“The words you speak become the house you live in!” In other words, speak carefully – a good motto but definitely a tricky one to always follow :)
This was another study for a new painting. On the left I spread gesso through the Manhattan stencil and on the right I spread gel medium through the Santiago stencil. I wanted to play a bit with stencil texture underneath the painting or around it to see how it would look.
Once the gesso and gel medium dried I added thin paint over both sides and then wiped it off the surfaces before it totally dried – as the gesso and the gel medium resist the paint longer. I am not sure if I like it as a surface to draw on though – it really makes it hard. Better to think first of where I want the image to go and then spread out that area for the background… but that is why I love an art journal to play with such things!
Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.
Well a lot of those photos were taken before we all were practicing social distancing. And the more these inspire me – a good reminder to enjoy the little things like meeting with friends in a cafe or a stroll through the hood. Speaking of a cafe – I love the “fence art” by Norman Kirby above that made its way into this new-ish restaurant.
St. John’s Church – a gorgeous gorgeous historic landmark church – which is falling apart. I am reading a lot about this church and it’s history in this neighborhood. I will def. write a separate post about it – it is so fascinating and I will def. do a painting of this church.
This made me smile. Bentley Avenue also has the nickname of “Doctor’s Row” – there are a ton of beautiful victorian Mansions on this street and they have become unaffordable in the recent years (if you find one you could buy you would have to pay a ton of money to bring it back to livable status) – so this tiny Bentley house is pretty much all we could afford hahahah
Speaking of Social Distancing- those guys have no clue and boy they are soo cute. Here is Bobby Pretzel on his foster blanket on my letterpress- he loves that spot.
While Mingus loves to perch on the Banister – he is such a riot.
Speaking of beautiful churches- I can not believe that I was never before in Grace Church downtown – I lived there for 6 years and somehow never made it in until now when a friend of mine was singing there. So colorful!
Another row of beautiful brownstones – I love the balcony on the left!
This former victorian mansion looks really sad
I wonder if the scaffolding means restoration or stripping it down from it’s last architectural elements. I would be surprised if that house could be saved but you never know.
I loooooveee this building – I am not sure yet what used to be in there back in the golden days- but it is sooo cute. It has been abandoned for a long time – I hope someone buys it and revives it. A friend of mine who is actually a real estate agent said that a lot of those abandoned buildings in the neighborhood have been bought a long time ago by investors and they are now waiting for the perfect timing to sell those for a hefty price. It makes me angry as to what this does to this neighborhood.
A little bit of a sad Hope sign but at least hope :)
This beautiful house was once built by one of the richest men in Jersey City in 1860 – he died impoverished and the building is now an apartment building. Some of you might recognize it in one of my paintings ;)
Same street- more gorgeous apartment buildings!
These are Dutch Queen Anne Houses Row Houses. And yes that is a style as well – and reminds me indeed of Amsterdam.
and this little street with the small town brick townhouses makes me just happy- it is super cute and I cannot wait for the trees to be in bloom.
Hope you enjoyed the Stroll through my Hood! Hope you are all well and stay safe and healthy! Loves!
Join me today, March 27th at 2pm EST for a LIVE chat on Facebook – Let’s catch up and see how everyone is doing!
Always enjoy your photos from the hood. I love the architecture of that area. So very different from my home state of California. I did live in New Jersey for awhile many years ago. Was fascinated by it then as well. Stay well and sane during this difficult time.
Today I have some very cute Easter cards to share with you today from Creative Squad member Judi Kauffman. Judi is on a roll revamping her calendar pages into new projects. Remember back in December she created a monthly calendar, with the goal of reusing the pages once the month was passed? Well here we have the February page, turned into some sweet bunny cards, and a couple other items too.
From Judi:
“I used my inlay technique* to turn the February calendar page into seven Easter cards, one Traveler’s Notebook page, and used a remaining scrap for a bookmark. I considered simple egg shapes, but couldn’t resist the bunny. (Die from AccuCut)”
*Judi Kauffman’s Inlay Technique: Die cut a simple shape from two or more coordinating sheets of stenciled/stamped paper and purchased patterned paper. Make sure there will be good contrast. Inlay the positive image (shown: a bunny) so it fits into the opening on a contrasting background. Glue both pieces in place on a piece of board, a card front, into an art journal, or on mat and frame.
