Wanderlust Week 22 Shawn Petite – Finding your inspiration and story

For today’s post I am going to go through an art class I have just taken as part of Wanderlust 2021.  The tutor is Shawn Petite, based in the US, she is a longstanding teacher and creator and is a wonderful mixed media artist. 

The class is in the “poems” section of Wanderlust 2021. I am reasonably new to mixed media and I am still in the camp of not understanding layers and therefore thoughts of “why bother with layers” and “why isn’t it perfect in one shot” are high in my thoughts when doing these classes, however this class was a lot of fun to work through and I really like my end result, so maybe I am slowly coming to terms with the layers thing! In addition what Shawn teaches easily works with what I am learning from my favourite tutor Karen Campbell and her Hamburger style for mixed media.

I will guide you through a bit of a the process its as much of a note take for me as well as information for you as I forget what I’ve done so easily!

Beginning 

Shawn talked us through finding inspiration for a page from poems or quotes.  Resources are all over the place, books, magazines, and of course the internet.   I found a quote I really liked in a magazine, from this I found papers that  I could collage with, the colours are relevant to the quote but also that spoke to me. Amazingly, I also managed to choose similar colours to the tutor, but that’s the way it goes.

“Even when life is in chaos, you can still find pleasure in the little things”

Good Housekeeping Magazine February 2021

Layer 1

Using one page in my Wanderlust journal I started off by layering papers with PVA glue (I’m low on matt medium) I waited for it all to dry.

Layer 2

Using acrylic paints, choose an accent colour and add patches of it tonally to the page, don’t cover it all, just place it into areas that it looks like it needs.  As my collage was mostly in the yellows, I chose the purple from the flower in the lower left as my accent. Apply some reverse stencilling technique over the patches of paint to create texture and interest.  I chose a stencil and used a baby wipe to wipe away some paint. Continuing until I was happy and let it all dry.

Layer 3

Find a colour in the triad spectrum, I chose a blue-green and went through the same process, adding tonal splashes and reverse stenciling away. Dry it thoroughly. 

Layer 4

Using a stabilo all draw some lines – in this case it was to make tree branches. Then choose a couple of greens to paint in the branch and leaves, picking up some of the stabilo to add deeper tones. Again dry thoroughly. 

Layer 5

Knock it all back with some white gesso – I have to say I always struggle with this – why do all that work to block it out again, always confuses me, but once again I am proved wrong ultimately. Leave to dry (I used a heat gun and went and made a cup of tea!)

Layer 6

Back to collaging. This time we want a focal image and collage pieces to work as a piece in its own right. The class was using postcards and nature pictures. For my piece I found some paper, my quote and stamps on old book pages. Glue these all down with PVA glue. We also added more stabilo marks to accentuate the leaves, I also used a charcoal pencil to smudge and create shadow and I used some India ink which I watered down to add some areas of emphasis and drips. I dried it and then went over with a layer of Matt Medium to give it a final seal (I thought this was finished at this point!)

Layer 7 – Finish!

The last bit – I retouched some areas of shadow, and also used a distress crayon around the page edge to give it a finished feel.  The last step is to splash on some white paint, I had none to hand but I found a correction pen – so I just dabbed dots over a few places. And it’s done!!

I have to say that this is an 80 minute class, but took me way longer to complete but I LOVED this class and the final results.

FInal thoughts

I definitely want to revisit this technique again and create something “from my head” if that makes sense. I am good at following classes, just not so good at the self expression creating from my head requires. I love that I am now confident enough to just use my supplies and not worry that I don’t have the “exact” item the teacher is using. I know part of that is because I have a lot of supplies, but I can now mix and match and not worry about the results so much. I am better at just using and hoping, and I think that is where every budding artist wants to get to.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: 

All opinions expressed here are my own.
I paid for any products discussed.
I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.

May Roundup

So what did I do in May 2021? I made some art almost every day. Sometimes it was just the lettering challenge and sometimes it was journal making, but I did something most days, the times I am not arting I really notice it so that and my HRT are fabulous for my mental health!

