I Dream to Create …
I have big creative dreams: to create something that makes a huge impact – I mean HUGE!
1) Interiors
I dream about people entering the room and feeling that they almost faint. Colors, patterns everywhere! The best thing would be to see their reaction: “OMG! You must be kidding!”
2) Exteriors
I dream about painting street art for buildings and great architectural places. I would change all those white boxes to something overwhelmingly colorful. It did not matter if it would be a temporary mask. At least the building could say: “There was a time when I was alive!”
3) Huge Paintings
I dream about people sitting on the bench nearby staring at them. A big company could have them in their lobby area. What a wealth of colors!
4) Big Quilts
I dream about designing every single fabric piece which is sewn in them. All original, all full of patterns!
5) Stage Backgrounds
My ultimate creative dream: Creating a stage background for a concert – a picture show which visualizes the music! I dream about the steps to design the backgrounds: how I would listen to the music, again and again, create sketches for evaluation and work with a big team to make it all happen.
Obviously, all the photos here are trick photos created in Photoshop by combining my own photos. These creative dreams might never come true but dreaming is kind of playing. And playing is a key factor in creativity, so let’s keep on dreaming – BIG!
Let’s keep on dreaming: Subscribe to my weekly emails!
Using Black in Art Journaling
Last week was great. I went to Scotland! I started with a small business conference in Glasgow and then had a couple of days sightseeing. My husband joined me in the end of the week and we really enjoyed our time. To celebrate the journey, I made an art journal spread which is based on the easy, yet effective technique, using black in art journaling.
Before I get into the process of creating the spread, I want to show a page of a smaller art journal which I had with me. I made the page while I was eating breakfast at Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow. It is a wonderful place for a Charles Rennie Mackintosh fanatic as I am.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a designer and architect in the early 20th century. I have admired his and his wife’s Margaret MacDonald’s work for ages, so I wanted to look around the tea room area really carefully. Because sketching not only makes me observe things in detail but also memorize better, I recorded most things that I saw. The first tip of this post is to create sketches before making the actual pages. It is easy to keep a black pen and a small journal in the bag.
When I saw this doorway of St Conan’s Kirk, I knew it would be inspirational after getting back home. When thinking of doorways and windows I remembered a page spread in my largest art journal which was started some time ago but was not finished. I often create jumpstarts for the future pages. This was just perfect for the theme!
To get to this stage is really easy:
1) Paint a background with watercolors. Use various colors and brush sizes. Do not repeat colors or patterns too much but create areas that differ from each other. Create few layers and let each layer dry before adding the next.
2) With black watercolor, add a new layer on the top. Leave empty areas so that the previous layers show through.
And after the black layer is dry, the real fun begins:
3) Doodle on the black areas with color pencils and gel pens. You can also add details in the other areas. Feel free to use decorative papers too.
I wrote to the art journal that my best experience of the journey was to visit Mackintosh house. Taking photographs was not allowed but I did manage to take a couple of photos of Charles Rennie Mackintosh work. The first photo is from Kelvingrove art museum which is located near the Mackintosh house. In the second photo I am standing on the front door of Mackintosh house. There were no stairs as the house was a replica of the real house and was built inside Hunterian art gallery.
When walking around the interiors designed by the creative couple, Charles and Margaret, I wondered what kind of discussions they had had in their beautiful home. Margaret’s remarkable collage art showed extreme talent but she was not valued as an artist back then. Charles also struggled at times. Still, what those two people shared with each other, must have been wonderful and deep. I just wish I could take a time machine and spend at least one evening with them, talking about the form, design and philosophy of art!
These photos also worked as inspiration to the art journal spread. Here is Inveraray castle and its beautiful entrance with summer flowers.
The day we visited the highlands was sunny and the nature looked incredibly beautiful. The Stalker castle was not available for visitors but the view from it must be breath-taking.
Here’s the finished spread again. Hopefully you enjoyed the photos of the journey and fell in love with Mackintosh couple’s work. I also wish that you’ll try my technique of using black in your art journal!
Let me be your art teacher: Subscribe to my weekly emails!
Fabric Collages
The idea for this card came from the pile of fabric scraps that I have. I began to wonder: could I use these instead of papers to create fabric collages?
Fabric Collages – A School Project from the Past
I also remembered one happy moment from the childhood. I was about 10 years old. A teacher asked us to bring fabric scraps to school. We were asked to cut the fabric into pieces and create a collage from them. My schoolmates were not excited but I was thrilled. I cut the fabrics into tiny pieces and began to glue them on a paper.
When I had finished the collage, I was very pleased with it. I had also had such a good time. Little did I know that I would be cutting tiny pieces whole my life – that the moment I picked the scissors was to follow me many times afterwards!
1) Cut and Glue the Fabric Pieces
The supplies for fabric collages are simple: scissors, glue, paper, fabrics.
2) Add a Layer of Gel Medium
Because my collage was small, I wanted to add some fine details and extra layering. To be able to do that, I covered the first layer with the gel medium. When dried, I would be able to doodle with markers and create dimensions by adding more layers.
My favorite is Golden Soft Gel Gloss but any gel medium will do. Even if I am not a big fan of buying more stuff, purchasing this is a good investment. You can use gel medium not only to create surfaces but also glueing paper pieces when making paper collages.
3) Add Doodling
When gel medium dries it becomes transparent and you can doodle with thin markers or gel pens on it. Make sure to dry it first throughly!
4) Add More Details From Fabric Pieces
After doodling on the first layer, I wanted to add details like the house in the middle. After constructing the house with fabric pieces and glue, I added gel medium to the details to add some doodling on them.
The photo below shows how the fabric is layered. A part of the card is covered with gel medium and feels like plastic. There are also fabric pieces without any coverage on the top and they feel soft.
You do not need a sewing machine to enjoy working with fabrics!
Let me be your art teacher: Subscribe to my weekly emails!
How Does the World Look Like?
When I was a child, I used to draw with my sisters. My sisters are over 15 years older than me so I asked a lot from them. One winter day I asked my oldest sister: What color is snow? And my sister answered: snow reflects a lot of colors so you can use a rainbow of colors. That’s a brilliant answer! It answers any questions of what color to use for nature-themed art. Yes, you can use a rainbow of colors! Like I did in this forest themed card.
I take a lot of photos just to learn from the nature. Here are a couple of them just to prove how realistic my little collage is. There really is a lot of colors and variety in nature!
Speaking of rainbows …
My advice is: when you create, stop repeating and start adding variety.
Use combinations of various papers and colors. Add layers and create elements and group with various sizes. Let your art grow and change like the plants and trees do.
What do you think? How does the world look like to you?
P.S. Here’s another card that uses the same principles.
Let me be your art teacher: Subscribe to my weekly emails!