I am so stoked to come back to The Queen’s Ink in Maryland in June to teach a couple fun workshops- I cannot wait . Here are the classes:
June 24, 2017 – 10:30 am – 5:30 pm
Let’s explore several master artists and get inspired by their artwork and techniques to create wonderful and unique art journal pages. Whether it be the Impressionist’s amazing color combinations or some of the Surrealist’s fun collage techniques, there are many different Master Artists whose skills can serve as a starting point for your own artwork. Find out what you like and what works for you. Learn about opacity and layering, colors, troubleshooting, mixing materials, making your own tools, creating backgrounds and patterns. We will work with acrylic paints, inks, markers, wax bars and other paint media to create dimension and texture. We will make the most of stencils, stamps, mono printing plates and generic tools to make our own mark. Get ready to Rule Your Art Journal!
Join me for a day long class in Mono Print Painting. We will dive into the basics of mixed media mono printing first and I will introduce you to the Mono Print Painting technique inspired by H.N. Werkman. I will show you different ways on how to create elaborate and layered mono printed paintings using self made tools as well as stamps and stencils. I will share with you my thinking process on developing the technique and how we you can put your own personal spin on it, so that you can take your art to a whole different level.
Hello from the Creative Squad! This week Tina Walker is kicking off a new theme for us with a really cool mixed media project using my Granada stencil and the new monthly theme Live Like it’s Spring – Springtime is when Mother Nature kicks it into high gear. It’s the time to wake up and approach life with renewed energy. Let’s join Mother Nature in this reawakening and create some things in the Spirit of Spring!
Hi! Tina Walker here today with my take on this month’s theme, ‘Live like it’s Spring’. To be honest it was tough getting inspired by this month’s theme, just coming off of a major east coast storm. I live in PA and we ended up with over 18 inches of snow in a 24 hour period. I thought we had gotten through the major winter snowstorms, but once again, Mother Nature had me fooled. Since the ground is covered in snow and the temperatures are still cold, I am dreaming of warmer days, and bright sunny skies. The sun was my major source of inspiration, using the bright, sunny yellow as the theme for my mono-chromatic Spring nymph.
To create the background of my nymph, I prepped several random PaperWhimsy Amazing Alterable pieces with gesso and a coat of yellow paint. Once dry, I applied crackle paste with one of Nat’s newest StencilGirl stencils, Granada.
After the crackling magic was complete, I aged each piece with a ‘spritz and remove’ swipe of Distress Spray. The spray eased itself into all of the cracks, revealing the crackle goodness.
I embellished several of the amazing alterable pieces with glitter and paint, using the same color palette.
I assembled all pieces together with my nymph’s arms, honoring the sun.
Here’s a close-up of the amazing texture you can create with just a stencil and some paint.
I painted an old metal drawer pull in the same color palette to use a hanger for my Spring nymph.
How are you inspired by Spring? Does the bright, pastel colors heighten your creative whims? Or does the idea of renewal motivate you to create? I’d love to hear how you are inspired by Spring.
Thank you Tina for a such a whimsical creature! I hope your Spring Nymph helps to usher in Spring sooner rather than later :) In addition to scrap lace and an old metal drawer pull, Tina used these supplies – some links are affiliate links:
Play along with us! I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
Rae Missigman is part of my book Artful Adventures in Mixed Media and I thought it would be interesting to hear more about her and some of her thoughts. Grab a seat and a cuppa and listen to this interesting conversation which I think you will enjoy. We are talking about things like
this made me laugh. again. such a dork on camera I am – oh well it was fun none the less! Keep up all the amazing work you do Nat – you are an inspiration to us all! xo Rae
Each new glimpse is determined by many, many glimpses before. It’s this glimpse which inspires you — like an occurrence. And I notice those are always my moment of having an idea that maybe I could start a painting… As a matter of fact, I’m really slipping, most of the time, into that glimpse. I’m like a slipping glimpser.
-Willem de Kooning
I had such a fun time playing with this spread. Some stamping with the Versailles and Toledo Foam Stamps and Acrylic Paint .
