PaperArtsy Theme 22: Masterboards

The last PaperArtsy challenge of 2015 is about Masterboards.

Because this is the last theme, I wanted to create a "table of contents" of sorts on the inside covers of my PaperArtsy challenge journal.

Amazed by Leandra's awesome brayering skills, I had to give it a try myself.

I used the only four Fresco colours I have - Yellow Submarine, Blood Orange, Smurf and South Pacific. I tried this combination once before - quite by accident - and I liked it.

I like how the brayer caught the structure of the maze from the front of the cover.

I also used a stamp from Ellen Vargos's EEV02 set. I won this set two years ago [sorry, rant ahead] but it never came (I hope the GLS guys - who don't actually bother to deliver the mail from the UK - used it creatively). It took me two years to realize I wanted this set so badly, that I decided to buy it (and pay a fortune for it because PaperArtsy stamps are ridiculously expensive in my country). [end of rant]

I wrote all of the topics on pieces of vellum and stuck them down on the covers.

So, here is the journal I used for all but one - the Wearable Art - topics.

I had fun with the challenges this year and I'm really looking forward to what year 2016 brings.

Documented Life: November

November Theme

Stencils, Stamps & Masks

Stencils... my favourite art supply... Not so difficult to guess because I use stencils on everything, I design and cut my own on regular basis... So this month should be easy...

Documented Life: October

October Theme
Translucent Papers

October's been a difficult month for me - call it "creative crisis" or "Muse was on holiday" but whatever it was, it left me wanting to paint but not enjoying it at all.

For the first time in the whole year I was behind with the pages - some I started and not finished, some I skipped... Now, at the end of November, I finally caught up and I'm able to share my pages.

This theme - Translucent Papers - should have been a blessing because I almost always start with a piece of tissue/deli paper - to strengthen the page and to have something in the background to work with. But as I said, October was not the best time for art...

PaperArtsy Theme 21: Abstract Art

This fortnight's PaperArtsy topic is Abstract Art. You might have seen my other "abstract art" contribution as a guest blogger for PaperArtsy, this time I painted the usual page in my PaperArtsy challenges journal. 

I was considering not posting this page because it didn't really turn out the way I wanted. I was aiming for something Jo Myhill created but the page just didn't cooperate. Sometimes, my art fights back. This one fought ferociously...

PaperArtsy - Guest Blog Post #2

I was asked to do another guest blog post for PaperArtsy. The theme was "Abstract".

You can find the blog post here.

Thank you again, PaperArtsy team, for this wonderful opportunity!!



P.S. If you are familiar with my style, you might recognize this type of layout. I used to do quite a lot of these geometric paintings. This is a slightly different approach but the result is very similar. 

PaperArtsy Theme 20: Triptychs

This fortnight's PaperArtsy topic is Triptychs. 

I first wanted to make a tri-folding card but it didn't end well. (although it started rather promising) So I went back to my art journal and made this page:

I first painted the background with Fresco paints (I had some teal on the page from a previous project). I was planning to work on the three segments separately but I forgot the canvas paper curls when wet...

So, as the pre-cut pieces curled into tight rolls, I threw them away and painted a slightly bigger piece which I then cut into three strips.

(I wish I stopped here and didn't add the purple ink...)

Finally, I added some flowers from the JOFY 32 set and a quote. 

PaperArtsy Theme 19: Faces

This fortnight's PaperArtsy topic is "Faces". [pulling a long face here...] I'm not very good at faces... I think, after watching several tutorials and taking a couple of online classes, I can get the proportions  right, but I struggle so much with shading and making the face look "real".

So, sometimes I just paint and see what comes out of it...

Documented Life: September

Documented Life Project - September Theme
Journaling with Photos

PaperArtsy Theme 18: Wearable Art

I was considering skipping this one... The theme is Wearable Art and I'm not very good with fabric and sewing machines in general and "altering" the theme to be able to do in my journal was just impossible...

