Wanderlust week 9 - Kasia's lesson "The art of layering"

Wanderlust week 9, Kasia's lesson "The art of layering, the transparency of our marks". In my head I just call this class "The tile lesson". Because I created - tiles!

Making my marks, my beloved swirls, in different ways... layering them... and in the end creating tiles.

I wanted to make them look like real kitchen tiles. Old tiles. With the inscription "The future is now!"

I think about that I live now in what I saw as the future when I was younger. And one day this time in my life will be history instead...

The now, the future, it's all entwined. Memories of what you thought this time in your life would be like.

Everyone that has or will live, we're on this planet, we're sharing it, we're guests for a little while. Making our marks. I hope the marks we leave behind will be of the beautiful kind. I think a lot about that.

Stuff I've been using:
Acrylic paint
Stamps: misc. Prima stamps, Everything Art: E³ Everything Art 05 - Alphabet
Uni Posca pen and Faber Castel PITT pen (in black)
Tissue paper, baby wipes (dry)
Black gesso
Gelli plate
Caran d'ache Neocolour II water soluble
Date stamp
Archival ink in sepia and black
Mod podge - matte
Soft Gloss Gel (Prima)

Wanderlust week 23 - Vicky Papaioannou's class "Just Fly Away"

"Summer in the City"

Week 23?! I'm not doing the Wanderlust lessons in the right order, as you've probably already noticed!

Since I'm new to all this mixed media, very often I have to get stuff before trying a new technique. It can be art supplies - or even workspace - that I need to think about, before trying out a new technique. Wanderlust is fantastic, it's a year long class and it's never ever boring, but it can be a bit tricky, for example when a lesson requires another season than what we have at the moment, like when a teacher in Australia wanted us to go outside and collect leaves in February... (It's no leaves here then, just snow!) I don't worry much about that! It's part of the charm, Wanderlust is a global community, and I solved this lesson by putting it forward to our summer. :)

This past week Vicky Papaioannou taught us how to make a journal page, her trademark style. I've been looking forward to this class ever since I signed up for Wanderlust 2017! I was not disappointed.

I made my pages in Swedish this time, they say "Summer in the city, the gulls have nestlings & everything is green". It sums up how it's right now! And that's what art jornaling is about, right?
I couldn't help myself, I had to make this page funny! When you're living with a 3 year old little girl you laugh a lot. We've been discussing trees and all kinds of birds, we have wasps visiting, we try to see the gull nestlings from our kitchen window. This is exactly how it feels, here and now!

When our little daugher saw this page she said "Yes, it's totally okey, mom!" (Ja, den är helt okey, mamma!) She probably heard that expression somewhere and thought that was a cool way to say that she likes it!


Stuff I've been using:
Acrylic paint (Tim Holtz and Panduro)
Masks (Panduro)
Stamps: misc. Paper Smooches stamps, Everything Art: E³ Everything Art 05 - Alphabet, Purple Onion Stamps - 2011 Vintage Calendar
Uni Posca pen and Faber Castel PITT pen (in black)
White gel pen
White and black gesso
Date stamp
Archival ink in sepia and black

The Finnabair Classes, Sjöbo May 2017

I'm back from the Finnabair classes in Sjöbo (in the south of Sweden).

I knew I'd start to long to go next year the moment I came back home, just like I did last year. And yes, that did happen! I don't even know if Finn will come back next year, but I really hope Skaparlusten will bring her back next year.

It's the the ultimate treat - having a holiday all to myself, the Finnabair courses, hanging out with my kind of people... it's how I imagine Heaven! Last year someone said to me: "It's funny how friends can be found everywhere!" I love that! She's so right, that's exactly how it feels hanging out with these people. Next year, I hope I'll see you again, friends!

And I've said it before: If you ever get the chance to take a live Finnabair course - Do it! She's absolutely brilliant (and has the best sense of humor)!

The yearly photo! :)

I took 3 courses this year. This is what I made:

Course: Verdigris

Course: Beauty and the Beads

Course: Book of Rust (cover)

 

 

 

Felt Octonauts!