Thank you for sharing Judi!
Here are some of the supplies Judi used:
And I hope to see you tomorrow, March 27th at 2pm on Facebook for a Live chat. I would love to hear from you and learn about how you are doing these days. Please join me and say HI!
Hello from my Creative Squad! Today we have a post from Linda Edkins Wyatt, and it is extra special because this will be her final one with us and we thank her so much for her amazing creativity and contributions to our little group! She leaves us with some awesome earrings, using my Van Vorst Fan foam stamp set and this month’s theme: Motivated in March – What keeps you motivated to create? Is it a certain material? Your favorite colors that you can’t get enough of? Maybe you get motivated when you see artwork in a museum or out and about? Share with us your creative motivation and then create something inspired by it.
What keeps me motivated to create art? New products!
For March, Nat asked us to think about what motivates us. I’m motivated by sooooo much: a shadow on the sidewalk, a pretty leaf changing colors, buds beginning to grow, architectural details on my daily walk, and advertising I see on a billboard or in a magazine. But, one thing that really gets me percolating with ideas is discovering a new product. Often, it’s a new stencil or stamp. But my latest discovery is something I totally missed in my childhood: shrinky dinks! One of my artist friends included a few sheets in a recent package, and I have to say, I’m addicted. It is so magical to watch it suddenly start to shrivel and buckle and turn into a miniature piece of art in minutes.
When I got the shrinky dink film, I thought, “Let me test that beautiful fan-shaped Van Vorst art foamie and see what happens.” It printed beautifully on the film using black Archival ink. I also tested a few stamps and stencils with both ink and acrylic paint.
I punched holes in the top center of all the stamped, stenciled and painted pieces with the idea of using them in the future to make jewelry. I heated the oven, put in my shrinky dinks, and waited for the magic.
Once the stamped film had shrunk, flattened, and cooled I painted the back of the shrunken Van Vorst pieces with white acrylic. It looked fine without painting the back, but I wanted to make the design pop a little more.
I got out my jewelry-making components and tools and rummaged around in my containers to find some earring wires that would work with the stamped design. I also selected a small silver ring to connect the fan design to the earring wire.
Carefully, I opened the small, round ring and threaded it through the fan and the hole on the earring wire, then closed it with my jewelry pliers.
Take a look at the final earrings with the art foamies fan stamp for comparison. The design shrunk to about one quarter to one third of its original size, and also got much thicker. The details of the design were even more crisp and clear.
Here’s the “how-to” steps:
1-carefully stamp the chosen design onto the shrink film. Press carefully, being careful not to slide the stamp. Lift the stamp straight up to avoid smearing.
2-cut the shape out with scissors. I cut close to the design edge, but you can also leave a little border.
3-punch a ¼” round hole near the top of the earring so that you can attach the earring wire or a jump-ring loop. (It will look way too big but once it shrinks the hole will be just the perfect size.)
NOTE: Be very careful when you cut and punch so that the ink does not smear. Hold the stamped design by the edges only.
4-bake in the oven or a toaster oven according to the directions on the shrink film package until the design shrinks. It will cool quickly. If your piece looks curved or buckled, quickly flatten with a spatula. Once it is fully cooled you cannot reheat to take out any curve or buckle.
You can also use the shrink film to make necklaces or pins—the possibilities are endless!
Thank you Linda – always love working with shrink film and watching the designs transform to miniature wonders :)
Want to give Linda’s project a try? You can find all my Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and here are some of the other supplies she used:
Feel inspired? Working on something yourself that you’d like to share? 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 next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
All of my online workshops (excluding Creative JumpStart) are 20% off from now through Sunday, March 29th. Just use the coupon code STAYINGHOME when you check out before 11:59pm EST on March 29th. Here is a link to my Online Workshops page.
We can still enjoy some artistic activities and get a little creative inspiration, AND it’s a great time to get to know some of the other students in the classroom and on social media. My workshops include places to comment, ask questions, interact, and share your artwork. I also use hashtags on social media so you can share there and see who else is taking the same Artful Adventures as you!
Here are some of the workshops that are included in the sale:
Artful Adventures with Gustav Klimt will help you achieve Klimt-style glamour and beauty in your art journal and beyond. Learn the art of creating patterns and metallic elements, and discover ways to pull everything together in a successful artwork. Check out the workshop HERE.