Lettering Challenge

I took part in the Lettering Challenge by PenPusher.  

The pictures for this are in my gallery and over on Instagram. I was super lucky enough to also be picked at random as the winner of the challenge. This is my winning picture

Drawing with OwlsOwner

I caught up on some Karen Campbell classes and OwlsOwner asked to do some of the classes too so we took time together to watch the videos and do some learning and I am super pleased with his progress, his attitude to art has changed so much in this last year, he is enjoying it again and is enthusiastic about it. 

Karen Campbell Zentangle classes
Karen Campbell Zentangle classes

Journal Making and YouTube

I’ve been making journals this month, for no reason other than I can, following these makes I learnt how to make flip-through videos and post them on to my YouTube channel. This has got me thinking about whether I want to create a selling page to sell my journals. At the moment they are in a box “waiting” for something to be done with them.

Shopping

I took PenguinFireDragon into the city to meet her mates, so I had some time by myself. I did a little shopping and finished with a coffee and Vegan Croissant at Caffe Nero. It was both bliss and weird at the same time, being out of the house, in the city and around other people – I was home by 11am and had definitely had enough of being around people.

COVID

I got my 2nd COVID vaccine, felt absolutely fine with no symptoms other than a little tiredness on the day and a sore arm for a few days after. 

Feel honoured to have these done.

Crystal Healing

My Crystal Healing sessions are now back at the healing hut, it is wonderful to be back there, I loved being able to continue right through the pandemic remotely but being in the hut is so much better. We have started the process of investigating a deep rooted issue, we initially talked about doing this before COVID but agreed not to start until we could be in the safety of the hut, and we were right to do it. I’ve had two sessions in May. It’s bringing through stuff that is very firmly buried and for good reason, though it’s right to find and treat the issues as I firmly believe it will help me through the transition of menopause too.

Decking

We have a south facing garden and we get the sun in it all day.  Last year we decided to add decking to the back of the house. It’s fabulous but we soon realised it’s a sun trap, so I spent last Saturday buying fabric and making some shades for the roof. I bought an eyelet maker,  hemmed the fabric all around and Hubby put hooks in the roofline. It cost us around £25 and a day’s effort but we now can sit out on the deck all day and not get sunburn! Owlsowner is doing his revision and I am typing this – it’s 11am and we are in the warm shade – bliss 🙂  Hubby has just emerged from the cold office to sit out here with us. He is WFH still and he is able to use a laptop out here. Yesterday he even held a video call on the deck 🙂 

MiniClub Run

Finally at the end of the month the weather turned warm and we enjoyed some sunshine. We joined the Mini Club “breakout” mini run to Cromer and enjoyed some time on Bank Holiday Monday at the coast before heading home and playing a new version of Monopoly with the family in the back garden. 

  • Breakout Mini Club Run 31 May 2021
    Breakout Mini Club Run 31 May 2021
  • Breakout mini club run 31st May 21
    Breakout mini club run 31st May 21

What did you think of this type of roundup? Does it work for you as a reader. I guess the bigger question is does it work for me as an author, and I’m not sure I have that answer yet –  (Sorry I just had to answer a science question about magnetism – I promise I didn’t say “if you read your revision paper you will get your answers” 🙂 )

I started this page thinking I had nothing to write – how wrong was I…!  If you have gotten this far, I thank you.  See you again soon

Disclaimer: 

All opinions expressed here are my own.
I paid for any products discussed.
I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.

I made another journal!

Sorry Not Sorry… But I’ve made another journal, filmed a flipthrough and popped it onto YouTube.

This time the inspiration for the journal came from Instagram /YouTube artist Francine of JunkJournalJoy. She showcased an Alice in Wonderland journal that I just fell in love with. The digital pack is designed and available to buy from VectoriaDesigns, Francine is also giving away an Alice themed sheet. So after getting the freebie and buying the pack (70% off with a code from her Instagram link) I decided to give it a try, however as I need to print the pack, I decided to use papers from my stash, I settled on mostly 12 x 12 Stamperia Imagine sheets I’ve had laying around for ages and some fabrics from the scraps drawer.

