Inspired by ...

.. a new journal, and a challenge!

I've been struggling a bit with my journal recently.  Mainly because working in a larger format I'm trying to create my own main images for the pages as I have few stamps big enough, and I also want to stretch myself and practise my drawing skills.  Sometimes, though, it's good to get back in your comfort zone.

So I decided to respond to Stampotique's 2014 design team call (my stamps are organised by theme EXCEPT for my Stampotique ones, I keep them altogether as I love them so much and they co-ordinate with each other so well) and got out one of my favourite stamps - Mushroom Group

Earlier this week I sewed some bunting for school and enjoyed it so much I decided I wanted to do something 'textiley' with my Stampotique stamps.  After stamping on some white felt, just with a black versamark as it's just a guide, I used a needle felting tool to add some wool before outlining the mushrooms on the sewing machine

I trimmed them, added some stamping and some distress ink to a tag then sewed on the mushrooms.

I googled 'mushroom quotes' and discovered this one,

"I am a mushroom on whom the dew of heaven drops now and then"

John Ford

so put my tag in the typewriter and added it.

Then I used some diamond glaze to add drops of 'dew' to the tag, to the top of the largest mushroom and to adhere the tiny beads.

Not ready to stop I reached for a small journal and found one I bought a long while ago that looks like a paperback book (possibly purchased from Waterstones)

Inside I used more distress ink and added some stamping and stenciling...

I LoVe this size of this journal, and it contains great paper so I'll definitely be using it some more :)

Oh happy days :)

Stampotique's design call finishes tomorrow so there's still time to apply.  I thought I'd apply as Stampotique images are my 'go to' stamps and I love how I can use them for collage, in textile work, on my journal pages, on tags...  They make me happy!!!  Stampotique ask you to describe your style - hmm, not sure what mine is - 'eclectic' springs to mind!!  I love the challenge of being on a design team - it keeps you producing work on a regular basis, encourages you to visit many blogs (as you leave comments re challenges), and brings new friends .... so fingers crossed!!  It's been a while now since I was on the Play Date Cafe design team.  I've been a guest artist for the Artistic Stamper and been published in Art Journaling, Somerset Studio and Stampers Sampler.

a creative education course

I am a primary special needs teacher and after a break from teaching I've been given the role of art subject leader in the school I now teach in.  In the past I've always done Maths or IT so it's been a real treat to be responsible for art!

It is a bit of steep learning curve though!  Although I do arty things as a hobby I'm not that familiar with the art curriculum.  So I jumped at the chance to go on an art course (they are few and far between!) last week.  We started with some warm up exercises.  My drawing of the lady opposite me, using ink in a pipette, has a distinct Quentin Blake look I feel!!

Another warm up exercise involved looking at a collection of objects for a few seconds before they were covered back up with a cloth and we had to draw what we could remember.  I enjoy exercises like this, where something is stopping you making a perfect drawing (in this case 1-an unusual drawing implement  and 2-not being able to see the objects) - it's very free-ing.

Then we had a go at monoprinting...

...creating giant 'brushes' and making marks with them.  I splatted mine down onto the page and chuckled to see the ampersand-like images produced.  It wasn't intentional but I really like ampersands!...

...funny lollipop stick people...

...and drawing parts of the body then mounting them all together in a 'portrait panel.  All this took place within a giant shed in a warehouse-type building.

Above is a 'backstage' view from the offices of ASCreatives who were running the course.  All the sheds have small creative companies in them.  We were working in the large shed to the very far right of this picture.  The warehouse is owned by a charity called Baltic Creative and there is a fabulous cafe right at the front of the building.

This is all situated just in front of the anglican cathedral in Liverpool, which we had a go at drawing in the afternoon, using Sharpie pens on acetate and leaning on a clear board.

I love the result and might use it in my journals!  We spent time doing some exploded drawings in the afternoon and finished by drawing with materials.  This is our interpretation of the Liverpool dockside!  I particularly love the rain coming down from the dark cloud, and the gorillas standing in as the liverbirds!

Oh, and we used more artistic licence with the River Mersey, it ain't that blue ;)

We were a group of teachers from special, primary and secondary schools, yet all learnt something we could take back to school, and went home laughing and rejuvenated :)  

New Wine North 3:16 Art Exhibition

Sorry for the delay in this post.  When we got back from our hols we discovered the boiler had broken, and a few days later, that it couldn't be fixed and we needed a new one.  I have done an enormous amount of clearing out in the house whilst arranging for all the radiators to be easily accessible.  All done now, although the clearing out still needs to continue!!

 So here, as promised, are some photos from the exhibition of work from New Wine North 2013.  We displayed the work in the areas we'd been teaching in.

My white paper 'tablecloth' had gained some fabulous areas of inkiness over the course of the week so I embellished them a little before displaying all the little books on black card.

 The tags added to the little book above gave such a lovely feel to the whole thing.

As I was putting the above book out on display I noticed the creator of it had made a tiny version using the same fold and added it to a page - such a fab idea!

 The above pictures were displayed within the general art area.  People could come in each afternoon and use materials to create.  There were some fabulous pieces.  The orange piece above is created with a single line.  Below I've shared photos of most of the other areas

willow lanterns

fretwork

copper foiled stained glass

watercolour

upcycling

lino and screen printing

This was my very favourite piece though, drawn by a little girl.  I'd frame this but it wasn't for sale... reminds me of Quentin Blake's illustrations!

What a privilege ...

 ... to teach so many people new to art journaling at New Wine NE 2013.  I taught almost 100 people (some people came back again, and some again again! so I'm not sure of the exact number) over the week and it was one of the most fabulous things I've ever done.  Only one or two had even heard of art journaling.

The 3:16 arts venue was in a large marquee last year but this year we had a whole cattle shed!   It was huge! People had the opportunity to take classes in so many different art activities including watercolour, lino cutting, screen printing, fret cutting, stained glass (copper foiling), sculpture, proddy rug flowers, weave a prayer, stitch a prayer, canvas art, felting, mosaic, willow lanterns, creating from driftwood and sea glass ..... and more...

... including art journaling with me!  This collection of tables, more or less in the middle of the room, was my space for the week.

My maximum of 11 people per class soon stretched to the 13 we could fit around the tables.

And that pristine white paper was soon beautifully coloured with oversprayed ink, paint and stamped images.

One of the things I LoVe about teaching workshops is seeing the colour combinations other people put together.

It was also great to see people just enjoying the freedom to play with paint and ink and rubber stamps.  One young lad said it was the first piece of art he'd done that he actually liked!  Others loved the freedom from rules, although some found this really scary at first!

At the end of the week we held an exhibition of work, which I'll share in my next post :)