Here I’m using another old work of mine from an art journal page (you can see the original post and page here) from the sold out Artist Almanac.
I used a brayer to roll out heavy body white and blue paint and added some yellow areas with yellow acrylic ink. I used my Gnarly and Funky foam stamps with black acrylic paint to add some marks, and a stabilo pencil for some softer marks as well.
Here are some of the supplies I used:
“You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star” Nietzsche
During the move I realized that I haven’t used my acrylic inks in a long time and I really love them so time to pull those guys out again and play with them more. I used my new ATC Mixup Stencil and shifted it around while loosely painting with a brush through the stencil with the ink.
This doesn’t of course give a nice crisp image but I wanted a more loose, almost watercolor like effect with the same pattern that I later traced through the stencil with a stabilo pencil.
I added a calendar page from the sold old almanac calendar (sorry guys)- this one shows an older painting of mine (still available for sale here) and blended the page in by adding some of the ink in the same color family to the page as well to the background. That was a lot of fun!
Here are some of the supplies I used:
awee thank you Sue! Hope you had a gorgeous St. Paddy’s day and a very relaxing weekend ahead!
A Look Back – As artists we are obviously very aware of the visual world and that means it’s easy to get caught up in getting things to look right… maybe even perfect… but what is perfection and who sets the rules anyway? I thought it might be a good time to give perfection a hard look and maybe we’ll see that it isn’t such a great idea after all.
For A Look Back today let’s take a stroll through my art journals from the past and tease out some gems that reveal my Thoughts on Perfection.
Let me just come right out and say it, “Perfect is boring.” When you’re perfect you’re not pushing boundaries, exploring the uncharted, or challenging yourself and that’s the spice of life! I think when you stop trying to be so perfect in your art, all those messy adventures that turn out a little different than anticipated are pretty interesting. You can see this art journal post from 2014 here.
Perfection and fear seem to be very close friends… so I’m thinking if you say bye bye to trying to be perfect you may not be so afraid of what happens next. So what if your art journal page is a bit wonky, or someone thinks it looks less than lovely? The goal was never to be perfect, the goal was to create, and no one can tell you that you didn’t accomplish that. Here is that original post from 2019.
“To be imperfect means to be real!” It’s hard to argue with that – after all, no one is perfect. And don’t we all feel our best when we can just be ourselves, “warts and all”? I think the same goes for creating artwork too – its power comes from authentic expression more than some achievement of perfection. Here is the post for this art journal page from 2018.
Bottom line? “The middle is messy but that is where the magic happens.” There are probably going to be some major messes, some mistakes, maybe even a few dramatic failures BUT taking those artistic risks is how you move forward, grow, and keep things interesting. I think that as long as the goal is to Make Art and not To Be Perfect, the journey and the destination will be much more fun, exciting, and satisfying. You can find this art journal page post from 2020 here.
I hope you enjoyed this and are ready to say “So long” to the limitations of perfection.
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’s 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 :)
Here are some of the supplies I used in these projects:
“But I don’t give up. I forget why not.” – maybe Dorothy Parker – not sure as there are so many misattributed quotes for her. Regardless of who said it, it’s a pretty great quote :)
I used Golden and Liquitex Fluid and soft body paints and just played around a bit in my vintage ledger journal, feeling inspired by a wallpaper I had seen.
I created my drawing on deli paper and used some markers to spruce it up, then adhered it with gel medium.
I used one of my Fan-fare rubber stamps to go with the loose, abstract floral background.
Here are some of the supplies I used:
“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinions.” Jack Kerouac
I used the Artist Almanac calendar page with my artwork of the Flat Iron building (so sorry the calendar is long since sold out but you can get prints of my work and original paintings too still here in my shop.) The building always reminds me of how much it was made fun of and disliked in the beginning and became one of the most iconic and beloved buildings in the city.