I also played with my newish Caran’d Ache Museum Aquarelle Pencils – I basically dipped them in water and then went to town creating color blocks and marks. LOVE how vibrant they are !
I love the grungy look of this spread – I am super happy how it turned out. Here are some of the supplies I used – some links are affiliate links
Every once in a while when I see a house I would really love to live in I have this song by Crosby Still Nash and Young in my ear. My father used to listen to this song a lot and somehow cute houses and this song will always be connected. I saw this gorgeous house in San Francisco and took a photo of it.
I did a Transfer into my art journal and playing with the imperfection of the transfer stamped into the gaps with my Tread and Torn Layers cling Stamp as well as with my Manhattan Border Foam Stamp.
On the left side of the spread I used the Manhattan Stencil and removed some of the wet blue paint underneath the stencil with a baby wipe.
Here is a complete list of of the supplies I used -some links are affiliate links:
WOW …what an amazing 3-day Workshop organized by OOAK and held by my sweet friend Birgit Koopsen and me.
Color Crush was the name of the workshop and 21 super sweet, sharing, caring and fun students joined us for this retreat!
Friends attended, Friends were made and
the first day was all about color theory and exercises to work with color and get it really down :)
It was a great date with color and pattern
and even if some of the exercises forced some of our wonderful students to get out of their comfort zone…the spirit was upbeat and color crushing.
Look at all these smiling happy faces.
The second day was all about …well Color of course but also Mono Printing. Because knowing your colors really helps getting the results you want.
We marbled …and…
we mono print painted just a little bit…since this is usually a full day class.
And created fun backgrounds. And for some …it was the very first time mono printing- YEAHHH.
We composed some beautiful collage material and made some cleaning tasks artful and enjoyable ;)
And late in the evening of day two, when all the students were gone to dinner …Birgit and I sneaked in to have a happy look at this colorful classroom. We might have been like little kids in the candy store seeing all the work.
On the third day we bound an art journal together out of all the single pages we worked on so far and started finishing up some of the pages
It was pretty cool to see the group combining Birgit’s and my techniques with their own style- so inspiring and stimulating!
Look at the well used ArtFoamies and StencilGirl Stencils!
And here is our group – minus two who had to leave earlier – with their favorite pages in their art journal!
Thank you so much for coming to Birgit’s and my Color Crush workshop. It was a real pleasure to spend so much time with you creative souls and get to know you better! You inspired me a lot and I couldn’t wait to get back into my studio, it was such an uplifting time. Thank you also to Shelley from OOAK and her awesome team for inviting us and organizing this great event! And last but not least a big hug to my friend Birgit – love co-teaching with you and looking forward to our new plans ;)
Hope you enjoyed the photos of this workshop! If you want to know where I teach next- check out my In-Person Class Schedule – in the next couple weeks.
Besides writing my book Artful Adventures in Mixed Media I also found it fascinating what steps are involved in writing a book like this, how much time it takes and how many people are involved in this process. I thought you might also find it interesting and so here we go:
It all started late October 2015 when I sent in a Book Outline/Proposal to the Publisher. Well “started” might be a bit of a lie, because writing a proposal and put that all together actually means I have had a couple weeks to think about my idea and lay it out in a proposal.
By December my book was approved and I received the contract. Boy – I cannot tell you how excited I was. With the contract came the outline of deadlines and the 1st one approaching right in January 2016 – The Page Plan. A page plan is a detailed sketch for every single page in the book. That one was a hard one , because I hadn’t even started writing yet, but it really was the foundation for my book and helped me determine how I wanted to structure the book. It is also important for the editor to see that you actually can fill every page.
The next big deadline was June 2016 to send in all preliminary step-outs as well as the artwork for the photoshoot. Every single day from January to June I was writing and creating art work for the book. I ate a lot of avocado toast ….in a cafe close by because for the writing I often went there. It really helped me focus- as weird as it sounds.
For the techniques shown in the book I had to create all the physical step outs for the photo shoot. It took a lot of time to create these – especially since you have to create things several times in different stages.