Trace, Transfer, Transform explores several different methods of bringing visual material into your artwork. Work with photos, print outs, and other sources to transform your art journal and artwork into something with strong focal elements and intriguing backgrounds. Learn more HERE.
Artful Adventures with Andy Warhol will introduce you to the artistic tricks of Pop Artist Warhol. Visual repetition, finding beauty in the everyday, and working with pops of color are all covered in this adventure. Find the workshop HERE.
Build Your Own Art Journal will walk you through the steps to create your own bound art journals – from scratch! Create the cover, bind the pages, and get some tips on filling those pages. You will never need to purchase the same old art journals again – BYO! Here is the workshop.
Acrylic Inks will help you discover some amazing techniques to try with acrylic inks. With just a few supplies you will be on your way to learning all about this popular mixed media supply. Here is the workshop.
I hope that you will use your time at home to continue to create and practice your art making. This is also a great time to introduce yourself to the wonderful online community of mixed media artists that are out there. Join us for one of these online workshops and let’s all make art :)
This Mini Painting on canvas board called “Mini Greek to Me” already found a loving home – but I would still like to share :)
I love this row of 5 Neo Greek style brownstones in my neighborhood.
Every time I pass them I see some other detail that intrigues me and the more I research the different styles of Brownstones the more I can categorize them.
My new routine is to first sketch and work on the building in my art journal – and then I paint it on a small and bigger canvas at the same time and last I add it to a huge ledger from 1840 which I want to fill with all those buildings and I call it the Stroll Through the Hood Ledger. I will share some pix or a little video with you some time later this year.
I have a lot of fun with those paintings. As said this one found a home – basically the moment I said I finished it on Instagram- if you want to check out my other paintings- head on over to the store. I always love heading to the post office and send a painting out …also because I pass those Neo Greek houses on the way ;)
Woohoo! Spring is here!!! Time to do a happy dance :)
And how about we celebrate with Free US Shipping this weekend? If you spend more than $25 on physical products through March 22nd in my online shop, you can get free shipping in the US. Just enter the coupon code SPRINGSHIP when you are checking out and all those goodies will get shipped to you for free! Who doesn’t like something for free?
Shop around and see what there is – all physical products are part of the deal and the offer ends at 11:59pmEST this Sunday, March 22nd.
And I hope you join me this afternoon at 2pm EST on Facebook for my new Kaffeeklatsch Get Together live chat. I’ll be sharing my Artful Adventures and also asking how you are doing and what you are up to. Let’s get together and share!
A Look Back – This time I’m looking at Upcycled or Recycled Stuff – giving old things or maybe something you aren’t that keen on, a new life! I am a big fan or making use of things and not sending them to the landfill, and sometimes it can be a great creative exercise to give something a new look or purpose. Here are some projects that do just that :)
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 :)
First up is this recycled embroidery loop that I dressed up in this 2015 blog post. I used some stencils and stamps and created something that was a bit more my style as a wall piece.
Next is a series of coasters that I upcycled in this 2016 blog post. They were originally a set of not so great looking coasters with a floral motif on them. Using some acrylic paint and my Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Toledo stencils I gave them new life and even gifted them to a family member who loves them.
Here is a fun and whimsical project that Kim and I did back in 2017 that made use of a bunch of collage papers that I had on hand, as well as some scrap embroidery thread and driftwood sticks that were lying around: leaf mobiles! These were relaxing to put together and would definitely be a good kid-friendly activity too.
Finally here is a memory game created using my foam stamps and just a cheap memory set bought on amazon. Pretty easy to transform a really cheesy set into something unique and personalized.
I hope you enjoyed A Look Back through my archive and maybe you are inspired to try some different things now too.
Here are some of the supplies I used in these posts:
Join me tomorrow, Friday March 20th on Facebook for a new little thing I’m calling Kaffeeklatsch Get Together! I’ll be doing a live broadcast at 2pm EST, sharing what I’ve been working on, saying hi to all of you, and just taking some time to have a little get together. Let’s chat about what artsy stuff we are working on and have some fun hanging out.
Always enjoy your photos from the hood. I love the architecture of that area. So very different from my home state of California. I did live in New Jersey for awhile many years ago. Was fascinated by it then as well. Stay well and sane during this difficult time.
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