Creative Squad

Creative Squad: Dear Mother Earth – Riikka Kovasin

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a post and video from Riikka Kovasin who is sharing her mail art project and guess what??? You have a chance to receive one of these lovely envelopes from Riikka herself – read on to find out how :) They are a fantastic bunch, using my Grove Street foam stamp set and our theme this month: Dear Mother Earth – Our planet Earth is an amazing and beautiful gift to all of us. Let’s write her a letter, telling her just how we feel. This could be an actual letter/mail art, an art journal page, or some other mixed media project.

Bee Nice to Mother Earth

Heippa! It’s Riikka here with my project for this month’s theme of “Dear Mother Earth”. The theme mentions mail art so I jumped to this idea and decided to do a set of decorated envelopes to be sent out.

Mail art is an art movement with the idea of sending small works of art through postal services. The movement started in the 1950s and 60s. Mail art can take various forms such as postcards, envelopes or parcels. Some artists concentrate more on the envelope than the piece inside. Artists also can create their own postal stamps, called artistamps. 

As I plan to send the envelopes out, I needed to create flat layers. I’m usually drawn to dimensional pieces and assemblages, but that kind of work wouldn’t hold through the mailing process without the protection of a parcel. According to some, mail art becomes mail art only after it is dispatched. Even though I actually am looking forward to seeing how the envelopes change in the mailing process, what kind of wear and tear they get, totally losing the added elements isn’t the thing. So, I made small, flat collages on the envelopes with the help of last month’s goodie – Grafix Double Tack Mounting Film.

I first added a paint layer to the envelopes, masking off the placement of the address. I also made a separate collage sheet which I die cut to bees. I also die cut some leafy stems and a piece looking like dry wall tape. I collaged a piece of book paper underneath the die cut elements and added some stamping in there, too. If you wish to see how the envelopes came into being, please see the video underneath.

When thinking about the theme of Mother Earth, I had no option but to choose the “Grove Street” stamp set. I really like the pattern, but more important, the stamp was round and thus reminded me of Earth. As there’s been a lot of talk about the declining numbers of bees and insects, I felt that a honey bee would be a nice focal point in the layering. It somehow resonated with the nurturing Mother Earth theme, maybe partly because of the importance to the ecosystem as pollinators, but also through the Finnish national epic, Kalevala. There a honey bee flies to the heavens to bring a drop of golden honey to mother of Lemminkäinen so she can heal her son. I recently made an assemblage piece with that theme, you can see it here if you like.

And now comes the fun part! I’m sending these envelopes out and you could receive one. It’s first come, first served styled thing so if you wish to receive an envelope from me, please send me your mail address in an email. My email is rkovasin (a) gmail (dot) com. There’s a catch though – you need to send me a photo of the envelope when it has reached you as I want to see how it traveled! To make it worthwhile, I’ll pop something inside the envelope, too – a little note from me on a postcard picturing Finnish nature.

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a beautiful July!  Xoxo Riikka

Thank you Riikka – these are such lovely little artworks and I love that you will send them out into the world!

Give it a try: you can find all my Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and in addition to vintage book paper and postage stamps, here are some of the supplies Riikka used:

Follow Nat’s Creative Squad on Instagram too: Each week we post projects, ideas, and inspiration for mixed media art.

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Riikka Kovasin

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    Thank you for your emails! All the envelopes are now called for. :)

    Reply

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Pattern Monday 07 – Video from my Ledger

Happy Monday everyone – time for another pattern in my big vintage ledger! For this one I used my Floral Tile Large, Fan-Tastic Large, and Fan-fare rubber stamps. I like the way this turned out – it always surprises me what you can do with a few stamps and 2 colors. Check it out in the following video:

 

Here is a look at the finished pattern and the stamps I used:

Give it a try – here are the supplies I used:

Nat

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Stencil Inspiration from my Creative Squad

I’m sharing a suite of tags made by Creative Squad member Judi Kauffman today. With some stencils and just a few other supplies, Judi mixes big juicy texture, delicate layering, and bold pattern in these beauties.

She is using my StencilClub mash-up stencils that I designed with Mary Beth Shaw at StencilGirl Products. The 3 piece mash-up set is available exclusively to StencilClub members through this link.