Octonauts in Swedish: Professor Bläckvis, Kapten Sjöbjörn, Kira and Peso.

No, I haven't been painting anything for awhile. No art journaling. No canvases.
I just haven't had any time!
Strangely enough, I had time to make 4 Octonauts this weekend.
(I can't explain how that could be possible, when painting wasn't, so please don't ask me!)

Translated Octonauts books in Swedish. It's just two, I wish they translated them all!

Anyhow. I got lots of inspiration from this blog!

Well... 4 Octonaouts means 4 more Octonauts to go, but that will have to wait...
Next weekend I'm going to Finnabair's courses in Sjöbo!

My little Octonaut is going to be happy, she will probably take them hunting for monster shrimps and pirate treasures. With Daddy and torches!

All 8 of them! From the TV-series.

Finnabair in Sweden in May 2017 - yes, I'll be going again!

Yes! I'll be going again! Finnabair is coming to Sweden the 20-21:st of May, and I'll be going to Sjöbo to attend to three of her classes this year! "Verdigris", "Beauty and the Beads" and "Rust Affection" (the book cover only).
You have to hurry to be able to get a spot, they're selling like hot cakes!
SJ (railroad company in Sweden) has finally released their train tickets, I got my hotels booked, I payed for my classes, and now I just have to wait! This is going to be so much fun!

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From Finnabair's list of classes:

Verdigris – fabric based collage with eye-catching finish

Do you ant to create really artsy, dimensional and grungy collage, but you think you don’t have “suitable supplies?” That is not a problem! The most important thing in creative process is using imagination. We are surrounded by inspiring objects, which we can use for creating art of different kinds. Try to look around – and you’ll find real treasures in your own house! 

During this workshop I will guide you to create your own mixed-media canvas, starting with building layers using fabric and Art Extravagance Sculpture Medium. We will make composition including my favourite set of embellishments and a found object and next colour it all to get pretty, verdigris and patina inspired effect. We will focus on such mediums from my line as White Heavy Gesso, Heavy body Gel, Soft Gel and more. I will demonstrate possibilities of mixing different Art Ingredients such as Mica Powders, Fine Glitter, and Art stones to get the expected results. We will build our projects step-by-step and you will see that presented techniques are very versatile and be easily used on many other projects. I'll share my experience with you and try to give you plenty of information about tools and products used.  

The teacher will supply all the paints, mediums needed to finish the project (excluding the found object). This class is suitable both for advanced and beginning students.

Class time: about 4,5 h

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 Beauty and the Beads - dimensional, dark mixed-media collage with amazing sparkle and shine. 

What is the best about black colour? It helps other colours shine beautifully – especially if they contain some shimmer or glitter in them! With a little help of Black Gesso, Gels and Micro Beads you are able to create the most amazing, textured, iridescent collage – and this all in simple, easy to follow steps!
“Beauty and the Beads” is my idea how to use combination of art mediums, shimmering sprays, stencils, gels and – finally – beads and glitter in a creative way: first making a rich, deep textured background, then working on a dimensional, intriguing composition and finally adding breathtaking layers of delicate texture... all that based on my new line of Art Basics and Art Ingredients line of Prima products.
 During this 4h long class you will not only create an amazing project you can hang on your wall but also learn a lot of inspiring techniques, discover possibilities of getting a custom look and combining the products to get the best results. I'll share my experience and will give you helpful tips about composition, colour choices and adding finishing touches. Are you ready to add some sparkle to your life?
All the elements, paints and mediums are provided – this project is suitable both for advanced and beginning students. The class may be taught as a collage composition with a photo or altered object.
Class time: about 4 h.
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Rust Affection – amazing altered book with really worn-out look

It is all about the inspiring power of rust! If you like worn-out, salvage look and would like to try exciting and effective techniques – this is a class for you! This finish is perfect for any vintage, steampunk or grunge inspired projects and will give you a chance to achieve more heavy, masculine look on any kind of project. Bring your own book for a complete mixed-media makeover which will change it into real, old and rusty treasure. 

