I hadn’t played with clay since i was a teenager, can’t wait for it to dry so that I can paint it.
Tried something new!
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Charcoal Sketch
Saw on Google’s front page that it would have been Audrey Hepburns 85th birthday today and decided to draw charcoal sketch inspired by her in my new big sketch book.
Asemic Journal
The Asemic frenzy is still going strong! I decided to create a Asemic Writing Art Journal.
Asemic Journal
The paper I used for my journal is old wallpaper catalogs. I ripped out the pages that spoke to me and cut them to equal size (22×44 cm / ~9×18 Inches). I folded each wallpaper in half and decided in what order I wanted them to be. I then scribbled asemic writing on the back of one paper and continued over to the next signature so that they would look like one spread when I bound the journal. I expect this journal to be very free and maybe a bit messy so I did not paint nor gesso the back of the wallpapers before I started writing on them. I let the details of the wallpaper written on the back show, at least for now.
Asemic Writing spreads
After the asemic writing step I decided to gelli print over the asemic writing on some of the pages to get the journal started! I printed the adjacent pages in the same patterns and colors to keep the feel of it being a spread intact.
Gelli printed asemic pages
Then it was time to bind the book! I used a coptic stitch and had just one folded page in each signature. If you want to try coptic stitching there are heaps of good tutorials on YouTube. I wanted to use black thread for binding but i didn’t have any good black thread at home so I bound it with a doubled extra strong sewing thread. It worked good on the thicker pages but it ripped one of the thinner pages while I was binding it. I reinforced the middle of that signature with masking tape and could bind it in without problems.
Coptic Binding
A couple of pages in the book before I start using it and on the last I doodled on the wallpaper!
Asemic Writing
I recently heard about Asemic Writing in a 21 Secrets Live! session with Ardith Goodwin. Asemic Writing is a sort of pseudo writing where you write something that looks like it could be written language but it doesn’t mean anything. I think the reason I fell in love with it is because it is something I’ve always done but I never knew it had a name or that other people does it too. I always love to scribble and and test pens before I start writing or drawing (even if I know the pen is working). If it is a new pen I always write a few “sentences” in asemic writing to learn a little bit about how the pen behaves and I’ve always enjoyed the way this fake writing looks. It makes me think of long lost texts that someone wrote when they were out having an adventure or a great idea that must not be forgotten.
Asemic Writing
I got so inspired that I grabbed a bunch of ordinary printer paper and a handful of my favorite pens, pencils and even crayons. I drew straight lines with a black marker on one page to have as a guide underneath the page I was working on and got busy doing asemic writing. The pages above is just a few of the ones I made.
A day at the botanical garden
I spent the afternoon in the botanical garden. I sketched, drew, and enjoyed all the beautiful flowers. And a little European Robin was kind enough to sing, sitting just a meter in front of me.
Cherry trees were in full bloom
I Like Birds!!
Sacred Wednesdays
Since the middle of February my Wednesday nights have been sacred. I come home from work, have dinner, play with the cat, hang out with my fiance, clean my art space, set the alarm for 23.40 and then I go to bed really early. When the alarm rings I know that in 20 minutes a new broadcast of 21 SECRETS LIVE! will begin!
When I first read about 21 Secrets Live I loved the idea! A live broadcast with a host and an artist, with the possibility to ask questions and play along while they make art. This was extra appealing since I don’t know anyone doing art journaling in real life. However, my local time when it would be broadcasted would be at midnight so I decided not to take it. A few days later I saw that the lovely and talented Jane Davenport was giving away two spots on her blog and I left this comment:
“How cool to be able to take part in live classes and ask questions in a chat! I don’t know any other artists in real life so to be able to play along as it happens would be a dream. Much love!” Linda
And I won a space! Thank you so much Jane! I love the format of the course, it feels like I’m invited into all the lovely teachers studios to play along when they show us their way of journaling and favorite techniques. Getting up in the middle of the night takes a bit of planning but I found that I feel very creative at this time. It’s dark outside and I get cozy by my desk with a cup of tea, art supplies and a new juicy broadcast together with a bunch of people who love art journaling as much as I do!
Happy Easter!!
Aqua Markers and Life Book 2014
This year I’m taking part in Life Book 2014 and I made these four cards as part of Carla Sonheims wonderful lecture. I draw them with one continues line on a 170gsm drawing card which I then colored in with the aqua markers. I pulled out two to three markers in the same color family and colored in a small area and then used a water brush to spread the paint. I really enjoyed how well these markers worked on the drawing paper, they mixed and spread easily.
One line aqua marker figures
I also tried the markers on water color paper, first of I used dry paper and the same method I used with the little figures above. I colored a small part and spread with water. It was fun but the paper absorbed the paint rather quickly and it was more difficult to spread it than it was on the drawing paper.
Mantis Woman
Finally I draw a little helmet penguin, these tend to pop up when I doodle and I decided to color him in. I taped down the paper with washi tape, wetted the water color paper and made dots to give him color.
Helmet Penguin
Coffee girl
For a long while I’ve wanted to try to paint with coffee. I was in Venice this summer and saw a painting at a restaurant that could have been done in coffee from the looks of it. The owners did not know for sure if it was coffee or not but my it made me really want to give it a go. The reason it took so long is mainly because I tend to drink all the coffee and have none left to paint with! But this Christmas we bought a Christmas coffee that was undrinkable which presented an opportunity to use the coffee for my artsy purposes. I had lots of fun drawing a girl using only coffee and water. I sketched her first with a color pencil and the coffee was quite pale so I had to do many layers.
A New Chapter and a Challenge
Hello and Welcome!
This is going to be a blog about creativity, art journaling, art supplies, mixed media, and occasionally it may include photography, coffee, writing and other joyous subjects!
I’m going to start off by setting myself a challenge, I have a beautiful set of Aquamarkers but I tend not to use them that often. So I’m going to make 10 pages using Aquamarkers as main supply and try to explore as many techniques I can before the end of January.