Collage Birds
My new year’s resolution: in 2014 I am going to make an e-book showing my techniques and sources of inspiration. I have begun to create collage birds that I am going to include in the book.
I have always admired birds. I have four budgies as pets, and they have proved me that birds can be smart, skillful and full of compassion. I want to add positive feelings to my collage birds too.
Update in 2017
The e-book about collage birds never came true, but it was a seed for my most popular class Inspirational Drawing.
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Creative Friday!
Friday evenings are the best! I go to the library room of our house and start creating. And yes, it’s always this clean before I begin and also after I have finished. I love creating when everything is in order. I also like to see the art supplies I am using.
At the front of the big photo there’s the only electrical vanity item that I can’t give up: an electric pencil sharpener! After I bought it I have used my colored pencils more than ever. The pencils are always sharp as it’s so fun to sharpen them after using them. My model is Derwent universal sharpener that has 5 holes for various sized pencils.
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Happy New Year 2014
With this overly doodled number, I wish you happy new year!
Doodling Idea
I made this image by making a roughly doodled collage that I scanned to the computer. Then I adjusted the colors and printed the photo. I made the size bigger than in the original.
Then I began doodling again. After doodling I adjusted some areas by coloring them with color pencils. I also added some collage pieces.
Finally, I scanned the collage again and adjusted colors in some areas.
This way I was able to add detail after another. I could have continued these steps over and over! Crazy – I know!
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How To Love Your Art Journal
If you have not been art journaling for a long time, you probably have a journal or even many that you are not satisfied with. Maybe you have even ripped off few pages, just to keep the journal pretty. If you feel disconnected with your journaling, this post is for you.
If your journal is empty, it’s like freezing. “Give me some colour, give me something warm to wear!”, it screams! You won’t get to know your journal, neither your inner world, if you search for the perfect moment to create the perfect page. The pages can be built gradually, layer by layer, and you have to start filling those empty pages.
If you do not know where to begin, take a dry brush and some acrylic paint and paint a thin layer. You get visually better results if you do not repeat one color but make the page as asymmetrical as possible. That way colors get their own space and character from the beginning. You can paint many pages if you feel like to. If you are tired and lack inspiration, this is the thing to do!
The next thing you need to do is to let your journal see the world. Take it with you when you go to library, travel, where ever you have little moments to spend quality time with it.
While on the road, take a black pen with you and draw or write something, it does not have to be special. Remember, the pages can be built within time and even the smallest scribbles help to fill the page.
When you feel more focused you can continue with the pages that have painted backgrounds. I used acrylic paints and thin brushes to draw some doodles and colour pencils to add dimension. If you have nothing else in mind, strengthen the colored areas that you painted. Add more similar hues to each area with color pencils and work with horizontal or vertical strokes. Always work fast as it makes you use more imagination and less rational thinking. The result at this point is like a photo without a focus.
Then decide where you would like the focus to be. Add some details there. I love to use my own hand decorated papers for details. Finally find or create a background for journaling. When I begin to make a page I do not usually know what to write but in the end I just write what I had been thinking while creating.
An art journal is the photo book of your inner world. Like with photos, the pages are not always perfect. But when you have a collection of them, they tell a story. And I guarantee – you will then love your art journal.