Diana Trout's blog

Alcohol Inks: Splash & Paint

To my dear and loyal "Gang." My live stream went yesterday (once again) not as expected. OemGEEEEEEE! OK. Next time my son-in-law, the Software Developer and LS Expert will be at my side. I'm scheduling that for May 13, EST. It will be smooth. I have sworn off cursing this year (I worked on pun) but did some yesterday. It did finally work out and the video is below.

A wonderful thing about alcohol inks/markers on Yupo is just how painterly it looks. You can work positively by putting marks down and negatively by erasing with a blender pen or lighter color.

You can easily get beautiful ruffly "found" edges. Just like in watercolor! It's easy to get lost building up textures.  

The purple over the yellow flower is a regular dye marker. My Art Is You class in CT this October, Exploring Yupo, includes experimenting with different surfaces and media. 

Here is the video and the  affiliate links are below*. I hope that you enjoy and experiment! Let me know your experiences

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.

Art Journal With Me: Paint & Lace

Hello my friends. I had my second live stream yesterday. If you happened upon it, thank you! If not, it is linked below. I had my Dylusions journal, paint pens, gesso. You'll see in the video how to fill a blank marker with Hi Flow paints. 

Here's a kind of progression from when I stop the live stream to finishing the page up.

I went over the flowers with more paint marker, mixing the colors. Working wet in wet with paint markers may not be the best way to treat these tools but I really like to mix my paints.

I love the connection with lace and math. The writing is about the arts and the sciences being the purest forms of language. 

The little bit of lace collage was the impetus for this journal entry. My son does his calculus on tracing paper and sometimes gives me a hand full. I love the look of them and this was one of those "seat of the pants" moments that keeps me journaling.

The top photo is a detail from the finished page. Here's the video. Start watching at about 7 minutes. Before that it is just me looking confused. 

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.

To my loyal blog followers, thank you for hanging in with me throughout this winter. I'm spreading myself very thin between making business changes and the unexpected surgeries. My aunt was recently very ill and in the hospital with pneumonia. I'm her main caregiver with lots of help. It's been challenging to keep up. My own health is improving now with three steps forward, one back. I treasure you folks and my work.

 

This Week Today

I started writing this on Monday, 3/15 and have been at it all week.

A bit of sunshine for your Friday morning ... 

Monday mornings begin on Sunday night for me as I sprawl on the sofa with my planner. 

On Monday, I pretty much ignored what I'd written in my planner and did a Live Stream on stamping in a little book instead.

In my studio, I have a big basket and box project folders for YouTube videos and I keep doing things off the cuff instead. Here is a look at the flip book I was working on.

Tuesday: My planner says "Watercolor." Also: "Work on Mixed Media Watercolor class."

Here's some of the painting I started. (at the top of this post: I love the idea of the flowers glowing yellow around the bulb part and the sunlight dancing along the tops. Sorry about the uneven lighting.)

The red coming down from the flower needs more definition. 

I will go back into the right hand flower and lift paint out for the stamen "legs." I love that brown from mixing green and red. 

Tuesday Night: Aunt Betz called from the hospital: Pneumonia. Wednesday was devoted to helping her get settled, talking to her doc and the nurses and distributing chocolate bunnies to all involved.

The rest of the week is up for grabs. I'm heading to the studio to work on some watercolors again and maybe get started on another flip book. Mixed Media Watercolor class is underway. This happend

After being inspired by the Gelli Arts folks here, I folded a bunch of mark-making tools for the Gelli Prints video coming soon.  Today is the son's birthday so this is underway

Who knew there was a thing called Hipster Animals? Honestly! Google it. They are hilarious. I caved and purchased the set from Hero Arts after watching Kristina Werner make a card with it here. I think they need bodies but they could also be trophy heads. 

Have a great weekend, everyone. I'm looking forward to my stamp carving class tomorrow. Off now to visit my auntie. Here are some of the materials and tools I used this week (affiliate links used).

 

 

Don't Miss these Autumn Bloomers

In Sept/October issue of Cloth Paper Scissors is my article on creating flowers from paper cloth. I thought it would be fun to share a few more images with you folks.

So much fun to make. I think with winter coming, white and silver would be beautiful!

This pod shape is my fav, I think. I mounted these with dimensional glue dots on wood pieces that were grunged up with some brown and sepia toned paint.

Cheerful trio!

It would be fun to make a bunch of these into a wreath or spilling out of a pot. Flowers for all! I added some of these to some cards recently too. Really fun. 

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.

 

Around the Studio

Of late 

the end

PS: I'll be back with my Art Journal on Thursday with Day 1 (of 3) of another # event on YouTube. 

Alcohol & Alcohol Inks (MeetUp)

I found my stash of Alcohol Inks recently and pulled them out to play. Alcohol inks are from Ranger and are available in all of the Adirondack colors, including gold and silver.

They work like magic on any non-porous surface, such as glossy card stock, Yupo paper, metal and plastic. You simply drop some different colors on paper and let it pool. Or put drops plus alcohol blending solution on a distress tool or cosmetic wedge and swirl it around on the surface.

The close up shows some of the subtleties you can get by pushing or blowing the ink around and adding the blender fluid. I used black Memento to stamp on top. I used Avery Elle and Memento Luxe as well but they took a VERY long time to dry.

So, if you are in the area (Philadelphia), come to my Summer Porch MeetUp and have some Sangria and playtime! If not, go here to see one of Tim Holtz's videos and try using some alcohol inks. Fun

MeetUp (you need to join to view) or email me
May 22, 7-9
$25

 

Paper Cloth & Stitch

And it's Sunday night again. I'm so happy and proud to share work from a series I've been dipping into for a few years now. Somerset Studio May/June issue published some of this work. 

and you've seen glimpses of it here and there.

I work very deeply in this series but some of it feels a bit unformed, elusive. Big chunks of time would help. Let me hold my sides as I bend over laughing.

I think: "Maybe I'll abandon the watercolors, the flowers, the art journaling and just concentrate on this." But I never do.

There aren't enough hours in the day. I wonder if I could make a commitment to this. Do you every do that? Examine something and decide "This is really Important." And then make a conscious decision. Or do we all just get swept away in the field of minutiae like crumbs on the kitchen floor. 

This is a question for a quiet night. If I hadn't quit smoking, I'd be doing that right now. lol.

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!

Going back

To go forward

Getting my chops back up with painting on canvas. It feels good. 

Sorry for the glare.