But... I had some polymer clay projects to do so I decided to do some jewellery.
(And also... when I have to "contaminate" my oven with polymer clay vapours, I like to make more pieces at once).

So... I'm skipping this theme in my journal but not skipping it entirely...

PaperArtsy Theme 17: Pigment Powders

This week's PaperArtsy topic is Pigment Powders. Well... I don't have any pigment powders (but they are on my wish list), I don't even know where I could get some of those...  So I had to improvise and revisit one of my ancient techniques.

This technique involves destroying some watercolour pencils and crushing and grinding the leads into powder. I wrote a tutorial for this technique some time ago (there is also a video).

Travel Journal {summer challenge}

I made this journal for a "travel journal" challenge on Hurápapír blog (it's a local online scapbooking shop I buy most of my supplies from).

After my vacation in 2013, I was planning to jump on the Project Life bandwagon. I bought an album, some photo sleeves (and then more photo sleeves of different shapes and sizes), PL cards, stickers and other embellishments. I even got this small printer for instant photos. Two years and two more vacations later, I'm still planning to "start".

Instead of using this challenge as an incentive to finally assemble my album, I decided to make a mixed-media project. Initially, I planned to do a more "personalized" travel journal with mixed-media elements - adding photos, some journalling, items I'd collected on my travels - but it ended up as a mixed-media journal and the only "travel" elements are the actual photos from the vacation I took this year.

Documented Life: August

Documented Life Project - August Theme
Faces, the Human Form & Characters

[edited face from Week 33]

PaperArtsy Theme 16: Circles

The current challenge on PaperArtsy blog is Circles.

This was a bit difficult theme for me. I used circular motifs on several previous pages (here, here, here, here and here) and I think I used up all my creativity in this field... And I just hate to be repeating myself...

PaperArtsy Theme 15: Gels and Mediums

The new PaperArtscy challenge is Gels and Mediums. Hm... the next theme could be glue... I use gels and mediums regularly - for glueing, stencilling, as a finish...

Documented Life: July

July Theme - Ephemera
This month it's about incorporating bits and pieces (that were meant to be discarded) to our art.

PaperArtsy Theme 14: Flowers

The new PaperArtsy theme is Flowers. Alright... When I look back at my previous challenge entries, I see a lot of flowers... way too many... and more to come with this challenge ;-)

Paper Artsy Theme 13: Time

The new topic on the PaperArtsy blog is TIME.

Quick tag

I made this quick tag because I wanted to test a stencil I'd cut:

Documented Life: June

June Theme
Travel Journaling

This was a bit difficult theme for me. In my country, kids have the major school holiday in summer - the whole two months (July and August). So families usually plan their holidays for this time of the year. At around May, people start asking the ominous question "where are you going on holiday this year?" as if it was compulsory to go somewhere in summer. Here, holiday means going south to the sea (we are in the middle of Europe and have no sea) and I don't really care about temperatures exceeding 25°C. Also, I was particularly annoyed this year because I had two destinations in my mind and none worked out. And I wasn't really in the mood for discussing this with anyone. So "Um, I don't know yet, I'm waiting for some last-minute deals" is my "official" answer this year.

Paper Artsy Theme 12: Stencils

The new PaperArtsy theme is Stencils. Me and stencils? Never heard of them! Oh, just kidding...
Stencils are an integral part of my art life. I have lots of them (over one hundred, I think, most of them my design, hand-cut or silhouette-cut), I use them often... So it's very hard for me to come up with something original.

"Dark Passenger" journal

I have one journal that I'm occasionally working in - I call it the "Dark Passenger" Journal. I don't really want to share many details about it because I use it to vent my frustration and negative thoughts. So, only a preview of the pages I've finished so far.

