See if any memories come up. 

Related articles

sheesh

Birdies Again

And Speaking of Spring ...

Splashing with colors marching right across the palette and the page with an overlay of juicy brush pen. A bit of stamping with handcarved and washi tape. Why not?

Some Pitt Pen. A loose arm. Not being careful but careless, without a care in the world. In my watercolor Moleskine. I like that book. Go ahead and paint some flowers. No need to overthink. They don't.

First Friday Artist; Tammy Garcia

Tammy Garcia is an artist, teacher and blogger. You will find proof of her awesome-ness over at her blog. Between her ICAD challenge (index card a day) and 61 Paper Prompts, there's plenty to get you moving. For free. Her workshops are fabulous; she's a very generous teacher as you'll see from this tutorial. I'm thrilled to have her here today. Tammy's cheerful and accessible work will have you itching to make.

Here's Tammy:

Looking through my recent painting experiments, I found this happy page of flowers that had the look and feel of paper fabric. That’s why I am such a fan of experiments and playing “what if?” with my art materials. Sometimes the juxtaposition of this and that is just magical. So I developed this little tutorial to show you how easy it is to get this fresh color pop.

In the video you'll find the materials for painting, cutting and stitching the painted page to a background paper. If you haven't yet tried sewing paper, it can be the very best of addictions! (Editor's note: oh yeah!) 

Tutorial: Flower & Fade from Tammy on Vimeo.

Painting Materials

8x11" watercolor paper {i.e. Strathmore 300 or 400 Series}
Watercolor or gouache paints, in tubes or pans
Rinsing water
#6 or #8 filbert or round watercolor brush

Sewing Materials

8x11" background paper {i.e. painted watercolor paper, cardstock, bristol paper}
Scissors or rotary cutter {use a different pair of scissors/cutter on paper for paper,as it will dull your lovely fabric blades}
Sewing machine, standard needle, default stitch settings, straight stitch
Silk or cotton thread
When sewing graceful curves or straight lines, keep feed dogs UP and let the machine pull the paper through. (I never drop the feed dogs for stitching on paper. You get much better results just by guiding the paper around so play with this.)

You can stitch this flowery grid onto a loose art journal background and hand-letter lyrics or thoughts around the grid. I hope you have fun painting and stitching and I look forward to seeing your creations.

Back to Diana ... 

I tried my hand at Tammy's tute yesterday and it took me a little practice to get those flowers just right. I wound up simply pressing my filbert brush to the paper in each direction and after a bit it worked. So practice :) it does you good.

Let's share our results on Facebook. Just upload your image, share to Tammy's FB group and tag me. Have a grand weekend everyone.

DaisyYellow Blog
DaisyYellow Facebook Group
Twitter
Instagram