A couple of weeks ago I had my very first award experience. Until then I was an award virgin and I had never really thought about them, let alone considered the fact that I would ever receive one. I was overwhelmed with all sorts of mixed emotions. First of all, I was incredibly flattered and really appreciated the gesture, which came from a wonderful fellow blogger that I really liked. Who doesn't want to be commended for their efforts in blogland? I am still finding my way in the blogosphere so anything positive anybody has to say about me is really good for my ego and inspires me to do more posts.
So, where is this award, you may wonder. Well, here's the thing: I politely refused. I felt really guilty about it, even though the giver took it like a champion. The thing is: awards come with strings attached and I have never liked praise that comes with a price, if you know what I mean. In order to receive my award I in turn would have to pass it on to a couple of other bloggers and so forth and so forth. Of course I know this is the way it works in the wonderful world of blogs, but it's not how it works in my world. In my world praise is free, compliments are given without conditions and when I scratch your back I would like it if you said thank you, but you need not necessarily scratch mine.
I have no idea if anybody else is ever going to feel the need to give me an award again, but just in case someone felt an incling I promised the generous giver of my first one that I would post a little note on my sidebar about it, so I wouldn't have to feel guilty over refusing other awards and nobody else would ever be tempted to give me one in the first place. It took me a few weeks, but I made a little picture that says 'award free zone', so people know in advance that I don't 'do' awards.
Actually I am almost seriously considering starting the no-strings-attached-award or something like that, where you get to be praised to kingdom come and don't have to do anything in return! Wouldn't that be cool? I don't know if such an award would have any status to the receiver, especially if it came from me, but the idea behind it really speaks to me. Well, that's something to ponder for the future maybe...;-)
Finally I want to say that I really appreciate all the comments I get both here and on flickr, yahoo groups or just through my private mail. I can't tell you enough how all of them make my day. I love it that people take the time to read my blog, watch my artsy stuff and then even consider it worth their while to say something about it to me. So in case it wasn't clear already: thank you thank you thank you ;-)
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
What are you up to wednesday
My second contribution to "What are you up to today?". For more info see the sidebar.
I just finished writing the envelopes for the cards of the iHanna swap and they will go into the mail tomorrow. Yay! I have also just received the first card in this swap, so it looks like things are going smoothly. Yay again!
I also just finished a little quicky work on paper, dedicated to my cat who is quite sick right now and may have to be euthanised (oh just the thought of this is horrible). I will show this piece in more detail in my next post together with a journal page on the same subject (not a happy one I'll admit).
On the left you can see one of my favorite art supplies: neocolor II watersoluble crayons. I have been in love with them for years now and I think this love is here to stay! Actually, my blow dryer and I are inseparable too, it's a love triangle. ;-)
I just finished writing the envelopes for the cards of the iHanna swap and they will go into the mail tomorrow. Yay! I have also just received the first card in this swap, so it looks like things are going smoothly. Yay again!
I also just finished a little quicky work on paper, dedicated to my cat who is quite sick right now and may have to be euthanised (oh just the thought of this is horrible). I will show this piece in more detail in my next post together with a journal page on the same subject (not a happy one I'll admit).
On the left you can see one of my favorite art supplies: neocolor II watersoluble crayons. I have been in love with them for years now and I think this love is here to stay! Actually, my blow dryer and I are inseparable too, it's a love triangle. ;-)
Monday, March 28, 2011
Little houses tutorial
As promised I am going to show you how I did my little cities/little houses in mixed media. Now please keep in mind this is my first tutorial, so if something is not clear please don't hesitate to ask any questions, preferably in the comments section, because then other people can profit from them too. Here we go!
What you need:
Stage 1 - Torn paper background:
Take your decorative papers and tear some of them to pieces. Then apply them to your substrate with gel medium. Make sure the entire substrate is covered and that the papers are all over the place! Let this be the fun-who-cares-what-it-looks-like part of your work. I used the same papers in my background as I did for the houses in the foreground, but you can choose to use different papers or just left overs. The layer of paint that you apply later will mostly neutralize the colors, but not the patterns (the paint is transparent remember?). By the way, you don't need to cover or seal the paper with the gel medium, it will be covered by paint and gesso anyway.
