Diana Trout's blog

Painting on Yupo Live Stream

Hey gang, Next Tuesday, May 3 at noon (EST) I'll be live streaming over at YouTube. The topic is Painting on Yupo with alcohol markers and alcohol inks. I've got all of the glitches ironed out in the world of live stream. I hope you'll join me. It's such fun to have the interaction and chat. You can set a reminder here on YouTube.

About live streaming: You'll click on that link above when it's time for the stream to begin. People get there a bit early usually and start chatting. The chat box will be on the right hand side of the screen. 

I'll be using some of the products from the April ArtSnacks box, blog post here. Here's that video. 

This is a take on the class I'll be teaching, Exploringi Yupo, at Art Is You CT on Oct 9 in Stamford, CT.

I'm officially still on a little at-home retreat. Being peaceful and trying not to work. I've had some lovely outings with good pals, my husband and all grown up kids. Long walks, time for writing and reading. I needed this more than I realized. 

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.

 

Journal Flip & Molotow Masking Pen

I flipped through some old journals yesterday from 2009. 

Isn't that funny! It really cracked me up. And so does this one: 

Over the years, my critic (Stewie) has really taken on a full personality and is sympathetic in a way. Surprising. But really. Look at this guy! I also stumbled across some flowers that have been an obsession for a long time. I dreamed of a field of them once. They are Chiming Bell flowers and make lovely music! 

I played with the Molotow Masking pen in this video. I am enjoying this pen. It's a very easy way to mask with much less mess than the liquid frisket. Here's the video. 

Here are some of the supplies I used (affiliate links). I'll try to keep up over here but am working on another Curious class. It looks like I need to have another surgery and so am trying to meet that deadline. Thanks for all your support gang. You folks are the best.

 

January Journal Jump #1: Lose Control

There was a sudden whim to do a month-long art journal jump. And I rarely resist whims like this. So suddenly Sunday night I leapt in and began planning. Over the next month, there will be videos and blog posts on different ways of journaling. Big books, little books, bullets, planners and who knows what else. 

This first jump is about letting go of control and working intuitively. Not so easily done, I know. But let's try. It's also about using one studio session and then writing, doodling, drawing, collaging over the week. I'm working along and will post photos here and on Instagram, FaceBook and Twitter as I go. I'm not great at Social Media so we'll see how that goes. 

Let's dive right in.   

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.

Back to Basics Art Journal: Taming the Critic

Good Friday Morning, my friends.  Dick Blick has a Back to School sale going and I've compiled a list of supplies that are  basic for art journaling. You can purchase a paper pad (see the supply list below) and make you own art journal. Here's a video showing the process.

I hope you'll take advantage of the sale and jump into some art journaling. For more posts on Taming the Critic, go here.  

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.

Blick Broadline Watercolor Markers	Prang Watercolor Set	Folding Watercolor Palette	QoR Modern Watercolors from Golden	Princeton Snap! Brushes
Prang Colored Pencils	Prang Crayons	Derwent Watercolor Pencils	Prang Watercolor Pencils	Derwent Inktense Pencils
Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers	Yupo Paper	Sakura Gelly Roll Star Dust Pens	Micron Pens	Sakura Gelly Roll Pens
Tombow Dual Brush Markers	Liquitex Acrylic Paints	Liquitex MATTE Medium	Liquitex Gesso	Sharpie Marker Set
Strathmore BRISTOL SMOOTH 9 x 12 Paper Pad 365096	Stillman & Birn Sketchbook	Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Paper Pad	Canson XL Mixed Media Sketchbook	Fiskars Non Stick Scissors
Uhu Glue Stick	Binding Needles	Bone Folder	Piercing Awl	Waxed Linen Thread

InLinkz.com

 

These are affiliate links. I get a small percentage of the sale with no extra cost to you! As always, I appreciate you support. 

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. 

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sheesh

Birdies Again

Friday Tutorial * Watercolor Flowers

Banish your critic for an hour or so. Gather together: paints, a round brush, water holders, a spritz-y bottle, a rag and a couple of pens. I like microns and the Pentel brush pen. 