Here are some of Judi’s tags using acrylic paint, a gelli plate, the stencils, and some word and phrase stickers:

I love how the patterns and colors blend and wash over each other. Here’s a closeup:

Judi is using black, vanilla, and bronze metallic paint.

Thank you Judi for sharing this grouping and for showing us how just a few stencils and colors of paint can yield so many lovely results.

Here is a link to the StencilClub so you can find those exclusive July 2021 stencils. 

Nat

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StencilClub Mash-Up with Mary Beth Shaw

This month I am doing a stencil mash-up with StencilGirl’s very own Mary Beth Shaw for their StencilClub! This is an exclusive 3 stencil set for July 2021 if you are part of their StencilClub (Info here). It’s a mash-up so it includes design motifs from each of us, combined in a new way and new scale. Here is a little video introduction to the stencils with Mary Beth and myself:

I love how our patterns work together in this set and oh my, that little elephant is pretty cute! We had fun testing these out and I wanted to share a little sneak peak with you:

Here are the details: You get all three exclusive member stencils when you join StencilClub.

  • The large 9×12 inch stencil is easy to use to create repeating patterns. It evolved from Mary Beth’s Leaf Diamond and my Hamilton stencils.

  • The small 6×6 inch pulls in elements perfect for layering to create stunning patterns.

  • A baby elephant completes the set as a mini 4×4 inch stencil, open, so you can paint one color and then slide another stencil underneath and paint with a contrasting color.

 

You also get a Project video and PDF that Mary Beth and I made especially for you that you can download and keep.

The set ships out to members on July 15th. Can’t wait to see them in action!

Here is the link for StencilClub to get yours. 

Nat

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Studio Organization – n*Studio Update

Every couple of years, I tend to reorganize my studio – mostly the flow of my studio – by rearranging the furniture. It usually happens alongside a shift in priorities with my art. As you probably know, my work and income streams are diverse. From teaching workshops on and offline to consulting, painting, and licensing my creative designs, there’s a wide range of ways my studio must function for me.

When we moved to our new house 1 ½ years ago, my plan was to hold large workshops at home. I made room for workshop tables and chairs in the middle of my studio, but of course, with the pandemic, in-person classes came to a screeching halt for us teachers!

And like many, I had to pivot to make sure that I could still make a living with my art. Suddenly my work came to consist of more computer work, more filming, and more painting, so the flow of my studio wasn’t working with my workflow anymore!

Studio Set Up After Move

My desk was facing the wall and the only window in the room was to my back. Spending more time at the computer made me realize how much I disliked this setup. For filming, I discovered that I needed permanent space for a camera on my workbench if I didn’t want to painstakingly take the equipment up and down all the time. And yet somehow, I still left my studio in pre-pandemic mode for a long time. 

First, the pandemic itself was a reason not to change it. Then I dreaded the thought of going through all of my stuff and creating a new setup. *Then* there were so many other things to do that I thought would be more important. But I finally found a desk which I absolutely love and thought it would be great to put it in the middle of the studio – facing the window this time – and use it as a divider between the seating and entrance area from the painting and filming area.

 

New Studio Set Up

Once I had a plan on how to rearrange the furniture, I started going through my supplies and surprise, I had a total blast doing it! I reevaluated which of my art supply organization worked and what needed to be adjusted or could use a new solution. I sorted all of my collage paper and made a commitment to use it. What I didn’t commit to, I threw away. I donated a ton of books I hadn’t looked at since before we moved to an art student. I gave art supplies away that I hadn’t used since the move so that someone else could enjoy them before they become useless.

 

Pegboard over Workbench

I found so much fun in adding some new things too, like a little old sewing table that hosts my printer on top and cables in its yarn drawer or the little magnet on my pegboard that displays my palette knives for easy access. My letterpress cabinet stayed pretty much the same, but now it’s right next to my workbench. Some drawers host my stamps and stencils, some host wax bars and other fun stuff.

 

Letterpress Cabinet with long flat drawers – here hosting my foam stamps
so much for organizing stencils ;)
the narrower drawers on the right side of my letterpress mostly host paint media like waxbars, watercolor, markers, pencils etc.