Everything from the artwork, to the step outs and the materials used, had to be labeled and bagged and then made ready to be shipped before the shoot.
The Photoshoot in June was a huge fun – I met my editor Noel in person and I got to work with Christine again, who was shooting every single step out for the book. I also met the designer for my my book to talk about how I would envision it and a lot of other people involved in my book from the Marketing Department to the Managing Editor etc.You can read more about the shoot here.
We went through the photoshoot quicker than planned and so the video team who knew me already from my DVD shoot suggested we should spontaneously also do a video shoot for a trailer for the book. I love how this came together- check it out :)
After the shoot I checked the manuscript again to see where the actual photos would go, and I finalized the text for the step outs. In August my manuscript was due in it’s entirety.
Then it went back and forth several times between me and the editor. In October the book went to the Copy Editor and in November I finally got to see a first glimpse of the cover and of the design of the book. I seriously cried – it was so cool too see and it started feeling so much closer to the actual book.
And then in January 2017 I received the book with all the graphics, design and photos for a final review before it went a last time for a final review to the managing editor . Another highlight.
Finally in February the book went to the printer and Artful Adventures in Mixed Media will be released in June 2017. It is on Pre-Sale now :) Quite a journey, isn’t it? Over 1 1/2 years – and I am sooo antsy now- LOL – I want it out and I cannot wait to hold it in my hands ;)
Wow that is a long process, but so worth it. I can’t wait to get my copy! You need to seriously pat yourself on the back. If I were to attempt something like that it would take me forever – starting with just finding a clean spot in my work area to take a photo! Lol
P.S. If you should ever decide to sell the canvas that is on the cover of your book, can I be offered the right of first refusal? (like I would refuse? LOL!) I LOVE THAT PIECE!
Wow! The amount of time to make this book is like giving birth twice. Thank you for showing the behind the scenes process and kudos to you for making it. I can’t wait for my copy of it and preoordered it when you came out to teach at AWOH. I’m so excited for you!
I was astonished by the process & ALL the hard work that it entails! You & Julie are SO talented so it’s no surprise that you wrote this book.
So VERY proud of you!
In awe of your talent from central IL
Nancy
It’s Tuesday and time for a post from my Creative Squad! Today we have a fun and uplifting art journal spread from Michelle Rydell. She used my Stroll Through the Hood #1 stamp set for her take on this month’s theme Say it like you Mean it – Let your unique voice be heard and tell us what’s on your mind. Be bold. Be yourself. We all have something to say and sometimes we need to shout it!
One thing I have always been passionate about is music. I grew up with a lot of music in our house – my mom played the piano, and my dad loved to sing. I was fortunate enough to take dance and piano lessons too. Now, as an adult, music inspires a lot of my art. In fact, I am currently working on a mini-journal dedicated to song lyrics.
Today, I want to share a quick and easy way to make a journal page, using Nat’s Stroll Through the Hood set #1 stamp set! I’m creating this spread in my 4” x 5” mini journal. The song I am using as inspiration is “Hope” by Idini Menzel. I want to reflect the soft and gentle spirit of the song, so I start with some pink, orange and yellow paint, swirled with white to create a soft background
Next, I added a small strip of sheet music for texture, and pounced some coral paint thru Nat’s “What’s the Point” stencil to create movement in the sky. The “Brownstone” stamp creates the scene, and the lyric starts with the word hope, which is emphasized by using the “Hope Tag” stamp.
I wrote in the rest of the lyric with a journaling pen, added some stamped “Star Tags” to the sky, drew in a little bird, used a poster paint pen to color in the stars, and added highlights to the building. I finished the page by adding a border with an oil pastel, smeared with my fingers to create a softened effect. Here’s the final page…
Now that I’ve done a page with the Hope Tag stamp, I can’t wait to try one with the Art Tag and Love Tag stamps too!
Thank you Michelle for this gorgeous little masterpiece! In addition to some sheet music, Michelle used these supplies – some links are affiliate links:
Play along with us! I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
This is gorgeous Tina!
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