I spent around 5 hours Friday evening making the journal and I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I still need to embellish it further with dangly charms and maybe put another cover on so it has a closure and things like that (Francine shows how to do that in her video).

One thing that Hubby and I were shocked about, was how LITTLE wastage there was from the sheets, genuinely everything was being used, nothing bar some tiny slices of scraps came from the pads. Obviously it will be slightly different when I print the pack, as I will have to cut around and there is white space, but overall, for this journal I used everything!! I got through one glue stick and half a reel of double sided tape, but stash has been used so that’s good right, turn stash into a useable /saleable item.

On that note, I can definitely see how people can make and sell these, and given the amount of time I took to make it, I can now appreciate why they sell for the prices they do! This one I suspect could sell in the region of £30 and that’s not really taking into account the time factor. Add all the embellishments and really jazz it up with more internal embellishments, tucks, pockets, flaps etc and I could easily see it in the £50 range, again not really taking into account time/effort.

“Imagine” Junk Journal May 2021

Well what do you think to this? This time I filmed the flipthrough using my phone, I held the phone whilst trying to turn the pages, it was only meant as a test but I think it came out quite well, I definitely need to get a phone holder to try it again, it was so much easier and quicker to video, edit and upload to YouTube from my phone than the DSLR and editing software, but there are also limitations and I still had to go back to a full browser to edit the YouTube upload and add music as I forgot to do that via my phone. As a learning curve, the video malarky is steep but I’m getting there. One day I may end up doing process videos and even scarier voice overs… Arghhh well maybe not yet!!?

Let me know what you think of it, and as always what I could do better. Thanks for reading (and watching!)

Disclaimer: 

All opinions expressed here are my own.
I paid for any products discussed.
I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.

Another Chunky Journal Flip-through

I have another YouTube video out in the wild!! OMG what’s going on with me huh! This second video is another journal, it’s probably has twice the pages of the last one, and so the video is a bit longer. It took me quite a long time to put the journal together, and felt equally long doing the video and edit and subsequent upload requirements!

At this time the journal is in a finished and ready to be used state, it is quite heavy, and is sitting at 5cm (2″) thick and approximately 16cm x 27cm (6.5″ x 10.5″).

  • Journal Front Cover
    Journal Front Cover

The journal cover and signatures were made sometime in 2020 as part of a tutorial by Jolene at Live Art Journaling and Self Development. I can’t remember if the tutorial was part of the Facebook group or YouTube videos, either way, it’s free and available for anyone to view and take part.

The cover is made of collage papers that have been sewn and then sealed with (I think) Mod-Podge. Internally the cover is fabric. It has 4 signatures, each with 8 double sided pages. Most pages have a small tab on them with a sticker. The journal pages were made from found papers, magazine pages, white papers or palette papers. Each page had clear gesso applied so they have a tooth to them for whatever I plan to do with it. I finished it and it sat there for months doing nothing.

Each of the pages in the signatures have now been “decorated” with papers and items from my stash. Found papers, collage materials, stickers, ephemera and pockets I’ve made from tutorials and left laying around. I used thread for the binding that I bought from the local sewing shop, its not waxed, and typing this I realised I normally run it through a candle before using it to bind, but I forgot. Oh well! Each signature is threaded onto a ribbon that is in the spine of the cover and can be removed if needed to be to worked on. Over the last year I have watched many YouTube videos, it’s impossible to say where where my inspiration for it has all come from, but some of my favourite watches are The Paper Outpost; Septeria18; ShanoukiArt; Its Only Paper; ShabbyDabbyDooDah; 49Dragonflies; Joie de fi; Ms.Paperlover; Kia.Creates; Gi Kerr and Johanna Clough. There are bound to be more but in trying to fill this list I’ve realised I have over 200 YouTube subscriptions and I kind of got sidetracked ….. 🙂

So, onto the pages themselves. I have created tucks, flaps, pockets, space for writing, applied stickers, tried to create a style for each page, some pages have jewels on, others have pieces of my actual artwork, Many of the stickers and journal page items come from either Under the Rowan Trees, The LollipopBoxClub and Kia.Creates subscription clubs.