Stage 2 - Some gesso dabbing
Take a paper towel or a piece of cloth, dip it in some gesso and that dab the gesso randomly on the surface. Don't cover everything. You're looking to create some structure, nothing more. Let dry, or, if you're like me, get out a blow dryer and make it dry faster. ;-)
Stage 3 - First layer of paint
Take your pencil and draw a wavy line about 1/3 from the bottom of your substrate. This will be the line your houses will stand on. It is also the line that will divide the first two colors of paint. Choose a color for the bottom (the ground) and one for the top (the sky) and just apply an even layer with a paint brush. Now we wait for the paint to dry and move on to the next stage.
Stage 4 - Second layer of paint
Take two other colors of paint. Again one for the bottom and one for the top. Take a piece of paper towel or a piece of cloth and start dabbing again. Be sure to keep the colors for bottom and top seperate (I used a piece of paper for this cut along the pattern of the wavy line). I used red on top of the brown at the bottom and green on top of the ochre on the top in this example. Here's a little close up of the top:
Because the paint is transparent you can still see the patterns of the papers underneath. I really like that effect. Especially because these patterns will return in the houses. It gives a little balance to the piece and brings it together.
Stage 5 - Cutting the houses and other elements
Now comes the part where you get to 'build' your city. I kind of wish I had taken more pictures of this stage, but I hope my words will make clear how I work. First cut out the base of the houses, which are basically rectangles of different sizes. Place them on the wavy line and cut off the bottoms in such a shape that they match the line. I paste them down one at a time. By this I mean I will cut a shape and then paste it down, cut the next shape and then paste that down, etcetera etcetera. I don't plan out how the thing will look in advance.
After I do all the bases like this (I vary them in size and shape for a playful effect) I start doing the roofs. Some are rectangles, some are dome shaped or minarets. Whatever takes your fancy. You can draw them in with pencil first to make sure they fit the bases. I paste these down one at a time too.
After this it's time for the doors and the chimneys. For some reason I want the paper of my doors to be the same as that of the chimneys. Why? I have no clue whatsoever! ;-) And finally I cut out little windows. As you can see these have different shapes too. Be playful. No architect is coming to check if your houses can stand up to building regulations!
When the houses are standing it's time to fill up the ground and the sky with some extra collage elements. I cut different size circles for the ground and stars for the sky and paste them down. All the pasting by the way is done with gel medium.
When all the elements are down and dry. I add a thick layer of gel medium to cover everything up and protect it from outer influences. I use matte medium, but of course you could choose to use gloss or semi gloss, whatever appeals to your taste. Now it's back to waiting for things to dry again. Make sure the medium is completely dry before you go on to the final stage or you will ruin your markers!
Stage 6: the final touches
This is the stage where your city comes to live. Use your white marker to draw little clouds of smoke coming out of the chimneys. Then use the black marker to outline all the elements of the collage as if you were drawing the houses, the circles and the stars. I put little swirls in the circles for an extra effect. I divide some windows into smaller sections. I draw some crosses on top of churches rooftops. When all this is done I make little dots with the white marker on the bottom to give a little more pattern to the ground. Let your markings dry, sign your work and...you're done! Your very own little city has been built!
You may use a (spray) varnish to finish up your work or just leave it as it is.
I hope this was a clear enough tutorial to explain the process. I am open to suggestions for improvement in case of future tutorials and again: if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. If you happen to make one of these cities of your own I would love to see it, so let me know about your own little city adventures!