For the background I used my Chicago stencil with a blending tool and Broken China Distress Ink applied over the stencil. Then I layered a pattern from my ATC Mixup Stencil on top using Tattered Rose Distress Ink, moving it around and making it work in the openings. Then I stamped with the back of a pencil in green and finally the Fan-fare rubber stamp.
I did my journaling with a black Signo pen and attached the calendar page with my favorite Coccoina glue stick.
Here are some of the supplies I used:
I really like the combo of the pastels with the darker colors of the building piece.
A Look Back – As I was looking through my blog archives I started to notice a reoccurring fashion trend happening right there in my art journal. There were a lot of girls wearing red. I don’t know why. I usually gravitate towards black or something a bit more neutral. But in the world of my art journal, the girls are rocking this strong hue. It didn’t take me long to find five of them, and I bet if you go back and look at my posts you can find even more. So I thought it would be fun to dedicate this Look Back to the Lady in Red in my art journal :)
This first one is from way back in 2014 when I came out with my Batik Stencil. This cool chick is standing strong in a red trench that means business. And I like how I used the Batik pattern on the left and then printed the reverse on the right using the painted back side of the stencil. You can check out the original post here.
At the start of 2015 my art journal gal is in a red dress AND some fierce makeup too. Don’t mess with her. But maybe you want to borrow something from her wardrobe :) You can see the original post for this page here. It’s all about that layered background – symbolic of the drama that can surround us and overwhelm us if we’re not careful.
Later in 2015 I had my girl in a fun red top and blue hair – she is definitely not afraid of color! Check out the original post here to see the full background and a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt that works perfectly for artists.
In 2018 I traveled to Japan and brought back, among other things, collage material and loads of artistic inspo of course! I created this art journal page with a woman in a red jacket and hat, using inksticks and an inkstone – materials used for writing and calligraphy. I made quite a few art journal pages after this trip that were really pared down and only using a color or two. Pretty cool how travel can influence you like that.
Along those same lines, this spread is from just a few weeks later in 2018 and the white page still plays an important role …and my girl is still in red! Although in this page she is sporting a fun red print! I love how she is completely popping off the blue Manhattan stamped background. You can see the original post here.
I hope you enjoyed this. 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’s 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 :)
Here are some of the supplies I used in these projects:
I had the Hex Set Small and Solid Hex Small rubber stamps printed on a different piece of old ledger paper and I cut it out to paste into this one, turning around some pieces to show the writing on the other side.
I used the ATC Mixup stencil to trace some patterns with a Signo Gel Pen and realized that the pattern fit perfectly into the hexagon openings so there you have it! LOL
Here are some of the supplies I used:
While packing up some stuff I found this photo from our old apartment in Hamburg, Germany and I got a little melancholic. I had a great time in Hamburg and miss it a lot – I cannot wait to hop on a plane once things ease up more (I am not ready yet for a long haul flight and the uncertainties that go with international travel and a pandemic and regulations).
I used a piece of wallpaper I had designed for my studio bathroom a while ago as well as some collage paper I had created with distress ink pads and my Funky and Far Out ArtFoamies. I also used the small Broadway Fan stamp – the leaves of our Maple tree on the roof terrace reminded me of the shapes in the Broadway stamp …shapes are a funny thing :)
Here are some of the supplies I used:
I miss going to NY as we are still limiting our trips to the City during the pandemic, but I do miss it. We usually would go in several times a week, living just across the river and a couple PATH stops away.
When I am in the city nowadays either for errands, visiting the doctor or even the one or other restaurant visit, I know the city will be ok… it always will be and that is why we love NY.
I used a copy of an old painting I made of the Flat Iron Building along with some Caran D’ache Museum Aquarelle pencils on top of the black and white copy, and inside some of the circles (made with pencil). The stamp is one of my Fan-fare stamps used with archival ink. I did my journaling with a Sharpie S-Gel Pen.
In addition to collage elements and my black and white copy, here are some of the supplies I used:
I love everything about this! The quote, the colors, and the background design.
The quote especially speaks to me during a week of family chaos.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day Nat!
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