Sketchbook Revival Part Two

Hello everyone, I have been working on a couple of sketchbook related projects again. The first was a project following a tutorial given by Tamara Laporte on the recent Sketchbook Revival course. Tamara created a timelapse video for us to follow, and this picture is what I came up with using her video. She instructed us to stick to a minimum of supplies; three colours of water based markers, I had some old Marvy LePlume markers that I dug out of my stash, a watercolour skin tone crayon, and a white and black marker. We also used a water brush for blending, plus a pencil for the basic drawing. Lots of the artists seem to prefer mechanical pencils, as there is no need to sharpen your pencil, I found using one much easier, and will continue to use one for my sketching from now on.

I learned several things from my experience with this drawing; I used an A3 sketchpad containing Windsor and Newton heavyweight Cartridge paper, which I normally manage to add a fair amount of water to. It did not work very well for this project, and in future, I will go back to hot pressed watercolour paper, which is my usual go to surface for something like this. My Marvy pens have probably seen better days, I can't remember how many years I have had them, but a long time, for sure. I needed something with a bit more juice to really achieve what I wanted, but they worked okay for a first attempt at the project. I was too impatient, and did not let the black Posca pen dry properly, and smudged it on my little bird. I needed to slow down and take my time a bit! Other than that, I enjoyed the process, and will definitely try out the techniques again.

The sentiment that I have added to the image sums up my thoughts whilst creating the piece, 'embrace imperfection'. I am not going to be too precious, but to learn and grow from these experiments, hopefully enjoying the process at the same time!

I have made another sketchbook, this time covered in fabric. I was gifted this fabric ages ago by Glenda Waterworth, with the instruction that I must use it. I have pondered over how to use these beautiful pieces of fabric for ages, and decided that I should start to appreciate them, rather than leave them stored away. Having cut into one piece now, hopefully I will be inclined to incorporate more of them into things that I make.

This book really makes me think of Summer days with the bright floral design.

I hope to share more of my sketchbook exploits with you soon, thanks for stopping by, xxx

Bees and Butterflies

Hello everyone, I am sharing a few more cards showcasing the beautiful stamps that were featured on last months Hochanda TV shows.

For my first card, I have used one of the very versatile whiteboard shapes made by Tando, exclusively for Chocolate Baroque. These shapes are great, already being white, as they can be inked up straight away without needing any preparation. I added a bit of soft colour in tones of yellow, orange and green, and did the same to a piece of drawing cartridge that was going to become the card background. Using a honeycomb stencil, I added some colour using Distress Ink, repeating this on the background. I stamped a bee on the heart, using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, and masked the image, before stamping a foliage image from the Essence of Nature stamp plate using Versafine Clair Ink. I coloured the bee with pencils, and added a sentiment to the heart.

To complete the background, I stamped the honeycomb image from the Honey Bee stamp set, again colouring the bees with pencils. I added stickles to the bees' wings. To complete the card, I added some green ribbon and green card as a matting layer.

For my next card, I chose an old book page and stamped the pretty foxglove image on to the paper. I added two bees, and coloured the images with pencils. I added some shading around the edge of the page, and then stamped a pretty fern image from the Wild Meadow stamp set around the edge, using two coordinating colours. I used the same foxglove and bee images to stamp over some kraft card to complete a background for the book page focal image. I added Picked Pasberry Distress Ink around the edge of the kraft card to soften the background.  I selected some deep plum card to mat the layers. The background actually looked great on its own, and I have included a photo of that as well so you can see. I quite like this as a quick card in its own right:

Now with the main image added:

My final card was a fairly quick card showcasing the fabulous Textured Art card that is available on the website. I coloured the card very quickly by placing two colours of Distress Oxide Ink on my craft mat, spritzing it with water, and laying the card on top. I stamped the lovely butterfly tree from the Essence of Nature stamp set, and added the small tree either side, to create the appearance of a little woodland. I painted some colour under the trees to 'ground' them, and painted the butterflies.  Adding the main sentiment was all that was needed to complete the card.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Two Quick Cards

Hello everyone, it's time for the monthly Fifteen Minute blog post over on the Chocolate Baroque Design Team blog.  I have two cards featuring in the post, and would like to share them with you.

