21 Secrets - Color, Color, Color!

Hello everyone.

I signed up for 3 art classes over the weekend, so I'm probably going to be posting a lot of photos to my instagram over the next few weeks. You should follow me over there by clicking here.
Note: I have to approve your request to follow me so that I don't get spammed like crazy, so forgive me if there's a delay.

That doesn't mean I won't be on my blog in the interim. I'll also be doing some blog posts and an end of the class review. From what I've gathered, 21 Secrets has been around for a few years now. The theme (Color, Color, Color!) is all about integrating color and art. Isn't that awesome?!

I enjoy vibrant color in art and I think I'm really going to enjoy learning from 24 amazing teachers. It's not to late to sign up even though the class has already begun. You can click the photo below to learn more about the class and sign up if you feel inclined to do so. I'm not an affiliate and I won't get any credit for you signing up. I still encourage you to join in on the fun .

"An Artist's Life" - An Art Journal Page

 I was looking for some fun stickers that I could implement into my art journal pages a couple of months ago and I found quite a few that caught my eye. One of the stickers that I purchased worked great for the page I created.

© Leslie Evans       [to purchase]

To begin the page, I decided to use the 5.5" x 8.5" Canson Mixed Media journal that I've been working in. The paper weight is 98 pounds and it can take quite a few layers of paint, gesso, and texture paste. The smaller size makes it ideal for pages that you want to dry quickly between layers without the need for a heat gun (I don't like the fumes).

I started with a layer of Apple Barrel's New Shamrock (21479). Once dry, I applied a few 1" lines of Art Basics white gesso and used a shaped Catalyst palette blade (C-64) to spread it around. The result was the boxed/lined texture that almost looks like tire tracks. The hardest part was waiting for the gesso to dry because it was still in clumps in some areas and I wanted to make sure that it was thoroughly dry before I added another layer.

I covered up the background and gesso with a bit of Yellow Flame (21474). I used a brush to spread the paint evenly and placed down one of Patti Tolley Parrish's round stencils (Dot Maze Round) before the paint had even started to dry. Using a baby wipe, I lifted the yellow out of the stencil areas to create a contrast between the two colors. My next step was to apply a thin coat of Liquitex Airbrush Medium over the page to give it a little bit of a shine while also binding the three layers together.

Once that dried, I used Apple Barrel's Black (20504E) paint and applied it with a makeup wedge through Tim Holtz's arrows stencil. I used a couple of them and once dry, I lined inside of the arrows with a white Uni-Ball Signo pen. I was trying to go for a haphazard look without going outside of the line.

I found some matching washi tape that shared the black and white theme with the arrows and I used a couple of pieces in strategic locations. Then it came time to add the sticker, but it didn't pop off the page as much as I wanted it to. The solution was simple. All I had to do was outline it with a black Pigma Micron pen.











I'm really happy with the outcome. I like how all of the elements are cohesive together and yet the focus is still on the great sticker I found on Redbubble. If you haven't taken a look at all of the amazing art that people sell on that website, I encourage you to check it out.

Youtubing Takes Effort, Man.

I will never be the person that uploads videos every day. Or every week.

Chances are, you'll be lucky if you get monthly videos from me. I like YouTube and the fun that it provides, but I can't think of it like a task that I have to mark off of my calendar or the fun will be sucked away faster than a rocket takes off. The same thing goes for this blog.

I'm not posting and creating videos to show off my products or online classes, and there is nothing wrong with doing that. For me, art is a hobby. I'm not saying it will always be this way, but it is for the time being.

That doesn't mean that I can't make creating videos easier. A new camera mount is being shipped to me, as are a couple of lights, and I think that will make creating videos easier which will directly correlate to how many videos you all will see. Fingers crossed that everything works the way I'm hoping and that the past few sentences I've written will be moot.

With all that being said, you should mosey on over to YouTube right now and check out the long overdue video that I just uploaded. CLICK HERE TO SEE IT.

(Please like and subscribe if you like and want to subscribe.)

Let's Play - January 2016

I don't know what took me so long, but I've recently discovered the awesomeness that is Carolyn Dube. I am in awe of how easily she speaks on camera in her YouTube videos, and her art skillz are the bomb. If you've been living under a rock in close proximity to mine (hence my 90's slang), you can find out more about her here.

I recently saw the video about her Let's Play challenge. It sounded like something to keep me creating even when I wasn't really feeling up to it, and it's a monthly thing so it isn't like I have to rush to get something done in the span of a few days. If you want to find out more about the challenge, click the colorful "Let's Play" button to the right of this post.

I have to admit that it was nice to just ease into the process of creating without getting too worked up about the finished product. That's one of the reasons I love art journaling, but lately it has seemed that the finished product had to be share-worthy or else it was a waste of time. That is so wrong on so many levels! This challenge was a great way to bring me back to my center, and the January theme of using something that would have been thrown away made it all the easier.