Together we will apply a selection of techniques based on Art Basics, Art Extravagance and Art Ingredients art mediums which will transform your plain book cover  - we will try Crackle and Rust Effect Pastes, Mica Powders, Art Alchemy Acrylic Paints and more! I will share my experience, demonstrate steps and techniques and give you advise to make sure you will get the best effects but there will be space for experiments and a lot of fun! In the second part of the class we will focus on carving a frame insisde of the book and creating beautiful, heavily antiqued composition using Modeling Paste, Rust Pastes, Art Alchemy Paints and more – it will be a perfect add on to your cover and a chance to create unique piece which will be great gift or your own personal treasure.

I will provide a full set of art mediums and embellishments to finish the project inside and outside – excluding the hard-cover book. This class is suitable both for advanced and beginning students.

3 options available: 

Full day: Rust Affection - cover + inside

Half day: Book of Rust - cover only  and Rusty Relic - inside of the book only

Class time: about 7-8 h (full day) or about 4h if we will do cover or inside only.

Wanderlust week 8 - Challenge #2 "Super Gal"

 

What a challenge!

10 minutes, take a pic, 10 minutes more, take another pic, and then 10 minutes more - take a pic of the result! That's the challenge #2, week 8, over at Wanderlust! (The idea is to make this in 3 days.)

I don't work well under time pressure, but this was interesting indeed, and it actually came out better than I thought. I had to plan very carefully, much more than usual.

I started with an idea of my girl, a couple of years ahead in the future, as Super Girl. Our surname is Gal - of course she'll be Super Gal!

Here we go:

1. First 10 minutes: Black gesso, white structure paste.

1.

2.

2.  +10 minutes (= 20 minutes):

Arranging pics, gluing them down with Mod podge, adding some dots of paint and some black wax crayon.

3.

3. +10 minutes (= 30 minutes):

Paint, Glimmer mist, white gel pen and some more wax crayon.

Done!

Wanderlust week 6 - Amanda Grace's class "The love letter"

The Love Letter.

It's been busy weeks! My husband had his birthday, we've been ill, we've been fixing tons of stuff and we've also been taking some time together. The result of all this: Not much time for painting or art journaling...

I didn't make anything on Wanderlust week 5, I'll skip that one, at least for now. I'm a bit behind! Activities week 8 are already up, but I have no intention to rush this! I'll take my time.

Here's the result of the class from Amanda Grace on Wanderlust week 6. It's called "The love letter" and was really fun to do. I love to write, and this is something I've been telling my husband before, but it was really nice to get it down in an art journal, together with the photo(s) from our wedding.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, Faramir is a fictional character appearing in The Lord of the Rings.

My husband comes from a white city and he's scarily much like Faramir in character. He knows his plants, but he's not as much into healing plants or medicine as Faramir... but he is an ecologist who has been known to wear down a pair of wellingtons of high quality, in a very short time, by climbing around in nature a bit too much. He's just as home beside a campfire as in a posh hotel. He isn't interested in power. At all.

And he looks like Faramir! (At least he looks like the Faramir in my copies of The Two Towers and Return of the King!) :D

And yes, I own a sword. But I haven't killed any Ringwraith with it - yet.

Wanderlust week 4 - Challenge #1. Narnia themed January art journaling!

Week 4 is the activity week over at Wanderlust 2017. I participate in the Challenge #1. Here is the result!

I started out by choosing the three colours: dark blue, purple and green.
And then with my January impressions...
I used masks, gesso, sprays, coloured pens, modeling paste, stamps, I painted, I wrote, I added stickles, silks... and it just turned to Narnia in my head. Narnia under the Witch Queen's rule... And I started to long to Narnia - adventures and change... and maybe getting to meet Aslan in the spring, if just for a brief moment. (I've heard that where he walks, the snow melts!)

Wanderlust week 3 - Wilna Furstenberg's class "Journal Pages - 3 ways". Page 2 and 3 (of 3).

Page 2 - It's really hard to know how it works until you try! These two pages have a problem fitting together, I should have chosen something else than words as a structure on the first page... Of course!

