“The middle is messy but that is where the magic happens.” -Brene Brown
I used spray paint, gesso, and acrylic paint for my background and then began creating my scene. On the left is my Warehouse and Brownstone rubber stamps, even further than this image shows is my Queen Anne rubber stamp starting the row.
I continued the cityscape with some of my own building sketches, with acrylic markers and adding details here and there.
Here are some of the supplies I used:
Hello and welcome to another Nice to Meet You! From time to time I learn about some amazing artists out there who are working with my stamps and stencils and are creating some fun and exciting projects. It’s always inspiring to see what others do with my designs. Sometimes they even introduce me to a new way of seeing the pattern or a new technique to try on my own. Today I’d like to introduce to you Jenny Rohrs from Craft Test Dummies and cohost of Hands On Crafts for Kids on PBS.
How do you make time to be creative?
Being creative is part of my flow for the day. Generally I get my “mom” duties and chores done in the morning so I can spend a few hours after lunch every day for doing reviews, crafting, and blogging.
What are some of your favorite n*Studio stamps / stencils and how do you use them?
I lived in Manhattan last year, so I really was drawn to the Brownstone and Warehouse stamps- they are perfect for watercolor techniques, which is one of my favorite things to do with markers. I also am in love with the Kassel and Hamburg stencils! I have been on a gel printing kick as of late, and I reach for these over and over.
What is your favorite medium to work in?
I couldn’t possibly answer this- I use multiple mediums every day! Some days it’s liquid oils, another day I’m pouring resins, and yet another I’m playing with collage or polymer clay. I think that the quest for novelty and new techniques is just part of my creative process.
What inspires you to be creative?
As strange as it sounds, doing product reviews for my website actually sparks my creativity. I like to see how a product or medium works, how I can push it’s limits, how it will respond. By swatching and testing I get new ideas all the time. I also love to travel- new places, foods, music, and architecture make my brain bubble with new possibilities.
Do you have a favorite artist?
Not really- different artist’s work rotates in and out of resonance with me. However, I am ALWAYS struck by one piece by John Rogers Cox (contemporary American painter, 1915-1990.) This piece is in the Cleveland Art Museum (where I lived for 20 years, until last year) and it strikes me every time with those golden fields of wheat and roiling grey skies. Breathtaking!
How did you get into art-making?
Years ago, as a newly-minted board certified Music Therapist, I would come home after a day of playing instruments and singing. I craved quiet and needed a way to process all of the emotions and issues that I had experienced with my clients. I turned to painting and quilt-making to “squeeze the sponge” so to speak, and it really helped me cleanse myself for the next day of work. After I “retired” from Music Therapy, I started crafting with my kids and I created my blog as a way to inform and connect with other artists/crafters. I’m still on that journey today.
In three words, how does art-making make you feel?
Present, energized, validated.
Thank you Jenny for sharing your art and story with us! Stay tuned for more Nice to Meet You! posts to learn about other artists.
Hello from the Creative Squad! This month the Creative Squad will be playing along with my Stroll Challenge and today Michelle Rydell is sharing a really cool canvas panel using my Stroll Through the Hood #2 stamp set, and working with the prompt words Sky and Loud and the theme Out and About – Sometimes it’s hard to see all the cool and inspiring stuff that’s right under our noses. This month we hope you will join us in our 30 day Stroll Challenge and get Out and About where you live, and find some local inspiration.
I took a bit of a different direction with my prompt word – Loud. You see, when I lived in the city, there was loudness everywhere and I loved it; but now that I live in the country, the neighborhood is just the opposite. It’s very quiet, and I love that too. So I had to think about it awhile; and then it hit me. What’s loud in a different way, and also connects my old neighborhood in the city to my new one in the country? The gloriously loud colors of the sunset!
This was my photo for the prompt “sky,” and I’m also using it for “loud.”
My idea was to recreate the colors of a city sunset with watercolors. Here is the step-by-step…
I first stamped the Main Station and Warehouse stamps from Nat’s Stroll Through the Hood #2 stamp set numerous times onto dictionary paper, to give it a bit of a grungy look…
I cut out the buildings and arranged them on the background till I had them how I wanted them to be. This gave me an idea of where to start with the watercolors…
I put the buildings to the side, and started on the sky. In order to create soft edges and allow the colors to blend, I wet the paper first… From there I slowly started building the layers of color, always allowing them to bleed together. They were very light at first, but with each layer got more intense…
Stars were added to the sky by flicking some high flow acrylic with a stiff brush…
When the page was completely dry, I pasted down the buildings with a glue stick. The warehouse in the back was colored with a light grey tombow marker, to make it recede a bit…
I outlined each building with a stabilo pencil and added water to grunge it up a bit. I also added a mixture of stabilo pencil and grey acrylic to create a street in front of the buildings…
I finished off the page with a quote and outline done with paint marker; and some journaling on the bottom done with a white gel pen.