What you need:
- a substrate of some kind like paper or canvas, whatever you choose has to be able to take thick layers of paint and collage
- gel medium
- decorative papers (make sure you have at least five different ones that match well together)
- gesso
- a pencil
- four colors of transparent acrylic paint that match or complement the paper
- paper towels or pieces of cloth to dab paint on with
- scissors
- brushes
- a black marker (I used a sakura glaze pen, but any black permanent marker will do)
- a white paint marker (or decomarker, or anything white that wil dry opaque on acrylic paint)
Stage 1 - Torn paper background:
Take your decorative papers and tear some of them to pieces. Then apply them to your substrate with gel medium. Make sure the entire substrate is covered and that the papers are all over the place! Let this be the fun-who-cares-what-it-looks-like part of your work. I used the same papers in my background as I did for the houses in the foreground, but you can choose to use different papers or just left overs. The layer of paint that you apply later will mostly neutralize the colors, but not the patterns (the paint is transparent remember?). By the way, you don't need to cover or seal the paper with the gel medium, it will be covered by paint and gesso anyway.
Stage 2 - Some gesso dabbing
Take a paper towel or a piece of cloth, dip it in some gesso and that dab the gesso randomly on the surface. Don't cover everything. You're looking to create some structure, nothing more. Let dry, or, if you're like me, get out a blow dryer and make it dry faster. ;-)
Stage 3 - First layer of paint
Take your pencil and draw a wavy line about 1/3 from the bottom of your substrate. This will be the line your houses will stand on. It is also the line that will divide the first two colors of paint. Choose a color for the bottom (the ground) and one for the top (the sky) and just apply an even layer with a paint brush. Now we wait for the paint to dry and move on to the next stage.
Stage 4 - Second layer of paint
Take two other colors of paint. Again one for the bottom and one for the top. Take a piece of paper towel or a piece of cloth and start dabbing again. Be sure to keep the colors for bottom and top seperate (I used a piece of paper for this cut along the pattern of the wavy line). I used red on top of the brown at the bottom and green on top of the ochre on the top in this example. Here's a little close up of the top:
Because the paint is transparent you can still see the patterns of the papers underneath. I really like that effect. Especially because these patterns will return in the houses. It gives a little balance to the piece and brings it together.
Stage 5 - Cutting the houses and other elements
Now comes the part where you get to 'build' your city. I kind of wish I had taken more pictures of this stage, but I hope my words will make clear how I work. First cut out the base of the houses, which are basically rectangles of different sizes. Place them on the wavy line and cut off the bottoms in such a shape that they match the line. I paste them down one at a time. By this I mean I will cut a shape and then paste it down, cut the next shape and then paste that down, etcetera etcetera. I don't plan out how the thing will look in advance.
After I do all the bases like this (I vary them in size and shape for a playful effect) I start doing the roofs. Some are rectangles, some are dome shaped or minarets. Whatever takes your fancy. You can draw them in with pencil first to make sure they fit the bases. I paste these down one at a time too.
After this it's time for the doors and the chimneys. For some reason I want the paper of my doors to be the same as that of the chimneys. Why? I have no clue whatsoever! ;-) And finally I cut out little windows. As you can see these have different shapes too. Be playful. No architect is coming to check if your houses can stand up to building regulations!
When the houses are standing it's time to fill up the ground and the sky with some extra collage elements. I cut different size circles for the ground and stars for the sky and paste them down. All the pasting by the way is done with gel medium.
When all the elements are down and dry. I add a thick layer of gel medium to cover everything up and protect it from outer influences. I use matte medium, but of course you could choose to use gloss or semi gloss, whatever appeals to your taste. Now it's back to waiting for things to dry again. Make sure the medium is completely dry before you go on to the final stage or you will ruin your markers!
Stage 6: the final touches
This is the stage where your city comes to live. Use your white marker to draw little clouds of smoke coming out of the chimneys. Then use the black marker to outline all the elements of the collage as if you were drawing the houses, the circles and the stars. I put little swirls in the circles for an extra effect. I divide some windows into smaller sections. I draw some crosses on top of churches rooftops. When all this is done I make little dots with the white marker on the bottom to give a little more pattern to the ground. Let your markings dry, sign your work and...you're done! Your very own little city has been built!