I selected a priority shipping envelope from my last order from istencils.com, and I cut the envelope so that I had one panel at almost 7 inches by 9 inches. I used a piece of the protective material that came with my PS4 (whatchamacallit?) and cut it up to avoid falling into the habit of just sticking it down in one piece and moving on. I even saved a mini candy bar wrapper and tried to use it in a way that I probably wouldn't have normally.

I used the FW Acrylic Inks to get some color down after I applied a thin layer of white gesso. See the Pinterest board below for a full list of the supplies I used.

This is the material that expensive electronics sometimes come wrapped in. It is soft to the touch and a thin material, perfect for the application of paint.

I applied a layer of Dina Wakley's black gesso before using white linen Dylusions paint with a couple of stencils. Some of the paint got underneath the stencil in a couple of places but I didn't sweat it.

I used a white paint pen and a black permanent marker to trace the triangles that I cut out, as well as to doodle all over the page. I did some light stamping with Memento's London Fog ink pad, so that the stamp isn't too pronounced.

On a whim, I used one of the crazy bird stamps and colored it in with spectrum noir markers. I used Elmer's glue-all to adhere the triangles and the bird to the envelope.

I decided to add a little pop of color using the Gelly Roll moonlight pen. It didn't stick in all of the areas and I just accepted it. In fact, it makes the outlines of the large triangles look more sketchy, which is the look I was aiming for.

This is the mini Hershey's wrapper. I just stuck it down instead of attempting to mold it into a special shape or cutting it into another triangle, and that makes it stand out on the page. In order to help it blend in better, I went over it with some of the FW acrylic inks to mute the brown color on the wrapper. Doodling over it made it fit better with the theme of the page, and I'm happy with how it turned out.  

I enjoyed the process of creating this page - my first one in almost a month. It was nice to get back into the swing of things and just do some creating without focusing too much on the specifics. Of course, there are things about the page that I'm not overly thrilled with, but it isn't enough to worry about.

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The finished product:

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Thanks for checking out my creation. Join in on the fun and check out Carolyn Dube's channel and blog - you won't regret it.

Follow Travis's board Supplies - January Play Challenge on Pinterest.

Long Time No Art

I've been a little bit MIA over the past few months. Sorry about that.

The holidays were especially difficult this year because my mother passed away in September of 2015. Add that to my already depressed and anxious mood and you can imagine that I wasn't really up to doing much of anything. 

I didn't feel like doing much in the way of art or any other type of creating, and I didn't use my art journal as a way to get out the feelings that I was holding inside. So, as a result, those feelings stayed inside and just compounded until I finally started to embrace my grief and work through it. I don't really cry except for the infrequent sad movie, but I had my fair share of it these last few months as you might expect.

I joined Creative JumpStart 2016 as a way to help get me focused on my art again, and I splurged and bought a couple of art supplies from my wish list - supplies that I've really wanted to use and knew would get me doing something. I'm feeling inspired again which is a wonderful feeling!

I spent the morning cleaning out some trash and will be doing some organizing of my art space later today in an effort to get back into the swing of things. Creative JumpStart has already exposed me to two artists that I was unfamiliar with, not to mention the numerous Jumpstarters that are producing amazing works of art with a variety of mediums. I can see why so many people return to the class/community/program year after year.

A Couple of Quick Sketches

I've done a couple of sketches the last few days; I thought I'd share. They're not masterpieces by any means, but they were fun and occupied a little bit of my time, (read: they successfully distracted me from organizing) so, I'm counting them as useful works of art.

My attempt at a relaxed face. I used watercolor for the skin tone, lips, and hair. I still need to work on shading and I think I had problems because I wasn't patient enough to let the washes dry before I began putting down another layer. I still think it looks pretty good though, considering where I started.

This was an idea that popped into my head as I was listening to music. I still need to work on my penmanship and the border of the mirror is way off (can you even tell that it's a mirror?). The figure on the left is a superhero and the reflection in the mirror is a villain in jail. This one was colored in with colored pencils and I used a Pigma Micron .03 pen for the outlines.

*Scroll down to listen to the song that inspired me.






Thanks for taking a peek!

Unpacking is a major pain.

I've been feeling the urge to art after almost a week of not doing anything creative. It's like an itch that you need to scratch but are unable to reach. Talk about a tortured artist. (c;

I recently moved and despite my best intentions of packing art supplies with art supplies, all the important tools that I really want to work with are now MIA. My gelli plate is only 5X7" and it can fit in the nooks and crannies of boxes pretty easily, so I'm fairly certain it's just playing a game of hide and seek. It's almost as bad as a needle in a haystack except that this needle is clear and in its original packaging. I hope I find it soon.

Is this what it feels like when you quit smoking?

I've been trying to organize my new bedroom and art space but it has been slow going due to fatigue that comes with my depression. I actually went to the store today and was bummed that they didn't have the table I want to use, so now I'm trying to decide if I want to wait until it becomes available or find another option. The jury is still out.

I'll make sure to post photos when it is all organized and "photo ready," assuming my camera presents itself around this time.  Thanks for reading!