I wanted to have this journal ready for whenever I "needed" it so I created some background starters. I painted 4 sheets of A3 (297×420mm /11.7×16.5in) cardstock on both sides (that is 8 backgrounds in 4 different colour combinations - 2 each) I cut each sheet into 4 pieces (slightly smaller than A5 size - I trimmed the edges a bit - 140×200mm, 5.5×7.9in). So, it total, I have 16 sheets, 32 possible pages (are you still with me? LOL). No more mathematics from this point on.

I wanted to have a unifying element on these pages - so, all of the quotes are printed on a DYMO label maker and all the focal words are the same size and the same font (I cut the letters on my Silhouette machine).

I will not be sharing this journal - this is just to let you know it exists.

Paper Artsy Theme 11: Hidden Objects

This week's PaperArtsy challenge is about Hidden Objects. 

I had so many ideas about this theme but in the end, I went for a hidden message which I hid under a flap:

I don't particularly like how this page turned out. It was a series of hits and misses - well, mostly misses and my vain attempts to fix them. I fought with the material, with the inks, forgot to prime the page, forgot I'd been planning to do some stamping in the background. I spent so much time on this page just because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing...

Altered Bottle

PaperArtsy's current challenge is about Bottles. I already painted my Bottle page in my PaperArtsy challenge journal more than an month ago [find out why here], so now I decided to alter an actual bottle.
I saw a lovely altered bottle project some time ago over at Finnabair's blog and but never got round to trying it - so now at least I had an incentive...

PaperArtsy - Guest Blog Post

I was really excited when Darcy asked me to write a blog post for PaperArtsy. 

"Me? Really? Are you serious?"

It was a slightly different feeling for me when I was making something for a lot of people to see... I had four topics to choose from (I chose "Bottles"), a deadline to meet... You know - a bit more resposibility! 

I had quite a lot of time so the worst thing for me was that I had a page I couldn't share with anyone for more than a month...

This is what I made:

You can find the blog post here.

Thank you, PaperArtsy team, for this wonderful opportunity!!

Documented Life: May

May Theme
Touchy Feely (Texture)

Finally a topic I can relate to - I LOVE texture!

I already mentioned this - some time ago, a friend was going through my journal saying "you almost want to touch it..." and I was like "Oh my, DO touch it, it's meant to be touched!" I just love to run my fingers over the texture of my artwork!

(Day)dreaming...

I don't normally draw faces - when I do, they usually look like zombies. But I just wanted to share this one because I like how she turned out...

She is part of a layout in my Documented Life journal. I will blog about this page at the end of the month.

Hand-lettering

I've always loved hand-lettering and calligraphy. But I never had the patience to practise which is crucial for this art. You have to train your hand. Over and over again.
I bought some books, took some online classes, I even have a notebook dedicated to hand-writing practise (it's still empty). But I'm so lazy...

I usually sketch my letters in pencil and then, when I'm satisfied with the layout, I go over it with black pen.

I drew these to go to my minibook which I'm making for one particular project. [secret project]
I think it turned out quite good, though I had to fix some things in Photoshop... the kerning (spacing between letters) and I also write uphill (ignoring the pencil lines).

PaperArtsy Theme 9: Words

The new PaperArtsy challenge topic is "Words". I use words in my art regularly, so this one was a piece of cake... Right?

PaperArtsy Theme 8: Sprays.

The current PaperArtsy theme is about sprays. I have a favourite spray technique so I didn't really have to think twice about what I was going to do this week.

Documented Life: April

April Theme: Color Safari (Exploring Inks and Paints)

I'm now using a sheet of deli/tissue paper as a background on all the pages to hold my Moleskine journal together and to prevent it from falling apart.

Two simple backgrounds

Some time ago, I wrote a simple tutorial for Hurapapir and I thought I'd share it with you here.

I have lots of patterned paper - nicely stored in my drawers... But anytime I decide to make a card or some other project, I almost always create my own patterned paper. 

I love making backgrounds. I will be showing you two of my go-to techniques for very simple backgrounds.