Watercolor paper will give the best results. It is thick and holds a lot of paint. That's how you get the deeper colors. Well that and courage.

Spritz here and there, then load up a brush and drop some color in the spritzed areas.

Add some more color, drop it into wet areas. Maybe you made mud? Don't drop orange into blue or purple into yellow. 

 You might want to let things dry (use your heat gun if you want). Then more color

Time to doodle. I like the little lines in the background because they remind me of seed stitch. Try to relax and let go. Think floral rather than "flower."

I think  it's more important that your marks have your energy rather than any kind of perfection. Just make marks. Your flowers will be more lively

Have fun. Relax. It's just paint and paper. 

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And Speaking of Spring ...

First Friday Artist; Tammy Garcia

Studio Class: Pattern Crazy

Saturday March 22
10am - 1 pm
3 hour class in my home studio (Glenside, PA)
5 students (1 space left)
$50 (Includes Kit Fee)

Using a variety of tools (supplied by me), make patterns of your own design.

Search for reference materials and understanding how to use your inspiration to create your own personal patterns to decorate anything is the topic today. I will help you to figure out where you want the patterns and how to get them there. This class is the same topic as my 3 hour class at the CREATE retreat in NJ but covers different techniques. You could take both classes without overlap.

Class size is limited to 5 students.

Supplies: 

Your Journal
Watercolors, cheap set is fine, I like Prang
Small spray bottle
Brushes: 1” flat, 1/2” flat, #12 round
rag
2 containers for water
pencil
pen: waterproof
A couple of stamp pads

Small scraps of papers with patterns you like. Poke around your drawers and in magazines. Washi tape is good

Kit Includes:

Wallpaper seam roller
craft foam
variety of found stamping tools
source/reference materials

Please email me to sign up.

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Studio Visit: Storage

Poetic License; Tame the Critic

 

It's been almighty cold in most of the US lately. I wake up in the morning warm and snuggly and just want to stay under the cozy blankets. Put your hand up if you can relate :) I'm fighting that bummed out feeling with flowers. Lots of them. 

This little bunch was done on Yupo paper which is a slick plastic paper; not something that usually attracts me but the way the colors run and the ease of lifting color from the surface is pretty nifty.  

If you have tried to draw flowers from nature you see it is complex. Yet the shapes are simple if you take them apart apart and practice. Move on to color and pattern. Most important look at the grace, elegance and movement. Flowers need to breathe. That is more important than slavishly copying them.

I am sharing flowers everyday on my facebook page. Here is yesterday's FB post using pen and pitt pens.

Have yourselves a grand weekend. If you are in the Philadelphia area pop by tonight (5-7:30 pm) to see what the Phila Dumpster Divers did with the "trash" created by the National Archives recent system overhaul. See you there! The gallery entrance is on Chestnut St between 9th and 10th. Look for the balloons! 

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wabi sabi

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.

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Taming the Critic with Clouds

This month's Taming the Critic post is about free writing (and yes, I can hear y'all groaning out there.) 

Here's your mission: print out a few copies of the Clouds picture (pdf is linked below). Sit down with your favorite pen and write. Whatever is on your mind can be your starting point. *Nothing* could also be just fine. Write for 20 minutes straight through, no thinking. Just spill the beans. Julia Cameron suggests starting with "I don't know what to write." Thoughts will tumble into your mind. Write big and sloppy. Pay no attention to grammar or spelling

Here's what your printout will look like

For instance: I've been thinking about altering some clothes. I just can't seem to let go of my fear of messing them up so I'm procrastinating. Our minds get clouded and it's time for clarity.  

 Why Am I Procastinating?

Free writing is theraputic. Fold those papers up, put them in an envelope marked "PERSONAL and PRIVATE." Although people rarely take the time to read someone's writing, especially when it is sloppy.

If you like origami, here is a little video that shows how to make an envelope from a single sheet of paper. I wrote on the back of my papers and folded them into an envelope. Like Fort Knox. 

I wrote on the front of my papers too. I folded them all up and put them into a bowl. You could put them in your journal.

Face your critic. He/she is probably very familiar and less scary than you think. Have a great weekend.
xo - Diana 
Download Clouds journal page