Thank you Michelle for a beautiful spread and a gorgeous cityscape :) She used these supplies – some links are affiliate links:
Play along with us this month and join the 30 day Artful Adventures Stroll Challenge! 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“.
Loved the city/country connection and the quote at the bottom. Great job!
LOVE how you used the stamps and the colors you chose for the page.
thank you Sue! I appreciate your kind words!
This is gorgeous! LOVING the colors and the buildings!!!!!!!!!!
Julie – you are so sweet! Thank you very much!
Hello from the Creative Squad! This month the Creative Squad will be playing along with my Stroll Challenge and today Tina Walker is starting us off with a really cool mixed media project using my Stroll Through the Hood #2 stamp set, and working with the theme Out and About – Sometimes it’s hard to see all the cool and inspiring stuff that’s right under our noses. This month we hope you will join us in our 30 day Stroll Challenge and get Out and About where you live, and find some local inspiration.
Hi! Tina Walker here today with my take on this month’s theme, ‘Out and About’. During the month of May, as part of n*Studio’s 30 day Stroll Challenge and getting out in my neighborhood, I thought it would be fun to take one of the photographs from the challenge and use it as inspiration for my project. We hope you will join us this month and get out and about and say hello to your neighbors and enjoy the spring weather.
To kick off the STROLL, I used this photograph as inspiration this month. I was ‘strolling’ to my mailbox and captured this shot of my walk, mid stride.
Because my stroll was taking me to the mailbox, I immediately spied the fabulous Mailbox stamp include in the ‘Stroll Through the Hood #2’ stamp set. It was serendipitous!
I haven’t created a trio of ATC cards for a while, so I thought I’d pull out some blanks and get creating.
To create the background of each ATC, I covered each blank with a sheet of dictionary paper. I then heat embossed the Warehouse, Main Station, and E-Train stamps also included in the set.
I added lots of distressing with Distress Oxide inks, reacting the inks with water.
The mailbox embellishments were created by stamping into oven back clay. Once hardened and cooled, I distressed each piece with acrylic paint.
To finish each ATC scene, I added people die-cuts, stamped fabric sentiments, and a hand-cut and colored Flag stamp (also included in the set).
Each ATC was machine stitched to a scrap piece of leather and cotton batting, incorporating a fabric ‘hanger’.
I love how my patriotic ATCs turned out. Each vignette made me think about the generations of people, strolling to their neighborhood mailboxes, sending well wishes, happy thoughts, and joyous news. It seems all so simple and uncomplicated, in our new world of electronic media, and impersonal communication.
I hope you enjoyed my project today and join us this month. Have a great day!
Thank you Tina for taking us back in time and inspiring us to get Out and About wherever we live! In addition to scrap fabric and a sewing machine, Tina used these supplies – some links are affiliate links:
Play along with us this month and join the 30 day Artful Adventures Stroll Challenge! 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“.
Love those “romantic” ATC’s Tina. My favorite is the optimist one.
Perfect for Memorial Day and 4th of July coming up!
oooh! What a great post….I love that mailbox stamp and it was cool to see the embossed buildings in the background. Just might have to try this technique with the fire hydrant as my walks to the mailbox always include walking the pug (who likes to mark the neighborhood gnome as every other dog has done so too). Shhh, she also has a favorite mailbox she likes to mark (the only one out of 60+ in the neighborhood).
LOL- it is kinda funny that you pug has a fave mailbox ;)
These are really awesome Tina!! Love how you incorporated the stamps into the background, and people!
Funny thing….I live in a different area…southwest Florida – where I live we don’t have sidewalks, few houses…we have no mailboxes except for the ones in front of peoples homes, and a blue box in front of the post office. If I go for a stroll, I see some houses, and lots of vacant lots! We have no factories or industry……….our oldest house was built in the late 1950’s! I will really have to put my thinking cap on to play along.
You can take a pic of your mailbox, from an angle, upside down – it can be also your postoffice or anything- think in the widest sense, make up your own rules ;)
Thanks for sharing Jenny Rohrs with us! Always nice to hear about others’ journeys.
Love the variety of your blog posts. I eagerly await them and am always learning.
Thank you soooooo…. much!
Deb
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