What I’ve been up to…

Not blogging- that’s for sure!! Yip, I have neglected my poor blog of late. BUT, I have been doing so many other things that I guess that kind of makes up for it.

So here’s what I’ve done…

I been scrapping (don’t fall off your chair!). Okay, not paper scrapping, but digi: I kicked my butt into gear by doing a couple of challenges over at The Digichick :

Template Challenge:

Colour challenge:

One Little Word challenge:

For this challenge you have to choose a word to use for the whole year. A word that you can apply everyday and occasionally incorporate in your scrapbooking.

All 3 of these layouts were done with one kit- the January collab from The Digichick called “The Daily Details”. A really versatile kit!

My art classes (Tues & Wed mornings) also started up again and I completed a charcoal drawing of a Baobab that I started over December.

Then I started with a new medium : Indian Ink. Can you say AWESOME? I love it. Never played around with ink before, but it’s going well. I started off with a portrait of my daughter. It takes some getting used to as, although it is a little like watercolour, it has a stronger pigment. So the colour is strong and once dry, it’s permanent, you can’t soften lines with a bit of water like you can with watercolours.  (Unless it’s cause I’m painting on fine canvas – correct me if I’m wrong – I’m new at this). It’s fun and I can see myself playing around with ink for a little while still…

On top of all this, I have also started an amazing mixed-media class online. What fun! I have always wanted to play around with more mixed media and this has really taught me to be more adventurous. The class is called Creatively Made by Jeanne Oliver. She’s lovely.

The course is over 4 weeks and each week includes a few motivational videos to get you creating as well as art projects that she leads you through with loads of inspiration and tips. She gives alternatives to the media she uses too which is great as often I can’t get everything here in SA. In fact you would be able to create artworks without buying anything as you can actually use what you have lying around. But of course, I have a {teeny} addiction to art supplies- so yesterday I popped off to Jimnettes for my fix. If it wasn’t that I had to run off to fetch kids at school I would have spent over an hour there, but alas, I had to restrict myself to 40 minutes.

I digress.

There’s also a private facebook group where you can upload your artwork to share with others taking the class. This is really great as it’s fun to see the different styles.

I was desperate to start so I grabbed a journal I use for making notes for my art classes. The front cover even had linseed oil spilt on it and had a tear. Now it looks like this :

I first applied gesso to prime the cover, then layered vintage papers on and then got going with some paint, watercolour pencils and charcoal. Fun! And I didn’t buy a thing beforehand! I chose this image as I love Artemisia Gentileschi. I copied this painting 2 years ago for a Baroque assignment we did for art classes where we had to paint in the style of the old masters. Obviously the fact that she is painting is also appropriate for a journal for art class notes. I loved the loose casual style of the mixed media – not precise and perfect.

So guess what I’m doing today? Oh I am so going to do another piece this morning… This time on canvas.

Chat soon,