Wow, and I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love the changes! Not only did going through all my art supplies during the shifting and reorganization spark a lot of inspiration, but it gave me a renewed spark going into my work. Tackling this task reminded me how being stagnant can be a hindrance for a creative outlet. 

View from the other side towards the window

Now, will these be the last changes I make to my studio? Probably not! Times change, work changes, needs will change and so will my studio, but for now it is my sacred happy place and it works well for me.

Sitting Area where I read, journal and make notes of ideas
Nat

Comments (2)

  • Jean Goza

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    Love the new studio layout. Wish I could stop by for a visit. :)

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Spill your heART – Episode 5 and Upcoming

Did you join us for the latest episode of Spill your heART? If not, you can enjoy the recording below. In Episode 5 we discussed the topic: Studio Organization with my panel of artists: Rachel Juanita Bellamy, Rae Missigman, and Tania Ahmed. In the episode we share photos and stories from our own working studios, we discuss the challenges we still struggle with, and we share solutions that we use to keep our spaces as organized and functional as possible so that we can easily create when it’s time. Check it out:

Here’s an overview:

In this 5th episode I am speaking with panelists Rachel Juanita Bellamy, Rae Missigman, and Tania Ahmed for our topic: Studio Organization. As working artists our studios need to wear a lot of hats and studio organization and functionality are important to how we work, film, and create products. Some of us have spaces that are in our homes and are shared with other family members while others have dedicated spaces where supplies can spread out and stay out for days. Regardless of their location or size, our studios are set up to make working and playing easy, inspired, and a joy in our lives. In this episode we share our tips for organizing papers and other supplies, we talk about cleaning, we explain if and when we purge supplies, we bond over stories of family members “borrowing” our tools, and we reveal the realities of how our studios actually look. Although we are professionals, we all have our weaknesses and struggles when it comes to Studio Organization but through the years we have found ways to use our spaces to our advantage, and we share that experience with you.

Join us for the next one on July 30th:

Episode 6: Artistic Inspiration – Finding the Magic

Join me along with panelists Birgit Koopsen, Amanda Trought, and DeeDee Catron as we discuss that all important but sometimes elusive ingredient to creativity: Inspiration. As professional artists we will share practical tips for finding and energizing your artistic mojo. We’ll also discuss how to encourage it when it gets sluggish, takes a temporary hiatus or when it goes completely missing. Whether you are looking to cultivate inspiration naturally or to take more deliberate actions to get back into the groove, this webinar will focus on tips and tricks for locating, encouraging, and maybe even fabricating artistic inspiration so that you can get on with things and make the magic happen.

Friday, July 30th at 12noon EDT (NYC time) – Register HERE to attend.

Nat

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A Look Back – Starting with Yellow – Cool Stuff You May Have Missed 28

A Look Back – This time I’m looking at Starting with Yellow – or specifically, yellow backgrounds in my art journal. I think yellow can mean a lot of things and evoke a lot of different emotions and the following art journal spreads all have predominantly yellow backgrounds and range from happy to hopeful to brave. Read on and enjoy!

A Look Back is a blog series to show you some projects and posts that you may have missed – sometimes going WAY back in the archive. I think it will be fun to revisit a few ideas that we haven’t seen for a while. I’m excited to see how a little look back might inspire something new in the future :)

In this first spread I started with that yellow background and then kept the color palette pretty simple. Check out the full post here to read how I created my image and added my Groovy foam stamp.

 

I brought a few other colors together with yellow in this art journal spread as a base for a quick pencil sketch and some of my Fan-Fare stamps. With the boldness of this background, the rest of the spread came together with ease.

 

Yellow was the base of this all over pattern here in my art journal. I added my Kyoto stencil and some eraser dots here and there too.

 

In this art journal page, I anchor my building in a field of yellow. My background is definitely yellow, but given interest with areas of blank page here and there and some of my Wabi Sabi stamps too.

 

The boldness of this art journal page emphasizes the call to action, “Be the change!” Yellow feels like the right hue for that energy and hope.