You may use a (spray) varnish to finish up your work or just leave it as it is.
I hope this was a clear enough tutorial to explain the process. I am open to suggestions for improvement in case of future tutorials and again: if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. If you happen to make one of these cities of your own I would love to see it, so let me know about your own little city adventures!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
What I'm up to today
A wonderful initiative by Jen Osborn: posting what you are working on every wednesday. You can read more about it here or click on the What are you up to today button on the sidebar.
Anyway, here's what I'm up to today:
A little mess on my work table. I am getting to the finishing touches on the cards for the iHanna-swap. I have mounted them on cardstock and will now put a stamp on the back so they look like 'real' postcards. I took out the stazon ink so I can get started right after I finish this post! I love stazon!
I am also starting two little booklets as my next project. I just picked out some paper for them the other day from my stash. They will be ROD-style probably and I am getting the parts together before I start sewing. They will get a fabric cover too, but in a different way, more directly attached to the rest of the notebook. On the right you can see some velvety rub ons that I just received through the mail and still need to find a home for in my studio.
Hope many more people join this fun initiative! I love to see work in progress.
P.S. I changed the look of my blog just a little, have you noticed?
Anyway, here's what I'm up to today:
A little mess on my work table. I am getting to the finishing touches on the cards for the iHanna-swap. I have mounted them on cardstock and will now put a stamp on the back so they look like 'real' postcards. I took out the stazon ink so I can get started right after I finish this post! I love stazon!
I am also starting two little booklets as my next project. I just picked out some paper for them the other day from my stash. They will be ROD-style probably and I am getting the parts together before I start sewing. They will get a fabric cover too, but in a different way, more directly attached to the rest of the notebook. On the right you can see some velvety rub ons that I just received through the mail and still need to find a home for in my studio.
Hope many more people join this fun initiative! I love to see work in progress.
P.S. I changed the look of my blog just a little, have you noticed?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Mixed media houses go canvas and become Little Cities
I have been working really hard lately on a series of four pieces in which I wanted to put my little houses to the canvas. As you may remember I started them in my journal just as simple drawings in pen and feltip pen and then I tried out one picture in mixed media, but on paper. When that turned out right I figured it was time to go for the 'real thing' and put them on canvas. So over the past two weeks I spent many an hour putting the following four pieces together:
The canvasses measure 40x40 cm. I call them 'Little City', no. 1 to 4.
I am very pleased with how they turned out even if they did cost me two glaze pens! No matter what other people tell you, Sakura's glaze pens (and I love those pens!) don't last long if you really use them, they were empty in no time. ;-) The paper I used is actually the really cheap paper that I showed on my shopping spree post not so long ago. This just goes to show that expensive isn't always better.
I intend to do a little tutorial on how I did these canvases in one of my next posts. They take some time, but they are really easy to make, so maybe somebody else might like making them too. I would love to see other people try them. They are such fun!
It was again cool to work on several pieces at once, but also frustrating, because there was so little to show in the meantime. Maybe that's why I needed a little break from them to make the postcards for iHanna's swap.
Anyway, they are done now. Whatever will be next?
The canvasses measure 40x40 cm. I call them 'Little City', no. 1 to 4.
I am very pleased with how they turned out even if they did cost me two glaze pens! No matter what other people tell you, Sakura's glaze pens (and I love those pens!) don't last long if you really use them, they were empty in no time. ;-) The paper I used is actually the really cheap paper that I showed on my shopping spree post not so long ago. This just goes to show that expensive isn't always better.
I intend to do a little tutorial on how I did these canvases in one of my next posts. They take some time, but they are really easy to make, so maybe somebody else might like making them too. I would love to see other people try them. They are such fun!
It was again cool to work on several pieces at once, but also frustrating, because there was so little to show in the meantime. Maybe that's why I needed a little break from them to make the postcards for iHanna's swap.
Anyway, they are done now. Whatever will be next?
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