  • Journal inside page Kia & Rowan
    Journal inside page Kia & Rowan
  • Journal inside page - Lollipop
    Journal inside page – Lollipop
  • Journal Inside Page - Kia
    Journal Inside Page – Kia

I’m pretty new to this style of journalling, so I haven’t actually done any writing yet, but hopefully having the journal made and ready will encourage me to add the text, and extra bits as and when I want to.

For now the journal will sit on the shelf looking pretty and waiting to be used, but I wonder if this will spur me on to making more for me and maybe eventually to make well enough to sell. Hmm there’s a thought!

Oh and I cannot finish this page without saying a HUGE thank you to my lighting crew. We did a practice run of filming after school yesterday, and although he should have been doing homework, @owlsowner helped me by holding Dads garage torch on one side, whilst our lounge lamp with a daylight bulb was on the other. We had fun creating the video and trying to get the best setup. All that hard work paid off and we produced a video, for practice at least. Its all learning right ?!?!? And well you know what, I may teach him how to use the editing software and he can be my video editor too!

Well until next time, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy watching the video. Please feel free to send feedback to help me get better. I am an eternal learner, so you can only help me 🙂

Disclaimer: 

All opinions expressed here are my own.
I paid for any products discussed.
I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.

May 2021 RowanBerry Subscription Box – Review

Subscription box review for Under the Rowan Trees May 2021 Bee Themed box.

I was excited to get this box as I knew it was to be Bees’ and they hold a personal significance for me.

The box this month has some interesting journalling items in it. Every item is a Bee related piece. There is a wooden ornament, a Bee Stencil from Oops a Daisy, Post-it-Note pad, 3 Journal cards in stiff card and nicely printed and blank on the reverse, a sticker sheet, a daily tracker pad, 2 Stabilo 88 Pens in Pink and Yellow, the A6 Calendar sheet, a packet of Calendula seeds from Something Pretty and the notecard stating everything that’s here.

Everything is good quality, well made and ready to be used but I have to say that as excited as I was to receive it, I was disappointed to open it and find the contents. I realise this is a box aimed at the Bullet Journaller and I absolutely know that every BUJO person out there would rave for it. I’ve seen some of the comments from the recipients but I’m just not that kind of stationery geek. I have never “written” in a journal, I am hopeless at taking notes, I write on post-its and scraps and leave them scattered around the house. I have always been this way and at 50 years old I’m unlikely to change! So for me this box is disappointing. But it’s a lovely set of items in their own right and I am not knocking them at all. I am unlikely to make the best use of these items, they will scatter to the various corners of my art room stash likely not to be seen again.

The box arrived late April, I took my photo on the 1st May, and today (20th May) is the first time I have opened the box again since then. I think this tells me everything I need to know about how I am spending my money.

So May 2021 is going to be my last RowanBerry subscription box – for a while at least. I’ve had a really good run of buying the boxes. I started with the “Deeds Not Words” box back in February 2020, and along the way I’ve had some amazing boxes. Lately the boxes have in my opinion taken a turn into bullet journalling rather than Stationery led fodder, and that’s just not for me. Danielle’s customer service has always been good, her business is growing and she now has two other members of staff, her business looks to be be thriving even in these trying times but I do find her less available to answer questions either via email or on Facebook. That said, her staff Samantha and India are available, so maybe they have had a shift around. Over the 15 months I have been a customer I have spent a lot of money in Danielle’s online shop and I have enjoyed supporting her small business grow. But I feel that at this time I have moved away from where the subscription boxes are currently and potentially where they are heading.

I wish Danielle, Samantha and India all the success in the world with the business. I’m not leaving, I’m just taking a break from the subscription boxes. I will keep an eye on social media and if a box comes up that speaks to me I shall order it.

Disclaimer: 

All opinions expressed here are my own.
I paid for any products discussed.
I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.