I hope you enjoyed this look back on some projects that started with yellow. Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Creative Squad: Dear Mother Earth – Maura Hibbitts

Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a really beautiful art journal spread from Maura Hibbitts that shares her thoughts on our planet using my Far Out, Groovy, and Batik Pattern 2  foam stamps and our theme: Dear Mother Earth – Our planet Earth is an amazing and beautiful gift to all of us. Let’s write her a letter, telling her just how we feel. This could be an actual letter/mail art, an art journal page, or some other mixed media project.

I feel like I have always been a child of nature. I grew up playing outside, roaming the woods, climbing trees, making art creations with whatever was at hand, leaves, twigs, nuts, and even making my own “ink” from charcoal and berries. Earth Day 1970 (yes, I know you are getting an idea about my age, lol) was a pivotal event in my life. I remember being in high school, and marching through the village in support of the earth. I had many arguments with my father, me being on the side of the environment, while he was on the side of industry. I don’t know that we ever resolved it, but one thing we had in common was gardening and growing our own food.

I came out of high school at the very beginning of the environmental movement. I studied forestry and worked in the field for a while, but quickly realized I enjoyed teaching about the environment more, so went back to school to teach science, earth sciences being my main focus. The paths in my life have curved and varied from those early days, but I still hold the earth close to my heart, and believe I have passed that love on to my sons.

I decided to work in watercolor for this month’s project, the earth is covered in lots of water after all. I started by misting water onto the pages of the art journal, then blending layers of color across the pages, letting them bleed into each other.

While the watercolor was still wet, I used a pipette and rubbing alcohol (over 90%) and dripped it onto the wet paint. It is really neat to watch it move the paint out like a resist. Let dry completely. Tip: you can speed it up with a heat tool if you want. When I do that, I heat both sides of the paper to remove the moisture.

I played around with adding inks, but decided to continue with watercolor, so brushed on some orange and red to the Batik 2 circle area of the ArtFoamie. I stamped this into the yellow area of the page.

I added visual texture across the bottom of the page with the Far Out ArtFoamie and purple watercolor. Watercolor works very well with the ArtFoamies.

On the far right, I wanted to create the illusion of plants, so I use the Groovy ArtFoamie and a mix of green watercolors. The first stamping is boldest, then the second and third are lighter, which gives a bit of depth.

I love to doodle over watercolor. Be sure everything is completely dry, or you can mess up your pens. I like to use a carbon ink pen for a nice bold black.

My final step was to journal ideas I have about Mother Earth. I went with whatever came into my mind and just wrote them in my own handwriting. Don’t be afraid to use your own handwriting in your work, it adds such a personal element, unlike typed or stamped words. It’s not perfect, but neither are we, and that’s ok.

Step back from your work, and you begin to see things in it that were unplanned, for example, on the very left at the bottom, a figure seems to be emerging from the base. Maybe my mind was thinking about life emerging from the Earth’s oceans so long ago. Our Earth is precious and deserves our respect, it is after all, our only home. Happy Earth Day, everyday! – Maura

Thank you Maura! The beauty of this page is a real testament to your passion for the Earth – love how you handled the materials and incorporated the stamp designs in such a naturalistic way.

Give it a try: you can find all my Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and here are some of the supplies Maura used:

Nat

Comments (3)

  • Jo - Let's Art Journal

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    Wow, such stunning pages! Your painting looks amazing, so beautifully executed and I loved seeing how it came together too ?. Happy August and creative wishes! Hugs, Jo x

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    What a fun page and what a delightful story about your first Earth Day Maura!
    I remember mine as well. I was in elementary school at the time, but I must say that you look much younger than I do.
    My son has always enjoyed his earth sciences and is headed to college to study environmental sustainability.

    Reply

    • Maura Hibbitts

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      Sue, so nice to hear your thoughts! Thank you! Sounds like Earth Day had an impact on you and your family. I am glad we can pass that along to our children. hugs, Maura

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LAST DAY – Nat’s Birthday Bonanza Sale

Sale ends TODAY, July 5th at 11:59pm EDT, 2021, so hurry hurry hurry into the Online Shop! You can save 20% off qualifying physical products (stencils, rubber stamps, foam stamps, Moonlight Duo ink pads, Boundless Brooklyn cardboard models, and more!) – just use the coupon code BONANZA20 when you check out, while supplies last.

Here is a link to the shop – ENJOY!!!

Nat

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