The first card uses some of the incredibly versatile Drawing Cartridge available from the website. I have coloured the background with Distress Oxide Inks, which I spread over a craft mat and spritzed with water. I placed the drawing cartridge over the ink, and patted it down to pick up the colour. I dried the paper, and then patted it onto the mat again to pick up some of the left over droplets of ink for another layer of colour. I then stamped a variety of foliage stamps over the top using Versafine Clair inks in first and second and third generation stamping, to create lots of depth. I have added two bees, and given their wings some sparkle with Stickles glue. A great sentiment finishes off the card. I used black Versafine for the bees and the sentiment. The stamps are from the Essence of Nature, Honey Bee, Fragrant Honeysuckle, and The Rose Tree stamp sets.

To create my second card, I used some of the fabulous Textured Art card, which has a linen like texture to the surface. I added some Decoart Media Tinting Medium, which I had coloured with Ultramarine and Turquoise Brushos to the surface, almost dry brushing the colour over the background. I stamped the words from the Essence of Nature stamp set all over the large background using Jet Black Archival Ink. I then stamped the tree panel onto a smaller piece of card, and mounted both pieces onto black card. The finish created by the medium and Brushos is chalky, which I could not have achieved with the Brushos by themselves. It is a technique that I will definitely use again.

Do hop over to the Design Team blog to see the cards that my Team mates have contributed to the post. They have come up with some great ideas, as always. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Sketchbook Revival Part One

Hello everyone, recently, I signed up to a twelve day course called Sketchbook Revival. The course has finished now, but the material is available until 18th May if you are interested. The course consisted of daily videos created by a group of very talented artists including Tamara Laporte, Kiala Givehand and Kelly Hoernig, and they gave generously of their time and inspiration to show us how to create daily practices in a sketchbook.
I have been so inspired by the material available on the course, and although I have been really busy across the duration of the course, I have pushed myself to create some of the projects that have been demonstrated.

Kiala showed us how to make several styles of journal, including a concertina style journal, a simple journal made from one page, and also a stitched book incorporating lots of different types of paper. I even made a Coptic bound book, something that I had not done before.

Danny Gregory encouraged us to draw something every day, for example your cup of tea that you drink at the beginning of the day. By drawing the same thing every day, you will improve over time, and be able to look back at the gradual improvement. I have two cups in the morning, a proper cup of tea, and hot water with lemon. The glass cup was more difficult to draw, and I can see where it needed improvement. I will get better over time.

I have spent much of my time taking lots of notes as the tutors were full of really helpful tips for good habits going forward, and I do feel as though I will be more observant in my drawing and sketching from now on.

My final photo for today is of a journal page that I made following Whitney Freya's class on how to paint a Buddha. I loved this class, and created my own stencil using printable acetate. She helped us to use colours from the background as highlights and shading on the Buddha's face, bringing in the colours that we liked. We learned how to create layered backgrounds, adding words and stencilling, before painting the main image with black paint. I needed to be brave to do that!

I will be back in a few days' time with more to share from my sketching exploits, but I hope that you have enjoyed this departure from my usual posts. Thanks for stopping by, xx

A Bit of Drama!

Hello everyone, I have two cards to share with you today, that I demonstrated on last month's TV shows on Hochanda. I used dark card to create my projects, and stamped the images with white Brilliance Ink, before colouring them with coloured pencils. The finished effect is very dramatic against the dark card, and I have shown how you can use the technique to create both backgrounds and a focal image.

For my first card, I used some dark brown card to create the background, and stamped a leaf image from the Essence of Nature stamp set repeatedly using the white ink. I then chose a selection of Koh-i-Noor pencils; yellow, green, orange and red, to colour the leaves. I created a central panel by colouring a scrap piece of drawing cartridge with Brushos. I chose Orange, Yellow and Lime Green as my colours. I sprinkled the Brushos onto a large acrylic block, spritzed the block with water, and then pressed the block onto the drawing cartridge. Once the background was dry, I stamped the image, again from the Essence of Nature stamp set, using Potting Shed Archival Ink. The sentiment was stamped onto a piece of the same background, and I inked around the edge of the panel with the ink that I had used for stamping.

For my second card, I stamped the image from the Fragrant Honeysuckle stamp set onto burgundy card. Again, I used a selection of coloured pencils, this time I chose blue, lilac, pink and green. I added some Stickles for a bit of sparkle to the flower centres, and around the edges of the layers. I chose a toning piece of Crafty Individuals paper as a main background, which worked really well with the image. It just shows how well Chocolate Baroque stamps mix with other brands.

I hope that you will give this technique a try, as the Brilliance ink gives you the option of using those dark surfaces to add a bit of drama to your projects if you wish. Combining them with lighter, brighter elements keeps the whole piece balanced.

Thanks for stopping by, xx