Page 3 - Much darker. This is a technique that I can see myself using a lot! Need to practise, though!

Finally!
This took some time!

Now, the last pages of Wilna Furstenburg's Wanderlust class from last week is finally being published!

Using the same image three times is easy, once you've drawn it, but I still found this lesson very demanding, because it's all new techniques to me. Working away, going through stages of colorful mess that (at least in my case) turns worse and worse, until it just suddenly clears up.

It IS magic, of its own kind!

"Trust the process!" is what Finnabair told me when I was attending her class almost a year ago. It's a very good advice! It's very much "process" in this type of art - and it almost always goes through an icky stage (as one of my fellow Wanderlusters put it, pretty much spot on).

It is hard to know when to stop. Should I go on or is this it? Usually I know, but with this I don't have much experience. It's interesting! It's good to learn new things!

This is very different from my usual stuff - and that's the point!

Canvas - Kaz Brekker of Ketterdam

Kaz, his cane with a crow head and Ketterdam. Do you recognize "his" house?

This is something I wanted to do since I finished reading Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, that means I've been planning this canvas for a month... (Crooked Kingdom was released right before Christmas 2016.)

Leigh Bardugo's books are fantastic, if you've not read them yet - you're in for such a treat! The duology Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom have to be read together. (But please start from the very beginning with Shadow and Bones, Siege and Storm and the last book in the first trilogy - Ruin and Rising!)


But this canvas is in honour of Kaz Brekker.

The Crowhead!

I've been using the same tecniques as Finnabair, but for the first time I am doing it my way.

Some of the stuff I've used:
Man and Wife die (PTI)
Finnabair 12x12 Black Resist Canvas Sheet: City Map (Prima)
A selection of Finnabair Mechanicals (Prima)
Silks (Luminarte)
Micro Beads Black (Prima)
Art stones - small and big (Prima)
White Gesso
Black Gesso
Block Alphabet: Celtic lowercase alphabet set (unknown brand, 2001)
Freaky fabric
Tim Holtz - Stampers anonymus: 064 Mini Ornates
Inkylishious - Silhouette town
Black paper roses
Liquid pearls

Wanderlust week 3 - Wilna Furstenberg's class "Journal Pages - 3 ways". Page 1 of 3.

Oh my! This was a tough lesson! (Drawing with a brush, using ink. It's scary!) Wilna made it look so easy, and it's not! I have a huge problem with not making mud out of all the colours... (That seems to be my biggest problem with this course, so far!)
Anyhow.
My journal page. A letter to my daugher. From me, here and now- to her, in the future.

Wanderlust week 2 - Making Magic or Where You Find the Unicorn

My canvas from week 2 of Wanderlust. 30x30 cm.

This is my canvas from week 2 of Wanderlust, from our lesson by Mary Wangerin called "Making Magic".
(The quote is from Roald Dahl: "Those who don't believe in magic will never find it".)

I think this lesson was the hardest lesson I've ever done! I felt a million times that this won't be publishable at all. Filling the canvas with paint, over and over and over, tissue paper, coloured paper (with and without strucucture) and continuing.... (The hardest thing is not getting everything muddled up!)
But the magic happened... and then it just took over. (I'm sorry, I couldn't help all this painting! It just happend!) But that's the magic that happens when you paint! Some call it inspiration. Sometimes it just starts with lots of hard work. Like now. But it did happen!

My first art journaling page(s) ever

Melim (in Hebrew) means words. Words are magical. They make stories come to life... but how do they work?

Last year, I tried something new. I made an art journal cover (as you can see in a previous post), but I thought I had to try out making pages too!
These are the first two pages in my art journal, made last autumn (2016). Being totally new at this, I (mainly) followed the steps from this tutorial from Finnabair's blog.

Wanderlust week 1 - Statements

Page for Wanderlust 2017, week 1.

I got the best Christmas gift! A year long class in Art Journaling and Mixed Media, called Wanderlust 2017. This is my page from the first lesson. I was very frustrated when it seemed to just become worse and worse... and then it kind of turned good! I didn't know I could do this! 
I think this adventure is going to be great fun!